A good Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is a huge asset to your business. A CPA is different from an accountant or bookkeeper in scope of services offered and in credentials. In this article, you can find out what a CPA does, how to check credentials, and questions to ask a potential CPA.
1. What a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Does
A Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is an accountant who has passed a uniform CPA examination and is licensed in one or more states. A CPA can assist your small business in a variety of ways, from basic accounting services to tax advice and support with IRS audits.
2. The Difference Between a CPA, Accountant, and Bookkeeper
The terms "bookkeeper," "accountant," and "Certified Public Accountant (CPA)" are not synonymous. Each represents a specific level of capability and licensing. A bookkeeper is at the lowest level; a CPA is the highest level of capability and licensing for accounting professionals.
3. Getting Help with Bookkeeping and Accounting Tasks
Unless you have a bookkeeping or accounting business, you will need someone to help you with bookkeeping and accounting tasks in your business. Depending on the size of your business, you may need several individuals to perform these tasks.
You will need someone to perform routing bookkeeping bookkeeping tasks:
4. How to Hire a CPA, Accountant
Sheryl Schuff, CPA and business owner, recently talked about the process of selecting a CPA. Business owners should understand that not all tax preparers are CPAs and not all CPAs do tax prep work. While you don’t necessarily need to hire a CPA to do your taxes (there are many competent non-CPA professional tax preparers), you do need to consider what other kinds of services you might need, like choosing accounting software, setting it up and getting trained, data entry tasks, and review of records for tax evaluation.
5. Questions to Ask When Interviewing a Potential CPA
Before you hire a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), sit down face to face and have a discussion. Get to know the person you will be working with and probably trusting to give you good tax advice. Asking the right questions will give you lots of good information about this accounting and tax professional.
6. Check Credentials Before Hiring a CPA
Before you hire an advisor, such as an attorney, tax preparer, CPA, or other licensed professional, you should always check credentials. Check licensing issues and any sanctions against the individual. Also check with the Better Business Bureau, do an Internet search, and check with the IRS.
7. How a CPA Can Help with Tax Preparation
All tax preparers are not created equal. Tax preparers are set up to help individuals with personal tax returns, but not all can do complex business tax returns and understand the intricacies of depreciation, amortization, and complex shareholder and dividend tax issues. This article can help you sort out the different kinds ot tax preparers and get you help filing your business tax return.
