Navigating your way through finding quality staff to meet your business’s financial needs can be difficult. We have made it easy for you by developing a guide to help you pick the right accountant for the job. Here are 5 things to look for in a staff accountant.
Let’s start by saying we are not talking about a CPA in this article, just your onsite accounting department. The person(s) completing the bank reconciles, accounts receivable, accounts payables, financial reports, and any other “fun” accounting day-to-day items.
Strong bank reconciliations: If you want accurate financial reports you need your accounts reconciled monthly. If this is not done correctly, then let’s just say you can have garbage on your books that does not give an accurate picture of your company’s financial status.
Accounts Payables: This is a simple one, have someone who is organized and has strong accounts payable experience to ensure your bills are paid on time. Taking care of your vendors represents your company well. The last thing a company wants is vendors grumbling about your business because of tardy payments.
Accounts Receivable: Get those invoices out ON TIME to your clients, when your invoicing is done accurately it helps to streamline customer payment and strengthen your cash flow. Mistakes on invoices will hold up payments and can cause an entire series of issues when cash flow is limited for your company. Have an accountant with strong AR.
Payroll: Normally someone in the accounting department prepares payroll. This person needs to have strong organizational experience. Planning payroll timely every month keeps the employees satisfied and things running smoothly. Let’s look at this from a different perspective have you seen a company that is not consistent in running payroll in a timely fashion, trust us you do not want that.
Financial Reports: When it comes to seeing the health of your company, you need accurate financial reports. A staff accountant who reconciles your books properly keeps the AR and AP current and adds payroll accurately into the accounting software will result in correct financial statements. If you are in the process of purchasing equipment, doing an acquisition, looking to get a company loan or selling your business the financial reports are critical. If your financial reports are not clean, it can bring progress to a grinding halt. A good day to day accountant should be reading financial reports and watching to ensure throughout the year they are kept clean.
If you are looking for a quality accounting team with a wide range of industry experience, feel free to give the pros at PAS Consulting a call for a free initial consultation at (210) 395-4387 or fill out our form to request a consultation.