Manage the cost of preparation of your annual financial statements

Many companies are starting the year-end process at this time and there are ways to manage the charges that your external accountant charges for his services. Often the most effective way is to ensure that you and your staff do as much of the work as possible to prepare for the essential tasks that he has to do him/herself. Ask your public accountant what you and your staff are capable of doing to reduce the time that it takes for him and his staff to prepare your financial statements and tax returns. At the same time ask what schedules that you are now preparing are no longer necessary. Many businesses are capable of doing more than they do but assume that it will be best to do things the same way as last year.

In addition, ensure that you prepare these schedules in a format that is best able to assist them e.g. ensure that the schedules show comparative amounts for the prior year. One last thing that is becoming an easy way to assist the accountant is to ensure that you provide electronic copies of your schedules, as well as hard copy.

It is often appropriate to carefully re-assess the most effective way to obtain the level of service that you require and to manage your fees in this way.

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