Beyond the Fee Quote: Questions That Reveal Whether an Accountant Truly Fits Your Business

Most people spend longer choosing a phone contract than choosing an accountant. Yet the accountant you appoint will, in all likelihood, stay with you through several business cycles, a handful of HMRC investigations, and at least one difficult January. Choosing well matters more than choosing cheap.

If you are meeting prospective accountants — and you should, in person or on a video call — treat it as a second interview. You are the employer here, and the questions below will help you find someone who genuinely fits the way your business works.

Start With Fees, But Ask the Right Question

It is reasonable to begin with cost, but a single annual figure tells you very little. What you want to know is what sits inside it.

Ask: "What exactly is included in this fee, and what would trigger an additional charge?" A well-run practice will answer plainly. Year-end accounts and tax returns are standard; ad-hoc advice, company secretarial work, payroll runs, and dealing with an HMRC enquiry are often separate. There is nothing wrong with that — but you deserve to know before you sign, not when the invoice arrives.

Also ask whether fees are fixed or billed by the hour. Fixed monthly pricing suits most small businesses because it makes budgeting straightforward and removes the fear of picking up the phone. If a practice cannot tell you how it prices its work, that itself is an answer.

How Responsive Are They, Really?

Every accountant describes themselves as approachable. The test is specifics.

Ask what their typical response time is for an email, and who you will actually be dealing with day to day. In some firms, the partner you meet at the pitch disappears once you have signed, and your work passes to a junior you have never met. That may be perfectly acceptable — provided you know it in advance.

A useful question: "If I called in late September because HMRC had written to me, what would happen next?" You are listening for a process, not a promise. Something like: acknowledged the same day, a named person assigned, a deadline diarised.

Sector Experience That Earns Its Keep

An accountant who already works with businesses like yours brings more than technical knowledge. They know which expenses HMRC routinely queries in your trade, which software integrations hold up, and where the cash flow pinch-points tend to fall.

Ask to see examples — anonymised if necessary — of clients in a similar position. A practice that serves builders, cafés, consultants, and online retailers will understand the differences between them. One that serves none of them will be learning on your time, and at your expense.

Software: Match the Tool to the Habits You Actually Have

Since Making Tax Digital, software is no longer optional, and your accountant's preferred platform will shape your working life. Some questions worth putting directly:

• Which software do you support, and are you a partner for it?
• Will you help with the initial setup and training, or hand over login details and wish me luck?
• Can the software connect to my bank feed, raise invoices, and handle VAT submissions?

The right answer is not a particular brand. It is a match between the tool and your own habits. If you photograph receipts on your phone between jobs, a mobile-first product matters. If you invoice on retainer, something with recurring billing will save you hours. What matters is that the accountant can demonstrate the software, not merely recommend it.

The Questions That Reveal Character

Beyond the practicalities, a few questions separate a compliant service from a genuinely valuable one:

• "When did you last proactively contact a client with a tax-saving idea — what was it?" This reveals whether they see themselves as a historian of your accounts or a participant in your decisions.
• "What would you have done differently for a business like mine last year?" A confident practitioner will have views on allowances, timing, and structure.
• "How do you handle it when a client disagrees with your advice?" You are not looking for deference; you are looking for a professional who can explain their reasoning and respect yours.

Red Flags Worth Heeding

Walk away from any practice that:

• Cannot give you a written engagement letter and fee proposal
• Hints at ways to make income "disappear" or dismisses HMRC correspondence casually
• Quotes a suspiciously low fee, then bills separately for every conversation
• Cannot tell you who holds your data, where, and under what safeguards

The first two deserve particular emphasis. Aggressive schemes may seem tempting, but the penalties land on you, not the adviser, and the stress of an HMRC compliance check is a poor trade for a modest saving.

A Relationship, Not a Transaction

Choosing an accountant is less like buying a service and more like appointing a non-executive director on a part-time basis. The fee matters, but so does the quality of the conversation you will have every quarter for the next decade.

Take the meetings. Ask the awkward questions. And choose the firm whose answers you can still hear yourself nodding along to a year from now.