One of the biggest advantages about a great accountant is that you won’t have to see them very often. They should just be busy working away in the background, making sure your accounts are in order, that you’re hitting compliance regulations and that no crucial deadlines are ever missed. It’s a weight off your shoulders and that’s the whole point.

However, there will be times when you need to meet either face-to-face to go over important documents, ‘crunch the numbers’ (as the saying goes) or just evaluate where you and your business are financially at certain points throughout the year.

It’s essential for all involved that these meetings go as smoothly and efficiently as possible to ensure all points are covered and that the time you’re paying for is being used wisely. With this in mind, we’ve put together some simple advice on how to make meetings with your accountant more productive…

Choose a location with minimal distractions

Whether that’s at one of your offices, at your house or at a coffee shop somewhere with good WiFi connection and a quiet seat in the corner, choose somewhere that works for you. Some people need complete silence and a glass of water to concentrate, other people need the hustle and bustle of café work culture and three double-shot espressos in a row. Just go for a location that is going to enable everybody involved to focus and not get waylaid by noise and other distractions.

Don’t forget to do your homework

The ‘my dog ate it’ excuse might have worked a treat in school when you conveniently forgot to finish that in-depth analysis of A Midsummer Night’s Dream but it won’t wash when it comes to your business and finances. The success of any meeting hinges significantly on the preliminary work you do beforehand so make sure you turn up well prepared with plenty of knowledge and information to work with.

Set out a clear agenda beforehand

Whether it be you or your accountant, make sure one of the parties takes on the responsibility of creating a concise agenda ahead of the actual meeting. So much time can potentially be wasted at the beginning of meetings trying to map out what it is you need to cover and then prioritising the items on the list before you can even get stuck in.

Consider setting up a Google Doc about a week before the meeting is due to take place where you can both add in points for discussion and then itemise the list so you’ve got a clear plan of action on the day.

Oh, and don’t forget to take meeting minutes or at least keep a record of comprehensive notes which you can refer back to and put to good use at a later date.

Our qualified experts keep productivity and efficiency at the heart of what they do so claim your FREE quotation today and find out how we can best help you.

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About The Author

Karl Bilby

We work very closely with our expert accountants to bring you the latest factually correct tax and accounting news. We also enjoy writing about small business news that we hope you find useful!

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