Is my business ready for an Accountant?

Software v an Accountant, which is right for you?

If you are starting or growing a business in 2016 you may well be asking yourself ‘should I hire an accountant or spend time getting to grips with this myself’. With so many good, user-friendly software packages available, plenty of business owners feel they should be able to keep their records on their own. Add to this the fact that the first few years of business are tough with tight cashflow and its easy to see why so many feel they can’t afford an accountant. On the flip side, small business owners often wrestle with finding the time for their books and wonder if they're doing things correctly. So, does there come a moment in business where the time and tax savings that an expert can make for you justify the cost of paying for their expertise?

If you are thinking of firing yourself and hiring an accountant in 2016 here are some areas to consider!

Time

If you are thinking of managing your own tax and accounts first be honest with yourself about how much you like admin and keeping up to date with the tax code. Next, be honest about the actual time you are spending on this. If you are spending several hours a month being dragged away from running your business, it may well make financial sense to outsource this portion of your business to an accountant. Generally speaking, an accountant can take care of these time-consuming tasks for a lot less per hour than it would cost for you to do it yourself.

Structure

Should you operate as a sole trader, partnership or limited company? An accountant can discuss the benefits of each structure and the tax implications particular to you and your circumstances. If, for example you have several different sources of income it might be worth investigating setting up a limited company which although perhaps more cumbersome, can bring big savings to you tax wise. You can of course do all this yourself, but it involves know how and more legal administration.

Record keeping

If you need to register for VAT you'll have to decide what basis you want to pay on and you will need to regularly file VAT returns. If you need staff, you're in the realms of PAYE as well as PRSI. A good accountant will help you set up a bookkeeping system to easily keep track of both of these areas as well as your invoices and receipts.  This could range from an excel spreadsheet to a cloud based bookkeeping system. This is an area where people regularly fall down and end up either not knowing what they owe or being late filing. Knowing you are on the right track here brings tremendous piece of mind. 

 

Growing your business

Finally, an accountant should be an additional business adviser to you, someone to turn to for advice as you grow. Often, growth means you need additional finance and this is when an Accountant can really come into their own; advising you on the best way to arrange additional finance without putting your business at risk. When your funding is in place, there needs to be a layer of control to ensure your business grows in the right way.

 

Conclusion

At TaxAssist Accountants we enjoy helping new businesses get their tax affairs and records in order so that you can do what you do best, run your business. We offer a free meeting to discuss your business needs at any one of our 25 offices across Ireland.

We can provide you with a, no obligation, fixed fee quote and we also offer flexible monthly payment options to help with cashflow. Contact us today on 1890987609 and start your business off on the right foot. 

Date published 7 Jan 2016

This article is intended to inform rather than advise and is based on legislation and practice at the time. Taxpayer’s circumstances do vary and if you feel that the information provided is beneficial it is important that you contact us before implementation. If you take, or do not take action as a result of reading this article, before receiving our written endorsement, we will accept no responsibility for any financial loss incurred.