Five warning signs it is time to change accountants: done is not the same as done right

Hook

Boss, you engaged an accountant and paid the fee, and six months later the reports are late, questions do not get clear answers, and the cash flow is still a fog. "Did I not hire a professional?" Today, five warning signs: when what you need is not to chase your accountant, but to change them.

Signs one and two: a misunderstanding about the division of work

First, dispel a myth: "accountants are all the same". They are not. Warning sign one: they only do year end and never touch the day-to-day. A lot of the market is compliance-type accounting: take your last twelve months of data and package it for filing. That matters, but it is not bookkeeping. The real foundation is the daily detail: reconciling entry by entry, managing receivables and payables, classifying to the chart of accounts, keeping a clean general ledger — everything the previous dozen lessons covered. A year-end packaging service cannot do those. Warning sign two: a building inspector is not a bricklayer. Plenty of bosses ask an auditor or a tax agent to keep the books. They are highly professional — but their profession is examining books that have already been kept, not building a set of books out of a box of loose documents. When the books are not already there, an inspector has nothing to inspect. Remember the seventh lesson? LTT does not do audit, precisely because laying bricks and inspecting them are two different crafts.

Warning sign three: talking well is not doing well

In the social media era there are plenty of accounting influencers: brilliant webinars, sharp Budget analysis. Sharing knowledge is a good thing — but speaking well does not mean the detail work follows. The person who can make a tax incentive sound wonderful is not necessarily the person willing to untangle three months of unreconciled bank movements for you, entry by entry. Accounting is fundamentally about doing, not talking. When picking an accountant, look at whether they roll up their sleeves, not whether they get on stage.

Signs four and five: the signals in working together

Warning sign four: the reports are always late and the replies always vague. Ask for one figure and wait a week; receive the report and it already describes a situation three months old. Numbers that arrive late are numbers that did not arrive. The thirteenth lesson covered the value of closing at the half year — on condition that it is on time. Warning sign five: they never ask you for anything. An accountant who never chases you for documents and never asks how your business works is not saving you trouble; they are not doing the work. A good accountant will pester you: what is this one? Where is that document? Which project does this go to? Being asked is being served.

How to pick the right one

Turn the five warning signs around and you have your criteria: does the day-to-day rather than just the year end, can build a set of books out of loose documents, is willing to do the detail work, delivers reports on time, and asks questions unprompted. Add the one from the eleventh lesson: understands your business. You still need your compliance partners, the auditor and the tax agent — a good bookkeeper works alongside them rather than replacing them.

To close

Books are not about being finished. They are about being right, on time, and understood. If two or more of the five warning signs apply to you — grab a coffee first and talk about your business. For the accounting, come to LTT. I am LTT, helping SME bosses get their accounts straight. Follow us, and see you next time.