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Most business owners do not wake up one morning and decide they need a new accountant.
Usually, it happens slowly. Maybe responses start taking longer, tax returns are routinely extended,
or the monthly books are several months behind. Questions get answered eventually, but the advice
comes after the decision has already been made.
Or maybe nothing is technically wrong. The accountant who worked perfectly well when the
business was smaller just is not providing what the business needs today.
I see this fairly regularly. As a business grows, accounting gets more important and more
complicated. There are more employees, more transactions, more tax issues, maybe multiple locations or entities, and simply more money at stake. At some point, basic bookkeeping and once-
a-year tax preparation may no longer be enough.
For many businesses, that starts to become more obvious around $1 million in revenue. That is not
a hard cutoff. A company with payroll, multiple locations, multiple owners, or more complicated
reporting and tax needs can reach it much earlier. The bigger issue is whether the accounting
relationship has grown along with the business.
Start With the Basics
The first responsibility of an accountant is pretty simple: get the compliance right. Things should be
filed correctly and on time. Estimated taxes should be calculated and paid when they are due.
Monthly books should be completed consistently. Payroll, sales tax, and the other required pieces
should work the way they are supposed to.
That may not sound exciting, but it matters. When basic compliance is not being handled well, the
owner spends too much time worrying about things that should already be taken care of.
But compliance is only the beginning. Once the business reaches a certain level, the accounting should also help the owner run the business. That means turning the numbers into useful, easy-to-
understand information. What is going well? What needs attention? Are costs moving in the wrong direction? Is there a tax planning opportunity? Is profitability improving or getting worse?
The goal is not more accounting numbers. The goal is better decisions.
A Few Signs the Relationship May No Longer Fit
There are some patterns I would pay attention to. If it takes too long to get answers, if extensions
have become routine, if monthly books are consistently late, if advice usually comes after the fact, or
if your accountant does not really understand your business, it may be worth asking whether the
relationship still fits.
Another sign is simply that you have outgrown the way the work is being done. A bookkeeper may
still be doing a perfectly good job. A tax preparer may still be preparing a perfectly good return.
Payroll may be handled somewhere else. The problem is that the owner is left trying to piece
everything together.
Who is looking at the whole picture? Who is connecting the monthly accounting to the tax strategy?
Who is helping the owner understand what deserves attention? Who is available when an important
decision comes up? As businesses grow, that coordination becomes more valuable.
What a Good Accounting Relationship Should Feel Like
I think a business owner should feel like the accounting is under control. Things are getting done.
Deadlines are not constantly creating emergencies. The owner knows where the business stands
and has someone they can call when a question comes up.
More importantly, the accounting should help simplify the business rather than add more noise. At
Matthew Accounting, we try to distill the financial information down to the areas that actually deserve
the owner’s attention. Sometimes that is a tax issue. Sometimes it is labor, overhead, margins,
sales, or cash flow. Sometimes the right answer is simply that things are going well and no major
change is needed.
We are not trying to run the client’s business for them. Our job is to bring the accounting perspective,
share what we are seeing, provide practical guidance based on our experience, and help the owner
make better decisions. When another area requires deeper expertise, we should also know when to
bring in the right person.
We want to be in the client’s corner.
Switching Is Usually Easier Than People Expect
One reason owners stay in an accounting relationship too long is simply that changing sounds
painful. There are records to move, systems to understand, and relationships that may have existed
for years. Sometimes the owner is also worried that the next accountant will not really be any better.
But a switch does not have to become a major project for the business owner. A good incoming firm
should be able to do much of the work on its side, coordinate the transition, and keep the process as
simple as possible.
If you are considering a change, I would ask practical questions. How quickly are the books normally
closed? Who will I communicate with? What happens during the year for tax planning? What
information will I receive each month? How well do you understand businesses like mine? What is
actually included in the fee? What will the transition look like?
You do not need a perfect accountant. You do need an accounting relationship that fits the business
you have today. Sometimes the accountant who was right for the business five years ago simply is
not the right one for where the business is going next.
