- Interview accountants
- Build a relationship with one and have regular review meetings
- Consider if you want accountant to handle bookkeeping as well
Find a Business Accountant
|
|
Even if you decide to keep the books in your office, having a relationship with an accountant can help. This is especially true near the end of the year and at tax time.
We generally meet with our accountant in December for a year-end planning meeting. He reviews the reports from our bookkeeping software and we review any strategies that may reduce our tax liability. We also calculate how much personal tax we may owe and then we make extra tax withholding payments in our payroll.
You will probably want to interview more than one accountant to see what type of person you relate best to. In our case, we found someone who is very down to earth and keeps it simple. You can check what professional certifications they have. One to consider is EA - or Enrolled Agent. This means they are ready to represent you in front of the IRS.
Your accountant can also help make sure you are entering information correctly into the software and can set-up special entries. For example, our accountant set-up the entry for the payroll. Now it is a routine matter each pay period of copying the figures from the payroll company's report and entering them into our software.
If you desire, you can of course find an accountant who will also handle the bookkeeping. In this case, they may work at your office or have you send them key documents and they will take care of at their office. I like knowing every number that goes into the bookkeeping software, but other people may have no interest in doing this in house. Another advantage of doing ourselves is the speed. We can generate an invoice as needed and our balances are kept up to the day accurately.
To find a Certified Public Accountant in your area, click here.
©2002 Track Marketing Group, Inc. - All Rights Reserved.