An accountant isn’t just someone who handles your obligations to the government; they also serve as an extension of the CEO. They should also be someone who alerts you if you’re doing something wrong, or who proactively works to manage the financial and accounting aspects of the business as a whole. Tax optimization is a benefit, but by law, only a tax advisor can provide this service.

To get the most out of your accounting records and ensure that you’re entrusting this important aspect of your business to the right person, ask your accountant for the following:

Expertise and Education

A good accountant should have a thorough understanding of the legislation that directly affects accounting (the Accounting Act, income tax and VAT laws, accounting procedures for business owners, and laws on social and health insurance), as well as laws that are closely related to business and may indirectly affect it. Laws change frequently, so continuing education is absolutely essential.

Try asking what training courses your accountant has taken and where over the past 12 months. In most cases, they should have no problem rattle off this information without hesitation. No one expects them to complete 20 training courses a year, but at least a basic understanding of year-end changes in taxes and contributions is essential.

Reliability

Meeting deadlines and being punctual must be a given. Accounting firms often have dozens or even hundreds of clients, and preparing certain documents can take some time, depending on the complexity of the request. However, if you agree on a specific deadline for the delivery of documents, you should insist on timely delivery and the required quality. Only then can you rely on the accounting data and use it to grow your business.  

Experience

Ask your accountant—and, if applicable, their staff—about their work experience in accounting, payroll, and taxes. Equally important is their experience with accounting for your specific business sector. The better you understand your business, the more detailed your questions can be. This is a very simple way to determine how much real-world experience the accountant has with handling the accounting for the type of business you operate.

References

If you didn’t get a recommendation for a specific accountant from someone you know but found them through an advertisement, ask for references. Since these are active clients and their contracts include confidentiality clauses, you may not receive specific company names. However, ask for as detailed information as possible about companies in your industry. How many such clients do they serve? How large are these companies? Where are they located? The main risk for you comes from accounting firms with 1–2 employees and sole proprietorships where a single person handles payroll, bookkeeping, and taxes, claims to be able to account for every line of business, and still finds time to continue their education. One person simply cannot handle all of this to a high standard.

Innovative Services

Automation saves time and money in any business. Consequently , these savings should be reflected in lower prices for customers. Ask your accountant to provide bank statements and issued invoices electronically and to offer discounts for these electronic files. If someone isn’t taking advantage of the time-saving opportunities offered by digitization and automation, it automatically means that their services are more expensive for you than they could be.

Availability of Services

Find out how to contact your accountant and how to submit documents. Find out how the accountant handles coverage in the event of sick leave, vacation , or other unforeseen circumstances. This can be a particular issue for accounting firms with only one employee—the accountant —as services may be unavailable for several days or, in extreme cases, weeks.

Service Insurance

Anyone can make a mistake when providing services. When it comes to accounting services, it’s important to realize that you will be the one to bear any penalties, and only afterward can you seek reimbursement from your accountant. Your accountant should be insured for the practice of their profession so that you are not at risk of financial ruin in the event of a major problem.

Membership in the Chamber

It’s not a necessity, but it’s a nice perk. If your accountant is an auditor or tax advisor, expertise should go without saying. Membership in the professional association requires regular training and the earning of continuing education credits. Of course, this doesn’t mean that someone who is a member of the association is automatically a better accountant than someone who isn’t, but there is certainly a presumption of competence, since admission to the association involves strict requirements and extremely difficult exams.

What Not to Ask an Accountant

It often happens that we ask an accountant to provide legal services, tax advisory services, financial advisory services, and other services that accountants do not typically perform and in which they are not experts. Having a general understanding of these areas is certainly an advantage. However, if an accountant does not provide a particular service, do not ask them for it. A typical example is the preparation of various legal documents, employment contracts, GDPR-related matters, and the like, which are unrelated to the provision of accounting services.