ABOUT ACCOLADE
Established in 2003, Accolade Consulting Group Inc. (ACGI) is a London and Kingston-based consulting firm that helps businesses of all sizes secure Investment Tax Credits (ITCs) from the Federal government’s SR&ED program.
ACGI provides highly professional services to clients in many different industries, preparing all of the necessary technical and financial documentation needed to help our clients make a successful claim for SR&ED tax incentives. To date, our report writing staff has never seen a claim refused, while securing millions of dollars in ITCs for our clients.
Our highly professional submissions will ensure that your claim is accepted, and that your company receives the claim you deserve. We save you money, reduce risk and save you time - allowing your company to focus on what it does best.
Our contingency fees are payable only after your company successfully receives a refund and/or tax credit. If your claim is not successful for any reason, there is absolutely no charge for our services!
Accolade’s exceptional service, 100% success rate and zero-risk contingency fee structure are the reasons our company’s slogan is…
“A positive impact on your business”
PETER CHELONIS (P.Eng.)
President and Director of Engineering Services
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Responsible for the technical portion of the claim
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Holds degrees in Biophysics and Chemical/Biochemical Engineering
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10 years of experience in the Tier 1 automotive sector
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Managed Global R&D Department for a $4B tier 1 automotive company, also responsible for setup/implementation of in-house SR&ED systems ($3M claims/year) during this time
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27 years of experience with the SR&ED program, with approximately 17 as a private consultant
BILL PANOPOULOS (MBA)
Vice President and Director of Sales
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Responsible for the financial portion of the claim
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17 years of experience with the SR&ED program as a private consultant
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Keeps Accolade updated on latest developments in the SR&ED program
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Primary correspondent with CRA for all SR&ED-related questions and communication
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Schedules and co-ordinates quarterly visits, training/updating sessions and data capture implementation
Accolade has two partners:
Providing highly professional services to clients in many different industries, Accolade differentiates by using a combined 40 years of experience with the SR&ED program to take as much of the work away from clients as possible. Regular client visits, making sure your staff is updated on program developments, ensuring that an effective data capture system is in place, claiming only what we feel is justified and providing high-quality technical and financial submissions are all desired practises today - but these have been part of our baseline service offering since our fist day in operation. We do more and charge less than our competitors because we seek and value long-term relationships above all else.
In recent years, the SR&ED program has narrowed its view on what constitutes eligible work. As a result, many claims that might have passed a review in previous years are no longer meeting CRA’s requirements. By staying updated on program changes - and especially by improving client data capture systems to a point where we are able to enter and extract better information that meets today’s SR&ED program standards - Accolade has been able to retrain and refocus clients on tightening SR&ED eligibility requirements. This focus helps our customers stay ahead of these and other future changes to the SR&ED program, minimizing the effect on your claims.
We have proudly and purposefully forged open and honest relationships with CRA reviewers through our report writing, data capture systems and our conduct in reviews - as we have always placed a high value on how we represent our clients for maximum long-term benefit. To this end, we emphasize working collaboratively with CRA as well as our clients, to avoid or resolve problems that might arise through any facet of the claim process. In addition, we try to build partnerships between all of our clients and other contacts wherever possible, always with the intention of increasing value for all parties. As a result of our operating philosophy and report quality, we enjoy an unusually close relationship with our local SR&ED reviewer teams and have never encountered a serious problem with any of our submissions. These relationships are an asset to Accolade and an advantage to our clients.
Although predominately based in manufacturing, Accolade has submitted many successful claims regarding food science, food production, aerospace, software development, chemical engineering, rubber development, industrial equipment and automation. This breadth of industry report writing capability demonstrates our firm’s ability to represent clients in any field. While having deep knowledge in a specific industry can be helpful, our 17 years of experience has repeatedly proven that the single most important factor for writing successful technological reports is having a technical background coupled with the discipline, program knowledge and ability to extract information related to eligible versus non-eligible SR&ED activities. This is the unique skill set that distinguishes Accolade; we do not simply provide adequate SR&ED technological reports – we use our combined abilities to extract reliable information and provide dependable descriptions of eligible activities that satisfy the requirements of an ever-changing SR&ED program.