Why use an accountant?

In these times of recession and debt, it might be argued by some that you have to cut costs wherever possible and that accountants are a waste of money and one of those luxuries or unnecessary costs that you incur when times are easier.  This could not be further from the truth however.  For those of you who might be tempted to do without an accountant, there are several good reasons not to.

Firstly, throughout my time at college, and then university, I was taught that when running a business, an Accountants Harlow is actually an asset.  A good accountant, I was constantly told, would save you more money than they cost.  Now if this is true, we already have a very good reason why an accountant should be employed. Accountants have many ways that, in actual fact they can save you money.  A good accountant will advise you on the most tax efficient way to be paid from your company will offer tax and fee saving advice and will prompt you for key activities within a financial year.

Secondly and along the same lines, do you have time to do your accounts? It might seem like you are saving money when you do the accounts yourself, but unless you have been trained in accounting, or use appropriate and accurate suitable industry software you may have a hard time balancing your books.  And here we have two very good points.

1) If you are doing your own books, who is selling?  Who is invoicing customers and chasing late payments? Who is actually doing the work that you are supposed to be doing to run your company? So you have an easy calculation. Take the amount of time you take to do your accounts yourself and then ask yourself, ‘How much would I have charged my customers for this time?’  If you aren’t so busy as to be servicing customers every minute of your day, then you might say that you can afford the time. But let’s face it, if you aren’t promoting your company, who will?  Isn’t this time better spent trying to get more custom in?

2) If you are using software, how much more time does it take to learn to use this?  How much does the software cost to buy and upgrade.  You may be substantially towards your accountancy bill, just in software costs alone.

Thirdly, and very importantly, having an experienced firm of Accountants Hertfordshire is important for the knowledge that they have been specially trained to do the job. They should pick up on items much more accurately than you would.  They should also help to identify trends in your company and help you put right any discrepancies if you have not noticed an overspend, or have failed to include certain figures or write down stock or equipment correctly.  Indeed there are many areas where an accountant is invaluable, not just for the provision of a set of accounts, but in every day business running, such as preparing salaries and accounting for tax and national insurance for employees correctly.