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Re: Accountants: do i want a firm or a sole practitioner?
| quote: | | Am i better off with a firm or a sole practitioner? |
That's a a complicated question, very much depends on your situation, what kind of "tax planning" you're trying to take advantage of to best minimize the tax you are required to pay (personally, and corporately...)
| quote: | Originally posted by d!abolic
I need to sit down with someone and go over the corporation's books for the last year. Quite frankly, they're shit. We need to sort through everything and put it all into QuickBooks, do the taxes, etc. I also need this person to be able to come in from time to time in the future and offer advice, check up on the books, etc. |
QuickBooks is a good system. I myself DESPISE Simply Accounting, so I'm biased (but it's a good system too, I just happen to hate it). So long as you're not trying to meddle with extra things and go back in and change records, QuickBooks a good system to use (speaking from an accountants position where I see the end product and have to compile, review or audit it!!) Simply Accounting generally prevents you from changing posted entries... Simply is ALL ABOUT the reversing JEs!  (but if you got a clueless client, you dont WANT them to be changing shit around! Reversing entries make following the mess they're doing easier to track down and sort out).
I cant stress the importance of keeping good records - for your own sake (getting audited by the government - universe forbid! - and finding out you under-remitted taxes 5 years ago... SHIT! That's fucking interest AND penalties starting FIVE years ago! YIKES!
If your company is running losses... that you havent' filled in a couple years wont matter, but if when all is said and done, it turns out you had income from those years, and you cant bonus it down to NIL (ie. you gotta claim any bonuses received personally.. so if you've filed your personal returns... you therefore havent claimed that money, and therefore cant set up any extra management bonsus expense to get rid of any net income in prior years).
You dont necessarily need an accountant to actually keep your books though, you'd be alot better off (its cheaper) to just hire a bookkeeper to do it (make sure you get a good one! GOD THERE ARE SOOOOOOO MANY INCOMPETANT BOOKKEEPERS OUT THERE! DRIVES ME NUTS!) Or just learn yourself, it's not that hard.
Any subsequently year-end entries like declaring dividends or mngt bonuses can and will be down by the accountants when they're reviewing or auditing your year-end. You just gotta make sure you enter it right! 
There is all kinds of tax planning that can be done - which is the primary determinant of whether you should stay as a proprietorship or incorporate. I'd suggest contacting a local accounting firm (I'm w/ BDO Dunwoody LLP... id recommend them of course!  ).
Jem
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