Accounting and Finance plays a major role in the success of any business. Choosing a CPA could save you a lot of headache and costs and help you build an efficient business. In this blog post we will see what factors should you keep in mind to choose the best CPA for startups.
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Who is a CPA?
A Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is a finance professional who has all the qualifications to fulfill different verticals in the business and is licensed by the board of accountancy.
CPAs can function as auditors, tax advisor, business consultants. CPAs need to qualify certain examinations & complete their trainings to be termed as a certified CPA.
For an in-depth detailed article, take a look at How to be a certified CPA?
Points before selecting CPA for startups
CPAs are highly qualified finance professionals, but if they are not made familiar with your startup or the new venture then you might leave a big chunk of money which could be used in some other key area of your business. So here’s a 5 point checklist to select the best CPA for startups.
Specialised knowledge in startups
Most founders do make some finance mistakes in the beginning. To avoid this, you should look out for a CPA who has experience working with startups. This will help you from irregularities and financial complexities when the business is fairly new.
The CPA that you’ve selected for your startup must know the key metrics and terms broadly used in the startup world. The CPA should know about the burn rate and runway capital etc. Also they must be able to do tax planning for you to save you money and save you from regulations.
Proven experience in your industry
You should look out for a CPA who has some experience in your industry or the sector of your business. The best CPA for startups that are experienced in your business vertical can save you a lot because they know how to prepare necessary documents and do financial modelling to keep your business running efficiently for a longer period of time.
If they do not understand how your business operates, where is the most amount of cost that your business incurs from, it will cause a lot havoc in the functioning of your business. So it’s better to choose a CPA that has some experience in the sector that your business operates.
Effective & Timely communication
Effective and timely response from your CPA is a crucial factor for selecting them for your business. See how much time does it take on an average for your CPA to respond and get back to you with their solutions and roadmap. Time-sensitive requests might affect your business a lot. So make sure you select a good and timely communicating CPA for your startup.
Knowledge about your financial tools
You might be already using some sort of software for your accounting purposes in the business. Make sure your CPA understands the usage and firm understanding of all your financial stack. There are several different methods of accounting and use of financial tools. If your prospective CPA understands then they will definitely guide you in using and implementing the better version in your business, saving you a lot of costs and time.
Affordable pricing plans
Some startup founders and small business owners avoid taking help from finance professionals to keep their costs down and save some money. But trust me hiring CPA for startups is worth every penny. You can have discussion with your prospective CPA on how much you can afford and the pricing can change when the company grows. Having an early discussion about this with your CPA will help you set up a fixed budget in advance.
It would be better to find a finance firm or a CPA that charges a monthly fees to provide accounting services. This way it would be a less of a burden on your business to pay their fees.
Best Outsourced CPA service for Startups
If you are a new founder, you should definitely checkout zeni.ai. Zeni is a full service finance firm that helps you in managing all your financial and accounting management needs. It is specially designed for startups. So we can say Zeni is your online CPA for startups.
Zeni’s platform has already using artificial intelligence along with their team of financial experts to maximize efficiency and give you the best book-keeping experience online.
You should definitely give it a try! Let me tell you this is not a sponsored post, but hey Zeni I am down for one!
Conclusion: Criteria for choosing the best CPA for startups
So if you are new founder, consider investing in hiring a CPA to do some of your finance & tax related tasks. It might seem a lot to pay their fee but they will help you build your financial models, advice you in saving a lot of tax, advise you on several areas of your business.
You just have to make sure that the CPA that you’re selecting for your startup knows how things work in your respective industry & how to manage and fix unwanted costs, maintain smooth functioning of the business & much more.
CPAs are highly skilled finance people, spending some time discussing business things will directly or indirectly help you a lot to grow both as a person and as an entrepreneur. CPAs can guide in your key areas of your business and help you save a lot of headache by doing all sorts of financial and business planning.
Hope you enjoyed reading this blogpost on ‘How to choose best CPA for startups?’ I wish you all the very best for your new venture. I hope you tackle all your obstacles be it financial, mental or spiritual. As I founder I root for you.
You can also checkout : 9 Best tools for entrepreneurs
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