There is a great quote in an article title “Accountant 101: Finding the Right Match” by Tom Harnish.
“Do you want to eat well or sleep well?”
In this economic environment most business want to cut costs (“eat well”) versus investing additional dollars in professional services. However a great certified public accountant will not only allow you to eat and sleep well but will usually be able to deliver savings that exceed the increase in professional fees.
A few examples of how the right CPA can help your business are as follows:
CPA prepared financials enjoy the following benefits from bankers and lenders over client prepared documents. 1) Greater comfort in CPA financials, 2) higher loan approval rates, and 3) typically lower interest rate.
Tax projections for you and your business:
We have always encouraged our clients to have tax projection. Some of the reasons for this are to avoid any last minute surprises at April 15, as well as doing some tax planning before year end, i.e. changing your accounting method, placing assets in service etc. Projections are extremely important this year due to the higher tax rates that will be in place on January 1, 2011. Is your CPA doing a projection for you and the necessary tax planning? If not they could be costing you big money.
Harnish’s article does mention a few ideas on how to find a good accountant such as referrals from clients, attorneys and bankers. These are great ways to find a good accountant however you also need to check their background with the various state accountancy boards and license divisions. In Michigan you are able to find out the license status and whether there have been any disciplinary actions taken against the CPA or the CPA firm. To check the status of a CPA in Michigan please click the follow Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth link Verify a License.
To read more from Mr. Harnish’s article please click the following link Accountant 101 Finding the Right Match.
This article was written by Jay Kossen, CPA at Numerico, PC. Click here to view Numerico’s website.
