In recent years, the accounting sector has been shaken by many upheavals: dematerialization, increased competition, new expectations of companies. The profession of a chartered accountant has thus had to reinvent itself to sustain its performance. Find out what is expected today from a chartered accountant.
The profession of chartered accountant
The chartered accountant’s role has always been to support business leaders in their creation, takeover, or daily management of their company.
Beyond intervening within the framework of the simple realization of annual closings, the chartered accountant:
- Advises entrepreneurs on the choice of legal status;
- Guide managers on the choice of social status;
- Support managers in optimizing their taxation;
- Help in managing the company’s financial funds;
- Ensures accounting management;
- Performs contractual audits.
This list is far from exhaustive and will be extended according to the needs of the entrepreneur.
In addition to these main missions, accountants are increasingly confronted with the digital economy and information exchange scope.
Guarantors of corporate financial information must now educate their customers on the security of financial data and the storage and preservation of accounting documents.
Their role is now to support entrepreneurs in their digital transition.
Creation and implementation of a support program
Forced to adapt to these new needs, the chartered accountant must promote his advising and become a real key partner of the company. For this, he must expand his services and offload all the tedious and time-consuming tasks to bring real added value to his customers. He must :
- Offer advice at the right time;
- Be proactive in meeting the needs of leaders;
- Identify the most suitable accounting and administrative organization for the company;
- Set up management tools to facilitate exchanges with its customers;
- Respect the formalism linked to the new accounting obligations;
- Offer customers the possibility of having reliable tools that comply with the law.
The chartered accountant must keep himself constantly informed of news related to his activity sector to protect his clients’ best interests. His engagement letter should no longer only mention bookkeeping, but indeed personalized support.
To sum up, beyond providing current advice, accountants must now deliver cutting-edge expertise in line with everyday reality. All the more so in this period of crisis and a rapidly changing world, they must position themselves alongside entrepreneurs as partners on whom we can count.
How to start your business?
Do you want to start alone? You will have more work, but you will have the advantage of being your boss, and you will have less turnover to be able to pay you. If you are several, the work will be shared, but it will be necessary to generate a more considerable turnover to reimburse all the partners.
What are the formalities for setting up your accounting firm?
To open your practice, you must first find a room, the best possible location like a city center. You must ensure proper management of your budget to be able to support the office rental and expenses. Joining up makes it easier to manage the firm’s costs incurred at the start of the business. You can continue your project alone when you have won your customers’ loyalty and acquired the necessary funds.
How to start your business?
Whatever your situation, the company’s legal form most suited to the exercise of the activity of chartered accountant is the limited liability company or its one-person form if you are alone: EURL. This is justified by a more advantageous tax system for this type of activity, which requires significant computer hardware costs and the calculation of social contributions.
You can choose to be a generalist or a specialist. The second option will be more suitable if you exercise in a big city. On the other hand, in less populated regions, it is better to opt for general practice.
If you have the necessary funds, you can take over a former colleague’s clientele, which will allow you to start your business quickly with good remuneration. On the other hand, if you start at the starting point, you will have to canvass the first customers. You have several options for finding customers. You can contact large firms and offer them subcontract work. You can also use platform services connecting experts and business leaders, which quickly generates contacts. It would be best if you also thought about having your website well referenced with a blog section to promote your expertise and bring you a certain number of customers.
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