Know a business that needs a bookkeeping and tax expert?
We provide bookkeeping and financial operations for businesses across Canada and the United States, and tax for Canadian businesses. Refer one and you earn 50% of one month's fee. They get 50% off their third month, so you are both 50% better off in the same month.
How it works
- 01
Tell them about us
Send them the site, or send us their name, whichever is less awkward. There is no code to remember and no link to track. Either way, email us the name at info@newhouseandassociates.co and we will confirm it in writing within two business days, which is the surest way to make sure you are on record.
- 02
They name you before they sign
There's a "who referred you?" line on the contact form, and the same question on the intake form and the client agreement. They need to name you at one of those points, before the engagement is signed. After that we have no fair way to settle a competing claim, so please make sure they know to mention you.
- 03
You get paid once it sticks
The reward lands after two paid months, not on signature. A referral that signs up and leaves in week three hasn't helped you or us.
What you get depends on who you are
Three different situations, three different rewards. A service credit is worth nothing to somebody who isn't a client, and cash is the wrong thing to offer an accountant.
If you're already a client
- You get
- 50% of one month of your own fee, credited in month three
- They get
- 50% off their third month
You already know what the monthly rhythm is worth, which makes the recommendation land differently than any advertising we could buy. Both credits are applied in month three, once they have paid for two months, and there is no cap on how many times this can happen.
If you're a lawyer, lender, broker or consultant
- You get
- 50% of one month of their fee, paid to you in cash in month three
- They get
- 50% off their third month
Commercial lenders, business lawyers and insurance brokers see disorganized books constantly and have nowhere useful to point. We pay in cash rather than service credits, since you aren't a client and a credit wouldn't do you any good.
If you're a CPA or accounting firm
- You get
- A free first cleanup for the client you send, and referrals back
- They get
- Catch-up work done at no charge before their first month
No cash, and that is deliberate. A fee is worth less to both of us than the relationship. What is actually useful is that the files you receive at year-end arrive reconciled, and that our clients who need tax planning, assurance or advisory work get sent to somebody we have actually spoken to. We do not compete with you: we do not perform audit or review engagements, and we will not take work that belongs with a CPA.
The conditions, all of them
A referral program with fine print nobody reads is a program nobody trusts. This is the entire list, and there is no separate terms document.
- The business you refer has to be new to us, meaning not an existing or former client, not somebody we are already in a substantive conversation with, and not somebody another referrer registered first.
- You cannot refer yourself. That covers a second company you own, one your household controls, and anyone who is a partner of the firm or engaged by it.
- You have to be named before the engagement is signed, on the contact form, the intake form or the client agreement. We ask on all three. Once somebody is already a client there is no honest way to work out who was first, so an attribution that arrives afterwards cannot be paid.
- The reward is 50% of one month of the monthly fee.
- It is earned once they have paid for two months, and it lands in month three. That protects against a signup that never becomes a client.
- There is no limit on how many businesses you can refer.
- Client credit is applied to the month three invoice. Cash is paid by transfer within 30 days of the second payment clearing.
- If a payment that earned a reward is later refunded or reversed, the reward is reversed with it.
- A cash reward is income to you, and reporting it is your responsibility. If you are registered for GST/HST, invoice us and the reward is inclusive of any tax payable.
- If your own professional obligations prohibit accepting a referral fee, say so and we will not offer one. That is your call to make, not ours.
- We will tell the business you referred that you referred them. Nothing here happens behind anyone's back. You can ask us to leave your name out, but then we have no way to verify the introduction and no reward is payable.
- Please do not send bulk or unsolicited messages promoting us, quote prices or turnaround times on our behalf, describe us as a CPA firm, or use our name in advertising without asking first. Mentioning us in conversation or an ordinary email is exactly the point.
- If a referral does not qualify, we will tell you which reason applies and the date we relied on. None of the conditions above is an accusation.
Questions people actually ask
What exactly is one month's fee?
Whatever the business you referred is paying us monthly, the reward is half of one month of it. It scales with the size of what you sent, because a larger referral is genuinely worth more to us.
Why does it pay after two months rather than at signup?
Because a reward paid on signature rewards getting somebody to sign, and what we actually want is businesses that stay. Two months is long enough to know it's a real fit and short enough that you aren't waiting half a year.
Can I refer more than one business?
Yes, and there's no cap. Several clients referring one business each is the single healthiest way this practice can grow.
I'm an accountant. Why don't I get paid?
Because a fee is worth considerably less to both of us than the relationship. Instead the client you send gets their cleanup done free, and our clients who need tax planning or assurance work get referred to you. We do not perform audit or review engagements and we won't take work that belongs with a CPA.
What if the business I refer never becomes a client?
Then nothing happens, and there's no cost to you either way. We won't chase them, and we won't use your name for anything beyond the introduction.
What if they forget to mention me?
Email us their name before they sign and you are covered. We also ask the question three times on the way in, so this rarely comes up. What we cannot do is add an attribution once somebody has already become a client. At that point there is no fair way to establish who was actually first, and a program that pays on a claim made after the fact is a program that gets tested. This is the one rule we do not bend, so if you have introduced somebody and you are not sure they mentioned you, tell us now rather than later.
Will you tell them I referred them?
Yes. We say plainly that you sent them, because a referral that arrives as a surprise cold call helps nobody. Nothing here happens behind anyone's back.
Anything not covered here, email info@newhouseandassociates.co and ask. Or read what we actually do before you put your name to it, which is the sensible order.
Got somebody in mind?
Send them our way, or send us their name. Either works.