A good accountant will be one of the best business investments that you can make. So, it is important to realise that there is little to stop almost anyone setting themselves up in business as an accountant. It is thus essential that you put some time and effort into choosing a properly qualified accountant that you can trust to manage your personal or company accounts.

What can an accountant do for you?
Accountants can provide a range of services as well as preparing your accounts. They can provide end of year returns, tax advice and help, general business advice, help with business planning, support with payroll processing and recommendations as to what type of software packages you should be using for book-keeping. Accountants can also help you raise finance, manage growth and set prices and profit margins. Accountants can even act as independent experts by providing arbitration, mediation or expert determination. Depending upon the size of your business. it can often be a good idea to employ an accountant as a non-executive director of the company because an accountant is an essential member of the management board of almost any successful firm.

Qualifications
One way to make sure that you choose a bona fide accountant is to select a Chartered Accountant. This is because an accountant can only become a Chartered or a Chartered Certified Accountant by passing a rigorous exam set by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) or the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). Members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants will have the letters ACA or FCA after their name but the designations ACCA and FCCA are also valid. Accountants are required to complete a certain number of hours of continuous professional development each year in order to keep their accountancy skills and knowledge up to date. An accountancy firm can only advertise itself as a firm of Chartered Accountants if a minimum of 75% of the accountants working in the firm are registered as Chartered Accountants.

How to find an accountant
Have a look at websites which allow accountants to place classified adverts. This should allow you to easily identify a list of possible accountants in your area and you can use this list as the basis of your search. Another route is to ask friends and family to recommend an accountant that they have recently used and were pleased with.

What type of Accountancy Firm should you choose?
It is very important that you think about the type and size of accountancy firm that you will need for your particular business. If your business is small or just recently started then you will be unlikely to need a large firm of accountants that specialise in accounts for larger enterprises. However, if you think that your business will be expanding in the future then you should look for an accountancy firm that can offer a wide range of services so that, as your business grows, you will be able to stay with the same firm. Also, find out which firms of accountants have experience of working with businesses of a similar size and nature to yours.

Recommendations
When choosing an accountant it is always helpful if you can get some personal recommendations from your contacts in other similar businesses. Whilst you can't employ an accountant solely on the basis of a personal recommendation, these recommendations should serve as a good starting point for drawing up a shortlist of firms.

Personal factors
It is important that you will be able to develop a good working relationship with your accountant so, even although they may come highly recommended and are suitably qualified, you need to feel comfortable with them. This will largely depend on the personalities and styles of the individuals concerned. So, do go and talk to the accountants that you have short listed on the basis of their qualifications and recommendations to make sure that you feel that they will be easy to work with, that they are the sort of person that takes pride in their work and will provide an added value service to your business.

Other factors to consider
Check out the technology used by any prospective accountant. If you are likely to want or need to exchange information with them electronically, it is important that they are using appropriate information technologies in terms of secure working systems and electronic document management systems. An old fashioned accountant using hand written ledgers may be fine for some businesses but inappropriate for others. If you are already using electronic accounting systems internally you will need to ensure compatibility with those employed by your new accountant. If not, you can work with them to select an appropriate system and to set up the relevant processes and procedures so that documents and information can be accessed easily and transferred electronically between your company and the accountant in order to save time, cost and ensure efficiency.

Fees
Find out what the accountant's fees are and when you will be expected to pay them. You should get quotes from several different firms of accountants but beware of choosing your accountant on the basis of price alone. It may be a false economy to choose the cheapest accountant if they are ill qualified or have little or no experience in your sector.

A good accountant is a valuable asset to any firm. So, whether you need an accountant to help with your personal or business accounts it is worth spending some time and effort and doing some background research to make sure that you choose the right accountant.
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17 July 2010
Bookkeeping, Tax & Accountancy Services..
Free consultation without obligation! provide full services including bookkeeping, vat returns, payroll, tax returns and management accounts for self-employed persons and businesses. efficient, reliable & unbelievable prices to add value to your business. call now on 0203 31. .
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12 July 2010
Tax & Accountancy services for Limited Companies..
Full tax & accountancy services for self employed and limited companies. free consultation without obligation. newmarket based but covering suffolk ,norfolk and cambridgeshire. competitive fees and looking to add value to your business. for free consultation ring our partner. .
17 May 2010
Indian Chartered Accountants Firm..
puneet puri & company (ppc) is a chartered accountants delhi india. a reliable indian chartered accountants firm that offers account outsourcing, business taxation services, auditing services, financial consulting and business advisory. for more information visit this webs. .
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