Business Advice

Find your perfect partner … in your accountant!

31/05/11

By Emily Coltman, Chief Accountant at online accounting provider FreeAgent

You may think picking an accountant for your business might not be as important as choosing a romantic partner, but it certainly comes close.

In many aspects of life finding that perfect partner can make a huge difference to how you fare and accounting (of course!) is no different.

When you’re in business a really good accountant can be your perfect partner.

But there are thousands of accountants out there.

So how do you find your perfect partner?

What do you want?

In any relationship it’s important to know what you want from that relationship.

What do...

...you want from your accountant?

Are you already comfortable putting your books together, or would you like an accountant to teach you how to do that? Some accountants will provide a software package that you can use to keep your books, either one they have built themselves, or a third party package such as FreeAgent.

Do you want to pay your accountant as little as possible, or would you like a more comprehensive service that includes additional advice, such as helping you pay less tax?

Would you like your accountant to actively engage with HM Revenue on your behalf? If you are selected for the dubious honour of an inspection by the VAT man, would you like your accountant to be there to help you answer the inevitable questions?

How IT-savvy are you, and how important is it to you that your accountant is also IT-savvy? In a relationship it’s important that you share interests and ideals. If you want to keep your books online, and you like using Twitter and LinkedIn to promote your business, how happy would you be with an accountant who isn’t au fait with online bookkeeping software, and doesn’t tweet or use LinkedIn?

How important... continued on page two >

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