Do You Need an Accountant? Advice for Finding the Best

Do You Need an Accountant? Advice for Finding the Best

Sometimes taking care of your own finances can be downright difficult, especially when its tax season or something comes up in your life like an investment. Just like an attorney, a good accountant is somebody you need on your side, at least from time to time.

However, finding an accountant isn’t always easy if you don’t have one already. While there are plenty of accounting firms in Hawaii, you still need to do some basic research to find the one that’s right for you.

Use these tips to make your search easy and efficient.

Get Referrals

One of the best ways to find an accountant that you can trust is to ask friends and family who they are using. Even if they don’t have a regular accountant who takes care of all of their financial needs they may have somebody they consult during tax season or when something is particularly confusing.

Make sure whoever you get the referral from actually works or have worked with the accountant. Otherwise you might as well just pick a name out of the phone book or off the first page of a search engine.

Explain Your Needs

Before you hire an accountant it’s very important that you explain to him or her what it is you need. Ask if they are familiar and comfortable helping you. Believe it or not, many accountants have strict specialties and may refer you to somebody more appropriate for you.

For example, an accountant that works only with taxes may want to refer you to somebody else if you’re looking at setting up a trust fund for a child. That accountant may refer you to somebody else if you’re simply looking for basic business accounting.

Just like attorneys, accounts have specialties and generally prefer to stick within their area of expertise since that’s where they are most knowledgeable and efficient.

Ask for References

Hiring an accountant for your personal life or your business needs is pretty serious. They’re going to be looking at your finances and helping you make personal decisions about what is best for you or your company. For that reason, you need to be able to trust them.

Any accountant you’re considering hiring should be able to give you references you can contact to learn more about them. Every good accountant has happy clients that want to extol their virtues.