How to find an Accounting Firm
At some point your business will likely find that it needs an accountant. When you first start out you can probably keep the books yourself but as your company grows you will probably find that it is becoming too big of a job. Even if you do keep your own books you will probably want an accountant to help you deal with your taxes. There are a lot of options when ti comes to choosing an accounting firm and it can be hard to know what to look for in an accountant. The most important thing is to keep in mind why you need an accountant, this should make finding the right one fairly straightforward.
The first thing that you are going to need to do when you are looking for an accountant is decide what you need the accountant to do. There is a huge difference between balancing the books and filing your taxes. If you need to prepare financial statements that is another matter altogether and usually requires a specialist accountant to audit them. These days accountants can often be involved in the actual decisions you make in running your company by offering advice, if you want this type of service you will need to find an experienced management accountant.
The next consideration is do you want a large accounting firm or a small company or even just an individual accountant. Each offers it's advantages and disadvantages and your choice will depend largely on what kind of services you need. A large accounting firm offers the advantage of having accountants who specialize in virtually every area of the profession. This means that you will always have access to a specialist and is great if you have a lot of different accounting needs. The downside is that you will be dealing with somebody different every time and they will not have a chance to really understand your business. The advantage of a small firm is just the opposite, you will work with the same accountant all the time and he will be able really get to know you and your business, however he likely won't have access to specialists that you may need. The choice you make will largely depend on the size and complexity of your company.
Once you know what you are looking for you can start to assess the firms, you should try to get a referral from other business people who are happy with their accountants. Once you have narrowed down your list you should get a copy of their client list so you can see if they represent companies that are similar in size to yours and see that they have experience in your industry. You should also ask the accounting firm to provide you with references that you can contact. Most importantly you will want to meet with a potential accountant and make sure that you are comfortable with him.
