“I’ve tried contacting all of the accounting firms in my area, but I can’t find an an accountant in my area who can accept me,” said a caller to our office recently. After roughly a decade of not filing taxes, they were finally facing liens and wanted to hire a CPA to assist with IRS representation and tax bill repayment consultation. But, as mentioned, this caller was unable to find any accountant near them who was available to help them and most were booked with clients for several months.
If you find yourself unable to find an available accountant near you, this article for you. I’ve covered many points to ensure you understand why local accountants my be unavailable and I offer tips to help you succeed in your search for an accountant. Here’s quick preview of what I’ll cover:
- Why local accountants are saying no to you
- The benefits and downsides of local accounting firms
- Critical considerations for online accounting services
- The dual advantage of hybrid accounting firms
6 reasons why accountants near you may not be accepting new clients
Many accounting firms don’t have enough accountants to deliver accurate, timely work for clients. While this is not the case at MBS Accountancy, I do want to briefly explain the top reasons for this scenario in other firms so you can be informed about what’s happening when you receive a “sorry, can’t help you” from an accounting firm near you:
- Staff are leaving because of bad culture: When an accounting firm has hypocritical or perpetually incompetent leadership, top performers suffer in silence until they can’t stand it any longer and exit.
- Partners are retiring so the firm isn’t accepting new clients: More and more accountants are reaching retirement age, which means that these firms will go through a period of adjustment as the firm is either acquired by a larger firm or transitioned to new management.
- Their team is overworked because the firm always says yes: If you don’t know what you want, you’ll accept whatever comes your way. Unfortunately, this mindset plagues many firms and translates to many clients but few ideas on how to standardize operations to improve service delivery and efficiency. Speaking for our firm, we only help those who we are confident we can help. Anyone else is referred to our network. If we accept those who aren’t a fit for our firm, we do ourselves and the client a disservice since they will not receive the best outcome and quality of work.
- It’s tax season and everyone’s busy: During tax season, it’s common for businesses and individuals to look for an accountant who can help them prepare and file their returns. The problem with this scenario is the timing: Many firms are laser-focused on their clients during tax season. In our firm, for example, we start year-end tax wrap-up with many of our clients during October, November, and December. Between January and the first half of March, we’re focused on business return clients and meeting the March 15 deadline. After this, we sprint toward the finish line (also known as the April 15 tax deadline) and devote all of our time to finishing individual tax returns on time. The lesson here is to search for an accountant before November, not during tax season.
- Fewer accountants means less help is available: Not many young people want to become accountants these days which, if you remember your high school economics class, means that there is a growing demand for accountants but a limited supply.
- They don’t have a referral network: As our firm has grown, we’ve established and vetted a network of professionals with whom we’ve worked over the years and found to be trustworthy, dependable, and skilled in their field. When a prospective client is not a fit for our firm, we refer them to one of our referral partners who is best suited to resolve their problems and address their needs. This lets us focus on serving clients within our specialty areas but also ensures that anyone who contacts us receives the help we need, even if it’s not from us. Unfortunately, many firms don’t have a referral network in place for leads that aren’t a fit for their firm. There are two reasons for this: They have a scarcity mindset or they have not nurtured strategic, complementary relationships that parallel their firm’s services.
Considerations when hiring a local accountant
Let me be clear about one thing as we dive into this section: Local businesses are the heart of their communities and we’ve formed many great partnerships with business owners throughout Fresno County since 2011. In this section, I don’t aim to badmouth local accounting firms at all. Rather, I want to point out considerations that you should keep in mind if you’re only considering local accounting firms in your search for a new accountant.
| Benefits Of Choosing A Local Accountant | Concerns When Choosing A Local Accountant |
| You can meet in person to review documents or ask questions about your financial statements or tax documents. | A local accountant will charge market rates comparable to the area. In California, for example, this means that you will have higher fees from firms in coastal towns like Santa Cruz and Morro Bay, as well as those in popular or larger cities like Los Angeles and San Diego. On the other hand, accountants located in California cities like Fresno or Clovis will have fees lower than those in coastal areas. Even if you aren’t located in California, you may still see differences in fees between your local area and neighboring cities. |
| A local accountant is usually more familiar with the tax requirements of a city or region. | A personal observation is that some local accountants can rely so heavily on referrals from their network that they neglect online marketing and do not invest in modernization and operational improvements to their firm. Many accountants rely so heavily on their local network that they are more likely to be comfortable and complacent with how they’ve always done things. There is of course nothing wrong with sticking to a process that works, but it’s in a firm’s best interest to remain open to considering opportunities for growth and innovation. Complacent accountants, local or otherwise, don’t stay competitive because they don’t have to. |
| Working with an accountant near you may open up opportunities for you within the local business community, including financial advisors, insurance agents, business lawyers, banks, and more. | When local accountants approach their local market with a scarcity mindset, they accept anyone just so they don’t lose work to other accountants. Unfortunately, this scarcity mindset ends in disaster for these accountants and their clients because the accountants may not always be the best match for the client’s needs. |
Online accountants are convenient but also costly for clients
If you haven’t been able to find a local accountant, you’ve doubtless looked online and come across online accounting services that promise you a hands-off solution and reliable accounting services. While these services can be convenient, there are some concerns my team and I have based on many conversations we’ve had with clients who have come to us from these online accountants:
- Personalized service comes in second behind packaged services: Online accountants give you more convenience but offer no customization for complex needs or personalization to needs that are outside of their pre-defined packages. Another Redditor pointed out that online accountants handle large volumes of clients and may not have enough hours allocated or allowed to properly attend to the needs of each client.
- Aiming for quantity instead of quality: As Reddit user codycjensen pointed out, “I was with [Online Accountant Name] for several years and my books were never right. Yes, they were on the cheaper side, but I guess that goes along with the old saying “you get what you pay for.” While volume-based approach can work for some accounting needs, it fails to meet more complex requirements of nonprofits and large companies that require custom analysis and reporting setups, collaboration with in-house staff, and other white-glove services.
- Staff turnover means repeated explanations: Having the same point of contact is an underrated part of working with an accounting firm. Unfortunately, many online accounting firms have high turnover rates (to be fair, so do many local firms). This can easily cause you to fall into an unfortunate cycle of working with a great accountant in the company, having them quit, getting to know their replacement, having them quit the company, and going through the process all over again.
How our hybrid CPA firm gives you the best of both worlds
At MBS Accountancy, we’ve built our firm to combine the benefits of local firms and online accounting. Our hybrid firm, as we define it, is a locally based firm that attracts clients from throughout the United States using online marketing and word-of-mouth referrals from happy clients and proud partners. Here’s why our hybrid accounting firm is the ideal choice for your company:
- Responsive communication that fits your schedule: Sometimes you have time for a meeting while other times you might prefer a phone call or Zoom meeting. Our firm is committed to working efficiently and responsively with each client so we offer you the option of a Zoom meeting, meeting in our conference room, a phone call, or a quick video walkthrough that you can watch at a time that’s convenient for you. Our goal is to stay in communication with you so we can respond to your needs and questions promptly and proactively.
- Invested in becoming better: As our marketing manager Adolfo Marquez recently pointed out on LinkedIn, “It’s a business hack to only work with vendors that are actively committed to growing and improving as a company because, as each of you improves, you both win.” As a hybrid firm, we actively maintain our local reputation but have also formed many solid connections through online channels like LinkedIn because of our persistent online marketing efforts. Our active marketing is a sign of our commitment to continued business growth. We aren’t complacent, we’re focused on remaining a competitive partner that provides exceptional client service.
- Adding value in person or while working from home: We can meet with clients in our office and hold team meetings in our conference room, but we can also work from home when our personal schedule demands. By supporting a healthy work-life balance, we not only enhance our team’s productivity and satisfaction but also ensure that our clients receive uninterrupted and exceptional service.
Contact Us If You Want The Best CPA Near You
Because of our firm’s modern infrastructure, we can and do work with clients throughout California and the rest of the United States, even though most of our team is based in Central California.
Since 2011, we’ve met with business owners and nonprofit leaders through Zoom calls and used cloud accounting tools to keep our clients satisfied with accurate financials and timely tax returns each year. Of course, we’re always ready to meet at our office in downtown Fresno as well. We make it easy for you to ask us questions and meet with us – it’s one of the ways we aim to give you exceptional client service.If you’re interested in our services, contact us today and we will outline next steps for you. We look forward to hearing from you!