Why Freelancers Should Hire an Accountant

Many freelancers only talk to accountants at the end of the financial year to get help with the tax returns, which is fine in itself. However, if you are serious about your freelance business then an accountant can be a valuable asset all year round.

Accountants can look at any number of areas including helping to identify potential tax deductions, advising on any trends or patterns in your finances and supporting you with business growth if you need to take on staff in the future.

Here are a few key reasons why freelancers should hire an accountant:

1. They can advise you all year round

If you only take your books to an accountant at the end of the tax year, all they can do is make sure they are in order and complete your tax returns. They can’t advise or suggest ways to do things differently because you have already completed that year.

If you employ an accountant all year round they can offer ongoing advice and point out different ways to organise and run your finances which might save you money and reduce your tax bill so they are worth talking to early in the year.

2. Work out your taxes properly

As an employee you never had to think about taxes before so starting out in business can be a real shock as you have to pay a tax bill at the end of your first year. An accountant can help you work out what your taxes are likely to be as the year goes on, helping you to plan and save.

Working with someone all year to calculate your taxes properly and knowing exactly how much you are likely to owe, early on, means you can avoid the problems of suddenly experiencing a large tax bill which you then can’t afford to pay.

3. They can advise you on business finance

An accountant can offer valuable advice and insight to a new freelancer, looking at the business as a whole and advising on different approaches. They can look at trends and advise you of any potential problems before they cause your business major issues.

Having an accountant on board means you have someone to talk to about any changes in tax law, or plans to borrow to grow your business, or whether you are in a good position to think about outsourcing some other aspects of the business now.

4. They can save you a lot of time

Dealing with the financial management of a business can become incredibly time-consuming as you have to prepare all your invoices, keep track of payments coming in, sort out staff payments, deal with taxes and record all your expenses.

While it might only be a simple spreadsheet when you first start out, as your business grows and becomes more complicated the financial management side can get more and more time-consuming leaving you stressed out and overworked.

By employing an accountant, you can make sure all of your finances are managed for you and as your business grows you can be confident your accountant can handle that for you. It means you have a lot more free time to focus on actually running the business and delivering your services to clients. You can even try services by companies like Crunch that gives you access not just to accounting but to other finance services.

5. You are not a finance expert

The chances are that you are not a finance expert so why take the risk and try to do it yourself? If you get your figures wrong, or leave all your receipts in a pile in a shoe box, or pretend the tax bill will just go away you could end up in serious financial trouble and it could spark the end for your business.

The chances are that dealing with all of the finances is actually your least favourite job and can end up causing you stress and sleepless nights, so why carry that entire burden on your shoulders when you don’t need to?

You pride yourself on delivering a professional service to your clients, so likewise you should respect and make use of the professional services of an accountant to help support you in your own business.

These are five good reasons why every freelancer should employ an accountant to support them within their business but there are many more. An accountant can become a valuable asset to your business, offering advice, support and help throughout the year, not just when it comes to filing taxes. 

If you have plans for business growth and to take on staff then your accounting will become far more complex than you are used to but having an accountant on your side will make the whole process far simpler and straight forward.

Accountants can save you money, save you time, and reduce all of the stress that comes with dealing with numbers so the real question is why wouldn’t you hire one?