How To Choose The Right Accountant For Your Small Business

Accountants, like super heroes, are all made different. They offer different services, they solve different problems and some wear great outfits.

But how do you know who to pick for a job?

It comes down to figuring out what you need help with so that you can find the best services to match your needs.

Here’s a quick guide to what different accountants offer:

1) Accounting and Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping is the recording, storing and retrieving of financial transactions for a company. This includes common transactions such as billing for goods sold or services provided to clients, recording receipts from customers, and verifying and recording invoices from suppliers. Many companies like to take care of bookkeeping themselves because if the CRA examines their records, the bookkeeper is responsible for their accuracy.

Accountants usually help with bookkeeping by helping you to set up accounting systems and teaching you how to use them. For example we can train you how to use Xero or QuickBooks Online, two types of easy to use cloud-based bookkeeping and accounting software. The benefits of these systems are pretty sweet including paperless expense management and reduced human data entry errors. If you would rather leave your bookkeeping up to the experts, we can take care of that for you too.

2) Business Advisory Services

One of the top reasons small businesses fail is because they don’t have a business plan. The good news is you have a simple solution. You can ask the person who knows everything about your financial statements, your business and your personality how to move your business forward. Who is this person? You guessed it, your trusty accountant. Why reinvent the wheel by trying to figure out everything on your own when you have a professional who can do accounting for you?

3) Tax Advice

It’s always a good idea to not break the law when starting a small business, and what’s one of the best ways not to break the law? Get an accountant who can give you tax advice. They will help you abide by tax laws, and they will also help you to proactively plan your small business taxes. We can also prepare and file your corporate tax returns for you.

4) Auditing

There are many reasons companies are audited. It could be a request from the CRA to check that your records are accurate, or it could be a request from a bank as a condition for a loan. A typical full audit is where an accountant or other third party gives assurance that a company’s financial information is presented fairly.

So there you have it. These are 4 commons types of accounting services.

What’s next?

If you would like to discuss your favourite childhood superhero, or need help with tax advice, business advisory services, and bookkeeping (we don’t provide auditing services), contact us today. We would love to hear from you.