How Often Do You Talk To Your Accountant?

ruskent

Since it is tax time i been trying to make an appointment with my accountant for the last week. I realized i only see my accountant on tax time. The guy i use, my fathers has used for years. He started using him when he was small. Know the accountant has 6-7 accountants working under him. As he gets older, he cuts back his days, takes a long time to return phone calls etc.

The guy is good, but i am thinking about switching accountants. Honestly, i really feel like i am lost when it comes to this tax stuff. Now that might of been ok my first two years in business. But now i am should really be making some money this year and dealing with decent gross. I really feel like i need someone i can met with at a minimum once a quarter, maybe even more often.

I know as i start dealing with serious amounts of gross sales, payroll, etc, i need to be on the ball with everything and actually understand what the numbers say.

So how often do you see your accountant?

Matt

dirt diggler

im still waiting on mine to return my phone call from September

POOLMANinCT

i drop records off 1/4ly, call him when contemplating a purchase -

i always try to get to him w/ year end by 2nd week of jan, as i feel the service is better.

ray

Charles Bagley

I talk to mine every month or two at the most. She gets all my quartly state and federal return stuff together for me. Plus she looks over my P/L and makes sure I am projecting enough withholding to keep me safe at the end of the year. I really like her service.

CB

Grumpy

I have two accountants. One I talk to about 3 days a week. The other I talk to quarterly or when I think I need a 3rd opinion.

Boogga

I pissed off our accountant late last year and it was the best thing we did for a long time. She was becoming complacement. We'd ring up and she'd say she will return the call tommorrow, and she'd call back a week or two later. It's true that Tommorrow Never comes! We have this new firm who are on the ball. A breath of fresh air!

We see our NEW accountant every quarter face to face but ring tem about once a month for questions etc. Works fine with us.

__________________

"It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees"

ruskent

I think i am defienetly going to switch. I need someone that actually wants to be one my team. I got a good insurance agent, now i just need a good lawyer and accountant. It seems like it was hella lot easier to find a great truck lettering guy then one of these white collar profesionals.

Lee J

Hi Ruskent;

If your on the ball with your end of the paper chain, you never have to see him. By that I mean if you use an accounting software program, like Quick Books, send him a disc at the end of every month, and call him when you have questions regarding purchases etc...

With the practice of sending him a disc, AND GETTING A RESPONCE back in the way of a P&L statement monthly, tax time should be a breeze for BOTH of you. If he knows you will be a time consuming client, with reciepts in a folder, and a check book to refer to, you'll continue to get poor service.

If you make his job easy, show him it's a real business, he'll have some respect for you, and return your calls. (maybe)

If not, get a new one, and tell the new one why you left the old one.

Good Luck

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Lee J.

www.prowoodworkingtips.com
www.ezee-feed.com

Grumpy

Best thing to do is ask your colleagues who they use.

DamionR

I see my accountant once per month.

The whole tax issues and corporation stuff annoys the **** out of me.

So I have it set up to pay the accountant a flat monthly fee... he does EVERYTHING.

Each month, I drop off my bank statements, check stubs, and payroll info. I pick up the previous month's records.

When it comes to taxes and forms - it's all prepared for me. All I have to do is write out a check, sign the form, and stick it in the mail. he even addresses and stamps the envelopes for me

Lazy? Nope. But I can easily recoup the $275 per month I pay him working on my business... with a lot less stress.

ultimatetouch

Do you mean your business associates?
I thought you should find one that has experiance with contractors.
The accountant that comes in 3x a week for you is he a cpa or a bookkeeper? What does he do when he comes in?

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

ultimatetouch

Thats a good deal Damion. I would like to do that. Taxes and that just take away from what we do best. I could almost justify spending a few thousand to do that even in my position.

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

Gordo

Find a CPA that works for contractors only (a specialist). Best thing I ever did.

I can talk with him at any time......free!

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Looks like some pros were here.

Boogga

You need an Accountant who will work with YOU!

Accountants should be able to bend the rules but not break them.

__________________

"It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees"

DamionR

The CPA I use is actually a total financials guy - mortgages, investing - wealth management.

I prefer someone like this as they truly have a vested interest in my success.... because he wants a piece of it.

Gordo

I used a CPA like that in my early years. All they did was manage wealthy peoples money (I found out the hard way that was all they cared about.....because their service sucked!).

Those types (fund managing CPAs) aren't as specialized as a CPA who only works for contractors. Since we made the switch to a specialist, we feel our best interests are taken seriously.

Nothing wrong with having a CFP working on your wealth acccumulation, thats a full time job in itself....seperate from crunching the numbers.

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Looks like some pros were here.

DamionR

Yup Gordo... the "bookkeeping work" he has bookkeepers doing.

I guess it depends on who you get of course. One big "bragging point" I tell to people... especially when I refer them to him... is that I can call him on his cell phone... ask him a question... and he has a dead-on, or fairly close answer, off the top of his head. It shows to me that I am a "big" part of his business... or at least he puts off that vibe to me.

I've never worked with an accountant that deals strictly with contractors... but it certainly does make sense.

My biggest "hot button" is the hands-free accounting. I absolutely HATE, DREAD, and TERRIFIED of the whole concept. I tried doing my own books for 2 weeks in the begining.... than sat out to find someone to take care of it. It puts more worry on me about screwing things up than it does to shell out a few bucks and make the problem disappear.

haha - that last line sounded like a mafia hit.

mdshunk

Grump.. 3 days a week? Are you dating your accountant? I can only imagine what that must cost. Of course, I think you're dealing with way more cash flow than I ever will.

Gordo

If any of your clients are looking for a specialist, pm me and I will give you the contact info. They are off Greenbrier Pkwy.

__________________
Looks like some pros were here.

Grumpy

I posted in another thread what I am paying. It costs me on average $225 a week.

Keep in mind I have two accountants. One does all my tax filing. He is certified.

The other is not certified. If I had a much larger business he would be what you call a controller. Infact that is his official job title at his day job. He is controller for a nationwide trucking company. He told me his bosses' personal networth is more than 5 million dollars not counting his offshore accountants in Eurpoe.

I am terrible at book keeping in general. So it's worth every penny to pay someone to do it for me. He has full access to my accounting software and can do everything except sign checks. Infact I encourage him to do as much as possible. I look at the reports and occasionally do audits of his work to look for mistakes. I print out a profit/loss report for most jobs and if anything looks off I investigate.

So anyways, no I am not dating him! Check this out, he also owns a martial arts school... http://youtube.com/watch?v=8KDTK7HhDgU# He's the guy at the start doing the kata. This guy never stops working.