When you should talk to an accountant about your business
While it’s highly recommended (especially if you’re only just starting out), not every business needs an accountant.
For sole traders in particular, you might only need the help of a small business accountant when first getting started. After all, it’s one of the most pivotal parts of your business’ financial journey.
Assuming your business stays the course, you might only need to see them again once a quarter or once a year to quickly go over the figures.
Of course, business is rarely stable, and things can change – sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.
And when that happens, professional help – that’s to say, help from an accountant – is the key to protecting your business.
Is hiring an accountant worth it? When you should hire an accountant
Your finances are the beating heart of your business – thus, it’s important that you look after them.
Trust us, it’ll be 100% worth it!
Of course, you won’t need your accountant 24/7 – for example, unless there’s a major change in your daily figures, the day-today finances like totalling up daily revenue and expenses should be pretty easy to do on your own.
In these cases, you might only need a quarterly or even annual checkup to take a look at your business’ financial health.
That having been said, it’s important that you keep an accountant on retainer for all those moments when you run into a financial decision or task that’s beyond your scope.
You need an accountant starting a business
Starting a business is a major decision, not just in your life, but also in your finances. Whether it fails or succeeds, the financial complexity and implications of opening your own business are considerable:
- Whether or not you have enough money to start a business
- Estimating break-even points and pricing
- Determining business ownership structure
- Budgeting and totalling up start-up expenses
These are important decisions – you can’t go off half-cocked.
An accountant can help newly-started businesses make these important decisions. However, that isn’t the only way an accountant can help newly-opened businesses like yours.
In addition to setting your business up, an accountant can also help you monitor your business’ finances as it commences operations, checking whether or not your business is performing, and how far away you are from making a profit.
However, these aren’t the only times when you’ll need the assistance of an accountant. Unfortunately, many businesses reduce their accountant’s involvement to almost minimal levels after all this is done.
If you ask us, that’s a mistake!
How do I know if I need an accountant?
Oftentimes, you’ll need the help of an accountant to either help you plot a pathway out of a financial problem. Other times, you’ll need their help in order to capitalise on your good fortune.
If you find yourself in either of these situations, it’s important that you engage a business accountant in Melbourne.
Luckily, if you keep a close eye on your daily, weekly and monthly figures, it’s pretty easy to figure out when you might need to call your accountant.
Of course, it isn’t just the unexpected things that require help from an accountant. Say you’ve got big plans for your business, like an expansion, a big move or a major capital investment.
Whatever it is, it’s a big spend – thus, it’s important that you weigh up your options carefully.
And that’s something our accounting firm in Melbourne can help you with!
Should I hire an accountant for my taxes?
Filing your personal tax return isn’t quite as complicated as many make it out to be. While you may not need personal accountants to deal with your individual tax return, business tax returns are a completely different matter.
Businesses need to deal with all sorts of different tax breaks, allowances, refunds, credits and more, ranging from things like GST credits to industry-specific allowances.
There’s a lot to take in – all the more reason to leave it in the hands of a professional.
With our knowledge of the tax system, as well as all of the schemes the ATO has for businesses like yours, our tax accountants in Melbourne work hard to ensure that your business gets every single allowance and tax break it deserves.
Even if you don’t really call your accountant that often throughout the year, you need to get in touch with them around tax time at least!
Do I need an accountant if I use QuickBooks?
Just like other parts of our lives, accounting is increasingly going online.
Programs like QuickBooks – a staple of many business’ bookkeeping and accounting process – are joining in, with cloud-based accounting systems that allow you to:
- Access your finances from any device
- Do accounting work remotely
- Automatically calculate tax and generate reports
- Have remote backups so you won’t lose everything if your PC dies
A lot of business owners see this and assume that they don’t need an accountant anymore, and that this type of system has automated their local business accountants in Melbourne out of a job.
And they’d be wrong!
While these programs eliminate a lot of the grunt work, they don’t change the need for a professional’s opinion and insight.
An automatically generated report can be a big help, and a huge time-saver – however, if you don’t know what said report is telling you, is it really doing that much to help you?
Accountants come in and provide context and meaning to the information your system automatically spits out. More importantly, they help you chart a course based on said information, helping your business thrive.
Sure, computer systems are getting better at a lot of things – however, this is still one area that requires a human touch!
Should I use tax software or an accountant?
Just to be clear, while it may have sounded like we were trying to say that having an accountant makes programs like these totally irrelevant.
That’s not what we’re trying to say at all – both your accounting tax software and your accountant both have a role to play.
For the ordinary, day-to-day finances, accounting and tax software can be a big help, and may be all you need to look after your business. Calling an accountant in Beaumaris to deal with cash flow is completely unnecessary (not to mention, that’s a bookkeeper’s job).
By contrast, these programs can’t help you plot a pathway out of a financial tough spot. For these unexpected financial situations, you might be better served by talking to a real human being.
The key is knowing when to lean on one or the other.
An accountant in Beaumaris that specialises in helping businesses like yours
Whether yours is a new business or one that’s been in operation for several years, you need an accountant on your side.
If you need an accountant in Beaumaris, our team is the one to call.
Our roster of financial professionals includes tax experts, monthly compliance specialists as well as BAS and IAS accountants and more.
Since 1966, our team has helped all sorts of businesses both big, small and everywhere in between with their accounting needs.
And you can be one of them.
All you need to do is get in touch with our accounting team:
