Choose an accountant

If you have either started or are thinking of starting your own business, the type of business to start and how much time you will be able to allocate to your new start up, should be carefully taken.

But once you have made this decision, you will soon need the services of an accountant to help you take care of the business finances.

Accountants offer a wide array of services from bookkeeping, preparing financial statements, filing tax returns, and providing business advice aimed at helping you become successful and ensure your remain legally compliant.

You will want to only work with accountants who are members of professional bodies. This ensures that the person you will trust with your business finances is accountable and will always act in your best interest.

Accredited accountants come in many forms and are distinguished based on the designations they use, such as Business Accountant in Practice (SA) or Chartered Accountant (SA).

Having a designation means that the accountant has been vetted by a third party and are licensed by government to offer specialist accounting work.

You want to work with someone that is close to your business as this just makes the interaction between you and your accountant so much easier.

Accountants work in firms that can either be small or large. As a rule of thumb the larger the firm the higher the fees charged, but with size comes access to expertise. As a start-up or part time business the best will be to engage with a smaller firm to save costs.

Not all accounting firms are the same. Some offer general support and are good with helping with the basics such as bookkeeping, doing basic monthly tax work and filing tax returns. As a start-up this may be all you need.

Prior to appointing an accountant make sure you know what are the dispute resolution procedures available to you.

Make sure to ask upfront for a list of fees that will be charged by a prospective accountants.