Are you interested in hiring a public accounting firm to service your small business? Here are a few things the company you decide to hire should be able to offer:
Monthly Service Fees
One important thing that should be offered by the public accountant or firm you decide to hire for your small business is monthly service fees. Instead of having to pay on an hourly basis, or for each specific service you receive separately, you should be able to pay one flat fee each month in exchange for the services your business benefits from.
Whether you need to have your accounts payable records audited, you want to keep track of employee insurance payments, or it's time to get ready for tax season, the services you opt to receive should be billed under the same plan and for a set price. By knowing exactly what you can expect to pay for each service, you can create a custom service bundle that's easy to fit into your monthly budget.
Scalable Service Options
Just because you choose a certain service package when hiring a public accounting firm doesn't mean that you should have to be stuck with that package for the entire term of your contract. If your business starts growing quickly and you need a bigger accounting team, your service provider shouldn't have any problem assigning the number of accountants you need to your account at any given time. And if your business slows down seasonally, you should be able to scale your accounting services accordingly without delay.
Make sure that the public accounting firm you decide to work with can scale their service offerings to your unique needs on a daily basis. If you'll have to wait a week or more for service changes to become effective after you request them, you may want to keep looking for another firm that can fulfill your needs quickly and effectively.
Ongoing Personal Consultations
You should also be able to schedule personal consultation appointments with your public accounting firm whenever you want to as long as you're a client. While most accounting firms offer a free initial consultation appointment, many require that a fee is paid for any additional consultation meetings that are requested by their clients.
It's crucial to ensure that you and your service provider are always on the same page, and consultation meetings will keep you in touch and help make sure that you're completely aware of how your financial books are being handled. For those reasons make sure that the service provider you decide to hire includes ongoing personal consultations as part of their service fee.
Share10 October 2019
Accounting is the absolute most important element of running a business. If you mess up the bookkeeping even the slightest bit, the entire business could be in trouble. I know how costly a small bookkeeping error can be. About three years ago, I made a seemingly small mistake in the financial records for my business and the next year when I filed my taxes, things were very bad for me. What would have required a small tax payment had suddenly turned into a big tax bill and quite a headache. Since then, I have worked with an accountant and things have been better.