How To Find a Good Accountant

An accountant can help you make important decisions for your business and take your business to the next level.

You can use the checklist as below to find the best accountant.

What are their qualifications?

Check if have an Australian accounting qualification. This normally can be found on their website or Linkedin.

Make sure they have an accounting qualification and are a member of an accounting body. Your accountant can only give you tax advice if they’re a tax agent. They can only provide financial planning advice if they have an Australian Financial Services licence or are an authorised representative of such a licence holder.

Are they a full member of an accounting body?

A full member of accounting body need to comply strict compliance procedure required by the professional body, such as Continual Professional Development,  ethical standards and work papers.

Are they registered tax agent?

Only registered tax agent can give you tax advice. To check if your accountant is registered or not, you can visit Tax Practitioners Board

How long has the practice been operating?

A well-established accounting practice has mature succession plan, low staff turnover and strong technical knowledge. You will find you will benefit from the strong relationship with the practice.

What kind of clients do they have, and what services do they provide?

It is very important to understand they have clients like you and the relative accounting experience to handle your business.

What other services do they provide?
To be able to grow your business, normally you need your accountants can provide the following advice to you:

• estate planning
• business planning
• strategic planning
• budgeting
• cash flow management
• Finance advice.

It will be even better if they can offer bookkeeping, SEO,  IT support & solutions, and industrial relations assistance.

 

Will they return your calls or emails within a reasonable time?
Good accountants are always busy but you would except they can reply you in a timely manger.

Are they familiar with the accounting and/or software package?
Xero and MYOB are very popular softwares. If you use something else, you may need to find out if they can handle that software.

How they charge you?
You need to find out:

• what basis fees are charged
• if you’ll be charged for every phone call and also for travelling time
• their billing cycles, such as monthly or annually
• how they conduct their research
• if they need to engage third party service providers, how much it will cost you.