7 Great Tips For Choosing An Accountant For Your Business
Oct 22, 2009 accountancy
Every business, regardless of its size, needs an accountant to look after the reporting of its finances. With financial reporting being something that has to be done right, first time around, then it is of the utmost importance to employ the services of a professional and efficient accountant.
With so many accountants to choose from those, getting the right for the job is no easy task. These 7 tips will go a long way towards making it easier for you though…
1) Analyze your own needs. Do you just need someone to help you meet your statutory requirements? If so, then a larger, reputable, brand name accountancy firm will probably be your best option. However, if you are looking for specific help and someone to help guide your business financially on a regular basis, then a smaller, more responsive firm would probably be better.
2) Meet them in person before committing. The initial meeting should be free, with a partner, and will allow you and the accountancy firm to see whether there is a match between what you are looking for, and their ability to provide it.
3) Make sure the accountant is transparent about pricing. A reputable firm will be completely ‘up-front’ about pricing, and should make very clear what you can expect to pay for their services, and on what terms.
4) Request testimonials from existing clients. The testimonials should be more than just a list of company names – ask for the names of senior people within client companies, with contact details. Even better, take client names from the website and call them unprompted; this may garner a more honest opinion.
5) Visit their website. What is your general impression of their company website? Is it easy to navigate and find what you’re looking for? Is it up to date? Though not a conclusive factor in itself, a company who put time and effort into their website are more likely to make good use of technology within their services.
6) Use the internet for research. Enter the name of the accountancy firm into Google and look through the results brought up. What you are looking for is recommendations and comments in general. Forums on your best bet as what is written there is almost certainly going to be unbiased. Be prepared to spend 15 minutes or so going through at least the first 5 pages of results.
7) Evaluate their response times. If you fired off an email enquiry, how quickly did they respond? The chances are that the speed and comprehensiveness with which they answer your initial questions, will be reflected in their ongoing service.
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Tags: accountancy, business, Small Business