Episode 5: Unveiling the Secrets of a Great Accountant BONUS: Employee Retention
In this episode Eric & Melissa tackle the topic of the 4 Qualities’ of a great Accountant.
What is the Definition of An Accountant?
Essentially anyone who reviews your business finances or creates guidelines for your financial documentation is considered an accountant.
Winning Quality #1. Year round Communication. Someone who will stay in touch with you outside of tax season is something you should look for in a great accountant.
Winning Quality #2. Willingness to Explain & Educate Make sure they are willing to teach you, as well as wanting to meet up with you at least twice during the year-end tax season to ensure you understand what you are working towards and have provide them withal documentation needed.
Winning Quality #3. A Year End Review is a MUST! When conducting a year-end review, consider verifying if your income is accurate, do expenses look to be correct, also take the time to review any Owners Investments or Owners pay. Going over income, expenses & draws will allow your tax preparer to offer advice on how to lower your tax liability for the following tax year.
Winning Quality #4. Reactive & Proactive. A properly reactive tax pro will take the time to review what has actually occurred in your business over the previous year and offer suggestions and advice for the upcoming year – not just enter numbers into boxes. A proactive tax pro will make suggestions you can use in real time.
Communication is key. Be sure you are talking with your tax person and relaying to your bookkeeper what they say as far as what needs to be changed. It is also important to keep in contact with your bookkeeper about any transactions that need special instruction on where you want it to be categorized. Some transactions are not obvious on where they go and it helps later when filing taxes to have everything properly sorted.
Bonus Strategy – Employee Retention
Employee benefits are an incredible way to keep current employees happy and maintain a long and productive working relationship. It’s not always necessary to pay employees more in wages in order to retain them. Instead, think of Fringe Benefits or reimbursements for items your employee may already be paying for. Think cell phone reimbursements, student loan reimbursements or allowing a staff member to work remotely (if their job allows it) 1 to 2 days per week. This incentivizes the employees to remain with your company and turns out to be less expensive in terms of both time and money than having to hire new employees.
Remember Poor bookkeeping = increased tax liability.
Need help getting a handle on your books. Check out Melissa’s newest book The 4-Hour Bookkeeper available at INeedBookkeeping.com or Amazon.com.
