Ten Questions To Ask A Bookkeeper
Getting through the entire process of bookkeeping and taxation can be quite challenging but is something that everyone needs to handle. If not handled properly, there could be penalties and fines that people would have to get through. Canada Revenue Agency has a system allowing people to work on filing their taxes themselves if they know how to get through the process. If errors occur in the calculations, and amounts mentioned are incorrect, there could be fines and penalties for adjustments.
There are a lot of people who are not sure about the taxation process. They work with people they think are the best in the field, but without proper information, the process is like shooting around in the dark and hoping a bullet hits. Different Accountants go through various accounting processes to match their clients’ requirements when it comes to the various accounting processes. Depending on an individual’s requirements, they have to make sure the person or company they are planning on working with is capable of matching their requirements. Otherwise, they are signing up to work with a company that might not be the best match.
To create a smoother process, we thought we should put together a list of the most commonly asked questions so that the people we work with would be better positioned to find an Accountant meeting their requirements. These are some of the questions that we are commonly asked and should assist when finding an Accountant to serve the purpose.
1. How long have you been in business?
An accounting or bookkeeping firm should have experience handling projects and the bookkeeping needs of their clients. When it comes to rules around accounting, they always change, and an Accountant or their company should know these rules and be able to use the new updated ones so they would be in a better position to assist their clients and help them save money.
2. What are your designations?
Some Accountants do a lot more than just accounting, and they have skills in bookkeeping and other courses that would be beneficial to their clients. Most people prefer working with one person instead of many, so if they find an Accountant or accounting team that handles many of their requirements, they would be more inclined to work with them.
3. Do you come to our office or work remotely?
Accounting has ideally been a profession that is handled in an office; however, the pandemic changed that with almost all jobs starting to adapt to the idea of remote working through the internet. However, there is currently a sense that a company or person would be more professional if they coordinated a process and worked from an office over anything else. Additionally, most companies keep their clients’ accounting and personal financial information at their office, and people are now wary about those papers left at their house.
4. What services do you provide?
Other than bookkeeping or accounting, does the Accountant handle any other tasks? Do they look after the accounting process of individuals and companies or either one? Most clients look for this information to make their work easy instead of delegating it to multiple teams and companies.
5. Will you or your employee be working on my file?
Most people who get in touch with their Accountant want to ensure that they have someone competent to deal with their papers. Everyone wants a competent person handling their finances and documents, and they would like to get to know the person a lot better when coordinating with them. No company would hire a person they know is incompetent, but no clients want to have the intern or someone not high up working on their file.
6. What kind of experience do you have with my industry?
Different clients work within varying industries, and although they all have to pay the same tax, there are a few changes to the processes to get through. They also want to know if the accounting firm has a different client they are working with, in the same line of work as their first one. They would then know if the company they are working with has a better understanding of the tax rules to benefit them.
7. What level of protection do you provide?
All clients want some level of protection if there was an error in accounting, some accounting procedures were not handled properly, or there was a change in the rules and someone had to be accountable. If there are fines and penalties to be paid due to an accounting team error, there should be some level of responsibility that they have to deal with.
8. What to expect around delivery times and response times?
Most people only worry about their accounting and taxes around tax season, which is at the end of the financial year; however, it is quite challenging to coordinate an annual process without the proper procedures in place in a few days at the end of the year. Depending on the client’s processes, various accounting firms have different timelines that they agree to when coordinating the procedure.
9. How do they price their services?
Some Accountants have a fixed cost for an annual financial year, while others have a more detailed approach depending on the number of entries or the amount of time they have to spend with the bank and credit card statements. Additionally, depending on the work a client requires from the team, there are chances that they have to make, which would change the overall cost of the process.
10. Who will own the accounting subscription?
Many accounting firms agree that clients have to work with software that makes the process a lot easier. People find it easier to get through a process if they have software telling them what they should be adding, where and why. Usually, there are discounts for software if many people use it, so accounting firms purchase the subscription and get their clients to pay an annual or monthly cost. Although the software can be optimized so that one client cannot see and interact with the information belonging to another, some prefer purchasing it themselves. Depending on the firm you are working with, they have a different set of rules on purchasing the software.
If you are looking for a Bookkeeping firm in Calgary, Alberta, get in touch with us at ALL-PRO Business & Bookkeeping Corp.. With more than 25 years of bookkeeping experience and working with individual clients, along with businesses and companies, we have a solid understanding of the way the industry functions. We customize our services to match our clients’ requirements and have meetings to understand what they are looking for. We offer a wide range of services, please click here. For more information If you want to get in touch with us, please click here.