Small Business Compliance – Hiring A Good Firm

Business compliance is a general industry term meaning how well a business follows the regulations and laws governing its particular industry. Anyone starting a new business can start with business compliance. No one starting a business wants to be on the wrong side of the law. But as your business starts to grow, you add more people on your journey with you. In order to ensure that your business does not fall into the wrong side of the law you must comply with all applicable laws. This includes employment laws, sales laws, import/export laws, taxation laws, human resources laws, and all other laws that affect the operation of your business and the people who work for it.

Most businesses first acquire a Certified Public Accountant or CPA.

This is usually done to comply with all applicable State and local tax laws. Obtaining a CPA will also ensure that all business clients receive the level of service that they should expect. Many small business owners opt to incorporate. In order to comply with corporate tax laws, incorporating is a requirement for most business owners.

As a company grows, adding staff can increase costs. Many times a good standing with your preferred accounting firm can help to reduce these costs. However, there are other costs to consider when expanding your business compliance needs. Human resources is important but can also be expensive. Not only do you need to provide good wages to your employees, you also need to provide health benefits and other benefits.

Business compliance as a service does not stop with hiring the appropriate personnel. You must comply with all internal requirements as well. An audit can be extremely detrimental if you are not properly compliant. For instance, an auditor can easily find discrepancies between your books and your company’s internal requirements; this can easily cost your business compliance program millions in damages.

The accounting firm that you choose to handle your annual report

and other business compliance requirements will play an important role in the success of your business operations. When selecting a CPA, be sure to choose a firm that is familiar with all the states that require less. This ensures that they have an understanding of all the regulations that govern corporations. In addition to ensuring compliance with all state laws, you should consider the experience and track record of each CPA that you work with. A good CPA will be able to demonstrate that their firm maintains good standing with all the states that require licensing.

The most important part of your business compliance efforts is making sure that you obtain a list of all of the small business entities that are located within your area. Contact each firm individually in order to make sure that you are receiving a true apples-to-apples comparison. While you may not think that it makes a difference, the actual number of businesses that are located within your area will have a dramatic impact on your ability to comply with your yearly report and other business compliance requirements.

• Once you have decided on a few potential CPA firms to work with.
• Take the time to thoroughly review each of their business compliance packages.
• Make sure that you are comparing apples-to-apples. If you have questions about the services that each firm provides.

Or the business compliance requirements that they are following, don’t hesitate to ask. Even if you have found a CPA with a good reputation who is located in your area, it doesn’t mean that they are the best choice for your small business compliance requirements. Ask the firm how many of their local clients they currently service and then ask them if they are prepared to provide you with a duplicate of this information for every small business that they work with. You want to be sure that you are working with a reputable and reliable firm; this will help to ensure that you are not only complying with your state and federal regulations, but it will also help to ensure that you are saving time and money on unnecessary fees by working with a firm that works with several different local businesses instead of one large firm.

Finally, after you have found a handful of CPA firms that seem to meet all of your business compliance needs, make sure that you spend a little bit of time understanding each firm before you hire them. It’s important to understand what their experience level is in this field and also to understand their track record when it comes to successfully meeting their legal obligations. You want to hire a firm that is experienced in law, compliance, taxes and financial reporting. The more experience and knowledge a firm has when it comes to these matters, the more effective their advice will be. Remember: no business is too small to meet all of its legal obligations.