Reading the news headlines these days should be reason enough to make sure your business is operating in accordance with local, state, and federal regulations. Laws are constantly changing. Businesses are failing because of bad accounting, which means there was no third party to hold the business owner(s) accountable.

If you are not able to stay on top of the changes or do not understand them, you should definitely hire someone who does.

What Do Accountants Really Do?

An accountant is someone who specializes in specific areas concerning finances, taxes, budgets, business operations, business equity, business management, money management, and so much more. The accounting field or industry is very broad. There are so many areas in which an accountant can help you.

Every accountant specializes in the areas in which they are experts. Whether you need help with estate planning, depreciation and amortization of business assets, developing budgets for your business, payroll matters, bookkeeping, or tax issues, you can find an accountant to help you.

Many accountants not only provide accounting-related help, they also provide business consulting. This goes back to what I stated earlier about the accounting industry being broad. You can be guaranteed that there is an accountant somewhere that can help you with your business needs.

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How much time do you have in daily business operations to actually do all the things an accountant could do for you? How much time do you have to try and learn all the things that accountants already know?

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Do you understand small business taxation? Have you actually read the entire tax code? These are some things to think about.

Why Do I Need An Accountant?

Depending on the structure of your business, you may be required to hire an accountant. Public corporations are required to remain in compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), and are therefore required to hire third party Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) to perform financial statement audits.

Private owned businesses may not be required to have audits done, but they can still have financial statement reviews or compilations performed, which a regular accountant can perform. Some lenders may require a financial statement review in order to accurately review and process a business loan request.

The main difference between a regular degreed accountant and a CPA is that the CPA can perform financial statement audits and certify financial statements. Not all accountants are CPAs. Some accountants don’t have the desire to be CPAs because they don’t want to perform audits or certify financial statements. However, there are many highly qualified, skilled, and knowledgeable accountants who are not CPAs.