How to Find the Right Accountant: Finding an Accountant that Gels with Your Company

Determining What Kind of Accountant Your Business Needs

Of course, there are countless accountants out there, but you can narrow the playing field by determining what you need. Consider the above questions and think about whether you just need someone to file your taxes or someone to assist with bookkeeping, cost and profitability planning, and other services. Depending on what you need, you might look for accountants with different qualifications.

Key Qualifications for Choosing the Right Accountant

If you’re not sure how to find the right accountant, assessing the following qualifications can help:

• Bachelor’s (or master’s) degrees in accounting
• Certifications like CPA (Certified Public Accountant)
• Experience in your industry
• Clear, effective communication
• Experience with the accounting software you use

If you’re on a tight budget, you may need to strike a balance between qualification and cost. After all, every business wants a highly qualified, experienced accountant, but in some cases, their rates may be prohibitively expensive.

How to Know if an Accountant Is a Good Fit for Your Company

When you’re mulling over how to find a good business accountant, it’s easy to focus exclusively on their qualifications, but maximizing your chances of success means finding an accountant who fits in with your company and your team.

To accomplish that, you must take a comprehensive look at each candidate. In-person Interviews (or at least conducting interviews face-to-face over video) is an important step. Through these, along with phone calls and other direct contacts, you can gauge a person’s communication style and get a sense of a given candidate’s preferred strategies and risk tolerance, among other qualities.

If a candidate has experience in your industry, asking for references is another essential step. You can ask past employers if the accountant worked well as part of a team and performed job duties successfully.

Tips for Hiring an Accountant that Gels with Your Company

Finding an accountant who possesses the necessary experience and certifications (and also gels with your company) can often prove to be difficult. Here are a few tips to help you through the process:

• Assess how complex your company finances are and find out whether the candidate has experience with similarly complex situations
• Come up with interview questions that assess how the candidate would handle various work challenges
• Look for soft skills as well as qualifications
• Determine whether the candidate has experience within your industry
• Make it a point to evaluate personality traits to see if the candidate would get along with your team.
• Make a note of the types of accounting software the candidate is familiar with
• If possible, involve other employees in the interview and decision-making process

Knowing how to find an accountant for small businesses is important, so it is a good idea to decide what questions to ask beforehand so you can accurately compare all applicants.

The Benefits of Working with an Outsourced Accounting Firm

In most cases, businesses don’t need a full-time accountant, so when you’re considering how to pick a good accountant, consider working with an outsourced firm. When you outsource your finances, you get the benefit of working with a financial expert without having to pay an employee’s salary and benefits.

Even if you need full-time employees, an outsourced accounting firm is a great temporary solution. A firm can help you develop accounting department structure best practices and offer suggestions on how to select the best employees.