An accountant is a friend to most company leaders and executives but may be a woe to somebody else. There is this dual personality that an accountant seems to portray in real world. They aren’t just simple professionals who thrive to work then earn through merit but rather little monsters who would consume cash at your own expense.
The despise that some accounting professionals receive is present regardless of location. Wherever they are in the Philippines, this just seems to be the problem.
CPA’s in Davao, even if they have already earned their certifications, still has to prove a lot to the suspecting and watchful eyes of their prospective clients.
The double standard of the good and bad image of an accountant is to be blamed by unrelenting accountants living the bad image. Most of the time they are accountants who double-cross clients by declaring erroneous amounts in tax returns; as a result, blown-up tax evasion cases.
If you think that you deserve to know more about the way CPA’s work and avoid the pitfalls of choosing the wrong one, below are 7 of the things that your hired CPA must tell you upon interview (or on successive jobs) but they don’t, for various reasons.
(Note: if they aren’t bent on telling these to you honestly, you have all the right in the world to take the initiative and ask.)
1. “We can give you a rough estimate of how much you’d be paying us by just showing us one copy of your tax returns from the past calendar year.”
Yes accountants are good at that: estimates. Much more if they have already worked long enough for the firm they belong to. More experience means lesser time actually guessing how much a service will cost according to how your company needs it.
If they don’t tell you this, ask: “Can you give me a rough estimate of figures I am to expect once we start working together?”
Notes: The key to this question is for you to bring any document related to the financial status of your company or those that may represent what kind of problem you currently have. After scanning over the document, that’s when a CPA’s experience comes into the picture. On to the details, it is best to ask them for hourly rates as there may be no need for continuous accountant services.
2. “We can get to the solutions if we can successfully identify what your company’s core problems are.”
Accountants are often cited as people throwing other people under the bus or in simpler parlance: blaming others to take the fall. For example, if newly hired, accountants may blame previous accountants who gotten hold of the case but failed. You get the gist. But the main issue here is not blaming the past. If the accountant you interview keeps on blaming it to the past instead of looking at the real cause of the problems then you are in trouble. Find another possible candidate quick!
If they don’t tell you this, ask: “Can you identify what problems our company has and ways we can specifically solve it?”
Notes: Back to the documents, you can go show it to them and use that to help determine what kind of problem your company is facing. This is most especially true if you are a reluctant manager, who sees not a specter of problem when there is already a web out there.
3. “We can give you reasonable regular updates of the current developments in your company’s financial status.”
They do give updates but how regular is regular? Twice or three times a day can already be called often. Accountants are used to asking clients for regular updates themselves so the situation is kind of equalized.
If they don’t tell you this, ask: “Can you give us regular updates on our company’s financial development under your care? We need it at least twice in a day.”
Notes: But be careful that your trusted Davao CPA focuses more on finding out what’s the problem than actually crafting ways to solve it then act upon it. That would be a waste of time and money.
4. “We can do all means possible to extend your deadlines in the most legal of ways.”
More companies are afraid of extensions since they also fear the consequences of late filing of annual tax returns every 15th of April. But what are your accountants there for? Isn’t it to make your lives easier? They have all the knowledge and expertise (some of them are also even lawyers) to help you out, and that’s their main source of income.
If they don’t tell you this, ask: “Since I don’t think my company can beat the deadline, can we have an extension for filing these?”
Notes: Take note as well that you have to inform them about this ahead of time. Accountants aren’t magicians, they can do something but not when it is super-rushed. If you don’t understand how extensions go, your accountant may go discuss it with you.
5. “We can complete your records/returns with ample time and with less of your supervision, that’s our expertise.”
If you outsource Davao CPA’s or any CPA anywhere in the country for that matter then perhaps they have promised you one thing: they do the tedious job of preparing returns and financial reports while you focus more on what you do best, your business niche. That’s true, they wouldn’t be called experts for nothing but again, they need time. Most people can’t work if they know they are being overly scrutinized and watched every moment. That’s the same for accountants. Give them time to ceremoniously look for errors, if there are any, and make your returns as smooth as fine china. They aren’t fast food drive thru’s to begin with so don’t expect results as you wait.
If they don’t tell you this, ask: “Can you give me the expected returns within 24 hours?”
Notes: 24 hours is already generous for an accountant; they too need a break.
6. “We work so hard for you we may even skip more sleep to bother you at odd times of the day.”
Accountants are hard-working individuals so whenever you work with one and notice that you have emails and un-retrieved phone calls at odd times of the day, chances are they’re the ones who sent this. This may be truer if you have requested them to work at odd hours just to complete the job. They don’t blow their horns but that doesn’t mean they’re not doing their job well.
If they don’t tell you this, ask: “How many hours do you spend on overtime last night or every night?”
Notes: Bringing up the question above may mean more personal interaction with your accountant and bring out more positive aura between your professional relationship. It’s nice to brag about something every now and then. Working hard is not a bad thing.
7. “We can offer valuable advice to save you from all the hassle of solving problems.”
Yes, that may sound not like an accountant but yes they know how in the first place, you could have avoided all the troubles you’re experiencing. But they may not always tell you how to do this since you might lose interest in hiring them if you already know how to do it yourself.
If they don’t tell you this, ask: “Are there any means for me to save money now than solve problems in the future?”
Notes: The usual answer to that question is for you to be a good spender. Stay on budget and never overspend for things you might regret later on or the excesses of life.
Hiring Davao CPA’s can be a little tough especially if you know that they might be hiding something that you ought to know. You can fire some of those questions on your interview portion and be amazed by how they’d respond to you. After all, it’s your business that is at stake so there’s hard-earned money involved and you wouldn’t want any of that going down the drainage.