When you first set your business up more often that not you end up doing everything yourself. This usually involves all of the tasks from answering the telephone, invoicing, to cleaning the office not to mention actually doing the work that your clients pay you for.
If your business starts to expand, you have less and less time to carry out all of these extra tasks and at some point you get to the situation where you can't do everything yourself and you stat looking around for people to help. The first person that you should think about hiring is an accountant. But choosing the right accountant for your business isn't as straight forwards as you might think. To help you out, here are some things to think about when choosing.
Make sure that the accountant you select is qualified. There are always people that have done some invoicing work before and possibly can do it very well but until the Inland Revenue ask to have a look at your books you will never be sure that they are doing the job correctly. If this occurs then you really want the security of knowing that your books have been professionally prepared by a qualified accountant who is up-to-date with current tax laws and allowances.
Choose an accountant that you feel that you can have a genuine professional relationship with. When you start looking around you could possibly find a divide in the type of accountants you turn up. One one side will quite often be the bigger accounting firms where you generally don't speak to the same person twice. On the other side will be the small accounting firms that tend to deal with businesses in their local area. The more personal attention that you receive from a smaller accounting firm often suits a small to medium sized business better. This is because it is often easier to build up a strong working relationship between businesses of similar sizes.
Make sure that whoever you select, they are someone who understands how your business works. You normally find that with larger accounting firms, they tend to specialise in certain areas of business. Smaller accounting firms tend to have a wider experience in dealing with different business types. Who ever you choose, making sure that your accountant understands how your business operates is essential for them to carry out the best job they can for you.
Ensure that the account you choose can offer you a broad range of accounting services. Check to see what services your account can provide and what level of service you will be getting for your money. At the basic level most accountants will file your tax return to the Inland revenue for you and should the need arise be able to present all of the relevant documents needed for a financial audit. Some accountants offer additional services such as keeping track of your business performance and helping with your business planning, they can also work along side and support your management team.
Make sure that you interview the accountant before choosing and don't just interview one. Choose two or three accountants that you feel are the best options and compare their services, their prices, their understanding of your type of business and very importantly, how well you get along with them.
If your business starts to expand, you have less and less time to carry out all of these extra tasks and at some point you get to the situation where you can't do everything yourself and you stat looking around for people to help. The first person that you should think about hiring is an accountant. But choosing the right accountant for your business isn't as straight forwards as you might think. To help you out, here are some things to think about when choosing.
Make sure that the accountant you select is qualified. There are always people that have done some invoicing work before and possibly can do it very well but until the Inland Revenue ask to have a look at your books you will never be sure that they are doing the job correctly. If this occurs then you really want the security of knowing that your books have been professionally prepared by a qualified accountant who is up-to-date with current tax laws and allowances.
Choose an accountant that you feel that you can have a genuine professional relationship with. When you start looking around you could possibly find a divide in the type of accountants you turn up. One one side will quite often be the bigger accounting firms where you generally don't speak to the same person twice. On the other side will be the small accounting firms that tend to deal with businesses in their local area. The more personal attention that you receive from a smaller accounting firm often suits a small to medium sized business better. This is because it is often easier to build up a strong working relationship between businesses of similar sizes.
Make sure that whoever you select, they are someone who understands how your business works. You normally find that with larger accounting firms, they tend to specialise in certain areas of business. Smaller accounting firms tend to have a wider experience in dealing with different business types. Who ever you choose, making sure that your accountant understands how your business operates is essential for them to carry out the best job they can for you.
Ensure that the account you choose can offer you a broad range of accounting services. Check to see what services your account can provide and what level of service you will be getting for your money. At the basic level most accountants will file your tax return to the Inland revenue for you and should the need arise be able to present all of the relevant documents needed for a financial audit. Some accountants offer additional services such as keeping track of your business performance and helping with your business planning, they can also work along side and support your management team.
Make sure that you interview the accountant before choosing and don't just interview one. Choose two or three accountants that you feel are the best options and compare their services, their prices, their understanding of your type of business and very importantly, how well you get along with them.
About the Author:
Neil Houghton Bristol Accountants have over 25 years of experience looking after the accounting needs of a diverse range of businesses and can offer your company a very broad range of accounting services. Bristol Accountants
