Many small business owners rely on an accountant to help manage their finances, which allows them to focus on more important issues, such as driving revenue and growth. Accountants also enable entrepreneurs to feel confident in their business operations, as an Intuit-sponsored study conducted by Galaxy Research found that owners of small businesses are twice as likely to feel successful if they use an accountant.
Almost all accountants are excellent at helping business owners with compliance issues, such as taxes, bookkeeping and payroll. Many more are also proficient in technologies that help business owners with accounting systems, such as QuickBooks Online. And a few progressive accountants have become true business advisors to their small business clients.
Simply hiring an accountant, however, isn’t always the answer when looking for resolutions related to your small business’ finances and metrics. Here are five areas of your business that your accountant may not cover, but that you should never overlook.
1. Compliance Issues Not Covered by the Accountant’s Engagement Letter
If you hire a tax accountant to do your taxes, the scope of the engagement letter is limited to preparing those tax returns, but you may have more tax requirements than that. Issues arising from sales and payroll taxes can fall through the cracks if you don’t specify in your initial agreement that your accountants look into those areas.
Additionally, a bookkeeper may not understand sales-tax liability issues, especially if they only work with what was recorded in the past. State laws change, and accountants that specialize in sales-tax risk should be regularly consulted to help you implement any changes.
2. Marketing Metrics
When it comes to making decisions for your small business, some of the most important numbers relate to marketing performance.
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