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

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Edmonton Accountant | Learning How Accounting Fees Work


One of the biggest problems that business owners face when they are hiring an accountant in their small business, is knowing what to look for says Edmonton accountant. If they hire an accountant that is too expensive, they risk paying more than they can afford, and if they pay too little, they can end up having to pay additional fees later on, or end up with an accountant that costs them far more but in increased taxes. A great accountant should not only work on the financials of the business, but help business owners keep expenses low by minimizing taxes. If the accountant does their job efficiently, and minimizes taxes for the business owner, they will definitely be able to afford their accountant.

One of the most important things that a business owner can take into consideration when they are hiring accountant, is hiring one that can do planning. Edmonton accountant says planning is one of the most important things to be done in a business, because that will help a business owner minimize how many taxes they are paying, which will help them save money. Since 50% of all businesses end up going out of business within five years, and 29% of them said that running out of money was their biggest problem. By paying minimal taxes, that can help business owners with their cash flow, and help them avoid running out of money. By skipping the planning aspect of accounting, business owners may start making bad tax decisions. They may end up paying a lower accounting the, but the increased taxes that the business owner will likely have to pay will not be worth it.

They should hire, trying to hire an accountant that is extra good at efficient planning make be even more difficult says Edmonton accountant. There are a few things that can help business owners make a prudent decision when it comes to choosing accountant that is very good at planning. One of the first things that a business owner should ask when the accountant says they do planning, is asked them to see what one of their plans look like. They should be able to show a business owner what it looks like, either on the computer screen, or having a copy ready for customers to look through. They should be able to point out all of the various deliverables in the business plan, as well as show the business owner what all of their recommendations they made. They should be able to have specific metrics that they can point out to show the business owner how to tell if their business plan is working. They need to be able to quantify the plan. This document should be more than one or two pages as well says Edmonton accountant, and they should be able to answer every one of the business owners questions that they may have about the plan. By seeing the plan, business owners can have a complete understanding of what they will be getting when they hire that accountant.

Business owners are extremely busy people, and they often don’t put enough thought into who to hire for their accountant says Edmonton accountant. This can be dangerous, because great accountants can help business owners grow their business and minimize tax. Not only do they need to hire accountants that are good at what they do, they need to hire an accountant that has a price structure that they can feel confident and comfortable with. By understanding all of the variables when it comes to hire an accountant can help business owners make decisions that are beneficial to their business.

The first thing for business owners to understand what they are hiring accountants, is understand the three ways that accountants charge their clients. The first way is by far the most common way says Edmonton accountant, and that is charge by the hour. For every hour that the accountant is working on the business owners files, they get charged a set price. The second way is a flat the, but it’s charged per service. For example, accountant might have a flat the four year end. The third way that accountants charge is much less common, and that is a flat fee that is charged every month. All of the work that the accountant does on that business owners files falls under the one monthly price.

The first way that accountants normally charge creates an situation of mistrust between accountant and the business owner. The accountant gets to build more if they take longer on clients files. And the business owner owns up mistrusting the accountant. The business owner can end up wondering if the accountant is taking longer on files in order to increase their fee, or if they truly need to work on additional work or if that additional work is just so that can charge more. It’s very hard to have great working relationship when there is rooted trust says Edmonton accountant.

Accountants that charge a flat fee per service often do that so that they can give potential clients a low quote. However, Edmonton accountant says there are usually things that are excluded from their flat fees such as phoning CRA to ask important questions. This drives up the price, enabling them to quote low but charge more later.

Accountants that charge a monthly flat fee can help bring balance back into the relationship between the accountant and the business owner. The accountant must understand the business in order to be able to offer them a monthly fee, which demonstrates that they’ve quoted accurately. If they quote too low, the accountants doesn’t make money, however if they have quoted to high, business owner will not go with the service. It also ensures that the accountant will be working to make sure that the business owner is happy with the services they are providing, otherwise the will easily be able to go elsewhere for their accounting. We hope that you give us call so we can help.