How to Choose a Good Accountant

Every growing business will eventually need an accountant. You may be able to self-submit to HMRC for a while but as you continue to grow and take on new staff members and possibly incorporate and become a limited company, you’ll eventually need the services of a competent accountant. Even if you decide to carry on doing your own books you have to ask if that’s the best use of your time and whether that time would be better spent working in your business or better still working on getting new customers for your business.

One of the biggest considerations with hiring an accountant is trust. They get to see to see the inner workings of your finances and any oversights on their part may land you in hot water with HMRC. Therefore you need a trustworthy professional.  A personal referral is probably the best but you want to see at least some reviews on their website or even better on places like Google My Business or Yelp. If you’re unable to find either of these then they should at least seem trustworthy and be able to answer some of the basic questions you may have.

Next, you need them to understand your particular business and also whether you’re self-employed or run a limited company. You’ll need to know whether they work with other companies that do what you do. And always enquire if they regularly work with sole traders or do most of their clients run limited companies, as this is very important.

You’ll also want them to be certified and accredited with the respected regulatory bodies of the accountancy industry. The most well known certification in the UK is the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and this allows you to set up and run an accountancy business or work for another firm with this certification. Beyond that the Chartered Institute of Management Accountant (CIMA) certification is good if you plan to work with businesses rather than as part of an accountancy firm. CIMA management accountants are more likely to be employed within a company than in an accountancy practice.

Finally, it is always a good idea to ask them how they like to communicate. Is it all by e-mail or are they happy to jump on the phone to answer any queries you may have. Are they available for in person appointments and how quickly do they respond to queries? These are all good things to know before you consider using their services.

So there you have it, several very important questions to ask and points to consider when looking to hire an accountant. Make sure you have most if not all of these squared away when you pull the trigger on hiring an accountancy firm.