What Should Small Business Owner Expect From Their CPA?

Expectations, expectations, expectations.

We all have expectations for our employees, employers, customer and clients. Sometimes these expectations can be incredibly high, and other times they can be incredibly low.

As a small business owner, you probably wonder what you should expect from your CPA once you finally make the big step to hire one. Though expectations will always vary to some degree from person to person, there are a few things you should be able to expect from all CPAs across the board.

Here are three things you should be able to expect from every CPA:

Responsiveness

A good CPA not only responds to all of your requests, he or she responds in a timely manner. Responsiveness in any client-employee relationship is important because it keeps the communication intact.

Pro-activeness

CPAs tend to be fairly proactive by nature. They know what financial statements need to be compiled, what needs to be reconciled, and what needs to be reported. This level of pro-activeness gives CPAs the opportunity to flourish in their role as CPAs.

Communicativeness

You should expect that your CPA be highly communicative to your needs and concerns. Communicating means that, as the client, you should always share your accounting and financial records with your CPA. It also means that, if you are interested in making a large business purchase, your CPA should be one of the first people to know about it. Being able to communicate at a high level will keep your CPA from being shocked by your money decisions later on down the road. The more the two of you communicate, the more your business will receive as a result of having a CPA.

Image credit: JD Hancock