How I found the right Accountant for my start-up

Four years back, when I started my company, I did not anticipate I will have to deal with so many things apart from serving to core clients. I was not a novice either. I knew I will have to handle everything myself but I was sure I will find people who will take care of these overheads for some fee. Well turns out I was way too optimistic.

Finding the right accountant for managing company accounts, taxes and annual filings turned out be one of the challenging things to concur. I started interacting with accountants in my local area, visited their offices and tried to explain what my start-up was and how it intended to earn money. I thought my business idea was so common that they should easily be able to understand it but I was mistaken. After I explained my business model to few local accountants and I saw a feeling of uncertainty on their faces, I knew they were not completely sure if they understood it. So, I decided to do it myself through an online platform called cleartax.com.

The issue with using an online platform for your accounts is that you are only delegating the work and not the responsibility and I was just not meant to handle this responsibility myself. So next year I made sure I find someone near my place who can help with my accounts and whom I can meet in person to discuss my plans and take advice about the actions required in future.

The biggest challenge for start-ups is finding right people to help them in their journey. This time I was ready to be flexible and after meeting more accountants in my local vicinity, I finalized one and delegated this responsibility to him. Thinking that I don’t have to worry about my taxes and annual filings, I was a bit relieved. He was supposed to remind me of timely submission of taxes and other formalities like filing quarterly GSTs and finalizing balance sheets. This association did work to some extent. However, there was something important missing in this relationship and it took me some time to realize what it was.

So, what was it that I found missing? Although I had a chartered accountant who looked after my company accounts, I felt I was not getting enough feedback on how my company was doing financially and what I should do in future to make it look better. When I asked such questions to my accountant, he did not have clear answers. And I was getting a bit frustrated with this setup. So, I started talking to more accountants. And this time luck was in my favor.

I met this person through a relative. He could answer my questions with clarity and that is something I was looking for. I switched to this accountant instantly and I have been living in peace since then. The good thing about him is that he informs me where my company is heading in terms of revenue, where my spending should go (like hiring, advertising, infrastructure etc) and what my financial projection looks like.

Looking at these events today, I feel it is ok if you do not hit the right person the first time. Chances are you may not realize their true value. And it takes some time for you to realize what you truly want. The key is to not settle for less. One should keep looking for the right person till all the boxes are checked.