This is a Facebook Live video I did about a year ago. Scroll below for the video.
To Summarize the video:
Question No 1 is one to ask yourself before you ask the accountant – What exactly do you need?
Do you need your personal income taxes prepared? Did you just start a business? Do you want book-keeping or accounting services? Do you need a 30 minute consultation?
If you are not sure exactly what you want, then Q No 1 would be to tell the accountant on the phone that you’re not sure what you need, let them know your situation and ask for specific advise on how to solve this issue.
Question No 2 is one to ask the accountant – What is their specialty and what value do they bring to the table.
There are many times I have directed clients elsewhere because I do not provide the services they need. But that’s not the unfortunate part. The unfortunate part is that my existing clients are not aware of all the services I provide because they haven’t brought up that particular situation with me or visited my website!
My highest value services are the tax planning service found here [Tax Planning Service] and the Part Time CFO Services found here [CFO Services]. Most people don’t ask me about these services because at first glance they look expensive and sound strange and complex.
Put very simply, the tax planning service will easily save clients tens of thousands of dollars on their tax bill and the CFO service will increase their profit by tens of thousands of dollars. How you ask? Get on a consultation with me here [pick 30 minutes] and I’ll tell you how.
Question No 3 is another one to ask the accountant – What kind of additional team support do they have.
I’m passionate about this because I hate inefficiency. If you’re hiring me to be your tax preparer and get through some complex tax law provisions so you can pay less taxes legally, you’re paying me to do critical thinking for you. You don’t want me making copies of your documents, wrestling with the postage machine, running to the post office etc. Because that stretches me too thin and I’m not doing the high level thinking you need from me.
Besides I’m not very good with admin details. I have excellent team members who multi task and handle admin details like superstars. I rely on them to keep my office running. Its very important that your accountant is only doing the accounting or tax prep and they have others to rely on for support.
Its also essential that you have specialists for insurance, financial planning etc, because again, if your accountant is doing all of that – most likely, nothing is getting done well.