When Should You Switch Accountant: Key Indicators

Switching Accountant or Switch Accountant is a drastic business decision, so it should not be done lightly. An accountant plays a vital role in managing your business finances and ensures you fulfill all legal requirements. However, there are instances where changing your accountant would greatly benefit your business.

If you feel that the accountant needs to provide you with the appropriate support, communication, or value, then it’s high time you change. An accountant is more of a financial advisor who can give you insightful suggestions for improvement in your operations and financial strategy rather than just bookkeeping and tax preparation.

When you decide to switch accountant, you will better manage your finances and subsequently ensure your business needs are met with proper expertise and diligence. You recall that you are working with the same accountant who can understand and support the objectives of your business.

Why Do You Need An Accountant?

Then, your business has to be managed by an accountant who will be dealing with the financial health of your business in the right way. For quite many others, accountants prepare tax returns for the business. Accountants come with some key insights that help you make better decisions regarding your business. Accountants can look into financial data that could define spending trends, hence aiding in handling cash flow correctly and helping you identify areas where you can either trim cost or add revenue.

Accountants also see that your business will comply with tax laws and regulations. They thus save you from expensive fines and penalties. They may also help strategize your plans, forecast your finances, etc. It would enable you to plan on growing, getting all the funding or investments that you require, and all those things. Lastly, they spare you some time to work on payrolls or financial reports so that you can run and grow your business.

An accountant is not a mathematician or number cruncher but a financial advisor and strategic partner. An accountant will help a start-up or growing business gain the support required to navigate the different economic challenges of operating a business but firmly standing on solid financial ground. If the particular person is not good or have some signs, then you’ve to switch accountant.

Factors that’ll help you to switch accountants :

1. Lacking in communication

Communication forms one of the most basic components in a professional relationship, especially if it involves that person managing your finances. If your accountant is not forthright, you never receive updates from them and have to look in the telephone directory to find them; it’s about time you start looking to switch accountant. You want someone who will keep you updated regularly and whom you can reach should you have questions or even need advice on specific issues.

2. Errors at Work

Accounting requires accuracy. If you find some pattern of errors in your financial statements, tax filings, or account statements, then there is a huge problem. It might cause a loss in terms of money and even litigation in front of the tax authorities. A mistake-making accountant is not good for anyone, so the best one can do is find a more reliable accountant (after you switch accountant).

3. Not Proactive

A good accountant should be more than just doing the bookkeeping and complying with taxes. They should be proactive, furnishing money-saving tips, optimizing taxation, and finding effective financial strategies. Well, consider this a sign to switch to an accountant if your accountant just goes about doing the bare minimum and does not engage in planning or forecasting.

4. Services Do Not Match Business Growth

As your business grows, so does your business’s complex financial needs. Should the current accountant not develop enough experience and competence to handle more complexities or lack experience in areas your company expands into, then it’s probably time to switch accountant who will better meet changing needs.

5. Lack of Expertise in Your Industry

Every industry is different, and there are various financial rules and requirements. Unless your accountant specializes in your industry, he or she is bound to misadvise you and also miss big tax benefits enjoyed in that industry. Of course, changing to an accountant who had done good work earlier in your industry could give you better, more-attuned financial care.

6. High fees without equivalent value

Compare the fees you are charged with the level of service and value you are receiving. If you feel you don’t get enough support or insights for what you are paying for in fees, then perhaps it is time to change accountants. Financial management is an investment, and you should be assured that it is an investment paying off.

7. Clash of personalities

Personal chemistry is also important. Your accountants should be people you can trust and entrust your personal financial matters to. Where you have a personality clash or dislike the manner of how they deliver their work, it might compromise proper communication and, in the end, cost your management financially.

8. New Technologies and Tools

If your accountant is not willing to adopt the new technologies or tools that may be useful in achieving efficiency and gaining a better insight into your finances, then this would be considered a limitation within your business. This is because the introduction of newly efficient technologies is a gate opener to the modern accounting practice.

9. Recommendations and Reviews

Sometimes, it simply is a choice due to good comments or recommendations to switch accountant. If another professional comes highly recommended by trusted colleagues, perhaps the time has come to move on.

10. Lack of Trust

Trust is a basis of any relationship with an accountant. So, if you have reason to doubt the integrity or honesty of your accountant, switch accountant without hesitations because the financial integrity of your business must always take precedence.

Conclusion

No decision is more serious than switching accountants; at the same time, sometimes it becomes essential to your business’s financial well-being and growth. Knowing some of these indications that signal a change in an accountant can help you make a sound, informed decision about letting your finances over to a new professional.

Your accountant should be more than a service provider but a strategic partner to your business. The effective accountant should be able to provide advice and proactive strategies that may help design policy interventions to support this aligning pursuit of your company’s goals.

Then, if you realize that your previous accountant needs to be up to standard, you will switch accountant to the one that will support and improve your business operations. If you need more information and if you’re looking for an accountant, you can contact MyVirtualTalent.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What’s a massive sign that I must switch my current accountant?

One of the main signs that you should consider changing your accountant is a constant failure to communicate. You find that your accountant only talks to you sometimes, does not keep you updated regularly, or sometimes, when you need them, is unreachable. Then it’s a great sign that you need to switch to accountant who could have done better supporting and being transparent.

2. How repeated accounting errors affect my business?

Repeated mistakes in financial statements or tax returns lead to severe effects like losses and even lawsuits against yourself or your business with the tax authority. If you make continuous mistakes, it is time to change your accountant so that correct management of your business’s finances can be executed without severe penalty issues.

3. Why would industry-specific knowledge be necessary in selecting an accountant?

Industry know-how is essential because every industry has specific financial regulations and rules. An accountant with such knowledge can give much more focused advice, help you maximize all the tax benefit areas, and ensure that every aspect of the rules and regulations is met. If your accountant lacks such know-how, it may be useful to change accountants to someone who has in-depth experience in your specific industry.