Hiring the Perfect Accountant in 5 Simple Steps
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- Milica Rosoka & Erez Davidov
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Being a business owner, establishing a financially stable business should be your top priority. To achieve this, you will need cautious and calculated management and audit, so number 1 on your to-do list should be hiring an accountant.
With this in mind, how do you know who is the right fit for your business?
After all, choosing an accountant is a delicate decision, especially if you are new to the world of business. Surely, even larger businesses have trouble finding the right person or company to meet their requirements.
Hiring the perfect accountant in 5 simple steps shouldn’t be a problem, so here’s how to insure you selected the right one.
Ask For a Referral and Reviews
The first step to hiring a potential accountant for your business is to check out any referrals and reviews. Having another professional that you trust can give you peace of mind. You should request that the referral is someone well informed and reliable in your industry, and can offer you more than just management of the numbers that you presented.
In addition, you can also read online reviews to find someone who suits your business needs. Specializing in different tax needs is a common thing for accountants, so it’s always helpful to check out reviews from various sources.
Certifications
A Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is not the quite same as a Certified Management Accountant (CMA). Both of these certifications have the following requirements:
- Pass their exams
- Meet particular educational requirements for their exams
- Having a work experience
- Continuing education
So, what’s the big difference? A CMA will focus on managing as well as meeting your daily accounting needs. They must have two continuous years of professional experience in financial and/or management accounting.
A Certified Public Accountant (CPA) has broad training but lacks the actual management experience that CMA has. If you need someone to advise you, CPA is an excellent choice whereas if you need help in managing, CMA is the way to go.
Clarify Deadline Time
Something to take into consideration should be the amount of time it takes them to respond to your questions and concerns throughout the year, as well as asking how long it will take to do the actual filing of your taxes. You need to be sure to choose an accountant who can assure you that they will be able to reply to both email and phone inquiries efficiently. This is particularly important during a tax season because a larger number of clients is reaching them.
Also equally important is to enquire about documents you will need to provide, both frequently as well as during tax season. With this in mind, you will know what needs to be done on your end and have a better understanding of the responsibilities that your accountant needs to fulfill.
How Much Will it Cost?
Business owners should know how accountants price their services and hence, one of the first questions in this regard is: how much will it cost?
Upfront, you need to request a list of items of how your accountant is going to determine their fees. You want to be completely clear on the levels of the cost during busy financial periods. However, you need to be aware of what tasks you need to complete. As well as if you need any assistance with less complex tasks.
Factors that are mentioned above could potentially have a significant impact on the cost of what your accountant will charge you in the end. Therefore, make sure that you get a transparent and precise estimate. While asking these cost-related questions, you can be sure that you will not be surprised upon receipt of your accountant’s bill.
Hire an Accountant That You Are Comfortable With
After you have checked the referrals and having an introductory conversation, it’s time to choose someone you’re comfortable with. They will be handling your business’s taxes, after all.
Having that in mind, you should contact your state’s board of accountancy. This can help you make the most professional decision about hiring an accountant. By contacting them, you can see the status of your CPA’s license. And, if they had any experience or disciplinary issues.
Choosing the right accountant for your business is an important decision. So don’t feel any pressure into giving up the gig lightly. Even if the accountant in question is a reputable firm. If a potential hire does not feel right for you, then don’t be afraid to politely decline and continue to look around.
Key Takeaway
The one key to success is to find and partner with an agency that is able to understand exactly what your business needs. Additionally, managers and investors can all seek their expertise as well as advice to make efficient business decisions. Hence, hiring an accountant is not an easy step, it takes time and consistent effort. As with any hiring process, the challenges of recruiting the right accountant are numerous.
Fortunately, you can always overcome these common recruitment challenges by partnering with the right agency. Indeed, working with a professional recruitment agency can help with the various uncertainties that can happen with this process.
That’s why at Your Part Time Accountant, we’re eager to deliver quality customer service. Our first step is always to understand your accounting needs.
We also have the experience to help you on your way to finding the best accountant for your business – contact us today!