As the saying goes; as a doctor is to a patient as an accountant is to business. An accountant is also an engineer of business. Thus, finding a competent accountant is almost as important as choosing a business partner.
If luck and God’s help seem to fall upon you, you are able to find the competent one among them, your money is in good hands and will ensure you navigate smoothly through tax changes and the paperwork chaos that comes with them, but the one that is not so competent can cause you a severe headache, In fact you will regret to have ever made decision of hiring one to handle your tasks.
If you find one that is not only having moral, but also intelligent and trustworthy, as earlier on said, you just found the right business partner that will take your business to the peak of success, as he/she will professionally help you in numerous ways: accounting and bookkeeping, tax advice, auditing, and as a professional, he/she will be providing you with some good business and financial pieces of advice.
The fact has that, as a decision can build a business, likewise, it can ruin the business totally, if the wrong one is made. Taking decisions relating to finance is one of the most delicate things in an organization that requires being done by intelligent personnel, in this light, it is in your interest to hire intelligent and experienced one.
I know you won’t like to see your business down neither want to run bankruptcy, in order avoid these, take a look and see what you need to pay attention to when choosing an accountant.
How Importance Location Is to You
It is important to ascertain the effect of your potential employee location on your business. If you know the accountant location is not an issue at all, then no problem, you can agree to adopt an online system of transaction, which implies you can hire anywhere across the globe, but if you value face-to-face interaction, you’ll need to limit your search to accountants in your area only.
Ask For References and Check Certifications
Before choosing an accountant of your interest, evaluate years of his/her experience and necessary credentials. Handling over of delicate financial information to naive personnel can cost an entrepreneur the whole business resources and objectives at a click of a button.
For instance, UK has two leading accountancy qualifications; Chartered Accountants (FCA or ACA) and Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA or ACCA), these or one of these qualifications is necessary for your accountant to have.
It is advisable you take your time out and browse through various professional bodies’ certificates he/she claims to have obtained to ensure the skills on their profile are up-to-date, this will give the right to lodge a complaint or even ask for compensation in case the accountant causes any financial harm to your business.
In this kind of situation, consulting the previous clients can be necessary, in fact, it can be of help to know the quality of services he/she rendered during their business deal, this shouldn’t be a problem provided the accountant is real and not mere an accountant with quite a few sideway experiences.
LinkedIn, is also there to do a quick search and dig a little deeper into each candidate’s background, this is an opportunity to access their connections, recommendations and years of experience.
Accountant’s Experience Must Tally With Your Tasks
Accounting is a profession with many branches performing different tasks. Make sure the accountant you will hire is used to performing the type of tasks that you need. Hire the one that performs the tasks relating to your business, this will go a long way in ensuring the right things are done at the right place thereby augmenting your business.
Quality interview has to be done for the interested candidates before deciding on whom to choose. If properly done, you will be able to evaluate the candidate of your choice; the one that can work with you will easily be shown by the character he/she displays in the course of the interview.
Get all information as much as possible, know the tasks they are familiar with whether it suits your needs or not, their experience in market sectors, companies. Always be yourself when deciding on whom to choose. You are the owner of your business as well as the resources to handle, thus, utilize your effort to the fullest to ensure you hire the one that best suits your needs.
Negotiate Fees and Services Provided
During the interview, do well to negotiate prices amicably. Everyone knows the reward of labor is wages as thus, it’s imperative to discuss this with your potential accountant as this will help you make an informed decision and as well allow you to compare the prices of all interested applicants.
Accountants have no conventional method of charging their work some prefer to charge per hour, some might charge a monthly set amount, others might charge a percentage of your turnover. To avoid disagreement aggravated by price differences in future, it is good to negotiate and agree upon a certain amount before you give him work.
Moreover, ask from the onset how to quickly get in touch with them in case you have any question you need to ask; it might be through either phone or email. It’s very important you know this. Once you find the right accountant for you, it is necessary to establish some sort of formal agreement or contract. Both of you will be able to know your expectations and what to count on.
Hiring an accountant appears tiresome? It’s not all compared to stress and loss you will definitely experience if you don’t do the right thing to employ the right person. He/she is ultimately having access to blood (finance) of your business, so the decision to hire someone to navigate your paperwork and financial decision taken cannot be taken softly.
CONCLUSION
A competent accountant’s service is needed for the survival of your business, in that while, you are advised to conduct some thorough research and make sure you employ experienced and reliable one.