Can anyone give me any tips on finding a good accountant to help me with my small business? I need to find someone that can actually help me save a significant amount of money. I have asked some friends who also have small business and their accountants do their bookkeeping and payroll and I do this myself. I'm not really sure what else an accountant really does for you and what kind of questions I should ask.
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You should talk to them, at least, to see if they will do consulting and tax work for you. Then you'll have someone local to discuss things with as your business grows. And who knows, maybe you'll get busy enough to hire them to do your bookkeeping and payroll.
There are many things that you need to consider in selecting someone to trust your tax and financial data to. Here's a bit of information from my state society's website.
-- Paul Thomas, CPA snipped-for-privacy@bellsouth.net
I think the best advice is to talk with your friends and see who really likes their accountant. Then see if that accountant can take on more work. Otherwise I would recommend doing your accouning books yourself, and then paying a CPA at year end to do your taxes. Depending on the size of your business and the type of business platform you're using (S Corp, LLC, etc.) it might not be too expensive to hve your taxes done. Josh100
Sounds to me you don't need a monthly accountant, but one who can review what you're doing at least quarterly and ensure that your individual federal and state estimated tax payments are in line. May I then suggest visiting
ChEAr$, Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA
A good place to start is by inquiring of the state CPA society where you live. They should be able to provide info on CPA's in your area. What should you look for in a CPA? Good question - but not really such an easy answer.
It should be a person that you can get along and work with. In addition to compliance, such as preparing quarterly payroll and sales tax forms and year end tax returns, a CPA should be able to review the general ledger and be able to provide you with planning opportunities. ___________________________________
-----> real address on hobokeni or hobokenx
As a single-employee business owner I would recommend that the OP keep his or her own books ONLY AFTER spending enough time with an accountant to understand their tax obligations. The issue is not just keeping the books, but paying and withholding the proper taxes and filing the proper forms.
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