How Can An Accountant Help My Small Business?

You should hire an accountant in the early stages of your business. There are many important decisions an accountant can help you take, especially if you don’t have substantial business experience.

The first important decision an accountant will help you with is choosing the proper business entity and designing a structure that suits your business goals. This structure will take into consideration your unique personal and business circumstances and will help you a great deal on planning for your taxes.

Your accountant will also help you create a business plan. You will be ready to work under stressful downturns and profitable growth periods. You will have tools to survive. You will have key statistics and numbers to track and understand where you are and where you should point to.

Once your business activity starts, your products and services will bring money in, and your business expenses will make the money go out. While that is elementary, an accountant can help you offset some business expenses such as the interest charged on loans for a building, equipment, service providers, and so on. He or she will also help you handle banking fees, business meal and transportation expenses, and so on. All these can be taken into consideration at the end of the fiscal year, which will help you dearly to pay less taxes.

Speaking of which, tax planning is one of the most obvious aspects that accountants can help you with. Accountants are well aware that taxes can bite you when you are least expecting it. Good tax planning usually only comes to mind it is already too late. And a good accountant will make sure you are paying your estimated income tax right on time, plus that you are only paying the right amounts – even as your business activity grows or shrinks. Plus, they are always aware of new legislation, how to properly fill up forms and deal with bureaucracy, and so on.

An accountant can also help in when things go bad and you are a victim of fraud – yes, there is a thing called forensic accounting. That is a financial service to identify or prevent fraud in business settings. It identifies where your business is vulnerable to fraud, as well as identifies fraud which has happened or is currently happening. The evidence gathered is admissible in a court of law.

Obviously, your accountant will charge you for his or her services. Ask about their fees in advance, so you will know exactly what their advice is going to cost.