Donna Genie (a CPA at Calculated Moves) explains how to find the right accountant for your business. She emphasizes hiring someone with industry-specific expertise rather than a generalist, checking the accountant’s website and email domain for modern professionalism, preferring accountants who use video to communicate, evaluating personality and trust via their videos, testing communication by emailing first (not just calling), and asking for referrals if you can’t find a fit.
I saw a recent video where an accounting teacher told her new students to accounting that all accountants hate their lives. It's the boring job and they're boring people. So you shouldn't even pursue a career here. Well, I want to tell you how to find the right accountant for your business who does not fit into that model. We are going to talk today about looking at the exact process that you need to find the accountant that will make the difference in your business. I'm Donna Bordeaux. I'm a cpa. I'm an accountant at Calculated Moves, and I want to show you how to find that magic link for your business. First, I want you to pop out and look at the industry that you're in and find somebody who understands that industry. Not just a generalist who understands how to do taxes. You need somebody who knows the ins and outs of what you're trying to do. And they will be the ones who know what steps to take to tell you to manage your business and grow it the best way possible. Next, look at the accountant's website that you're looking for. Does this website look like it came out of Cobb's in 1995 and built on an AOL platform? Check out their email address. If they don't have their own domain in their email, you've got a problem. Steer clear. Look at the website and see what you learn from that website. If their website is just telling you how great they are and what they do and what school they went to and that they do taxes and accounting and full service accounting, you might want to pass. You're looking at somebody who's not come into the future of teaching you and advising you how to run your business to its maximum potential. Is there a video on their website? If they can't use video again, close that door and keep moving. Video is going to be the way that they should be able to communicate. And I want you to watch the video. Is this somebody you want to talk to? Does this sound like somebody they talked about in that class who hates their life? And as boring as I'll get out and drones on and on about IRS code, I'm not that person. As you can tell. If you're watching this today, I want you to find somebody who can communicate with you and that you like and enjoy talking with. It shouldn't be a burden to work with your accountant. It should be a joy and you should enjoy it. Next, watch a few videos. Get a sense of their personality. Does it clash? Do they have views that you can't live with? Do they sound like they know what they're talking about? Do they sound like somebody you would enjoy working with and will take their advice and trust them? If not take a press and move on to the next one. And lastly if their website says to call them you might want to watch out. I would suggest that you email them because this is going to be how you communicate going forward and see what the response time is, see how they respond to you, if they respond to you. You can judge a lot by trying to look at what your relationship would look like in the sales process and know if this is the accountant for you. Is he having trouble locating someone like this? Please reach out. Even if I can't help you, I'll be happy to send you to some of my colleagues that I know would take good care of you and try to help you find a leader in the industry to help you maximize your relationship with your accountant.
