How to Choose the Right Chartered Accountant
So you are a budding enterprise or an entrepreneur wishing to invest into a promising start-up? The first thing you look to is to hire a professional chartered accountant. While some firms prefer to handpick their accountants from the best of bunch, some prefer to go local. Leeds accountants, for instance, are often hired by firms in the UK itself.
But why this fixation on hiring a chartered accountant and not any other certified accountant ready for the job? Well, primarily because after the economic debacle of 2008-2009, none of us are willing to take a chance.
And this is again a potent reason why we must explore how you should choose an ideal Leeds accountant (or any other chartered accountant for that matter). Let’s discuss:
• The Right Certification: Certification from the right boards or authorities is also important to help you make a selection. Leeds accountants without a proper degree or certification from either the AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians) or the ICB (Institute of Certified Bookkeepers) should not be high on your priority list of accountants. CIMA (The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) or the ACCA (The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) are prestigious institutes that you can look up as well.
• The Affordability Factor: In these times of austerity drives, measuring quality by the fees chartered accountants charge to manage your corporate finance is a foolhardy point. Instead, focus on how you can get quality from a value-for-money juncture. Use sources in the industry, along with research on the chartered accountancy agencies online. A valid option may be hiring the elite accountants from the leading universities, as amateurs will be trained to the T but will cost you less.
• Experience Counts: If your man has never ventured out of his mould as a Leeds accountant, experience is his weak point. And as the economic slowdown showed, this weak point can be pretty fallible – especially if you are a busy start-up. Make sure that the hired accountant has gone through the frying-pans of bigger corporate firms – with at least a couple of audit summits on his portfolio.
• Track Record During the Recession: Another possibly powerful way to verify the credibility of your chartered accountant is to track his professional record during the recession. Only the best of the auditors and accountants had been working and not laid off during this time. If you have on your hands a professional who had been appreciated or rewarded during these turbulent financial times, you have a gem at hand!
If you are still contemplating on hiring your chartered accountants, there are even more tips available at online financial consultancies. However, Leeds accountants are best recruited first hand, and this is one of the first rules to getting your value for money while investing in someone who will manage your taxes and corporate finance.
And with these points in mind, it is easy to recruit and revamp – albeit without spending a fortune on it.
