5 Clear Indications That You Should Stay With Your Existing Accountant
1) No surprises
If your accountant is providing you with timely warnings of when taxes are due, how much tax is due, and of other key deadlines, then this is a clear indicator that you have someone who is proactively looking over your affairs. This helps to ensure that there are no nasty surprises!
2) You see/hear from your accountant more than once a year
If you are only hearing from and/or seeing your accountant around the time you are due to submit your accounts and tax returns each year, then this is a sign that you might want to reconsider your options.
An accountant providing services to you should be checking in at least twice a year to obtain information from you about both you and your business. This will help to ensure that opportunities (e.g., tax saving opportunities) and risks can be spotted early.
3) They sometimes tell you things you don’t want to hear (but are true)
There’s a saying “the numbers don’t lie”.
As accountants, we sometimes (regrettably) need to deliver news to clients about results or other issues in the business, that are not where we want or expect them to be.
This could be, for example, a cash flow risk we see coming down the track, or profit margins which we might expect to be better based on industry averages.
A good accountant should have the confidence to deliver this type of message to their client in a clear and articulate manner, rather than avoiding the conversation altogether.
By receiving this feedback, it gives the client the opportunity to act and remedy the issue.
4) You are always clear on the meaning of what’s being explained to you by your accountant
If you are being served by an accountant who avoids the use of jargon and illustrates key messages with charts and other diagrams, then this is a good sign.
A key skill of a good accountant is being able to “make the numbers talk”. Any accountant should be able to draw out the key messages from the financials and articulate them to you in a way such that you understand the story of your business from a financial perspective.
5) They think about your personal and business finances interchangeably and look for opportunities to work with other advisors to deliver the maximum benefit to you
A good accountant should be proactively looking at your affairs to spot opportunities and risks so that they can be appropriately addressed.
From time to time, they might suggest and introduce you to other advisors where the need arises. For example, they might introduce you to a financial advisor where you want to look at options for drawing excess cash from your limited company in a tax efficient way. They would then subsequently work with the advisor to ensure your tax and investment affairs are aligned.