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- There're thousands of accountants
and tax service providers here in the UK alone.
So how do you go about choosing the right accountant
who's a right fit for you and your business?
It is likely you will be asking around for recommendations
from friends or family members for a good accountant.
And whilst this is a viable approach,
it's not always the most effective.
It's a bit like asking your friends what you should eat
and while it's in some cases,
there will be alignment in tastes and preferences
on many occasions unfortunately they will not be.
Your business or financial circumstances
are not always the same as those close to you
or your inner circle.
So restricting your universe
can sometimes actually work against you.
In this video,
I'm going to explain a six-step approach
as to how you can go about choosing the right accountant
at the right fit
and the right budget for you and your business.
Now you can be absolutely forgiven
for thinking that all accountants are made the same,
they all perform the same,
do the same things and produce the same results.
Well, that's a bit like saying all cars are the same.
Yes, functionally a car does the same thing,
but not all cars are made the same
and return the same experience and results
and hopefully you can draw upon that analogy.
So what I'm going to explain here is this six-step approach
is how you can differentiate one accountant from another
by doing some simple checks
and getting the right fit for you and your business.
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Tip number one is trust, integrity, and transparency.
Now I realized that there are three words in one tip,
but the fact of the matter is in 20 plus years
of being in an accountancy business,
that is the number one combined attribute
that prospects clients,
and probably yourself are looking for.
You see without trust, integrity, and transparency,
you never really develop an effective relationship.
And that's what most people including yourself
no doubt are often looking for.
So for example, if I'm looking for a mechanic,
I'm going to want the same thing.
I'm going to want to know that
I can trust the mechanic with my car
that I can trust that the job's going to get done
at a reasonable fee
and I can walk away pain and hassle free.
And no doubt, you're going to want the same
for your accountant.
Now, luckily in today's technological world with Google,
YouTube and social media,
you can start to establish that quite quickly
and quite easily.
And the next step is the first bit of research
you should be doing.
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Tip number two, how much and what quality content
is out in the public domain by an accountant.
So I think this is really, really important
because to be honest in today's economy,
there's no excuse for accountants
not to be putting out good quality content on air
by simply viewing and browsing some of the content,
you will start to get a feel,
are you connecting?
Are you actually feeling empowered by what you're watching?
Is this hitting a chord with you?
And do you feel that this is the right type of knowledge,
message and actually the feel
that you're getting from this particular accountant.
So aside from the standard compliance and tick box services,
you will want an accountant to be your trusted advisor too.
And that's certainly a great starting point
to develop that trust, integrity, and transparency.
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Tip number three is reviews.
Now testimonials are testimonials
and they are a good insight into the account
and service levels and ability.
They certainly hold far more weight
than what the accountants will say about themselves.
Now, traditionally testimonials used to be a written thing
with a picture of somebody on a website.
So we've come a lot further down the road to that
and way beyond that.
Now it's all about Google Reviews
or any other kind of reputable reviews
from a reputable platform.
That's what you need to be looking out for.
Not just a quantity of reviews, but more importantly,
the quality of reviews
and do go and take some time to read some of them.
Not all of them, you just got to read a good sample.
What are people saying about this accountant and why,
is there a common theme?
Is there a common thread?
And if there is,
that should give you more confidence
that this accountant could be the right fit for you
or alternatively, that could not be the case.
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Tip number four,
does this accountant operate
and serve your particular industry and niches?
You see, while it says nothing wrong with it,
there's a lot of accountants that are generalists out there.
They cover all industries, professions, types, ranges.
The downside with that is
that you'll end up getting accountants
that are a Jack of all industries.
Now it's a bit like going to a general practitioner
or your GP doctor.
Your GP is a qualified doctor
and they know a bit about everything.
They know a bit about your heart,
your nervous system, your general illnesses and so on.
But the fact is,
if you were to ask your GP to do heart surgery,
I don't think you'd want them to do that,
more than likely you'd want a specialist cardiologist
who has that depth of knowledge experience
and years and years of knowing how to do effective
and successful heart surgery.
And it's not too different for finding an accountant.
Now, if you're just looking for a simple
compliance tick box service,
then there's nothing wrong
with going with a general practitioner.
If you're looking for an industry specialist,
then you're better off going for a niche accountant
because the chances are they'll have the knowledge,
the expertise and the connections
as well as more in-depth information
to actually help you add value to your business
and help it grow to success.
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Tip number five is geography and proximity.
Now this probably isn't as important
in today's technological advanced post pandemic world
that we now are living.
But having said that there is still some value to be gained
with being able to actually have that face-to-face contact
with your accountant.
And also a lot of it really does depend on your industry,
your profession and the nature of your business.
So for example, if you're a mechanic,
you're going to want to be actually quite close
to your accountant.
So you have the ability to go and visit your accounts
and your accountant and their bookkeepers
have the ability to visit you
because chances are there's going to be some paperwork
and some manual work involved.
But if you're in an industry profession
or your business nature is more online based,
then this may not matter as much.
What you need to be looking for is
an accountant that dovetails with your systems
and use your systems that are in the cloud
and conducive to be able to do the work remotely for you,
but yet effectively.
However, in saying that there is still an advantage
and it is still a benefit
to be gained in having a visual contact
with your accounts by way of video calls,
which is obviously gaining popularity now,
as accounting language is actually quite a complex language
to the non accountant
and simply reading or hearing your accountants words,
as opposed to watching them can make a difference.
It's a bit like lawyers,
sometimes it sounds like gobbly goop.
And if you're on the telephone sometimes,
and you're having a conversation with the accountant,
50% of it goes over your head,
then actually you've just wasted your time.
So what you need to be able to do is communicate effectively
two ways with your accountants
so they're understanding you and you're understanding them.
And that is the only way you can take that message,
put it into action
and actually make sure you get the maximum value
from your accounting service.
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Tip number six is systems and processes.
Now, again,
this really does depend on the nature of your business,
what you do and background.
Now, what you don't want to be doing unnecessarily
is pushing around too much paper,
paper invoices, paper this paper receipts, and so on.
I mean, we are now in an advanced technological world
and that is evolving even further.
What you need to be looking for is an accountant
that's digitally savvy, that is digitally prepared.
I mean, even HMRC are making tax digital now.
So within a year or two,
you're not going to be able to do any kind of paper returns
with HMRC, it's all going to be digital.
And therefore you really do need your accountant
to be on board with this.
Now, having an accountant whose systems are in the cloud
with accounting software, whether it's own,
whether it's a third party provider
is what you need to be looking for,
but not just a one piece of software,
the whole finance ecosystem.
You need to make sure it's all in the cloud
because the key here is that
you've got to be able to have an accountant
that can do the operational transactional stuff remotely,
without them having to come to you or you to them.
And that is what makes the process more efficient
and actually will keep your fees at a reasonable level.
What you should be looking for from your accountant
is business growth advisory,
how to grow your revenue, profits, tax planning,
and how to optimize,
if not minimize your taxes legally
and all other bits of advisory
that are really going to add value
that will help your business achieve its goals.
Now, I really hope you found this video useful.
This is all about you.
This is about choosing the right accounting and tax partner,
because effectively you just want to be choosing once
and then to build that long-term relationship.
This is all about finding the right solution,
at the right fit for you at a reasonable fee.
As always, thank you for tuning in.
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