Monster Media 1996 #14/Monster Media No. 14 (April 1996) (Monster Media, Inc.).ISO/business/sba961.zip/F408.SBE

Text File | 1996-01-01 | 14KB | 260 lines

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         │SELECTING PROFESSIONAL ADVISERS FOR YOUR BUSINESS│
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Almost no one is smart enough to go it alone in business.
At some point you will probably be better off to swallow
your pride, if you are the independent type who never needs
to rely on anyone else, and seek one or more of the various
kinds of business advisers that are commonly available and
utilized by small businesses.

Often the best place to start is with free, or nearly free,
advice, of which a great deal is available these days for
anyone seeking to start a new business.  For starters, con-
tact your local Small Business Administration office, and
find out about the regular (and inexpensive) seminars they
put on regularly for small businesses on a variety of sub-
jects, such as how to comply with payroll tax requirements,
if you have employees.  The SBA provides help to small busi-
nesses in obtaining financing, including active involvement
up to the point of guaranteeing (or even making, in rare
cases) small business loans; but it also is a tremendous
information resource, with helpful booklets on almost every
conceivable business subject.

Another key feature offered through SBA offices is consult-
ing services, which are provided on a volunteer basis by
experienced older individuals through SCORE, the Service
Corps of Retired Executives.  There are a large number of
SCORE chapters throughout the country, most with a consider-
able list of participating retired executives, with back-
grounds in many different business fields, all of them
ready to help your new or small firm solve some of its
problems, without your having to reinvent the wheel over
and over.

Another free or nearly free source of help and information
throughout the country is the large number of Small Business
Development Centers that are funded by the government and
operate at colleges and universities.  Here you can draw on
the talents of academics and business students who, while
often lacking the kind of experience of SCORE volunteers,
can and will devote much more time to doing research and
helping to develop projects or plans for small businesses.
Check with your nearest college or university, and you
should be able to find an SBDC, even when the college is
located in a fairly small town, in many instances.

Most state governments, and many local governments, also
have business and economic development agencies that are
eager and ready to provide all kinds of useful business
information and help in locating financing for small or
new businesses.  A recent trend in many states is to also
set up "One Stop" centers where a new business locating
in the state can often handle ALL of its state permit,
licensing and registration requirements, as required by
a whole host of state agencies, at one office set up for
the purpose of making the process somewhat easier.  (In
fact, a number of such one-stop centers are now using
this software program....)

Notwithstanding all the free or inexpensive help and ad-
vice described above, there will usually come a time for
almost every business when you will need to retain a
professional business adviser of some type, such as an
attorney, accountant, or consultant.  The following para-
graphs outline for you a few pointers and guidelines to use
in finding and using such advisers, discussing each of the
major types of business advisers in more or less the order
you are likely to need them, as your business grows in
size and complexity (and profitability).

ACCOUNTANTS.  Select your accountant carefully, for this is
the one person outside your business who is most likely to
be closely in touch with almost everything going on in your
operation.  Besides helping to set up your books and to
establish systems for handling cash receipts and disburse-
ments, a good accountant can provide a wealth of practical
advice on a wide range of subjects that are important to
your business, including taxes, managing your money, ob-
taining financing, and evaluating business opportunities.

What kind of accountant should you use?  CPA, Enrolled
Agent, Public Accountant, or bookkeeping service?  There is
no simple or "right" answer to this question.  Many small
firms will do quite well with a Public Accountant (sort of
like a Certified Public Accountant in most states, but
usually with less educational or experience requirements)
or a bookkeeper with no professional credentials.  Many of
these people, if experienced, can be quite good, and they
usually charge a lot less for their services than an
Enrolled Agent (someone who has passed a difficult Enrolled
Agents exam, and who is authorized to practice before the
IRS on tax matters--usually ex-IRS agents), or a CPA.  A
CPA will typically charge the most of any kind of account-
ant, and is usually the most highly-trained.  Becoming a
CPA requires passing an extremely difficult 3-day exam and
substantial educational requirements in accounting and
related fields (more than a simple bachelor's degree in
more than half the states now), and, in many states, a
year or two of qualifying experience working for a CPA
firm.

CPA's and Enrolled Agents tend to be much more proficient
dealing with tax matters, particularly the more complex
and sophisticated types of tax problems.  But, as noted,
you pay more to get this expertise.  Bookkeeping services
and Public Accountants, in this CPA's personal experience,
tend to be much more familiar with tax compliance matters
such as filing payroll tax and sales tax returns.

Note that if you need financial statements for your busi-
ness, particularly audited ones, you will need a CPA to
do the work.  Audits are quite expensive, however, so
most small businesses usually do not have audits unless
they are either (a) very, very profitable, or (b) some
outside party, like a lender, requires the company to
be audited by an independent CPA firm in order to get
and (keep) a loan.

Attorneys and bankers are often in a good position to know
accountants whom they can recommend to a small business,
so ask a banker or attorney if they can suggest someone.

One bit of philosophical advice:  Avoid accountants who
appear too smooth, too glib, and who look too tanned and
well-rested.  They are usually better at selling their
services than delivering them.  The really competent
accountant is often a bit frazzled looking, and somewhat
lacking in social graces; i.e., slightly nerd-like.  That
is usually because they are so concerned about doing the
job right for their clients that they work about 70 or
80 hours a week, and don't have time to work on fine-tuning
their tennis backhand or do much of anything else except
ride a computer all day and study the Good Book (for CPA's,
that's the Internal Revenue Code) religiously.  THAT'S the
kind of accountant I would want if I had to hire one for
my business.  (This isn't an absolute Law of the Universe,
but, having spent most of his professional life as a CPA
in a number of large and small firms, this writer can tes-
tify that it's a pretty good rule of thumb to go by in
selecting accountants, in most cases.)

ATTORNEYS.  Unless you start out your business as a sole
proprietor, you will usually need an attorney to prepare
a partnership agreement or to set up a corporation (or to
set up a "limited liability company," in states where such
entities are permitted).  You will probably do well to con-
sult an attorney anyway to make sure you are obtaining ne-
cessary licenses and permits or to help you obtain them in
some cases.  In most parts of the country, local bar assoc-
iations have lawyer referral services that can put you in
touch with attorneys in your area who practice in various
fields of law.  However, in most cases, you will be better
off asking an accountant or banker to recommend a good
BUSINESS lawyer.  If you need highly-specialized legal ad-
vice or representation, such as on patents or trademarks,
ask an attorney you know to recommend such a specialist.

BANKERS.  Establishing a good relationship with officers
of the bank branch where you open an account for your busi-
ness is strongly recommended.  Even though you may find it
difficult to borrow from your friendly banker when you
first go into business, he or she will be interested in
keeping an eye on your business to see how it develops.  It
pays to cultivate the relationship and to create a good im-
pression long BEFORE you are ready to apply for a business
loan from the bank.  Ask around before opening an account,
to find out if there is a bank in your area that is well
known for lending to small businesses.  Many of the large
banks tend to be more interested in larger accounts, al-
though different branch managers of the same large bank
may have very different ideas about working with small
businesses.

Your banker is usually very well "plugged-in" to your com-
munity and can be a useful source of free advice at times
when you need practical financial advice or to make con-
nections with other businesses or people in your vicinity.
In short, don't just think of your banker as someone to
borrow money from, but as a "money doctor," and one who
doesn't usually charge you by the minute for advice.  In
fact, some savvy small business people will go to a local
banker they want to cultivate and ask to buy them lunch in
order to ask their advice about something, even if they
don't really need the advice, just as a way of making a
connection and impressing the banker, if they have a good
"story" to tell about their business, and can't find any
other good excuse to let the banker know what a great op-
eration they are running.

@IF121xx]BENEFIT CONSULTANTS. If you want to get the most "bang for
@IF121xx]the buck" for a corporate pension or profit sharing plan (or
@IF121xx]to establish a Keogh plan, should you cease to operate in
@IF121xx]corporate form), you may want to seek out a benefit consult-
@IF121xx]ing firm and obtain their proposals as to how any such re-
@IF121xx]tirement plans should be structured and operated to best
@IF121xx]suit the specific needs of @NAME.
@IF120xx]BENEFIT CONSULTANTS. If you intend to eventually incorporate
@IF120xx]and establish a corporate pension or profit sharing plan
@IF120xx](or even Keogh plans for your existing @ENTITY),
@IF120xx]you may want to seek out a benefit consulting firm and ob-
@IF120xx]tain their proposals as to the type of benefit plan or plans
@IF120xx]you need and how such plans should be structured to fit the
@IF120xx]specific needs of @NAME.

Since many such firms are primarily engaged in selling in-
surance products (life insurance, annuities and "guaranteed
investment contracts") designed for retirement plans, the
plan those firms design for you will almost invariably in-
volve building in their products.  Since insurance in your
pension or profit sharing plan may or may not necessarily
make sense in your particular situation, you should ask
your attorney or accountant to recommend a benefit consult-
ing firm that does not have a product (like insurance, or
other investment products) to sell, other than their con-
sulting and plan administration services.  On the other
hand, insurance-based benefit consulting firms often charge
little or nothing for their plan administration and consult-
ing services, in the way of direct fees, instead being paid
commissions by the insurance companies who products they
sell to you.  This can be very attractive, as compared to
the thousands of dollars a year an independent benefit con-
sulting plan will typically charge. But just remember that
those healthy commissions they get paid have to come from
somewhere, ultimately -- not from the Tooth Fairy.

MANAGEMENT OR BUSINESS CONSULTANTS.  Last, but not least,
are other business consultants, whose skills and areas of
practice may range from things like insurance risk manage-
ment to inventory management to export trade, to name only
a few, as well as more general management consulting and
executive recruitment.  We've listed this catch-all cate-
gory of business advisers last, and you may never need
one of them, but such a consultant may in some cases be
the FIRST outside adviser you retain, perhaps even before
your business is started, to help you create a business
plan, or to do a feasibility analysis to help you make
the ultimate decision of whether or not you should even
start the business you are planning go into.

You'll find a lot of people listed under "Management Con-
sultants" in your local Yellow Pages, but to find someone
who has expertise in the particular area or areas that you
need help with will not always be easy, or even possible.
In most cases, rather than picking a name out of the phone
book, you will be most likely to find someone who can real-
ly do the job you need done only by talking to a lot of
people in your industry, and trying to find out if any of
them have used consultants, and if so, whether they felt
the consultants they used were knowledgeable and worth their
fees.  Finding the right consultant can frequently be a bit
like finding a needle in a haystack -- but if you find the
right one, who really knows the area you need help in, a
good consultant can be an invaluable resource to your busi-
ness.