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CALL US
for financial and business
services and solutions
818-788-2651
Our Accounting Firm
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Los Angeles Certified Public Accounting Firm
Last Updated:
Tuesday January 29, 2008
Local communities for which we
provide CPA, accounting, tax preparation and business consulting services:
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Why Now?
So you’re starting or currently running a small to
medium-sized business! It’s a well-known fact that most small companies with
limited budgets and multiple demands in these difficult economic times
simply don’t think about hiring an accountant or a business consultant until
a problem develops.
How and when should a startup or young and growing business decide to choose
financial accounting, tax advice, software set-up, and business improvement
consulting? Procrastinating or going cheap on this decision now can cost
your company dearly later on.
Just as a professional race car driver has a pit crew to allow him to stay
focused on
the race and not be bogged down with necessary but time-consuming
maintenance and repairs, successful companies assemble a support staff
allowing them to focus on moving and growing their core business. A
medium-sized business may have full-time staff or some part-timers but even
a start-up needs specialists from the start if they hope to survive the
transition from birth to established business. Nobody ever won a race while
also performing all the tasks of the pit crew. Never.
When?
That’s your call. But with complex tax laws passed every year you need an
experienced tax professional to guide you through the tax maze. With our
fast-moving business environment, if your sales remain flat and your costs
creep up, you also need a consultant to help you build a better business and
overcome your daily challenges. An outsider can provide an essential
“reality-check”, helping you identify errors of commission or omission.
How To Hire
Common sense is as good a guide as any.
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Identify your 3 most pressing issues: it
could be a need to increase sales, or to develop a closer rapport with
customers, or to develop your business into a turn-key operation, or to do
careful tax planning at the beginning of the year and file your returns on
time.
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Make sure that the person in your business
who works with the accountant or consultant feels comfortable with him. Do
these people get along?
A good generalist accountant or consultant
will take a much broader view than one with a narrow specialty. Make sure
the person you work with has handled similar transactions or activities. You
want someone who’s been down the road before. Getting this wrong will cost
your business time and money. Don’t skimp.
How do I know if the Accounting or Business Consulting Advice is
Good?
It’s impossible to know whether your professional is doing a good job unless
you get into serious trouble because of something done wrong. Unless you’re
in the profession, you can really only know the truth when you’re receiving
good service. Tips include:
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Watch for hype. Over-promising, such as
guaranteeing you’ll receive a no-change tax audit – is not a good sign of
professionalism.
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Ask questions. Get the names of clients in
a similar industry. If clients are good-sized and the relationships are
long-term, that’s a good sign. Find out if deadlines are met and for quantifiable results.
What kind of Accountant or Business Consultant should
I hire?
Hire someone who already gets good results in handling the issues you are
trying to solve.
You can choose to:
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Hire someone from a firm. One person who
is your contact who can also recommend specialists in the firm for any
particular issue.
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Hire a sole practitioner with the
background and resources to be good at both Accounting and Business
Consulting. This works if you choose someone with a broad and deep knowledge
base built up from years of experience in diverse areas – and who can
recommend experts in other areas as needed.
In summary:
Go shopping early for Accounting and Business Consulting help, use common
sense and pick someone you trust who gets results.

Lawrence L. Richards, C.P.A.
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