How to Hire an Accountant

Cole Harris Knoxville
Cole Harris Knoxville
2 min readJun 1, 2020

Your finances can only be improved through your ability to account for your spending, income, and balances. Sure, you can manage your money without professional skills, but the help of an accountant will boost your financial literacy by “leaps and bounds.” You might have reached a point where you need to give your financial portfolio to a specific person for management; know that accountants are only ideal if you can pay them without reducing your net worth.

Your accountant, as you’ll soon discover, is a personal confidant. Certified fiduciaries (CPAs) not only have your financial interests in mind but doing a good job requires them to account for much of your personal life, which entails listing everything you own. The right accountant gives you a financial balance between your personal and professional self.

Knowing the Services You Need

Managing your money is undoubtedly the focus of your accountant, but your money, being that it can be derived in vast ways, can’t be proficiently managed if it’s all seen as a single lump of cash. The diversity regarding your sources of income, debts, and expenses should encourage you to hire multiple accountants who can each specialize in specific aspects within your finances. Here are concepts that you can hire an accountant to handle:

Audits — An accountant who specializes in reviews is someone keen at finding weaknesses within your cash flow.

Businesses — Your business accountant is strictly focused on the income, costs, and holdings of any companies you own.

Taxes — Whether for your personal or business use, tax accountants ensure that you comply with tax laws while getting ideal returns from yearly filings.

Records — Organizing the cash flows within your possession gives you the ability to make financial decisions with more considerable tact. An accountant that creates, collects, or organizes records does so to make sense of the “financial picture” that you’re in control of.

Knowing How to Interview Your Candidates

Your ideal accountant, regardless of their role, should be interviewed to prepare them to work with you. When interviewing, you not only want to ask about what they do but also establish the benchmarks that you expect them to achieve. During each interview, be sure to ask about the fees, specific service, and approach of each accountant.

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Cole Harris Knoxville
Cole Harris Knoxville

Based in Knoxville, Cole Harris is a Tax Manager, musician, and world traveler.