A day after drafting a big idea of your business, thinking about potential investors, and making a rough estimate of the staff members required, many founders realize they need an accountant as well, more specifically, a startup accountant.
But when you wake up to the insights of the start-up’s world, you will realize you required an experienced accountant yesterday. Why? Because an accountant offers valuable insights to launching your dream business, ensuring you are not missing any financial aspect at the beginning of your venture. All in all, an accountant is the basic need of the hour to level up your business’s financial status.
If you are thinking of having an accountant on board after setting up the entire office, you may fall behind in your preparations.
An accountant is of great help to analyze how much capital your business requires to survive in the cut-throat competition. Moreover, it helps you set some financial goals for the forthcoming years and negotiate with your finalized investors.
Hire an accountant earlier than you thought
It’s common for entrepreneurs to worry about the unplanned expenses of hiring an accountant before time. But change your perspective and consider it as an investment for a lifetime. Having an accountant by your side before setting up your business for real can save you from stress, expenses, and unnecessary hassles.
In this regard, a survey found that more than 30% of small enterprise owners prefer to work with accountants. However, the same number of small businesses have received a legal notice of audit released by the Internal Revenue System.
Additionally, an accountant assists in ensuring if you have filed the payable tax file appropriately or not. Therefore, it’s wise to accept an accountant as your first-ever million-dollar investment for your venture.
What services do they offer you?
An accountant is responsible for many financial factors ranging from preparing the financial statements to preparing the tax return files. They are likely to play an integral part in the selection of financial software for the organization. This way, it won’t be wrong to refer to them as the financial generalists who assist your venture in reaching new heights of profitability.
Services offered are –
Bookkeeping
It is a common type of accounting service that almost every venture requires at some point in running their business. It gives a thorough overview of the organization’s financial data, maintenance costs, compliances, account payables, payroll, account receivables, financial transactions, and much more. All such factors prove helpful to make wise financial decisions for the business.
CFO
Chief financial officer services are to oversee and execute the financial objectives of the organization. Besides, it ensures detailed financial projection, evaluates the financial department, and tracks the company’s economic trends.
Until your venture gets sufficient funding from reliable sources, you may require a financial team. Therefore, ensure to understand such requirements at an early stage to align your business goals with the company’s financial status.
Now, the question arises how do you hire a professional accountant for your start-up?
After you have decided to hire an accountant, the next step is to approach the process carefully. A slight negligence in the hiring process can hamper the credibility of the business. Here’s how to do so.
Choosing a proficient accountant for your venture is more like creating a fine line between failure and success. So, ensure that you follow the right process to achieve effective results.
Step 1 – Evaluate your requirements
The first-ever step of hiring an accountant is to analyze your financial requirements. Review your previous financial statements and other records to analyze the cash flow. If you have had genuine cash flow issues in the past, you likely require a full-time, experienced accountant for your enterprise.
If you are good at handling the regular financial affairs within the organization, consider hiring an accountant specializing in tax-related financial services. This will be a cost-effective choice to structure the financial needs without burning a hole in your pocket.
Step 2 – Full-time or part-time?
It’s up to you if you need a full-time helping hand or part-time assistance? If you want to experience a seamless financial structure for your company, consider a full-time accountant who will assist you in all affairs from scratch. Part-time accountants prove to be a great help for businesses with budget constraints. Moreover, the part-time accountants may charge you on an hourly basis which won’t help you get a bang on every buck spent.
Step 3 – Write a job description
Writing a job description for an accountant requires deep knowledge about the insights. Therefore, consult a professional HR who knows the basic roles and responsibilities. If not, you can Google the JD of a small business accountant and get your answer in seconds. Prefer to keep it detailed for a better understanding of the roles.
Step 4 – Make a detailed questionnaire
Now, you being a businessman, may not have an idea about accountancy. Therefore, do a bit of research and develop a set of legit questions for the accountants to answer. The internet can help you get several questions ready for the interview. Some common questions may include –
- What is the biggest hurdle you see as an accountant?
- Describe a financial mistake, and how would you correct it?
- What sort of financial reports have you been preparing for so long?
Step 5 – Discussing the requirements
Be open about discussing the business requirements and your expectations from the accountant. This will help you give a better overview of your venture. This discussion should be more like a session where you both (business owner and accountant) should be sharing their work cultures, background, practices, and experiences to take things further.
Step 6 – Finalize the deal
Finally ends the recruitment process and initiates the KT (knowledge transfer) session to kick-start things.
Bottom Line
Accountants act no less than a firm financial backbone of a start-up business. Therefore, you should be hiring a professional accountant right from the beginning of setting up your venture. It can prove helpful to set up a robust financial base while helping you neglect all finance-related problems.