It’s common to outgrow your accountant or accounting firm. What worked for you years ago, when your business was smaller, may no longer be appropriate. You may need more sophisticated services as your business gets more complex. Perhaps your current provider does not have the bandwidth or capabilities to help you take your business to the next level. It’s wise to mitigate risk by surrounding yourself with a group of trusted business advisors in whom you have confidence.
As shared in a recent blog, now (summer including late summer) is the right time to be thinking about making a move to a new accounting firm.
So, you are now mentally prepared to make a move. How do you evaluate a new CPA firm and if it is a good fit for your business? Below are six ways to evaluate potential new accounting firms to make a move.
- Industry expertise. A good starting place is to understand their experience in your industry as each industry has nuances that may be important for you.
- Viewpoint of technology. Ask how technology is leveraged to service their clients. Is technology embraced as a strategic tool to best serve clients and to offer efficient and highly secure data transfer? Is the firm holding onto dated systems and approaches that can be indicative of being a bit ‘old-school’ or ‘behind the times’. Look at their website – does it look dated? At LCW CPAs, we embrace technology as a way to be progressive, secure, and advanced.
- Strategic insight. As you evaluate a new accounting firm, it is important to think about the role you want these professional advisors to play in strategic planning and enabling business growth. Ask for examples of how the firm’s leaders work with clients to focus on looking ahead versus being stuck looking in the rear-view mirror focused on past results to complete tax filings.
- Is there a runway? Changing CPA firms should not be a frequent occurrence. As you evaluate options for a new accounting firm, make sure they have the capabilities to give you a runway to support you and grow with you today and for the foreseeable future.
- Depth and breadth. Ask about the depth and breadth of the staff so you have peace of mind that when changes happen and people retire or leave, you have the comfort level that you and your business will have continuity of service and be assured of ongoing capabilities.
As you learn more about depth and breadth, consider the breadth of services you may want to leverage to lower overhead expenses and leverage fractional resources. Examples may include bookkeeping, fractional CFO services and/or consulting services for entity structure optimization, succession planning or cash flow forecasting as some examples. - Chemistry. Assess the chemistry of the people you meet at the firms you evaluate. Do you like them? Can you envision working together well? People do business with those they like and trust. Don’t forget to evaluate chemistry.
How best to evaluate any service provider may feel vague and abstract. We hope this article helps you move forward with how to evaluate accounting firms to find the right fit for you and your business.
We welcome the opportunity to meet with you and discuss your business and how we may be a good fit for your needs.