Entrepreneurs: find your chartered accountant

To focus on your business with peace of mind and optimize your company's accounting, it's advisable to call on the services of a chartered accountant. While this may seem an obvious choice, it's not always easy to find the right chartered accountant for you.

In this article, you'll find the criteria you need to follow to select your ideal accounting firm.

Registration with the Order of Chartered Accountants

Did you know? The profession of chartered accountant is governed by the Conseil supérieur de l'ordre des experts-comptables.

To practise this profession, you need to have obtained a diploma (DCG, DSCG and DEC) and be registered with the Ordre des experts-comptables. Only then can the title "chartered accountant" be used. Otherwise, the activity is illegal. It is therefore punishable by law.

To check the legitimacy of your contact, you can consult the Ordre des experts-comptables directory. Be careful, however, to search for your contact by company name and not by trade name. Accountancy firms may have a different corporate name from their trade name, so you may not be able to find them.

Let's take the example of the online chartered accountant, Team Exter. If you search for "Team Exter" in this directory, you won't find it. On the other hand, if you search for its corporate name, which is "Excellia Consulting", you will find it. It's therefore important to find out the name of the accounting firm before carrying out this search.

As you can see, registration with the Ordre des Experts-comptables is the most important factor in choosing your partner.

How a chartered accountant works and your expectations

There are as many chartered accountants as there are organizations.

During your initial discussions, you need to identify your expectations

To do this, you can ask your accounting firm :

• How files are handled,
• If you have a dedicated contact who monitors and updates your file,
• What steps do you need to take to send your accounting documents, and how do you submit them?
• When and how to contact the teams...

By knowing these points, you'll have a clear vision of your future collaboration and know whether you're in tune with the way they work.

The chartered accountant's field of activity

A company's accounting system evolves over the course of its business.

While the initial needs are conventional, they evolve over time. Even if most accounting firms offer a wide range of services, it's still a good idea to find out the firm's scope of activity. Is there a member of staff in charge of social affairs (drafting employment contracts, pay slips, etc.), legal affairs(transfer of registered office, change of status,ACREapplications, etc.), accounting (drawing up forecasts, interim financial statements, budgets, etc.), tax affairs (declaring loan contracts, joining a management center or approved association)?

Don't hesitate to ask if they have any partners such as direct debit agencies, banks, remote reporting portals... These are little extras that can tip the balance and save you time, especially if the collection of bank statements is automated.

The availability and attentiveness of your contact person

Accounting is at the heart of your company's finances

It raises a lot of questions, which are often cause for concern. In such cases, only your accountant can reassure you by explaining what is going on. His attentiveness and availability are crucial to getting a clear picture of the situation.

The accounting firm's responsiveness

When you set up your company, you chose a legal status. This determines your social, tax, legal and accounting obligations. Each entity is required to meet the deadlines imposed by the authorities. In most cases, your chartered accountant is responsible for ensuring that these obligations are met. So that he can fulfill them for you, you need to send him your accounting documents. If they are sent regularly and on time, your accountant will forward them to the authorities before the deadline. Otherwise, you risk incurring penalties. So it's important that your accountancy firm is responsive to your questions.

Every company is unique, and your contact must be able to quickly identify your needs and respond appropriately.

Local chartered accountant or online chartered accountant?

In recent years, a number of online chartered accountants have emerged. There are differences between online and local accounting firms. The advantage of an online chartered accountant is that discussions can take place online or by telephone. Clients no longer need to visit their local chartered accountant, as a personal, secure online space is set up for them to submit their accounting documents. Thanks to this process, fees are generally 30% lower than at a local accounting firm.

Online accountants also offer time-saving services such as mobile applications.

So you can talk to your accountant whenever you like.