Do I need an accountant?

As with most things the cost of hiring professional accountant is usually well worth the price and usually pays for itself. But there are a few questions you should ask yourself before hiring an accountant.

The obvious questions are: Am I good at the day to day record keeping of my expenses and income? Can I keep accurate records? Do I have the time and ability to keep those records? Would my time be better spent increasing my business and doing what I set out to do when I started the business or keeping the records? Could I make more money by hiring someone with more education and experience to do the accounting for me so I am free to do what I am more experienced in and have the desire to do? Are my accounting needs out of my educational ability? Do I really need some professional advice and expertise to make the best business decisions?

Most business owners have the ability to do their own basic record keeping adequately but the ability to really excel in sales and business building. Those type of business owners would be making more money and building much faster by hiring an accountant to do the accounting for them to free them up to do the things they really excel at and build their businesses more quickly.

An accountant is usually able to save you money in ways you had no idea about. They have expertise in tax laws that will help you make good tax decisions along the way rather than at year end telling you how you could have done it better. Many accountants give very sound business advice not just numbers and figures. You can get good advice on when to expand and how for the best tax and financial advantage. A good accountant can be a business partner and help you make good decisions. You must of coarse ask their advice before you make a deal for it to help you. After the fact advice is always hollow at best.

There are 3 main types of accounting professionals you should consider and depending on your needs there will be a different answer for each business owner. The first is a CPA this professional has gone to 5-6 years of school and taken a hard test to become certified in your state, they are educated in tax preparation, financial statement preparation and auditing. A book keeper is a record keeper and records figures for others to use in preparing taxes and financial statements. Their education is much less usually less than a year of formal training and therefore they are less expensive. A tax attorney is also highly educated, licensed by the state and can prepare tax statements and represent you in court if necessary. Tax attorneys are the most expensive and specialized.

Which you choose will depend on your needs and the amount of time and business you are doing. If you really only need help at tax time or to prepare a financial statement than you can just pay for the time or job that you need the accountant to do. If you are being sued or audited by the IRS you would want to have the help of a tax attorney to represent you.
Accountants can really help your business to grow and can free you up to run and promote your business as you would like. The question is not whether you should hire an accountant but which type is right for you and how much you need their expertise to help you.