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Tips for finding a great tax accountant for your small business

Hiring a Nottingham taxes accountant is a big decision for most small businesses. It's like hiring a doctor – you want someone who can be trusted and relied upon, but who also has the knowledge and experience that you need. With tax accounting being such a complex area, it's essential to make sure that you choose the right tax accountant for your business. Here are some tips to help you make that decision:

Make sure that you choose a tax accountant who has experience in the size and sector of business that you're operating in. Equally, don't choose a tax accountant specializing in large businesses if your business is small, the needs will be very different.

Understand what your tax accountant is telling you. Make sure that your tax accountant speaks plain English so that you can understand what they're telling you. Because this is still your business, you are legally responsible for it, to the taxman, to the rest of the authorities, so make sure that you understand what your tax accountant is telling you. If you don't understand your tax accountant, go somewhere else.

If they tell you they can reduce their fees by doing some work themselves (for example, by making all their phone calls), then ask them if they would be willing to do this for free. They may say yes, but do not count on it!

Get recommendations from friends and colleagues who have used tax accountants before and see how their recommendations stack up against each other. The best way to do this is by asking each person a list of questions about their experience with their particular tax accountant. 

Make sure that your tax accountant understands your business. If your tax accountant doesn't understand what it is that you do or how your business works, then they won't be able to help you properly. A good tax accountant will want to understand everything about what you do and how you do it before offering advice on how best to run things financially. 

If they aren't asking questions about all aspects of your business - from how many employees are on each payroll, how much turnover each employee generates per month, how much profit they make per hour etc - then move them on quickly as they won't be able to help you properly.

Find a tax accountant who goes beyond crunching the numbers. Choose a tax accountant who will be proactive as well as reactive. Somebody who, for example, will tell you how to save tax legally and ethically. Someone who will identify some good accounting software for your business and teach you to use it, not somebody who'll just crunch the numbers and spit them out.

Check that your tax accountant is qualified for the job. If you use a qualified tax accountant then you have recourse to their professional body if the tax accountant makes a bad mistake.

Choose a tax accountant who will act on your behalf. Choose a tax accountant who will act as your agent. That could save you, potentially, a lot of difficult conversations, because your tax accountant can talk to the officials on your behalf.

Archimedia Accounts 6 Edison Village, Nottingham Science & Technology Park, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, NG7 2RF Phone: 0115 922 6282