Questions to Ask an Accountant When Starting a Business
An agenda for a first meeting with an accountant when you are setting up a business: fees and who does the work, entity choice, paying yourself, bookkeeping, deadlines, and hiring. Answers depend on where you are and what you sell, so use these to structure the meeting rather than as a set of rules.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What do you charge, and how is it billed, hourly, monthly, or per filing?
Why ask it
Ask first so the rest of the meeting is honest. A monthly fee that covers questions changes how often you will call, which matters more than the headline rate.
Who will actually do my work day to day, you or someone on your team?
Why ask it
In most firms the partner sells and a junior prepares. Knowing who handles your file tells you who to email and whose experience you are really buying.
How many businesses like mine do you work with?
Why ask it
Sector experience is the difference between generic advice and someone who already knows the two mistakes people in your trade make. A vague answer is itself an answer.
Based on what I have told you, which structure would you set up, and why that one?
Why ask it
You want a recommendation with reasons, not a list of options. If the reasoning is entirely about tax and never about liability or future investors, push on that.
What would the tax difference between those structures look like in my first two profitable years?
Why ask it
Rough numbers make the choice real. Ask what happens if you earn far less than planned, since that is where structures diverge most.
What do I need to register for before I take my first payment?
Why ask it
Registrations for tax numbers, sales tax and payroll often have to happen before trading, and fixing them retroactively costs more than doing them in order.
How should I pay myself, and when should that arrangement change?
Why ask it
Owner pay is where new owners create problems that take years to unwind. Ask for the mechanics and for the trigger point that would make you revisit it.
Should I keep the books myself, use your team, or hire someone?
Why ask it
The answer reveals how they price. Watch for whether the recommendation is based on your volume of transactions or on what they would rather sell you.
Which accounts and cards should I open before I start spending?
Why ask it
Separating business and personal money on day one prevents the single most common bookkeeping mess. Ask specifically what to do about spending you have already made.
What should I be doing every month so that you are not fixing things at year end?
Why ask it
A good answer is a short list you could stick above your desk. If it is longer than five items, ask which two matter most.
Which deadlines am I responsible for this year, and can you send me the dates?
Why ask it
Get it in writing. Assuming the accountant is tracking every filing is how penalties happen, because their engagement may cover less than you think.
How do estimated or advance tax payments work for me, and what should I set aside from each sale?
Why ask it
Ask for a percentage you can apply the day money arrives. Tax bills on the first profitable year catch out people who spent the cash as revenue.
What is deductible in my situation, and where do people in my line of work get that wrong?
Why ask it
The second half is the valuable half. Every trade has an expense that owners over-claim and one they forget entirely, and your accountant sees both weekly.
If I work from home and use my own car, what records do I need, and starting when?
Why ask it
These two claims depend almost entirely on documentation kept at the time. Find out what evidence is required before you have a year of missing logs.
Should I be on a cash or accrual basis, and how will that change how my numbers look?
Why ask it
It affects when income appears and therefore when tax is due. It also affects whether your accounts will make sense to a lender later.
If I hire, what is the real difference in cost and paperwork between a contractor and an employee?
Why ask it
Ask for the total cost of an employee, not the salary. Also ask what makes someone an employee in practice, since getting that wrong is expensive to correct.
When I buy equipment, how does the timing of the purchase change my tax bill?
Why ask it
Timing rules can make a December purchase very different from a January one. Ask which thresholds apply to you so you are not guessing in the last week of the year.
If I lose money in the first year, what happens to that loss?
Why ask it
New owners rarely ask about losses, and the treatment differs by structure. It can be worth real money later, but only if the year is filed properly.
At what point, in revenue, staff, or new locations, should I call you before I act?
Why ask it
Turns an ongoing relationship into specific triggers. Registration thresholds and cross-border sales are the usual ones, and they are cheap to plan for and costly to discover late.
What do clients most often come to you about too late?
Why ask it
Their answer is a free list of the mistakes they clean up all year. Write it down; it is usually the most useful minute of the meeting.
Making the First Accountant Meeting Count
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
What to Bring
A plain description of the business
What you sell, to whom, in which places, and roughly at what price. Structure and registration advice depends on all four, and guessing wastes the meeting.
Your numbers, however rough
Expected revenue for the first year, your startup spending so far, and what you need to draw personally each month. Approximate figures are fine; no figures are not.
Anything you have already done
Registrations filed, contracts signed, money spent from a personal account, staff already helping you. Advice changes once something has happened.
Your two worries
Say plainly what you are most afraid of getting wrong. It focuses the conversation better than working through a generic checklist.
Keeping the Relationship Cheap and Useful
- Batch your questions into one monthly email rather than sending five separate ones if you are billed hourly.
- Send documents in the format they ask for; reformatting your records is often the largest line on the bill.
- Reconcile your bank feed monthly, so questions are asked while you still remember the transaction.
- Ask for the engagement letter to spell out which filings they handle and which remain yours.
- Tell them about a change before you make it, not in the following tax year.
Signs You Have the Wrong Accountant
- The recommendation on structure is the same for every client they describe.
- You cannot get a straight answer on fees before work starts.
- Questions during the year are treated as interruptions rather than as part of the service.
- They discourage you from understanding your own books.
- Deadlines are met at the last minute, with documents requested the day before.