Accountants are often tasked with many responsibilities. For example, an accountant may prepare financial statements, perform audits, and provide tax advice. But there are other duties that accountants might not be aware of or know about, which they might also need to take on.
Therefore, this blog post will serve you the tasks that the people and the accountant themselves often overlook.
What are the overlooked duties and responsibilities of an accountant?
1) Prepare financial statements
A financial statement is required in most cases when a company wants to borrow money or sell securities. Financial statements must follow pre-established accounting principles, standards, and rules.
Accountants prepare financial statements that present a company’s assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, and expenses in a form useful for making business decisions such as whether to open a new branch office or purchase new equipment.
If you are looking for an accountant to manage your financial statements, Accountants in Dandenong can help you with the concern. They have been offering professional bookkeeping and accounting services to businesses and solopreneurs for years. (Credit Information: BTE Accounting Services)
2) Assist in designing and implementing information systems
Most accounting and business software packages include producing financial forecasts, budgets, and other reports. Many programs also have a wide variety of standard financial statements, such as balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements, and reconciliations that cover many types of companies.
3) Prepare tax returns for individuals and corporations
Accountants are members of the tax profession, and they are knowledgeable in all aspects of federal, state, and local income taxes. They advise business owners about the business management structure, accounting methods used for tax reporting, new legislation, or court rulings that affect taxation.
Their services include:
- Preparing individual income tax returns for owners who have no professional help.
- Completing payroll returns.
- Preparing information returns such as Forms W-2 and 1099.
- Assisting the company during the auditing process by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
4) Help management control costs
Accountants help companies stay within their budgets by preparing financial statements such as balance sheets, income statements, and cash-flow statements that include only authorized expenditures. They also review actual expenses against budgeted amounts. In this way, accountants can detect unauthorized spending as early as possible and recommend corrective actions the business should take the next time it adopts a budget.
5) Manage financial resources
Accountants recommend new methods for collecting receivables, choosing suppliers, and managing inventories. Some accountants oversee the cash-management functions of a company.
Accountants are trained to understand which financial ratios are most helpful in measuring the success of one division or subsidiary compared with another. For example, an accountant can calculate how well a subsidiary manages its inventory by comparing the amount of money tied up in inventory against total sales revenue over time.
6) Help management anticipates economic trends.
Accounting data is used as a tool to analyze potential investments, measure the amount of money held in reserve for future projects, forecast changes that will affect cash flow, and make profit/loss projections. For example, an accountant might help management prepare a budget by recording all expected income and expenses for the coming year.
To seek personalized assistance in accounting, Dandenong accountants can be your answer. They help managers to understand changes in interest rates or anticipated sales growth will affect profits over the short-term and long term.
7) Assist in mergers and acquisitions
Accountants are well-suited to assist in the merger or acquisition of one company by another. They can help determine whether the combination will result in redundant employees, which departments should merge first, and what organizational structure will work best.
How much does it cost to hire an accountant?
To hire a certified public accountant (CPA), you need to spend around $176 to $273. At the same time, the typical cost of hiring an accountant on an hourly basis is $30-$300/hr.
Besides, the charges of an accountant may also depend on the type and load of job they have to cover.
Is it worth hiring an accountant?
Yes, accountants are worthy of hiring. Moreover, here are a few reasons which prove that accounts are excellent to hire.
1) Accountants can talk to the IRS on your behalf:
If you do not successfully resolve the tax issue with the IRS, and an audit is opened (which can take several years), it might be worth hiring a professional to help you talk to the IRS.
2) accountants can deal with your investors
Investors can often be challenging to negotiate with. An accountant might have legal standing to communicate on your behalf.
3) Accountants have connections
Not only do accountants have relationships with the IRS and investors, they often know other local business professionals. This might be helpful when you need to find different types of help, such as a lawyer or an IT professional.
4) Accountants can help you plan for the future
Some accountants will do a free consultation, and it might be worth seeing what they can offer.
5) Accountants can make sure you manage your capital correctly
Many businesses lose money because they don’t understand how to manage their capital. An accountant can help you learn how to manage your assets and liabilities, as well as cash flow for your business.
Ending note:
Unfortunately, many people don’t realize the value of an accountant. The cost of hiring a great accountant is worth it since they make their life extremely easy by keeping complete track of all your finances.
If you’re looking for a trustworthy accountant in Melbourne, then look no further than BTE Accounting. They’ll help adjust and manage your accounts using the best accounting services–payroll, bookkeeping, cloud accounting, account receivable, and more. Call us today to learn more.
