Many self-employed people and small-sized business owners take care of their own finances, instead of hiring an accountant, as an effort to reduce their overall costs. However, after a certain timeframe, they realize that tax planning is simply too time-consuming, preventing them to deal with the original business needs.
Therefore, many of them, after a long period of hesitation, decide to employ the services of personal tax accountants, getting rid of the tedious finance work.
These tips will help you hire the right professional for your needs.
Employ various methods of research
The initial point of your research should be asking for recommendations from other company owners in your business area. Since your business probably has similar accounting needs with the other ones in your industry, it’s logical to inquire about someone who has already been through the same process.
Moreover, in case you don’t want to ask for personal recommendations, make sure you do thorough online research on all the licensed accountants in your local area. Since you’re supposed to closely collaborate with this professional, it’s essential for the accounting firm to be based in the same location as your business.
While doing your online research, don’t make the ultimate decision, based on the information you read on the official websites. What you need is an objective opinion regarding their services, which you can either get by going through reviews on forums and specialized review sites or ask the candidates themselves for referrals from past clients. Reliable accounting firms will provide you with a portfolio of previous clients on their own, without even requesting for it yourself.
Select the type of firm you wish to work with
When it comes to selecting an accountant, you’re basically faced with two alternatives. You can either hire one, employed by a large firm or a professional who runs its own business. Read more about the difference between both alternatives. The former alternative is more suitable for owners of big companies, which require a wider range of services and more than one employee to perform the job.
On the other hand, small companies are better suited with individual CPA and Accountants who either own an office or work from the comfort of their own home. As long as your requirements don’t involve special kinds of services, it’s wiser to go with the second alternative, as these practitioners would charge you less money than hotshot professionals in large firms would. Most of the practitioners working from their home offices charge less mainly due to not paying rent for an actual office.
Conduct interviews
After composing your preliminary list of candidates, it’s high time to contact each of them and schedule an interview in order to gather all the indispensable information. It’s extremely important to be highly observing during the interviews in order to assess the candidates’ expertise as well as their overall communication skills and behavior.
In addition, try leading the interviews by asking as many relevant questions as possible, in terms of their experience in this field, number of employees, types of services and referrals from past clients. Another important aspect to tackle is certainly the timeframe in which they’re able to deliver their services, as respecting deadlines is particularly important in this field.
Moreover, make sure you ask each candidate to provide you with a quote, in order to see if their fees fit your budget. Accounting fees largely depend on the amount of work as well as the accountants’ experience. For instance, senior professionals have significantly higher fees than junior ones. In case you need some basic services, then hiring a junior professional might also be a good idea.
In terms of behavior, it’s imperative for you as a client to feel comfortable sharing information with the person you’ll hire. Make sure he/she is a good listener and explainer since you would need someone to explain everything in a simple manner, not using too many jargon expressions. This link: https://medium.com/@cshikati/the-key-qualities-of-a-good-accountant-d31eef4769af, will provide you with the key qualities to look for in your ideal candidate.
Wrap up
Hiring professional accounting services should be considered as an integral part of every business.
Give it a chance!