Hiring an accountant for your business is no longer just about finding someone good at number-crunching. A qualified accountant can help businesses make better business decisions based on information drawn from accurate data and informed by broad business knowledge.

So how do you go about finding a great accountant? Here are some tips:

• Determine your business needs: Do you want an accountant to just handle the books and file your taxes, or someone who can give advice, and who will be there as your business grows? A qualified accountant can help deal with buying and selling decisions, tax planning and has the credentials to sign financial statements and do statutory compliance work. Our firm can offer all these types of services and more.
• Get licensed candidates: A professional accountancy designation is important. In Alberta it means a CA (Chartered Accountant) or CPA (Chartered Professional Accountant). These designations mean that your accountant has a degree of education, a certain amount of experience and needs to abide by ethical rules.
• Determine accessibility: Is your accountant available to answer questions throughout the year? A firm like Seniuk and Company is available pretty much round-the-clock for clients. Also due to our smaller firm size, there is a lessor chance of different staff being assigned to your file year to year.
• Ask what they charge for services: Most charge by the hour (Our firm charges between $50 to $250 an hour, depending on their duties). To get an accurate quote, bring a copy of your tax returns and most recent financial statements.
• Talk about technology: Spreadsheets and other accounting paperwork are giving way to computers and digital filing. Paperless accounting saves time and money. Our firm works in a virtually paperless environment and is able to operate in the most up to date business computer systems.