Vancouver’s Bench Accounting abruptly shuts down, with 600 potential jobs lost | CBC News

Vancouver-based bookkeeping service Bench Accounting has announced its sudden closure, potentially putting hundreds of staff out of work.

The company that has described itself as North America’s largest bookkeeping service for small businesses says on its website in a “notice of closure” dated Friday that the platform is “no longer accessible.”

The statement acknowledges that the closure is “abrupt and may cause disruption” and says the firm is committed to helping customers “navigate through the transition.”

Bench has previously said it had more than 600 employees and had received investor funding of $113 million US.

It said it moved to Vancouver and changed its name to Bench in 2013, having started out in 2012 as 10sheet Inc. in the U.S.

Calls to Bench’s Vancouver office went to voice mail and did not immediately receive a response.

The website said customers would be told how to access their data by Dec. 30 and that the material would be available for download until March 7. It said customers should file for a tax extension to get extra time to find a new bookkeeper to file their taxes.

But the company’s former CEO and co-founder Ian Crosby released a statement on social media on Friday, saying he was “very sad” about the closure.

Crosby, who said he was ousted by the company’s board about three years ago, said there was a lesson in the fate of the company.

“I hope the story of Bench goes on to become a warning for VCs (venture capitalists) that think they can ‘upgrade’ a company by replacing the founder. It never works,” he said.

The University of British Columbia Sauder Business School alumnus said he had been avoiding speaking publicly about Bench since his exit but wanted to make a statement in light of the company’s demise.

He said that in 2021 he had been battling with some board members over their strategy for a “new direction” that he thought was a “very bad idea.” 

“Rather than continuing to fight with me, they opted to just replace me, thinking that they could run the company better themselves,” he said.

“I was totally convinced that their approach would destroy the company. I opted to resign rather than fight.”

Kaz Nejatian, COO of Bench investor Shopify, agreed with Crosby.

“Bad investors destroyed a great Canadian company by replacing the founder with so-called professionals,”  Nejatian said on social media platform X.

Other bookkeeping companies were quick to reach out to Bench’s former clients, with rivals such as Acuity and Better Bookkeeping making reference to Bench’s closure in social media pitches.

A spokesperson for B.C.’s Jobs Ministry said they were looking into a request for comment.