If you are a small business owner and you have never hired a CPA before to run any aspect of your business, you probably don’t even know where to begin. Like many small business owners, you are probably very stressed from running your business and have found yourself searching through a limitless number of websites in order to determine what qualifications your CPA should have. While it can be a difficult situation, it doesn’t have to be as long as you learn how to avoid the critical mistakes so many small businesses make.
Here are 5 common mistakes small businesses make which you should go to lengths to avoid when you hire your next CPA.
Focusing On Things That Don’t Matter
While you do want to hire a CPA who knows how to crunch numbers, you don’t want to only focus on numbers. When hiring a CPA, number crunching should actually be among your least important concerns; it is most important that your CPA understand your business and how to take it to the next level.
Hiring Without Knowing What You Need
You can’t hire a CPA without first knowing why you want to hire them. Before you hire your first CPA, make sure you determine not only what you need but how your CPA can help you achieve whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish.
Hiring a CPA Who Doesn’t Work Well With You
As with hiring for most individuals in your company, you want to make sure you hire a CPA who works well with you. You should insist that your prospective CPA complete a personality test which helps you identify the strengths and weaknesses your new CPA has. In turn, this will help determine how this person will fit in with your company. This could potentially save you and your team from dealing with bad business interactions later in the future.
Hiring an Unqualified CPA
Just because a CPA has his or her certification doesn’t mean they are qualified to do the job. There are lots of CPAs who are just good at test taking. Make sure during the interview phase that your new accountant has an understanding of the job you have hired them to do.
Trusting DIY Accountants
Many accountants are self-taught, and while that has saved many accountants thousands of dollars in tuition fees, sometimes DIY accountants can cause headaches for business owners when they are hired to do a job that’s well over their heads.
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