In any industry, there is a small group of professionals that are true experts. Finding these experts can save you a lot of headaches, complications, and money in the long term. It’s worth investing the time and effort to find the right professionals for you, especially when it comes to delegating business tasks that can cost you a lot of money, or make or break a business altogether. In this post, let’s discuss finding the perfect accountant.

First, just focus on getting customers and making money. Make sure to keep your personal finances separate from business income and expenses—different bank accounts, and different credit accounts. This will make the future steps easier to navigate.

Once revenue is coming in, you now have figures for an accountant to help manage—and keeping separate finances for the business will make getting that information to the accountant straightforward.

Initially, when revenue is low, you can learn to perform simple accounting tasks yourself. There likely won’t be enough revenue to justify paying someone else to do this work at first. The turning point is when your time is worth more than the hourly rate a good accountant charges. Then it makes sense to delegate these duties to someone who can do them far better than you can, which frees you up to make more money.

You can start your search for a competent accountant by reaching out to fellow business owners in your circles. Odds are, the same names will keep coming up. Online reviews are worth looking at as well, but nothing beats the recommendation of an experienced business owner.

Make sure the accountant you are considering specializes in the type of services you require. There’s no benefit to paying lots of money to a high-end firm if you have a small, simple operation that just needs to pay appropriate taxes. If you have many employees, multiple locations, lots of inventory, contractors, or are looking to raise capital, match these needs with an appropriate accountant’s expertise. If they don’t handle these tasks themselves, they will likely have recommendations for whom to contact.

The important point with hiring professional services is to wait until your time is more valuable than the hourly rate of that service. This will allow you to leverage yourself to be more profitable, and streamline your business.