As a business owner, having a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) on your team greatly benefits you. CPAs don’t just add up numbers and prepare the essential accounting sheets, but their role is much more integral to running a business. Over the past decade, their professional role has changed along with the nature of international trade and finance in general. Their scope of work now encompasses a wide range of critical consulting services such as profit enhancement, risk management, and even recommending new technology. Additionally, CPAs have the license to audit and review financial statements and represent you with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Considering their importance, you must be very careful while hiring a CPA.
To help you find the perfect CPA for your business, we have listed some crucial factors to keep in mind:
- Integrity
Integrity should be one of your top priorities while looking for a CPA. Your accountant should take measures to protect the confidentiality of your data. They should ensure the physical safety of the workplace, use encryption software on computers, and hire trustworthy staff. In addition, they should offer you ethical guidance that is in line with the rules governing accounting practices.
A CPA who thinks outside the box is a great asset for any company. Yet, at the same time, you should be wary of a specialist who goes too far in that direction and comes up with questionable solutions.
- Experience
An established track record is usually reassuring, more so when someone is handling your financial affairs. To begin with, ask family members, colleagues, and friends if they know an experienced CPA. Additionally, delve into professional websites and search through trustworthy customer reviews online.
A professional who’s cracked CPA through industry-recognized Wiley CPA Prep and has a long streak of satisfied customers is likely to have the experience necessary to do a good job for you. Many businesses agree to work with an inexperienced professional to save money. However, they usually get mediocre accounting services, which costs them more money in the long run.
- Communication Skills
Good communication is at the forefront of a successful working relationship. CPAs are no exception to that rule.If a CPA falls short of the communication skill standard, working with them will not be worthwhile. Since a CPA is responsible for gathering information from your employees, they must know how to effectively communicate with a wide range of people of various seniority levels.
A competent CPA would also know how to address difficult concepts and summarize them in simple terminology. If a session with a CPA leaves you perplexed, keep interviewing until you meet someone who is not a jargon cruncher. Look for an expert who can explain figures and tax rules at a level you understand and is a pleasant conversationalist.
When interviewing a consulting firm, you should address specific questions about how they will interact with you if you become one of their clients. What is the ideal time to get in touch with them? Do they prefer to communicate via email, phone, or in-person? If your communication preferences do not match, try to find common ground.
- Transparency
Another hallmark of a good CPA is that they are ready to discuss your specific circumstances.No matter how complicated your tax situation is, a CPA should be able to talk and learn about your tax issues. When looking for an accountant, you want someone who will go above and beyond for you, addressing your questions honestly and searching for the optimal answers.
- License
The CPA license demonstrates that they have a solid grasp of various accounting concepts, such as financial reporting, corporate law and ethics, and auditing. Sadly, many pretend to beCPAsto deceive individuals and businesses for money and steal their personal information. Fortunately, AICPA keeps a database of legitimate CPAs. You can look for accountants with active licenses through its membership groups or linked state resources.
- Industry Knowledge
Look for a CPA who is knowledgeable about your industry. Rest assured,you will get the most out of your time together if you work with someone who understands the nature of your business and can anticipate its financial or tax concerns. Indeed,a CPA’s job is to use their knowledge of numbers and statistics to develop company strategies and solutions. That means they can provide excellent advice and tailor-made suggestions if they have served a specific industry for some time.
- Detail-Oriented
When dealing with numbers, it is essential to pay minute attention to every single one. Employers and clients alike can suffer if there are even minor errors. Reputable CPAs double-check their work. The profession of accounting teaches its practitioners to never take anything for granted. When a good CPA notices something that does not make sense, they bend over backward to verify it before moving further.
- Keeping Up with Trends
Keeping up with accounting trends is one of the essential traits of a savvy CPA professional. Trends hit the market and fade away regularly.Not tracking these developments can hurt your company’s day-to-day operations. A CPA who is up to date on the most recent trends is in the best position to provide an objective assessment.That way, they can steer your company towards growth and long-term success.
- Technological Know-How
Since the turn of the millennium, technology has grown exponentially. It has significantly influenced how businesses go about their day-to-day processes, and accounting is one of them. Electronic accounting has almost completely replaced manual accounting. In addition to reducing errors, this has also improved reporting. So be sure to pick a CPA who leverages technology in their accounting practices.
Among other things, your CPA should be familiar with cloud-based tools and can use them to streamline the data. That way, accessing your data becomes as simple as logging on from anywhere at any time. This fluidity and accessibility mean that you will avoid the hassle of contacting people to provide you with numbers before making an important decision. With just a few clicks, you will haveall the important statistics at your disposal.
Conclusion
When running a business, a CPA could be one of your best allies. They play a pivotal role in helping you identify your company’s financial strengths and weaknesses. Since many CPAs claim to be the best in the business, you need to walk the tight line of the tips listed above to get hooked up with the one that fits your business requirements. The process might be time-consuming, but the endeavor will pay off big time.
