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How to Make Your Accountant Love You this Year!
February 9th, 2012 | 
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courtesy of tpray77 on flickr.com
There are many different positions in a company, and all are equally important. Even the temp who faxes things and makes coffee serves a vital role.
If all positions are equally as important, then it stands that when one person needs help they should get it. But when it comes to your accountant, you’re more than likely doing things to actively slow them down and hurt their chances of doing their job correctly. This is especially ridiculous as you hired your accountant in to help run the financial side of things more smoothly!
How can you help them out? By doing just a few easy things, your accountant will not only be able to perform their work better, but they’ll likely give you a nice big squishy hug at the end of the day. And who doesn’t want that?
Organization
None of these changes are massive, nor are they particularly time consuming. Often the changes have to do with organization on your end and how you approach meetings and paperwork.
For instance, take business receipts. Unfortunately most of us tend to dump them on our accountant’s desk and hope they can figure it out. But by doing this, you’ve instantly doubled their workload. Now they have to work twice as hard to get caught up on this task, and that doesn’t even include the zillions of other things they have to do.
So the first simple thing you can do to make your accountant heart you forever is to start organizing your receipts better. This goes for everyone in your company who turns them in. Ask which categories they typically deal with – travel, dining, office supplies, etc. – and follow suit.
Another form of organization guaranteed to gain affection is handing over organized profit and loss reports whenever you meet. This is a great way for them to see exactly what the growth or decline of the company is. With this information, together you should be able to figure out how to proceed with the company.
Information
There’s nothing quite like being informed to win your accountant over. Not that you have to understand every tax law or accounting rule, but a basic grasp of the ins and outs can only be a good thing. If anything it will assist with your conversations with your financial pro.
Get your hands on some books or Internet tutorials to familiarize yourself with what exactly your accountant does. Just putting yourself in their shoes for a while can make you appreciate everything they do. Plus, imagine their surprise when you start throwing out technical terms!
Of course another means of gathering information is to ask questions. Your accountant is there to help with your financial needs, and this includes any inquiries you might have. Don’t be afraid to ask something if you don’t understand! Though you may feel your question is simple or dumb, not asking about something important can lead to disaster. Ask away and make all your future conversations that much easier!
Need a way to make tax time less taxing (for you AND for your accountant)? Then sign up for free at Outright.com today!
This post is brought to you by Outright.com, the easiest way to manage your small business finances online!
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