How to Choose an Accountant or “I want you to want me”

So this posting by noon thing is getting harder, especially when I have morning meetings. But, work takes priority over this blog.

This morning I had a meeting in Bethesda to interview an accountant for my design firm. This was a really interesting experience for me, because for the first time in my professional career I was not the one trying to sell their services, but instead the prospective client. It has made me understand something that has been a subconscious motivator for many of my previous life decisions; I want to feel that I am being treated as a potential investment not just a future client.

Interviewing an accountant is very similar to choosing a university, it is a decision that will affect your professional life for years to come. When I chose my university one of the major motivating factors was not a rational factor like class size or endowment or even the location of the school, instead I felt the need to go someplace where I felt welcomed and wanted. Now, I was in a unique situation, I could not afford to choose any school, I could only afford a school If i was getting a significant merit based financial aid package. In the end my decision came down to Tulane and Brandeis, both had offered me comparable scholarship and both were comparable programs, but they differed greatly in my personal interaction with the admissions staff and the department faculty. At Brandeis I had a hard time making an appointment to see anyone in the admissions office for what would have been at most a 15 minute chat even though I had already been awarded one of their top scholarships. It made me feel like my presence was putting them out and that I should be grateful for the opportunity and prestige that they would be offering me. My interaction with Tulane was completely different. I had received a number of letters from their admissions office and phone calls from an admissions counselor, one of the Tulane College academic advisors and the chair of their classics department. This personal attention not only made me feel important, but it made me believe that the scholarship they were offering me was an investment. They wanted me to come to their university so that someday my name would bring them prestige and opportunity. This simple reversal was all that was needed to make my decision.

This anecdote is not intended to brag about my education, instead it is intended to highlight the fact that when choosing an accountant I need to find someone who will look at my business as an investment and not just as a source of present revenue. Sure we may be small and just starting out now, and as such we will have to use their budget services or whatever “Starter business” package they have. But, one day we will have a much larger client base and bring their firm not only a good revenue stream but some prestige.

Author: spencer

I am an architect in the Washington DC metro area. View all posts by spencer