ERP and accounting software in Montreal

Doing business in Montreal

The Ville de Montréal counted about 1.76 million residents in the 2021 census, and Statistics Canada puts the business locations with employees inside the city at about 58,000. Software and AI firms fill the lofts of Mile End, life-science companies gather in the Saint-Laurent technoparc, and importers and forwarders work around the Old Port and the Port of Montréal.

A Montreal company registers with the Registraire des entreprises du Québec, often joins the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal and files both GST and QST with Revenu Québec rather than the CRA. Add the French-language rules for invoices and the paperwork doubles quickly. Skyline Nexus ERP keeps sales documents, both sales taxes and the general ledger in one place.

Modules Montreal businesses start with

• Accounting and branches
• CMMS and maintenance
• Projects and job costing
• Manufacturing (MES)
• Multi-branch POS

AI, video game and software studios

Montreal studios, whether a game developer in Mile End or an AI start-up near McGill University and the Université de Montréal, are funded through publisher milestones, client contracts and research money all at once. Each stream carries its own reporting, and many studios set up a separate company per title or per research programme to keep every claim clean.

Skyline Nexus ERP answers that with a Projects module in which each title or contract has tasks, milestones, a budget and its contract terms, plus project and cost-centre tags on every journal line. Each company keeps its own ledger, the Consolidation screens combine them for the group, and Budget vs Actual shows an overspending production before the milestone payment is due.

Life sciences and pharmaceutical production

The CHUM and the McGill University Health Centre anchor a life-sciences cluster that runs from downtown research labs to production sites in the Saint-Laurent technoparc. The smaller firms in that chain, such as contract manufacturers, specialist distributors and equipment service companies, need batch records, expiry control and maintenance histories that hold up when a client or an inspector asks.

The MES manufacturing module in Skyline Nexus ERP covers plants, work centres, routings, bills of materials and production work orders, while lot and expiry reports follow each batch and FIFO costing drives the cost of goods sold. Its CMMS module plans preventive maintenance on production equipment, records work permits and keeps warranty claims against the original supplier.

Finance, insurance and professional firms downtown

Insurers, brokers and wealth managers keep large downtown offices, and around them works a layer of smaller firms: managing general agents, claims adjusters, payment start-ups and accounting practices serving both francophone and anglophone clients. Their books are rarely complex, but they must be tidy, closed on time and easy for an auditor to test.

Skyline Nexus ERP closes each period with a soft close that can be reopened or a lock that cannot, so a filed quarter stays filed. The Audit Trail records who created, approved, posted or reversed each journal, with old and new values, and the AR and AP ageing reports sort what clients and suppliers owe into 30-day buckets.

Compliance for a Montreal business

As of October 2026 a Montreal business charges GST at 5% and QST at 9.975%, 14.975% combined, and files both with Revenu Québec. QST belongs on its own invoice line beside your QST number. Article 57 of the Charter of the French Language requires invoices and receipts in French, another language may sit alongside, and the OQLF fined one company CAD 3,000 in May 2026 over invoices not issued in French.

Canada has no e-invoicing mandate, so PDF invoices from Skyline Nexus ERP are valid, following the federal content tiers at $100 and $500. Restaurants, bars and paid passenger transport are the exception: they must bill through a sales recording system linked to Revenu Québec's WEB-SRM, and Skyline Nexus is not such a system. Records are kept in Canada for 6 years.

Getting started from Montreal

A move to Skyline Nexus ERP from Montreal starts with the lists you already keep: customers and suppliers with their opening balances, the product catalogue, opening stock and the chart of accounts, each loaded through a CSV or Excel import template. Opening balances for the general ledger are keyed into one screen that refuses to save until debits and credits agree.

During the free trial a Montreal team can create the GST and QST rates, prepare a French invoice layout and post test sales before deciding. English-language support is available by WhatsApp, phone and e-mail, though Skyline Nexus keeps no office in Quebec. Manufacturers, studios with several companies and firms that want a fully French workflow should book a demo first.

1. Create the company in CAD and add GST at 5% and QST at 9.975%, combined in one tax group.
2. Adapt an invoice layout so every mandatory mention prints in French, with your GST and QST numbers shown.
3. Load contacts, products, opening stock and the chart of accounts from the CSV or Excel templates.
4. Set up the fiscal year in monthly periods and post a test sale to check both taxes in the ledger.

Questions from Montreal businesses

Does a Montreal business need e-invoicing software in 2026?

No. As of October 2026 there is no e-invoicing mandate in Canada or Quebec, so a Montreal business can issue PDF or paper invoices. Skyline Nexus ERP produces PDF invoices with GST and QST lines; what matters is the content, including your tax numbers from $100, the buyer's details from $500 and the French language required by the Charter.

Can a Montreal restaurant use Skyline Nexus ERP as its cash register?

No. A Montreal restaurant or bar must bill customers through a sales recording system connected to Revenu Québec's WEB-SRM, and Skyline Nexus ERP is not one of those systems. The restaurant keeps that device at the counter and uses Skyline Nexus for supplier invoices, stock per outlet and the general ledger, posting the daily sales totals as a journal.

Does Skyline Nexus ERP suit a video game studio in Montreal?

Yes. A Montreal game studio can open a project per title in Skyline Nexus ERP with milestones, budgets and the publisher contract, and tag every cost to that project and a cost centre. Studios that hold each title in a separate company keep separate ledgers, and the Consolidation screens combine those companies into one set of group reports.

Can a pharmaceutical contract manufacturer in Montreal run production in Skyline Nexus ERP?

Skyline Nexus ERP gives a Montreal contract manufacturer an MES module with plants, work centres, routings, bills of materials and production work orders. Stock reports follow lots and expiry dates, FIFO costing feeds the cost of goods sold, and the CMMS module schedules preventive maintenance on production equipment. Regulated quality systems for batch release remain separate.

Can Skyline Nexus ERP issue invoices in French for Quebec customers?

Skyline Nexus ERP has a Canadian French interface translation, and each business location uses its own invoice layout, so a Montreal location can carry a layout with French headings. During the free trial, print a sample invoice and check that every mandatory mention appears in French before you go live.

How are GST and QST set up in Skyline Nexus ERP?

In Skyline Nexus ERP, GST at 5% and QST at 9.975% are created as two tax rates under Settings and combined in a tax group, so every taxable line in Quebec carries both. The tax report and the tax accounts in the ledger are computed on the same basis, which keeps the Revenu Québec return and the books in step.

What can I import when moving my Montreal company to Skyline Nexus ERP?

Skyline Nexus ERP imports contacts with opening balances, products, opening stock, the chart of accounts, sales and purchases from CSV or Excel templates, and bank statements for reconciliation. A Montreal company enters general ledger opening balances on one balanced screen at the start of a fiscal period and leaves earlier journals in the previous system.

Skyline Nexus ERP is a cloud service run by Skyline Industrial Solution. We have no office in Montreal; support is by WhatsApp, phone and e-mail.

Figures and rules on this page change. This is general information, not tax or legal advice: confirm the current position with the authority named above or your adviser.