As a successful small business owner, you’re likely always looking out for the next big step for your business.
And whether you want to take some tasks off your plate or just need some accounting support, you may have asked yourself, “Should I hire an accountant for my small business?”
But like all business decisions, you want to ensure you’re making the right one. To help you decide if hiring an accountant is right for you, read through our ultimate guide for hiring an accountant for small business in 2023.
Do you need an accountant for your small business?
Unless you’re an ex-accountant turned small business owner, you’ve likely wondered if hiring an accountant is the right move for you and your business. While hiring an accountant isn’t a requirement, it can be a valuable investment if you need it.
To help determine whether or not your small business needs accounting help, ask yourself the following questions:
- Do I know how to do it myself?
- Do I have enough free time?
- Is now a bad time to hire an accountant?
- Can I keep up with the growth of my business?
- Do I know how to file small business taxes?
- Is an accountant too expensive?
By asking yourself the above questions, you can quickly gauge how beneficial it would be to hire an accountant for your small business. To help bring more clarity to what an accountant can do for your business, let’s break down what small business accountants do.
What does a small business accountant do?
When you think about a small business accountant, you may just think of someone who helps you do your taxes. While this is true, small business accountants also have many more responsibilities, including:
- Putting together financial statements
- Recognizing cash flow problems
- Helping with regulatory compliance
- Providing financial analysis and consultation
- Identifying tax deductions
- Preparing tax returns
- Maintaining your accounts
- Highlighting financial problems, from lost inventory to rising costs
- Surfacing business growth opportunities
As you can see, business accountants can provide value for you and your business all year round and are not only needed for small business tax prep. If any of these services sound like something you’d like to have for your business, you might consider hiring one.
How do you find a small business accountant?
Now that you know what a business accountant does, you may wonder how to find one for your small business. Whether you’d prefer to advertise a job opening or seek out an accountant on your own, read through these steps to find out how to hire an accountant for your business.
1. Identity your accounting needs
Before actively searching for an accountant, you must first identify your specific accounting needs. Sometimes, an accountant may also provide bookkeeping services, whereas other accountants may only stick to specific accounting tasks such as generating financial statements and performing business audits.
2. Prepare a job posting and interview questions
With an understanding of exactly what you’re looking for in an accountant, you can begin drafting a job posting to attract the accountant of your dreams. In addition, you’ll also want to prepare a collection of interview questions that can help you vet potential hires.
This can help ensure that none of your business’s requirements go unmentioned, allowing you to hire an accountant to help with everything you need.
For example, you may ask a potential hire the following questions:
- Describe a situation in which you made an accounting error. How did you respond to the situation?
- What accounting tasks are you most comfortable with? Which ones are you least comfortable with?
- What types of accounting software are you familiar with?
- How do you stay informed on current accounting laws and regulations?
- What do you think are the top five skills of a great accountant?
- How can you reduce human error in the accounting department?
3. Post a job or look for an accounting firm to hire
Once you’ve drafted the perfect job posting, you can post it to job sites such as Indeed or LinkedIn and wait for the talent to come in. If you don’t care as much about hiring an individual accountant for your business, you may look for an accounting firm to handle your accounting needs instead.
An accounting firm is a company with multiple accountants. Unlike hiring a full-time accountant, you can lean on an accounting firm as needed, allowing you to only pay for the services you need when you need them. There may be a required retainer agreement, so be sure to do your research when deciding on an accounting firm.
5. Hire and onboard your chosen accountant
Once you’ve decided on the best accountant or accounting firm for the job, it’s time to begin onboarding them to your business. At this time, you must inform your new accountant of any reporting preferences you have, as well as anything else you’d like them to know about your desired accounting processes.
The onboarding process is also a good time to lay out how you plan on measuring your accountant’s performance to ensure you’re both on the same page. Lastly, make your new accountant feel at home and introduce them to the people they will be working with.
It’s also important that you make yourself available to answer any questions from your new accountant and that they have the proper resources to do their job effectively.
This article originally appeared on the Quickbooks Resource Center and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
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Do you make more than the average American your age?
Your education, industry, work experience, negotiation skills, and plain luck can all influence how much money you make. To get an idea of whether you’re earning a competitive salary, it can be helpful to know how much other people in the same age group are making.
Let’s take a closer look at the average income by age in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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The early days of your working life usually aren’t the most lucrative: 16 to 19 year olds who work full-time make $32,396 a year on average.
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Salaries start to rise as workers gain experience. Those in the 20 to 24 age group make an average annual salary of $38,324.
This is when many financially savvy professionals start building their 401(k) balance. That’s because the earlier you invest for retirement, the less money you’ll typically have to invest over time. Or, as the saying goes, your time in the market is more important than marketing timing.
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We start to see a big increase in salary once workers reach the 25 to 34 age group, with the average annual income hitting $52,832.
Ideally, employees will put much of their raises and bonuses toward savings rather than impulse spending.
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For 35 to 44 year olds, their annual salary is still growing: $62,608 on average. This is the beginning of what’s commonly referred to as “peak earning years.”
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While many employees enjoy higher wages into their 50s, others find their salary stagnating. Overall, workers in the 45 to 54 age group actually see salaries drop a little, though only by $208. The average annual income in middle age is $62,400.
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Salaries really drop for workers between 55 and 64, whose average annual salary is $61,204. What happened to paying for experience? Some companies may believe they can pay younger employees less for the same work, and see older workers as overpaid. As a result, 55+ workers are no longer offered the same retention incentives — such as pay raises — regardless of performance.
On the other hand, professionals who are satisfied with their retirement savings may choose to work less or retire early instead of waiting until the average retirement age.
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Once workers reach 65, they are likely shifting to part-time work to stay active during retirement and to earn a little extra retirement income. Some people need more retirement income than others, and Social Security benefits and savings aren’t always enough. Which may be why we see salaries drop to an average of $54,444 per year for those 65 or older.
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Now that we’ve shed some light on the average income by age in the U.S., let’s address some ways workers can maximize their salary. That can mean finding ways to hold on to what you’re earning or to make it grow.
Create a Budget
If you’ve ever created a spending budget, you know how shocking it can be to see all the ways we fritter away our hard-earned salary on unnecessary purchases. By cutting back on items you don’t really need — from bottled water to forgotten subscriptions — you’ll free up more cash for things like saving and investing.
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What’s even more shocking than the amount you spend on little things like daily snacks and late-night Ubers? The interest charges and fees that come with debt. The faster you pay off high-interest credit cards, the more you can put toward longer term goals: an emergency fund, travel, or buying a home.
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One easy way to make saving and investing a priority is to automate it: Set up regular, recurring transfers from your paycheck or checking account. That way, big goals like a dream wedding and retirement are prioritized before there’s even a chance to spend that money.
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Taxes may be an unavoidable part of life, but there are ways to pay less to Uncle Sam. Whether you hire a tax accountant or use software to file your return, look for opportunities to snag a larger tax refund.
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One way to make savings grow is to open a brokerage account and invest money in the stock market. Start small while you learn the ropes. While investing comes with risk (and more taxes), it’s a means of making your money work for you.
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Contributing to a retirement savings account is a convenient way to save and invest in one fell swoop. As an added benefit, some employers match a portion of employee contributions. That means if someone isn’t contributing to their employer sponsored 401(k) plan, they’re leaving free money on the table. that helps expand an employee’s net worth.
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A low-risk way to earn money on savings is by opening a high-yield savings account. This type of savings account tends to offer a higher interest rate than normal savings accounts.
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The average income by age in the U.S. tends to rise as workers gain more experience. Eventually salaries plateau and then drop off. Your peak earning years coincide with middle age, meaning you make the most you ever will in your 40s and 50s. The average salary in the U.S. tops out at $62,608 for ages 35-44.
This article originally appeared on Sofi.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
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