How to Choose an Accountant for Your Small Business
By Timothy LeGendre, CPA · Florida License #AC62625 · Published 2026-05-26 · Last reviewed 2026-08-20
A Florida CPA's honest guide to choosing an accountant, which credentials matter, the questions that surface fit, and the red flags that mean walk away.
The accountant who's right for your neighbor probably isn't right for you.
Picking an accountant is one of the highest-leverage hires a small-business owner makes, and one of the least well-shopped. Most people end up with whoever their banker, lawyer, or brother-in-law recommended, and discover the fit problem two tax seasons in.
This guide covers what credentials actually matter, what questions surface fit (and which ones are theater), how to read pricing models, and the red flags that mean walk away. Written by a Florida CPA, so honest pitch, not abstract pitch.
If you already know you need help, book a discovery call at /contact and we'll talk it through. If you want to understand the decision first, keep reading.
CPA, EA, "tax preparer", what each one actually means.
These three labels get used interchangeably in casual conversation. They are not interchangeable in what their holders can legally do for you:
| Credential | Licensed by | Can do |
|---|---|---|
| CPA | State (Florida Board of Accountancy) | Tax prep, IRS representation, audit/review/compile financial statements, tax strategy. Required bachelor's + 150 credit hours + Uniform CPA Exam + 1 year supervised experience. |
| EA | Federal (IRS) | Tax prep + IRS representation. Cannot audit financial statements. Pass the 3-part Special Enrollment Exam OR have 5 years IRS experience. |
| Tax preparer | Nobody (unregulated) | Prepare returns. Cannot represent you in an audit (with exceptions for limited-scope IRS-supervised programs). No mandatory exam, no continuing education, no board oversight. |
Verify any credential before hiring. Florida CPAs are searchable at myfloridalicense.com by name or license number. EAs are searchable in the IRS RPO directory. If someone claims a credential and won't tell you the license number, walk.
Five questions that surface real fit.
Skip the standard "how many years have you been doing this" interview script. These five questions sort the fits from the misfits faster:
Will I work with you personally, or get handed off?
Larger firms often have the partner take the sales meeting and a junior actually do the work. Junior staff aren't bad. They're learning on your file. If you want partner-level attention all year, ask directly: "Will the person I'm meeting today be the person on my account next March?" The answer reveals the firm's structure.
Do you handle both bookkeeping and tax prep?
If you need both (most small businesses do), having them under one roof eliminates the handoff cost, the bookkeeper-to-CPA cleanup fee that bolts $800-$2,500 onto your tax-prep bill. A CPA who does both costs more per month than a bookkeeper alone, but typically less in total annual spend.
What's your pricing model, hourly, flat, or per-return?
Hourly billing on routine work creates incentive misalignment: every minute on the phone with you costs them money, so they'll bill less and call you less. Flat monthly fees realign incentives toward making sure your books are clean and your taxes are minimized. For tax prep specifically, flat-fee-per-return is almost always better than hourly.
Are quarterly tax-planning check-ins included or extra?
Real tax planning happens before December, not in April. Most monthly bookkeeping engagements should include quarterly check-ins to adjust estimated payments, review for missed deductions, and plan year-end moves (retirement contributions, equipment purchases, S-Corp salary adjustments). If they're extra, you're paying for tax prep, not tax planning.
Can you tell me about a client situation similar to mine?
Forces specificity. If they describe a real client (anonymized) with similar industry, revenue range, or entity type. They've seen your situation before. If they pivot to generalities or talk about themselves, they probably haven't.
Want a straight answer on your fit?
Answer a few questions about your business and pick a time on my calendar. I'll review your answers before we talk.
Book a Discovery CallPick a time on my calendar. No obligation.
Red flags that mean walk away.
Any one of these is sufficient. None require you to be polite about it:
They won't tell you their license number, or it doesn't verify.
Every state CPA board has a free public lookup. Florida is at myfloridalicense.com. Type in the name; the license should come back active. EA licenses are at IRS RPO. If someone calls themselves a CPA and the lookup doesn't confirm, that's not a clerical error. They're not a CPA.
They quote a price before understanding your business.
Either they're not actually quoting your business. They're quoting a generic template that won't fit, or they're a high-volume firm where everyone gets the same engagement letter regardless of complexity. Either way, the price will balloon mid-engagement.
They guarantee a specific refund or specific tax savings.
Illegal under IRS Circular 230 (the federal regulations governing tax practitioners). Anyone making this guarantee is either ignorant of the law or willing to break it, and either disqualifies them from representing you on a tax return.
They want to be the only signatory on your bank account, or want your refund deposited to them.
Both are payment-fraud red flags. A reputable accountant never asks to be the sole bank signatory on your business account. A reputable tax preparer never has the IRS refund deposited to their own account, the only legitimate exception is fee deduction at filing, which happens at large national chains and is itself a contested practice.
They won't tell you who else works on your file.
If junior staff, contractors, or offshore teams are working on your books or your return, you should know. Refusal to disclose means either offshoring without consent or the partner doesn't actually know, neither is acceptable.
How accountants price, and which models actually work for small business.
Three models cover most of the market. They aren't equally good for small business:
Flat monthly fee (bookkeeping + included planning)
Typically $500-$800/month for CPA-managed engagements. Books done monthly, quarterly tax-planning check-ins included, tax return quoted separately at a flat fee. Incentives aligned. They want your books clean and your taxes low, and they don't bill more for picking up the phone.
Best for: ongoing small-business work.
Flat per-return (tax prep only)
Individual 1040 starting around $200-$600 (or $400+ for a CPA). S-Corp 1120-S starting $1,200-$3,000. Predictable cost, no surprise billing. Good model for one-time engagements.
Best for: tax-prep-only relationships.
Hourly billing ($200-$500/hour)
Works for one-off advisory or special projects. Stops working for ongoing engagements because every minute on a call costs you, which means the accountant calls less and you self-serve more. Most small businesses pay more on hourly than they would on flat-fee for the same work.
Best for: one-off consulting, never routine work.
When to switch accountants.
Switching accountants feels like a big deal. It usually isn't. Five triggers that actually warrant a switch:
You don't hear from them between January and April. A real CPA relationship has quarterly check-ins, not annual reactive filing.
Your tax return has surprised you two years in a row. Surprises are the symptom of missing planning, not of bad luck.
You can't reach them on the phone. Routine email response under 48 hours is reasonable. Phone calls returned within 24 hours during business season is reasonable. Anything worse signals a capacity problem on their side.
They missed a deadline that cost you money. The IRS rarely waives penalties; a CPA who caused one should at minimum absorb their portion of the cost.
Their pricing changed and they didn't tell you until the invoice. Transparent fee changes are reasonable. Surprise fee changes mid-engagement are not.
Switching is straightforward: you tell the new accountant who the old one is, they request your prior-year returns and access to your current bookkeeping system, you sign a new engagement letter. Most switches finish inside two weeks with no operational disruption. The fear of switching keeps far more people in bad relationships than the actual cost of switching ever justifies.
Looking for a Florida CPA?
I'm a licensed Florida CPA (#AC62625) doing monthly bookkeeping and tax prep for small businesses. Book a discovery call, no obligation, no handoff. If I'm not the right fit, I'll say so and point you somewhere better.
Book a Discovery CallPick a time on my calendar. No obligation.
Frequently asked questions
- What credentials should an accountant have?
- For small-business work, the credential that matters is CPA (Certified Public Accountant), state-licensed, requires a bachelor's degree plus 150 credit hours, the Uniform CPA Exam, and supervised experience. CPAs can sign tax returns, represent you before the IRS, and provide tax strategy. Enrolled Agents (EA) are federally licensed by the IRS and can also represent you in audits but cannot audit financial statements. 'Tax preparer' with no credential is unregulated, anyone can call themselves one. For most small businesses, a CPA who also does bookkeeping is the right answer.
- What questions should I ask before hiring an accountant?
- Five questions that actually surface fit: (1) Will I work with you personally, or get handed off to a junior associate? (2) Do you handle both bookkeeping and tax prep, or just one? (3) What's your pricing model, hourly, flat monthly, or per-return? (4) Are quarterly tax-planning check-ins included, or extra? (5) Can you tell me about a client situation similar to mine? The first question filters out firms where the partner takes the meeting and a junior does the work. The last question filters out anyone who's never seen a business like yours.
- What's the difference between a CPA, an EA, and a tax preparer?
- A CPA (Certified Public Accountant) is state-licensed, can prepare returns AND audit financial statements AND advise on tax strategy AND represent you before the IRS. An EA (Enrolled Agent) is federally licensed by the IRS, can prepare returns AND represent you before the IRS, but cannot audit financial statements. A tax preparer with no credential is unregulated, anyone can charge for tax prep without any license, exam, or continuing education. For business returns or anything with strategy/planning complexity, hire a CPA. For straightforward W-2-only individual returns, an EA or qualified preparer is often fine.
- How much should I expect to pay an accountant?
- Three pricing models: (1) Per-return tax prep, individual 1040 from $200-$600, S-Corp 1120-S from $1,200-$3,000. (2) Monthly bookkeeping, independent bookkeepers $200-$500/month, CPA-managed bookkeeping $500-$800/month. (3) Hourly advisory, CPAs typically $200-$500/hour for one-off consulting. Watch for hourly billing on tax prep (incentive misaligned with you), free initial consultations dressed up as sales calls, and surprise year-end cleanup fees on top of monthly bookkeeping. Flat-fee engagements are almost always better for small businesses.
- What are red flags when interviewing accountants?
- Five red flags: (1) They can't tell you their CPA license number or it doesn't verify on the state board website (Florida: myfloridalicense.com). (2) They quote you a price before understanding your business, usually means a generic engagement letter that won't fit. (3) They guarantee a specific refund or specific tax savings, illegal under IRS Circular 230. (4) They want to be the only signatory on your bank account, or want to receive your IRS refund directly. (5) They won't tell you who else works on your file. Any one of these is reason enough to walk.