We have put together the following list of commonly used acronyms and forms that will hopefully help familiarize you with some of the accounting lingoes the next time you meet your accountant.

• CRA – Canada Revenue Agency, although this may be rather intuitive we do often get folks asking for us to describe this one.
• NTR – Notice to Reader, may also refer to a compilation engagement. This is a common level of financial statement engagement that accountants prepare for clients that do not offer opinions or assurance but provides a base for preparing corporate tax returns.
• GAAP – Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, the framework of guidelines for preparing financial statement information that accountants follow. It is basically a rule book.
• GRIP – General Rate Income Pool, this is where your corporation’s high rate tax is pooled, amounts in this tax pool can be paid out of the corporation via eligible dividends to the shareholders which are taxed at a lower rate than regular dividends.
• CDA – Capital Dividend Account, this is where a portion of your corporation’s capital gains and other specific items are pooled, amounts can be paid out of this tax pool by way of a tax-free dividend to the shareholders.
• RDTOH – Refundable Dividend Tax On Hand, this arises when corporations report investment income such as interest or dividends and can be refunded when the corporation issues regular dividends to the shareholders at $1 to $3 ratio (each dollar of RDTOH requires a $3 dividend to be fully refunded).
• T2 – Corporate tax return, this is the annual income tax return your corporation must file.
• T4/5 – slips used to report employment or dividend income each year.
• RC59 – Business consent form, a CRA form that allows your accountant (or other individuals/firm) to communicate with CRA on behalf of your corporation.