Some small business owners love the idea of handling their accounts independently without a professional accountant or accounting firm, as they believe it saves costs and their business account could be more robust for self-management. This ideology might seem tempting, attractive, and beneficial, but it is not. As a business owner, handling your business’s accounts yourself is harmful, especially when the business in question is a small business with growth in mind.
Self-managing your business accounts is not cost-effective like most business owners, as it does have its way of severely impacting the business’s accounts and growth. The business owner can never manage their business’s accounts with the efficiency and productivity that a professional accountant would, even when the business owner is a highly-trained accountant. For business owners who are highly trained in accounting, self-managing their small business’s accounts will be productive in the short run. Still, when the business starts to experience growth, hiring small business accountants is ideal.
Why You Need to Hire a Professional Accountant for Your Business
It gets complicated to manage accounts and other aspects of a business as a business owner because you will need more time and dedication to be productive in all aspects of the business, thus, emphasizing the need for a professional accountant.
However, many business owners choose to manage their accounts because they fear handing over such a critical part of the business to someone they do not know. After all, the person is more trained in that field than them. The narrative for these business owners is that they will learn what there is to know as time progress. Well, the reality is that their fear is understood, but that business will not grow because it might not survive from the trial and error accounting decisions the business owner makes while learning. Or the business will take longer to reach the potential it should reach when a professional supervises and manages the accounts.
In recap, two sets of small business owners feel free to hire professional accountants for their business accounts. The set who thinks it saves costs, and the other who are afraid of entrusting their accounts to someone they do not know. Hiring an accountant for your small business is a cost-effective decision, as it helps the business grow. Likewise, some professional accountants can be entrusted with your small business’s accounts, provided the business owner should make the correct choice.
This article will outline how business owners can find and choose excellent accountants for their small businesses, thus, convincing those who need to trust their business’s accounts in another hand, and those who think not hiring an accountant is a cost-effective option.
Where to Look for Reputable and Excellent Small Business Accountants?
When you search for a professional accountant, you will find many options, some of which are competent or incompetent, trustworthy or untrustworthy, and the real deal or imposters. Hence, you should know how to choose from the lot and make the ideal pick for your business.
The ideal pick is a professional with much experience in managing and supervising small business accounts; there should be excellent communication between the business owner and the professional accountant, the professional should have the correct network (more on this later), and more.
Yes, suggestions from friends, family members, bankers, and accounting bodies listings narrow the search scope, but more is needed. More is required to find an excellent professional accountant for your small business. The first question is deciding if you wish to hire from an accounting firm or an independent accountant. You should determine the ideal tier for your small business if your choice is from a small business accounting firm.
Accounting firms are organized into tiers, where each tier has a specific broad of services they offer and to whom they offer them. There are mainly four tiers for accounting firms, they are;
- Tier 1: These firms function more internationally where they focus on established businesses; thus, they could be better for small business owners.
- Tier 2: Similar to the tier 1 firms, they function internationally and offer services to established businesses. Although they do not have the size that tier 1 firms have, nor do they offer services to established businesses with significant size.
- Tier 3: These firms have a network that includes partners in national and international communities. Their focus is offering services to small businesses; thus, small business owners can start their search with them.
- Tier 4: These firms include smaller firms that do not have the partner size of tier 3, 2, and 1 firms, but they focus on small businesses and salary earners.
From the above information, small business owners are advised to start their search from tier 3 and 4 firms if they wish to hire an accounting firm. Still, there is more these business owners can do to ensure they hire excellent accounting services for their small businesses.
Top-notch Tips for Choosing the Right Professional Accountant for Your Small Business or Home Business
These tips are helpful irrespective of your decision to hire an independent accountant or from an accounting firm; they ensure you make an excellent pick and get excellent accounting service. They include:
- Know what you want from your accountant: You want to start by listing out all you need from an accountant, as this list will help you know what accounting services to look for when hiring. The list should be inclined toward the business’s financial goals, although, after hiring, the accountant will help set and achieve realistic financial goals for the business.
- Ask for credentials or certification: An excellent accountant should be recognized by an accredited body and updated on all the recent tax development and development in other financial institutions that impact businesses. There are primarily three recognized bodies known to offer certification to professional accountants. They are Certified Accountants (CA), Certified Practicing Accountants (CPA), and National Institute for Accountants (NIA). Hence, look for certification from any of these bodies.
- Conduct evaluations: As mentioned earlier, excellent communication and clear interest in the business are vital in ensuring excellent accounting, especially for small businesses. Hence, you should call the accountants on your list and ask to schedule a meeting. This meeting should come at no cost and is aimed at determining specific factors. The factors include the level of communication between the professional and the business owner (client), the professional’s level of interest in the business, the services offered by the accountant and how they satisfy your accounting needs, the accountant’s network from lawyers to bankers, and more, and the cost for accounting services.
- Decide: After the meeting, you should reflect on your experience with the accountant. Factors like how comfortable you were in the meeting, how interested the accountant was in your business, and many more are vital in your decision.
Conclusion
Choosing an excellent accountant for your small business is more accessible than many think. This article has outlined vital tips on finding and choosing an excellent small business accountant, thus, making the process less challenging.