The services of Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) often extend beyond helping clients file their tax returns. They are often found behind the front lines helping start-up business owners realize their dreams no matter what they may be.
CPA Services May Include Savvy Business Advice
Borrowing on his own experience in opening his office in the mid 1990s, Adonu “Don” Idahosa, president of Symphony Financial Services in Kalamazoo, Michigan, says he doesn’t see it as part of his job as a CPA to second guess the entrepreneurs coming to him for help.
“It’s not up to me to judge whether a client has a good idea or not, nor is it up to me to discourage or encourage him or her either way. My job is to give them the best advice possible,” he says, adding, “not any one person is the whole forest. Even today, if I have something I’m thinking about doing, I consult a friend with knowledge in that particular area.”
He encourages his clients to seek other professionals for questions outside his own field of expertise.
“I’ll ask, for example, ‘have you dealt with an attorney before? Go to who you feel most comfortable with,’ but if they don’t know who to go to, I can make recommendations based on my years of experience.”
Idahosa said he often gets both word-of-mouth business and cold calls from novice business owners using the Yellow Pages.
Tax Loopholes Not Part of Discussion
“The first thing I do is ask them to sit down with me face to face. I want to know if they’re already in business, and if so, how it’s being conducted. Hopefully, they already have some level of business sophistication.
“If they’re starting a business, I’ll ask them about their objectives, and in so doing, make a determination about what legal structure is best. I also recommend that they make a business plan and give them an outline to get that plan going,” he says.
According to Idahosa, the most valuable service his office provides for start-ups, in addition to helping them set up and keep accurate accounting records, is advising them against pitfalls such as hiring too many employees “because of the consequences of having to meet excessive payroll taxes.”
When it comes to the subject of taxes, Idahosa said he may advise clients about the tax advantages of various business practices, “but just don’t ask me about ‘loopholes,’” he says, adding, “that’s the best way to get me to show you to the door. I tell my clients that it’s my job to make them pay their fair share.”
Unemployment Numbers Encourage Entrepreneurship
Plainwell, Michigan CPA Timothy Powers said he has helped a large number of start-up businesses this year, predominantly in construction which has taken such a big hit from the real-estate debacle.
“Most often, though, it’s because of lack of work where they were employed that they’ve decided they can do better by starting their own businesses and doing the work themselves. They’re usually people who have been self-employed in the past, or have a self-employed type of nature and are risk takers by nature.”
Powers assists start-ups with choosing a business structure, and filing registration paperwork and tax forms with both state and federal government tax
“We can either train a bookkeeper, or do the calculations for them,” he said.
“Helping a business get started does take more of an accountant’s time at first,” Powers conceded, adding the standard fee for his company’s services is $60 per hour, but the bottom line is determined by a number of factors, including the client’s business expertise.
“Most people already know how to make the products or provide the services their businesses are based on, but they feel overwhelmed by the many requirements involved in making important business decisions. I can give recommendations as far as helping them manage cash flow and I can offer advice on successful marketing techniques and so forth, but a business owner’s success depends in large part on how hard that individual is willing to work.
“The joke I often hear is ‘being self-employed is great. You only have to work half days, but the hard part is deciding during which 12-hour period.’ ”
The advice of a reputable CPA is vital in a recovering economy as more and more people leave foundering companies, whether by choice or by force, and especially in the latter case seeing their unemployment benefits dwindling away decide to start their own businesses.
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