As a business owner, you already know that despite the daily hassles of account management, it is one of the most vital functions for running and scaling a business, and you need expert help in this. However, if you are unsure of what to ask the virtual accountant professionals, like a Houston accountant, before hiring them, this blog can assist you! So, gear up to explore the six critical questions to ask a virtual accountant to not repent on your hiring later.
6 Questions To Ask Before Hiring a Virtual Accountant
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What Does Your Virtual Accountant Service Cover?
Of course, it’s the first question you must ask when hiring a virtual accountant, whether a company or a freelancer. This is because accountancy tasks are myriad, from calendar management, bookkeeping, and sales follow-up to payroll processing, managing expense accounts, etc. You need to know if the virtual accountant you intend to hire offers a comprehensive service.
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What Kind of Certification or License Do You Have?
No doubt, learning and understanding the credentials of a virtual accountant stands crucial before hiring. You have to pick the well-versed and experienced one amongst the many. You need to select and hire a certified public accountant (CPA) who has pursued degree-level study and testing. Additional certifications are always a boon!
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Who Were Your Past Clients, and What’s the Retention Rate?
It is another critical question you must ask before hiring a virtual accountant. Yes. You need to know whether the virtual accountant’s past clients are from the same industry as yours. It can help infer the accountant’s expertise in your specific business arena. Likewise, learning the retention rate allows you to deduce the quality of service the virtual assistants render.
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What Security Methods Does Your Virtual Accountancy Service Involve?
Indeed, questioning the virtual accountant about their security system stands crucial for your hiring endeavor. It’s because data breaches are immense these days, and you certainly don’t want sensitive information about your company to go out of hand. So, you must know how they keep your data safe yet accessible through encryption, two-step authentication, or others. You must know their security policies, too!
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Do You Use Any Online Accounting Software?
Almost all businesses today use online tools and software to make various business operations easy, quick, and errorless. It is the same for accounting tasks. So, asking whether the virtual accountant uses such software can help comprehend how up-to-date the service provider is and how efficiently they can handle your accounting operations. Besides, if you have accounting software set up beforehand, you can see if it aligns with the service provider.
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How Much Do You Charge for Your Virtual Accountancy Service?
Furthermore, you must undoubtedly inquire about the pricing before you hire a virtual accountant. The virtual accountancy service provider may not provide an upfront price breakdown to cover hidden costs. So, you have to inevitably ask for it and see whether the charges are justifiable for each of the accountancy services they claim to offer. That’s how you can make your hiring cost-effective.
Wrapping Up!
While virtual accountancy services led up the graph since the COVID-19 pandemic, not all service providers are worthwhile. You need to hunt for the one who can serve you the exact value for money or even more.