Mani Malarvannan gives some helpful tips in finding a good CPA in his aptly-titled article, “7 Tips for Finding a Good CPA,â€? in the Small Business Informer. He also points out the importance of preparing for the interviews with these CPAs by having a list of questions you might want to ask. He alludes to a few of them in his article, which I think are very insightful, for example, “what kinds of strategies or tips have you given to your clients to help them save money?â€?Â
Personally, I think the suggestion that “you show the CPA your company’s past accounting statements and ask to comment and provide advice for the same� is probably not something that a CPA would prefer to do off the cuff in an initial interview, and/or without getting paid. Usually, the purpose of an initial interview is to determine if you and the CPA feel comfortable with the skill sets, chemistry, and fee structure. Going into an analysis of prior financial statements takes more time and depth.
For more questions to ask during an initial interview, listen in to my free postcast on Choosing and Using Attorneys at my Wise Counsel Press site. Many fo the questions are perfectly suited for screening other professionals (like CPAs) whom you’ll want to have on youor business team!
This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 15th, 2007 at 11:09 am and is filed under Your Advisory Team. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.Leave a Reply
