It is that time again…time to learn how to hire an accountant to help you organize your company’s finances. The end of the calendar year is a good time to think about this.
Yes, it's another task to accomplish in your busy schedule, but hiring someone to balance and keep up with your financials is one of the most important decisions you will have to make as a small business owner. What should you ask before hiring an accountant?
With the assistance of accounting consultant Nicole Wright, here's the Hiring an Accountant Questionnaire.
Feel free to print this questionnaire out and fill in the margins when interviewing your next accountant.
Questions to ask…
Is their error rate less than 1%? (If they say zero, they are full of it).
Number of clients? Number of team members? The team’s chain of command?
What is the range of income they manage per business? What is the mean? What are their tax statistics?
What industry expertise do they have?
Have their clients ever been audited? Why and what happened?
What support with they give your business if you are ever audited by the IRS?
What is their specialty?
Are they personable? (If they are not, they are going to be hard to work with.)
What is their hourly rate?
What do they estimate in total annual fees given your business size and complexity?
Keep in mind…
- You want your accountant to be a perfectionist, but you also want him or her to be efficient. An overt perfectionist takes 3x as long to finish a project which will cost you time and money.
- Referrals are a must! Referrals from past clients prove the accountant’s credibility.
- Hourly rates vary, but the national average rate for a high end accountant is $229/hr.*
Happy Hunting!!!
*Based on a 2010 survey published by Web CPA
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Hello Dawn,
Happy New Year !
We're looking for a new accoutnant and this will defnitmnley help.
Thanks and all the best to you in in 2013.
Best,
Joseph