Choosing the right accountant for business is one of the very important business decisions. The right accountant will be instrumental in handling tax law compliance efficiently and in money management. A qualified accountant will be able to save the most in taxes by calculating all required exemptions and allowances. But sometimes, businesses land with the wrong choice of accountants not effective enough to deal with financials.
This article will tell you if you have made the right choice and what your accountant may be doing wrong.
Less transparency
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When the accountants don’t discuss much the tax management and money management strategies, then this is a bad sign. Even though you might not know much about accounting, it is the primary duty of the accountant to explain their work to you. Find accountants who agree to share all their strategies and make you understand their work.
Missing deadlines frequently
Be it internal or external. Deadlines are very important when it comes to tax management as exceeding deadlines attract fines and penalties. Running late on deadlines frequently shows poor time management. So this is a red flag.
Not aware of the latest updates
If you have a clue that your accountant is not aware of the latest tax reforms and operates without harnessing the potentials of the latest accounting developments, then this is a warning sign. Accounting has witnessed many reforms and the non-conformance to these reforms will cost the business. Good accountants will make the best use of the latest technologies and will be up to date on the tax reforms. They apply them to your business to make your accounting process easy.
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They suggest illegal tax evasion strategies
This is a big NO. If your accountants suggest schemes to evade tax through offshore companies or trusts, then stay away from them. Because it’s not only the penalty that you have to be worried about, but also that these schemes are traps which will engulf all your money. Good accountants know the difference between saving tax and evading tax. And hence they suggest only the legitimate ways to save tax.
Blaming the previous accountants
Professional accountants remain professional at all times and won’t blame your previous accountants for each and every issue that arises. Professional accountants understand the reason why you hired a new accountant in the first place. So they take steps to sort out the accounting issues instead of blaming the previous accountants. So if your accountant keeps blaming previous accounts, it’s time to look for a new one.
Not spending enough time with you
While hiring an accountant, you need to ask how much time and in what frequency they will be spending their time with you. Good accountants set a specific timeframe, frequency while signing up with you and honour them. If your accountant does not meet or respond to you when you need them the most, then you can look for another accountant.
Honouring confidentiality
This is the most important of all the qualities. All accountants either competent or incompetent should follow a strong code of confidentiality. This goes without saying. If you have doubts and reasons to believe that your accountant does not honour confidentiality, then you don’t have to think twice about firing them.
Finding an accountant
Find an accountant who has the right set of skills and qualities that meets your need. You can read this article on how to find an accountant to get some ideas. You can find local accountants through a web search or accountants near you using online services to land with the best accountant.
Outbooks provides Self Assessment Tax Returns Service across the UK & Ireland. We have a team of over 150 across 4 delivery centers in India, and have been in the business for the past 9 years helping our clients save over 50% on their costs.
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