Online Accountants – how do you choose the right one?

When you’re running your own business, it’s fair to wager that the majority of owners have a long list of things they’d rather do than sit down to a nice helping of bookkeeping or getting their taxes in order - that’s exactly where online accountants can ease the pain.

To delve into the cloud and explain how the sheer power of online accountants can ease the burden for many business owners the world over, we’ve called on the help of our Associate Director, Riaz Kala.

Choosing the right online accountant

Whether you’re a contractor, sole trader, small business or a medium-sized firm, choosing the right online accountant is vital.

With the rise of online accounting has come the one-size-fits-all approach from many accounting firms. This is often advertised as a cheap, streamlined service that, in truth, offers little more than a subscription to a cloud accounting software.

What you need to look for is an accountant who blends the knowledge, compliance and advisory elements of traditional accounting with the power of cloud accounting software to deliver an entirely new level of service.

What we’re talking about is an accountant that goes beyond the balance sheet and tax returns. You want a professional who can mine the data collected by your new software package and use it to identify areas of growth, new revenue streams, and break into a new realm of profitability.

For example, at Accounts and Legal, you don’t just have access to a new software package like Xero that will streamline all your accounts, receipts and invoicing processes. You will, more importantly, have an accountant and a supporting team who are established experts when it comes to using this technology to gain deeper insight into your business and better inform your decisions.

Benefits of online accounting

Once upon a time, having an accountant was almost like a symbol of size or success. Large companies needed an accountant because there would have been too much work for one person to do.

But, for small or owner-managed businesses, the traditional approach was to take care of accounts yourself. To owners, it made financial sense despite the fact it took up a great deal of their time.

This is where online accountants have changed the perception of hiring an accountant, regardless of your business’ size.

The power of online accounting has shifted the decision of working with an accountant from a lifestyle one to a performance one.

Investing in a professional accountant doesn’t just mean regaining all the personal time you’ve spent on your books, it also means cleaning up your accounts, identifying tax breaks to boost profitability, improving your cash flow, and ultimately making your business more successful.

The power of an online accountant

When you’re looking after your own books, it can be easy to overlook little things a qualified accountant wouldn’t, regardless of how long you’ve been taking care of your business’ accounts for.

The reality is things like tax, in particular, are complicated. HMRC has encyclopaedias of rules that you as a business owner couldn’t possibly be expected know or identify in addition to running your company.

In actual fact, having an accountant can make you money in the long run.

When working on accounts yourself you may miss valid expenses, underestimate your tax bill and face penalties, fall behind on invoicing, file compliance paperwork after their deadline and take a fine, spend hours trying to fix old mistakes, and most detrimental of all - not having the information or advice generated by an online accountant to help your business grow.

If you’re interested in working with an online accountant that can help your business realise its true potential, get in touch with our team and we would be happy to discuss how we can work together.

Alternatively, try our instant quote tool and get a competitive fee in just a few clicks.