What is a CPA & How Can They Help Your Business?

As a new or budding business, many critical factors occur behind the scenes that go into running a successful business, including financial planning and tracking. Financial strategy isn’t a natural skill; it must be learned and utilized extensively to get the greatest bang for one’s buck. Unfortunately, almost all business owners, new and experienced, do not have the time or skillset to invest in this wealth of knowledge, even though it is a vital business component. Fortunately, business owners don’t have to rely on themselves solely; hiring a CPA is the perfect solution to this problem. Keep reading to learn more about who a CPA is and how they can help your business. 

What is a CPA?

A certified public accountant (CPA) is the title for licensed accounting professionals. These titles are obtained from the Board of Accountancy, each state providing its own, to ensure professionals offer the highest standard of service in the accounting industry.

It is essential to recognize that not all accountants are CPAs. While both positions typically require a bachelor’s degree in accounting, an individual must pass a rigorous exam after completing 150 hours of education and have at least two years of public accounting experience under their belt to get that coveted title. Similar to medical professionals, CPAs must complete a specific number of continuing education hours annually and are held to a code of ethics. 

How Can a CPA Help Your Business?

Running a business is no easy feat, but a CPA can alleviate some of the stress of a business’s creation and operation with the following four services:

#1: Business Consulting & Planning

Designing and starting a business is no small feat; it is more than an innovative product or service idea. On the back end, there is an extensive financial component to ensure new business owners don’t end up in debt or fail their businesses. 

A CPA can provide businesses with business plan creation, which can include an evaluation of the business idea, choosing the appropriate business entity, determining tax responsibilities, and planning out what deductions can be taken advantage of. A guiding hand can make all the difference and ensure a business gets off on the right foot. 

#2: Bookkeeping Set Up & Assistance

New business owners often make the mistake of mingling personal and business expenses or not thoroughly tracking every dollar that goes in and out of their business. This can become a detrimental problem later on that will cost thousands of dollars to fix. 

Fortunately, bookkeeping doesn’t have to be complicated. A CPA can help business owners set up their bookkeeping, assist them with any questions they may have, or even run their books for them. CPAs can track income and expenses, perform monthly reconciliations, and file reports. Businesses often save copious amounts of time by outsourcing their bookkeeping to a CPA. 

#3: Payroll Solutions & Tracking

When a business has people on staff, whether they are full-time employees, a consultant, or independent freelancers, everyone wants to get paid for their work on time and correctly. Business accounting can be challenging for business owners as it can take an incredible amount of time to track hours, process insurance and retirement withholdings, pay expense reimbursements, and more. It may feel like one is drowning in paper, or their spreadsheets just get more and more complicated with each passing number. 

CPAs offer businesses payroll solutions that save them time and money. Business owners never have to worry about their staff being paid late, mistyping a critical number, or a spreadsheet that spits out an incorrect answer. Instead, they can rest assured that the books are being run correctly while they continue with business operations and innovations. 

#4: Tax Consulting and Preparation

As Benjamin Franklin so eloquently said, “there are only two things that are certain in life – death and taxes.” Unfortunately, doing one’s taxes can feel like certain death, especially when adding in complicated business matters. Most business owners find that doing their taxes takes far more time and effort than they have to spare, and even when they try, they often make costly mistakes that can cost them hundreds if not thousands of dollars in extra taxes or fines.

A CPA can greatly impact a business’s year-end profit regarding tax consulting and preparation. They can guide businesses in the appropriate tax strategies for their business and take care of the filing for them. For example, most CPAs offer the following services: 

• Tax planning and strategies
• Federal and state individual income tax preparation
• Corporate, partnership, and LLC tax preparation
• Estate and Trust tax preparation
• Sales and state B&O tax preparation

Through these CPA services, business owners can focus on the new year without fear of spending countless hours researching the IRS’s website for obscure tax answers that likely won’t make much sense to them even if they find them. 

PorterKinney – Your WA Certified Public Accountants

PorterKinney is a premier accounting CPA firm in the Tri-Cities, WA, specializing in strategic tax preparation for businesses, rental properties, estates, and trusts. Their business accounting services are more than simple data entry; they take the time to create a profitable strategy to allow businesses to continually put their best foot forward. If your business needs business accounting services, we offer business consulting, bookkeeping assistance, payroll solution, tax preparation, and more. Contact PorterKinney to start your business accounting journey today.