Interviewing a Prospective Accountant

Ensuring that you hire the right CPA is crucial, and there are select questions you can ask to get the information you need.

Questions to Ask an Accountant

There are many different CPA firms in Las Vegas, and one way to differentiate between them is to interview them. If you ask the right questions, then the answers they give you can provide great insight into how well this person or firm matches up with you.

Availability of the Service

Some of the most important questions to ask concern whether the accountant is available year-round, how often you can communicate with him or her and how that communication will take place. Some firms and accountants only cater to clients like you during that brief period known as tax season. However, it’s those business and financial choices you make throughout the year that will determine how much money you save on April 15. You want someone you can turn to with these questions on a regular basis. It can be very beneficial if you have an accountant that embraces communication via email, text messages and so forth, so that you can ask questions outside of a formal meeting.

Conservative or Aggressive

Some accountants will seek to write off everything they can, and others will take a more unadventurous approach. Whether one strategy is better than the other depends on many different factors. What’s important for the individual is to determine what their individual philosophy is and then choose a CPA who shares that philosophy and can provide guidance within that context.

Tax Program

You’d never want to choose a CPA based on the financial software that he or she uses. However, it’s a good idea to know which application it is. If you choose to hire this firm, then you may even want to switch over to its software of choice. At the very least, you’ll know what format to use when exporting data from the program you do use. While this may seem like a simple thing, it can speed up communication between you and your accountant and even lower your total costs.