What are the Best Questions to Ask an Accountant?
As a new business owner, you may be tempted to relegate your accounting tasks to a generic online accounting tool. However, without proper consultation with a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), you may find yourself navigating through a challenging series of questions with the IRS.
Once you consult a professional accountant, make sure that you understand what services they can provide for your new enterprise. Learning the right questions to ask a CPA can save you a major headache down the road.
There are many good questions to ask a tax accountant. With that in mind, we’ve broken down some general queries as well as questions to ask your accountant when starting a business.
Questions to Ask Your Business Accountant
Before you enlist the services of a business accountant, it’s best to have a meeting first. This meeting will allow you to feel out whether this accountant is the best fit for your business. Here are some general questions to ask an accountant that can help guide your working relationship:
- How frequently should both parties be in contact?
- What is the best means of communication?
- What services does the accountant render?
- How can they help develop the business?
- Can they help develop an organized, effective cash flow model?
- Can they determine your business’s pricing structure to calculate a break-even point?
- Can they create a model to value your company?
- Do they have the expertise to address your company’s specific accounting needs?
- What do I, as the business owner, need to provide so that the accountant can best perform their duties?
These are the baseline questions to ask your accountant for taxes and other business operations. After the basics are out of the way, you can start addressing your business’s specific needs.
Questions to Ask an Accountant When Starting a New Business
When starting any new venture, you’re going to come across unforeseen obstacles. You may also face hurdles when it comes to reporting your finances, so it’s best to have a knowledgeable accountant on your side from the beginning. Are you wondering what to ask an accountant when starting a new business? These questions can kick off the conversation:
How Should I Set Up My Business?
When you begin, you have to determine the structure of your business. A CPA will help select the best option and guide you through organizing the venture if you have co-founders.
How Should I Fund My New Company?
Whether you’re starting with the 3F’s (friends, family, and fools), pulling from your personal savings, or negotiating a bank loan, a CPA can weigh the benefits of each of these options for you.
What is the Potential of My New Enterprise?
Every entrepreneur believes they’ve uncovered a hidden gem, guaranteed to lead to untold fortunes. However, before you take out a second mortgage, you should ask an accountant about the viability of your new business. A CPA will be able to create projections based on your expected income and expenses to determine if you should keep your day job while getting your business off the ground.
What Are My Potential Exit Strategies?
Many new business owners focus entirely on getting the company up and running. However, figuring out a potential exit strategy should carry equal weight, especially if you’re looking for investor capital. One of the most important questions to ask an accountant is how you should shape your exit strategy. They can even help create forecasts that you can deliver to potential investors.
Questions to Ask An Accountant About Your Business
Between managing everyday business operations and navigating countless tax laws, you want to make sure that the accountant you’re speaking with is up to the task. Here are some questions to ask an accountant that will help paint a clearer picture of how you should operate your business:
How Should I Structure My Books?
Once you’ve determined that the accountant you’re speaking with is the one you want to help your business, you’ll need to delve into specific aspects of your company’s operations.
While the accountant will maintain your bookkeeping system, you’ll need a chart of accounts (COA). The COA is a list of your various accounts and their transactions. The CPA will be able to help choose which accounting system best fits your business model: cash basis or accrual basis.
Are There Specific Tax Laws I Should Be Aware Of?
An experienced accountant will be able to handle corporate taxes, personal income taxes, payroll taxes, as well as sales and goods taxes that pertain to your business. They may even be able to determine if there are any tax incentives or deductions that your company is eligible to receive.
L3 Funding Can Help
These are some of the most important questions to ask an accountant that can help you run a successful business. L3 Funding offers aspiring new business owners merchant funding opportunities with better terms. To see how L3 can help get your new venture off the ground, contact us today or fill out an application form to get started.