Team One Accounting is Orange County’s Local Bookkeeping Service, here to help with all your bookkeeping needs. Let’s explore:5 Ways to an Accountant’s Heart

Intuit conducted a survey in October 2022 which found tremendous benefits to the accountant-business owner relationship:

● Nine out of ten small businesses with an accountant or bookkeeper say they contribute to the business’s success.

● More than eight out of ten business owners say accounting professionals helped them reduce the impact of inflation on their business.

● More than 80 percent of business owners say their accountant helps them make better use of technology.

● More than 98 percent of business owners say they are more confident in their business because of their accountants.

● Small business owners overwhelmingly say their accountants save them time and money.

There’s no doubt that the relationship between a business owner and their accountant is of utmost importance to your business. Here are five ways to work even better with your accountant so that you can both benefit from this important business relationship.

There is a lot of paperwork when it comes to accounting and tax work, and administrative work goes hand in hand with that paperwork. When you can reduce the administrative work, your accountant can focus more on planning and advisory work, which is more valuable to your business. Here are a couple of tips.

● When sending paper information to your accountant, scan it in and convert it to PDF instead. Then upload it to your secure portal.

● When sending digital information, convert images to PDF files when possible. Images can’t easily be converted to text as PDFs can.

● Instead of sending multiple files, combine PDFs into one image so they are in the same document.

● Use a client portal instead of email if a client portal is provided.

A little education can go a long way. Learning a bit about finances and accounting can help you become a much better business owner. Your accountant may have suggestions on the best source

for this or they may have videos they have produced themselves.

It’s critical that there is trust and complete honesty on both sides of the relationship. Your accountant may have earned a CPA or Enrolled Agent or other certifications that took years to

acquire. Their license is in peril if anything is not above board. You might be surprised to learn that there are potentially many penalties and jail time for the accountant as well as the client if fraud or other criminal acts are discovered.

One example of something you can do to ensure your accountant’s trust is in tax preparation: clients should complete the tax organizer in full when the tax preparer sends it, even though it is a pain to do so. If a piece of information is missing, or you decide it’s not important but the government feels it is, that omission can spell the beginning of trouble for both you and your tax preparer.

Good communication is an essential part of the accountant-client relationship. A great client will take the time to read any emails or correspondence and answer all the questions in the email (not just the first one!).

Both you and your accountant may have preferred ways of communicating, among the choices of text, voice, and email. Keep in mind your accountant has a higher duty to protect your private information. Text and unencrypted email can be problematic for them, depending on the type of information to be conveyed.

To save time and reduce interruptions, keep a notes file on your desktop, and add any non-urgent questions to your list. That way, you can cover a lot of ground when you meet periodically.  It’s a better use of both of your time. Of course, if you have urgent questions, feel free to contact your accountant at any time.

Try these tips to build better rapport with your accountant, and hopefully us as your bookkeepers! Your business and professional relationship will blossom! Interested in learning more about how we can help with these areas? Give us a call today for a free 30 minutes consult and see what we can do for you!