Accountants For Contractors.

ultimatetouch

Those of you that have accountants that you are happy with. What questions should I have for a new accountant?

The problem I have with my current accountant:

I feel like I have constantly offer ideas to him.

He does tax planning on his own then bills me for it. (I thought this is somthing I should be involved in)

I dont believe he has construction experiance.

Hes a bit stagnant for me. He should be bursting with ideas. (I would be for my job)

I feel hes only going to cost me more money as I grow.

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Ultimatetouch
Illinois Remodeling Company, Kitchen Remodeling Chicago, Room Additions Illinois

nlgutters

I agree with you mine is the same he never mentions any ideas on saving taxes. I always thought they were there with good ideas but it seems they just run the numbers and go

Tom M

I have had the same accountant for 14 years. I always feel like in left field or I should be doing something different. At times I feel like I am not paying him for business advice just bookkeeping other times I feel he should be pointing me in a better direction. Its like he thinks I make alot more than I do all the time or those random fees are no big deal. If you knew everything you would'nt pay them but when you do they should be "creative" especially in the construction field.

Grumpy

Do a yahoo or google search for:

"construction accountant"+ chicago

I just did this today and a bunch popped up. When you are in your free consultation, some of the questions you should ask...

Without know every detail about my business, how are you saving your OTHER contracting companies tax burdens and what overall other services do you offer that your other contracting companies utilize?

How would you handle billing if I call you with a quick question?

What is your hourly rate?

Would you be willing to provide a fixed rate for yearly/quarterly tax returns?

What accounting softwares are you experienced with. (Without prompting them, make sure what ever software you use is at the top of their list. Most accountants have access to several software applications.)

How long have you been specializing in the cusnstruction and orr small business sectors?

What ammount of revenue is your sweet spot? I mean what size companies are you most comfortable working with.

Would I be primarily working with your or one of your assistants?

Can you provide me with a few names and numbers to your other satisified contracting clients? (hey our customers ask us for referrals, why not them?) How long have these people been clients of yours?


Also if there are any other services you are interested in, such as tax planning, budgeting etc... ask them how much those services would cost as well.

ultimatetouch

One thing I am doing this year is seperating accounting from bookkeeping. One from one company the other from another. You could get info from both sides then and the accountant should never be talking with the book keeper. I was getting jumbled up reports from my accountant supposedly doing my books.

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Ultimatetouch
Illinois Remodeling Company, Kitchen Remodeling Chicago, Room Additions Illinois

ultimatetouch

That sounds good grumpy. I am also going to be asking if I am in the proper bussiness structur based on volume and other surcumstances. I am an S corp and I think thats right but I have heard mixed feelings about s corp and c corp.

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Ultimatetouch
Illinois Remodeling Company, Kitchen Remodeling Chicago, Room Additions Illinois

Grumpy

When it comes to this trust your accountant and lawyer. You said you have heard mixed feelings on this, but I am willing to bet those mixed feelings come from us... and we contractors don't really know squat abotu accounting overall. Just like accountants don't really know squat about construction overall.

excellencee

Always ask what percentage of his customers are contractors. My accountant/tax advisor has 60% contractors. I'm comfortable with that percentage. Four of my GC's are clients as well. He is more interested in maximizing my income than minimizing my taxes. Why buy a piece of equipment that you don't need or only use once or twice a year just for the tax break. He lets me know black and white and what level of grey. Try to find someone who is concerned with more than the numbers and only answering the questions that you ask.

Sarah9910

Be sure he really is an accountant for contractors. construction accounting is it's own animal. Also..grumpy was right, ask if you'll be dealing with them or another person at the firm, you need to repect and be able to communicate with the person you will work with regularly.

Will they return journal entries to you after they review the books. (if they use QB's, you can create an accountants copy for them and they can send it back and all the entries will be made - but I know CPA's who dont' use the features of QB well). I worked with a CPA who didn't send back journal entries until I asked. You need to be sure that your books equal their records (tax return) after they are done. I've gone into way too many companies offices where the books don't agree with the CPA and they say "oh, the CPA has their own set of books". Don't fool yourself, you need to know the numbers at any time. It's your company, not someone elses.

OK...I'll get off my high horse..Sorry.

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Sarah Keiser, Business Consultant for Contractors
Success In-Formation LLC
Leading the Way in Software Education
www.successif.biz

Double-A

I take our backup to the accountant and we sit down together and go over the journal entries we've made and the ones he's proposing. Once we're done, he backs up a copy for me and I reload this onto our server.

This way, we always have the same set of books at the end of every quarter. I also send him weekly backups and copies of the quarterly reports in .pdf form for his files.

What he knew about construction accounting was small compared to what he knows now. I would ask about how we should do something and he would find out and make suggestions.

He's well organized and calls to remind us we have financials to run for our licenses renewal every year and we need to get any updates/journal entries made.

We work in QB but he works in about 4 different software programs to keep track of all of our stuff and do tax preparations (one is just for depreciation).

My point is this. Business is your business. Running your business is not his job. Pointing out how you should configure your business should be your decision based on both your attorney's and accountant's advice.

Now, having said that, I can also agree with Sarah and with Grumpy. Getting someone that is good with details and especially the details of our business is important. Having to call and ask for a copy of their work so you can update your books is justification for finding a new accountant the second time it happens.

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"My clients’ wishes are the center of my attention." -- David Guido, a contractor in Woodstock, N.Y.
New York Times, July 20, 2006

Putty Truck

The accountant field has been hurt by the personal computer and all the software available. If I had the time and inclination, I would do all the numbers myself---it's that easy now.

As for a CPA offering creative advice, CPAs are state licensed and by nature extremely conservative---or should be. I don't expect jack from bean counters except for the numbers crunching and their signature on the financials.

They count beans.