Free consult & free copy of book

E-Myth – “Why most small businesses don’t work & what to do about it”

Contact Us

Stars

Most 5 star CPA Google reviews in Canada

Read Reviews

Chartered Professional Accountants E Myth

1 Fixed Monthly Fee - Planning | Accounting | Taxes | Consulting

Helping Canadian businesses beat the odds!

Edmonton Accountant | How Accounting Fees Work


There are many things that a business owner should take into consideration when hiring an accountant for their business says Edmonton accountant. As red Adair, the specialist in extinguishing and capping oil well fires was famously quoted as saying, “if you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.” Business owners who don’t hire the right accountant for their business, can end up paying too much in taxes, either because they try to hire the least expensive accountant, or they tried to minimize the services they were getting in order to keep their prices low. Business owners should understand, that a great accountants will help them keep their expenses low by minimizing taxes. They should search for an accountant that will help them do just that.

One of the most important aspects of an accounting firm is that they are efficient at business planning. The reason for this says Edmonton accountant is because business plans will help the accountant in the business owner minimizing the taxes efficiently. By skipping business planning, business owners often start making bad tax decisions, which can cost them far more in the long run. Many business owners aren’t aware of how important business planning is to their business. Business owners should be able to save far more in taxes than they would pay and accounting fees. I understanding that, business owners should aim to make planning a significant part of their accounting strategy.

Business owners often don’t know how to go about searching for an accountant that is very good at business planning says Edmonton accountant. But what they should do, is ask accounting firms to see what their plans look like. If they are good, they should be able to show the business owner a document that represents what their business plans look like. They will be able to show business owners into the recommendations they have from the business plan, what considerations they have for the business owner, what are the quantifiable’s of the plan to ensure that it is working. The document should end up being more than just a couple of pages, and be a significant document that a business owner will use as a roadmap for the next year. They should be able to answer all of the business owners questions about business plans and how to they know it’s working.

Once business owner has chosen an accountant that is effective at business planning, they should ensure that they the structure is something that they are comfortable with. Edmonton accountant says business owners need to be comfortable with the fees that the accountant is charging them. Many business plans are being charged the conventional way, which is by the hour, which often has the business owner wondering if it is worthwhile to do, wondering if it’s taking longer in order for the accountant to get paid money. Business owners should be comfortable with the payment they, in order to ensure that they are ending up trusting their accountant to create a business plan that’s perfect for them.

There are several considerations that business owners should make when they are choosing the accountant in their business says Edmonton accountant. They need to be able to have a trusted relationship with their accountant, and understand that their accountant isn’t just providing a service, but they are an active participant in their business that is going to help them minimize the taxes that they will pay. Because of this, business owners should be very comfortable the accountant that they choose to work with in their business. Also keep in mind, that paying the lowest amount, often means that they are getting the lowest service, which often can cost them more in the long run. As red Adair once said, if you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.

Most accountants charge their services by the hour says Edmonton accountant. This is by far the most common way, however it tends to create an adversarial situation where the accountant bill more if they take a longer time despite all of the technology that can help an accountant get more work done faster. The business owner recognizes that, and start to wonder if the accountant is taking more time than they should, or adding on services that are unnecessary in order to increase their price. The business owner ends up being afraid to bring important items to the accountant’s attention for fear of increasing their bill at the end of the day. Important things might not get dealt with because of this, and can end up creating problems, or costing the business owner more in the long run to fix mistakes, or costs the business owner more because they are not getting efficient tax planning anymore.

The second most common way that accountants charge for their services is that they per service. This could be for a year and, for a business plan, for income statements for example. Edmonton accountant says this can often help accountants give clients a price is right away, and therefore land the client. But they don’t usually tell the client that additional things are excluded from those flat fees such as business planning, calling up the Canada revenue agency to ask necessary questions. They can price low, and then increase their bill later. Business owners need to be aware when they contact an accountant that has a flat fee per service.

The least common way that accountants charge for their services is a monthly flat fee. The accountant reviews business owners files, and creates a price that a business owner will pay on a monthly basis. Edmonton accountant says this gets back the balance in the relationship. The business owner will no longer be mistrustful of their accountant taking a long time on work or adding on services in order to increase the price, and this forces the accountant to charge what’s their their services. If they charge too little, they don’t make money, and they have to ensure that there providing excellent service entire time or else risk losing their clients.