The Steps Required to Change Your Accountant
For many Australian business owners having a high-quality accountant is essential to ensuring that your business continues to remain successful for the foreseeable future. If you find yourself in a situation where you feel like your accountant is doing the bare minimum, it might be time to find a new accountant.
Thankfully changing your accountant is a pretty easy process for most people and is as simply as changing your doctor.
Changing accountants happens more common than you would assume and keep in mind that any reputable accountant will exercise professionalism throughout the transition process.
Here are the tips required to change your accountant.
Find Yourself A New Accountant
It is super important to have an accountant that understands you and your business. Your accountant must be someone you trust as they will be playing a valuable role in the financial decision making of your business.
It is super important to have an accountant that understands you and your business. Your accountant must be someone you trust as they will be playing a valuable role in the financial decision making of your business.
You should look beyond tax compliance and consider other financial services you may require to achieve your goals. From property investment advice to auditing, a good accounting firm should support you as your lifestyle and business grows and changes.
Notify Your Current Accountant
When deciding to change to a new accountant, you must write to your current accountant and give them notice of your decision to discontinue your working relationship with them.
To undertake this process, you will need to write a brief email that include details of the services or companies that are to be moved and the effective date. This email should also include details of your new accountant. It is essential for you to provide this information as your current accountant needs instructions in writing before releasing the records to your new accountant.
Professional Clearance
The next step you must take requires your new accountant to write to your current accountant in order to seek professional clearance. Professional clearance is a courtesy between accountants to identify any issues they might have had with a client, which may include poor payment history or concerns about the honesty of a client’s accounting disclosures. It is designed to help identify any dishonest clients instead of simply transferring them to another accountant.
Due Diligence
Due diligence is a requirement for all accountants operating under the compliance structure of an accounting body before they are allowed to take on new clients. It is part of the responsibility of the accountant to prevent fraud and illegal activities such as money laundering. It is quite a straightforward process where you will be required to provide some documentation to prove that you are who you claim to be.
As a client you are required to provide proof of address and your identity as well as a copy of your company’s certificate of incorporation. You will also have to sign a Letter of Engagement outlining your responsibilities as well as those of your accountant.
Records Transfer
Once all of the above steps above have been completed and you have been professionally cleared, your old accountant will transfer all records held on file to your new accountant. If your documents are held electronically, this process should happen very quickly. Paper records in most cases will take longer to be obtained by your new accountant.
