How do you know if you have a good accountant and how do you find one if you suspect that you do not? We have a small business and our accountant seems to be doing a fairly good job but how do you know for sure?

I think the best thing you can do is to talk with other small business owners and ask them their experience and the same question asked in this forum. You will quickly find how your accountant measures up.

One of the easiest things you can do is just look at their creditionals CPAs for example have to pass a test and it requires ongoing continuing education credits. This is one data point but I am sure there are a lot of good accountants that are not CPAs.

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I think experience is one of most important things you can have as an accountant. You learn to deal with things that perhaps a newer accountant would not have dealt with and they know how far they can push the rules.

I have never done this but I am wondering if you could bring your last years tax return to an accountant and ask them what they would of done differently? One thing you have to be careful with this approach is that if you find an accountant that says they would cut your taxes considerably you may find they are more aggressive then you would prefer.

Below is an article that walks you through how to find a good accountant. I hope it helps.

Find a Good Accountant

I think the article is more for larger businesses I dont see many small business owners going through all the steps.