How do you know if your accountant is awesome or rotten?
Remember that an accountant has an intimate relationship with your business and your finances. She has access to sensitive data and a rotten accountant poses a significant risk.
Here are 7 ways to assess your Accountant:
1. Quality of service – Is their work accurate and free from obvious mistakes? Their financial statements or management reports should be neatly printed, without errors in grammar and punctuation and prepared professionally.
2. Timely – Is their work completed within a reasonable time frame? If circumstances arise causing delay, is this immediately communicated to you?
3. Communication – Is the scope of the work, time for completion, and fees formally agreed in an engagement letter in order to ensure that you fully understand what is and what is not going to happen? Do they provide detailed and regular updates?
4. Fees – Is there a flat rate for services such as financial statement preparation? Or, is billing based on hourly work? Is there a minimum fee for certain portions of an hour? Do you get billed for an hour if only a half hour of service occurred? Can you ask a question without being billed?
5. Friendliness – Does your accountant seem glad to hear from you? Or, does she seem distant and irritated by your call? If you have a hard time understanding a concept, does she show patience and a willingness to take more time to explain? Does she help you feel you are important and valuable?
6. Education – Is your accountant willing to teach you? Does she recommend resources for your personal empowerment?
7. Value Added – Is your accountant proactive? Does she look for opportunities to provide you better service and add value beyond your expectations? Do you feel like part of her family or like an outsider, or even a nuisance?
Are you being treated in a way that makes you feel like you are imposing or being ignored? It may be time to move on. After all, there is an excellent accountant just for you, much closer than you think that covers all these criteria as a matter of personal integrity.
Consider moving to Evergreen Accounting, where you are dealing with a partner, and not a clerk. The fees are reasonable and you get the attention you need, along with the quality of service you expect.
