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<span class="provip_member_name">Mina M</span>
Mina M
CPA
Kirkland, Washington
Biz Talk » Business Advice »
Posted by Mina M, Kirkland, Washington | Jun 16, 2012

Subscribe to Business Advice What do clients look for in a CPA?

I cannot answer from my clients' perspectives. However, currently CPAs have been identfied with an old myth that clients should not tap into their CPAs' knowledge until it is a tax related question or bokkeeping issues.

Well, eventhough the above is true, but CPAs should also be looked upon for ways to grow your business. Believe it or not CPAs have ways to identify growh opportunities or at least help you understand why your net income is low while your sales have increased or why you are losing business to the competition.

I am curious though to hear and listen to what you as CPA services' users have to say in regards to what you look for in services from your CPA.

Choose the CPA w/ business consulting experience

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4 Bizniks have posted replies

  • Outsourced Construction Bookkeeping And Accounting Specialists Lynnwood, Washington Randal DeHart, PMP, QPA
    Posted by Randal DeHart, PMP, QPA, Lynnwood, Washington | Jun 22, 2012

    Hello Mina,

    We have a construction bookkeeping services business in Lynnwood and have used C.P.A.'s for over 30 years to prepare our business and personal taxes and are very pleased with the service we get.

    I have found most C.P.A.'s are focused on tax preparation and when they get into other areas like bookkeeping and strategic business process management it does not always work out so well.

    The same hold true in reverse, bookkeepers who offer annual income tax services don't always work out so well.

    Regarding using a C.P.A. for growing a business can be tricky. It gets back to the idea “Jack Of All Trades And Master Of None”.

    If the C.P.A. is a generalist it does not seem to work as well as having expertise in a particular industry and focusing on it.

    Warm Regards,

    Randal

    Contractors Accounting And Bookkeeping Services
  • CPA Kirkland, Washington Mina M
    Posted by Mina M, Kirkland, Washington | Jun 23, 2012

    Hi Randal, Totally agree with you in regards to generalizations versus focusing on a specific niche. When a CPA firm is focused on a niche, they can provide better service because they are subject matter experts in this niche and have deep knowledge of it. However, I find also that those that are focused on a specific niche cannot really make broader decisions and connect the dots. It is basically the same difference between a family practitioner and specialized doctors such as eye doctors. Famiily practitioners connect the dots between different diseases or medicines when they are referring patients to other doctors, but a specialized doctor cannot refer you to others because they are only focused on their niche and they have that very deep knowledge of it.

    Therefore, a little bit of both flavors do work but depends on two things: 1. The appetite of the CPA in regards to how much they want to get deeper knowledge about subjects and 2. How broader do they have tolerance and talent for to connect the dots between the different needs and the different financial decisions that their clients are making or need to make.

    Choose the CPA w/ business consulting experience
  • Mentor For Hire Kirkland, Washington Nadir Zulqernain, Ph.D.
    Posted by Nadir Zulqernain, Ph.D., Kirkland, Washington | Jun 25, 2012

    CPA are trained in a specify field. I want my CPA (and he is) to be an expert in that field. I do not want business development or business growth advise from her. This goes for lawyers also.

    Become a better worker, friend, spouse and parent.
  • CPA Kirkland, Washington Mina M
    Posted by Mina M, Kirkland, Washington | Jun 26, 2012

    Nadir, This is a valuable comment, however, it seems that the CPA world is now evolving. A CPA is no longer stopping at being trained in specific field, but they rather take training in many other fields. For example, in the old days you might find CPAs being trained in Audits using paper audits. Now CPAs are also trained in auditing IT systems, financial reports using XBRL which is an XML derivative language used by the IRS for publicly traded companies, etc...

    Therefore, having a CPA who only trained at one thing may be useful 50% of the time and that is may be when you need the person the most, but if they are diverse they could be useful up to 75% of the time. Given that they are good at what they due in their specified field. Any extra knowledge would add value.

    Choose the CPA w/ business consulting experience