For most business owners, switching accountants is a painful thought. It is definitely one action which is not taken on a whim.
The top reasons people hate switching accountants are:
1. They believe that costs may be substantially different upon moving elsewhere
2. They’re satisfied with the standard given as is
3. Possible delays, loss of files or history of data on transition
4. They don’t know any different – accountants are all the same
5. Awkwardness of ‘sacking’ an accountant when they haven’t really done anything wrong
6. Tax and accountants are boring; why spend more time than required switching and thinking about them?
7. “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t” as you could be “jumping out of the frying pan into the fire”.
All of these reasons are clearly very valid beliefs for most business owners. But there are even more valid and crucial reasons to consider switching accountants. Consider these:
1. By being just another number on your accountant’s books and not getting the personal attention your business may need, you might be missing out on crucial feedback or service which may have long term financial and business effects.
2. Nine out of 10 times, the transition between accountants is pain free and handled by the incoming accountant. There should be no reason why the outgoing accountant will not be helpful on transition, despite his personal pride on the matter. In practice, delays prevail where the client has an outstanding bill and hence paperwork and files are held back until the accounts are fully settled.
3. You might outgrow your accountant and your accountant’s particular area of expertise, hence it would be in your business’ interest to move to a more appropriately skilled accountant to best suit your current or changing business requirements.
4. You can’t afford the fees of your current accountant or don’t appreciate their services. An accountant is your trusted professional adviser whom you ought to rely on for business direction and advice. Should your circumstances change or you are no longer getting the service that you are accustomed to or believe you should be getting, it would be highly advisable to discuss this with your accountant immediately. Should service levels not improve, you may have no other choice but transfer to another accountant.
5. Most accountants provide Engagement Letters upon assessing the type of work requested of them, hence providing a pretty accurate amount of assurance in regard to expected fees for the job at hand.
Having read the above, is about time you considered switching?
–Janna Fikh is an accountant at Fletcher Tax Accountants.
