How to Get the Best Value out of Your CPA
The value that you obtain as a customer from your Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or other professional services provider is as much dependent on you as it is on them. What I mean by that is: the value provided by someone with years of experience can only be realized if the client is prepared. To make the most out of your money, you need to prepare yourself when working with your CPA. Today, I am going to share three ways you can do just that!
How Can I Be More Prepared?
Stay Organized
CPAs can provide you with a variety of services to help your or your business. These services include bookkeeping, tax services, assurance services, and a wide range of consulting services. I’ve personally performed all of these services for clients in the past and I can confidently say that the one underlying similarity for every different service is that the clients did better if they were organized before I ever started working with them. This meant that they had all their information kept current in easily accessible places. If I ever asked for a bank statement, tax form, or supporting schedule, they could get it to me right away and minimize downtime. This may seem like a small thing, but every second saved on additional requests adds up fast, especially when the CPA is billing by the hour. Additionally, the time you save looking for documents can be used to ask the CPA what you can do to improve your business or tax situation!
Provide Context
There are certain jobs where a CPA will know exactly what he or she needs to complete the job. For instance, if I know exactly what my client did this year, I know exactly what I need to complete the tax return. For most other jobs, the CPA is likely to be finding out information as the job goes on. In those situations, it is incredibly helpful to provide context for the information provided. For example, if a business were setting up a new segment and a separate legal entity was created, the CPA would like to know sooner rather than later so they can prepare for any additional work or questions. My best clients have been the ones who take the extra time to respond to questions with very thorough answers, so I know as much as possible about their situations, and it certainly makes a difference!
Ask Ahead of Time!
When working with a CPA, it is reasonably assured that you will eventually see a document request list of some type. These requests are essential to completing the service that the CPA has been engaged to provide. At times, these requests can come as a surprise to clients, either because they are not expecting something on the list, or they are not expecting so many things at once. In either case, asking for these requests ahead of time so the client can prepare, organize, and provide them in advance is one of the best things a client can do to help their CPA. When the CPA has everything he or she needs to complete the engagement ahead of time, the work can be done or delegated before the planned start date, which will lead to a more productive time when the CPA is actually interacting with the client.
The overall theme for these three tips is to empathize with the CPA and provide them with everything that they may need to do their job and enough time to do it. By taking the extra time to prepare and ask questions, clients can use the saved time to tap into the CPA’s years of education and experience with other clients to help benefit themselves or their business.