So, you’ve decided that monthly accounting is the right solution for your business? That’s awesome! Now it’s time to shop around. After all, finding the right solution doesn’t mean you’ve found the right monthly accounting firm.
Whether you talk to five monthly accounting services or just one, there are six key questions that you need to ask them. Let’s talk about the questions and what kind of answers to look for.
At CSI Accounting & Payroll, we’ve provided monthly accounting services for nearly 60 years. We’ve gotten to know our monthly accounting competitors well – and what makes us different.
That led us to develop these six questions to ask monthly accounting firms – so you can see the difference, too.
6 Questions for Monthly Accounting Firms
Make sure you compare apples to apples, not apples to oranges. That means focusing on the questions that compare different monthly accounting services – not comparing monthly accounting to bookkeeping or annual tax prep.
Here are the six topics you should be asking about:
- Audit support & cost
- Offshoring your books
- Business client capacity
- Services provided
- Tax strategy & cost
- Advice, consulting, & cost
1.) Audit Support & Cost
Do you offer audit support?
Bad answer: No…
Or yes, but for an additional fee.
Good answer: Yes, we offer audit support, and it’s included in your monthly fee. We believe in the accuracy of our work and want to give you confidence, too.
2.) Offshoring Your Books
Who handles my bookkeeping – your staff, or external services overseas?
Bad answer: We outsource some of your work overseas because it saves us a little bit of money, but we don’t pass those savings on to you.
Good answer: All of your work is handled by our staff. This allows us to control the quality and speed, ensuring you actually get the best value for your investment.
3.) Business Client Capacity
Do you have the capacity to accept me as a client?
Bad answer: Not during tax season. We accept personal tax clients who don’t own businesses, and this extra workload during tax season is overwhelming for our staff.
If we do take you on, you can likely expect to get put on extension.
Good answer: We’re always accepting new business clients and the personal taxes of their owners! How? We limit our client base to prioritize you, so you can expect to join us whenever you want and not get put on extension.
4.) Services Provided
Do you help with situational things, like certain credits or reporting? What about bill pay, invoicing, job costing, inventory management, and one-off items?
Bad answer: We don’t really stay current enough to keep up with situational things.
However, we offer things like bill pay, invoicing, job costing, inventory management, and one-off items – although getting them through an outsourced service like ours isn’t the most cost-effective or accurate. We increased our manpower to offer these things, but that drove up our fees across the board.
Good answer: Our team stays on top of the news! We have a long history of helping businesses with situational things (recently PPP loans, the ERC, and ramping up for BOI reporting – although that was put on hold).
As for bill pay, invoicing, job costing, inventory management, and some one-off items, we don’t offer them. Why? Some require us to be onsite, and others require a lot of manpower that would require us to raise our fees. We can recommend alternative solutions for these things, though!
5.) Tax Strategy & Cost
What is your tax planning strategy like, and do taxes cost extra?
Bad answer: We don’t really do much year-round. If you want, we can have a meeting about it and do a tax projection before tax season.
Our tax service has also some fees that you might not be aware of, even though our monthly service may appear cheaper at first glance.
Good answer: We have a general plan for tax strategy, but the number of meetings and projections will be customized to your business’s needs and situation. You can expect to have at least one of each, though, plus adjustments if you make quarterly payments.
All fees are clearly laid out in our service agreement. The cost of your business taxes is included in your monthly investment, and we also offer personal taxes for the owner for an additional fee.
6.) Advice, Consulting, & Cost
Will you provide advice or consulting? What is the extent of it?
Bad answer: We can offer you advice, but we charge by the minute if you call us.
We can also offer some consulting projects for an additional fee, but our scope is limited.
Good answer: Absolutely! We offer unlimited one-off advice for no additional fee. Call, text, or email your accountant as much as you like. We believe this should be standard practice for all accounting solutions.
We also provide a wide range of consulting services for an additional fee, all outlined in a separate service agreement if you ever choose to add it on. The main difference between advising and consulting services is the level of involvement and action required.
Trust Your Monthly Accounting Service!
The biggest question of all should be “Can I trust you?” – although it’s not something you can just ask. To gain trust, check out their reviews, testimonials, information on their website, and pricing calculators. Try to find the answers to these questions yourself, and see if the answers line up!
Now that you know what questions you should ask different monthly accounting services, are you ready to check out CSI Accounting & Payroll?
To see if we can be a good fit for your business, click the button below for a free consultation:
Not ready to talk? That’s okay! First, learn more about what it’s like to work with us by clicking the image below:
