Accountants Near Me: How To Choose the Right Accountant

There are currently an estimated 1,076,179 accountants employed in the United States.

Accountants play a crucial role in helping manage finances for both individuals and companies. Businesses often have their own accounting teams or outsource their services from an accounting firm.

If you’re looking for a new accountant, unfortunately, you’ve got to do more than search “accountants near me.” Keep reading to learn what to look out for when you want to hire an accountant.

Certification and Experience

When you choose an accountant, you’ve got to make sure they’re qualified to do what you need them to. Your accountant should have passed the CPA exam and continues their learning to remain up-to-date on their certification.

It’s always a benefit that your accountant has some experience too. The more experience they have, the more you can trust that they know how to handle the work you’ll give them.

Specialization

The world of accounting is vast, so there’s a lot of specialization that happens once accountants establish themselves. This is especially important when it comes to filing taxes since tax laws themselves are so varying.

When you’re looking into potential accountants, make sure you’re considering if their specializations will work for you. If they’ve got a focus on company taxes or business finance management, then that’s not really going to work for you if you’re looking for a personal finance accountant.

Technology Available

Over the past few years, the technology for accounting software has drastically improved. This means accountants can do their jobs more efficiently. Some software works well for clients, too because they’re given access to their profiles and can upload and download information as needed.

When accounting firms use this technology, it makes the process of working with them much easier. It also gives you as a client some reassurance that there are extra precautions in place to catch any mistakes.

Reviews

One of the easiest ways to learn about the experience clients had with an accountant is to read their reviews. When people leave reviews about a company, it’s usually because the service was either excellent or terrible. Either way, you want to know about it.

Reviews will outline things like what people found most helpful about the accountant, whether or not they dropped the ball on something important, or how competent they thought the accountant was.

Security

In the age of digital information, it’s important that accountants have systems in place to protect it. Ask them what their processes are for securing their clients’ private information.

The best answer is that they’ve got digital security software and regularly test their systems to make sure everything is working as expected. Ask them about any breaches they might have had and what happened as a result of them.

Accountants Near Me: Hiring the Best Accountant

Now you’re able to search for “accountants near me” and so much more! Hiring an accountant is a big commitment, so make sure you’re putting in the time to research and find one that’s a good fit for you.

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