Accountants: A New Way to Work

A free article on Careers

By: arstringfellow

Accountants usually have a variety of career options to choose from. Working for a firm, working for a private corporation or non-profit organization, or running your own business are a few of the options available. For some, the security and stability of working for someone else fits the bill, but for others, the entrepreneurial spirit calls. These are the folks who strike out on their own, driven by the desire to run their own business and have control over their own futures.

The professionals who take this road are faced with the challenge of building up a base of clients that will provide the financial stability they need. Many opt to utilize a staffing agency as a means to keep a steady amount of work coming in. Staffing agencies usually take a significant percentage of the total payment for a job, sometimes even half. This can make a drastic decrease in earnings potential, which is discouraging. But the arrangement may be worthwhile if you need the kind of matchmaking and placement help that these organizations provide.

If you’re choosing to hang your own shingle and you’ve got the ability to maintain great relationships with clients, the best way to maximize your earnings is to cultivate your own clientele. While this can take time, your efforts can amount to a significant income in the years to come. Marketing your services to small and mid-size businesses is an excellent place to start, because those companies are typically the ones that would benefit financially from outsourcing accounting tasks rather than hiring an in-house staff accountant.

The good thing about the accounting field is that every business must do accounting. Some business owners start out by trying to handle it all on their own, and a few savvy ones will get the hang of it and manage it all alone. Many others will be quickly overwhelmed and realize the value in paying for an expert to handle delicate financial matters. Marketing yourself as a specialist in start-up corporations, or in small business, is often an excellent way to start building a clientele.

You can also specialize in a certain industry, but make sure it’s an industry where there will be a lot of business. Specializing in a given area, rather than general accounting, is a great way to gain name recognition. Attending local business events and meeting fellow members of the local business community is also very important. Everyone knows someone who might someday need your services, and you want to be top-of-mind when the topic comes up.

An additional option, if you have a broader business background and high level experience on your CV, might be to market yourself as a “virtual CFO” and help with the larger financial matters of small and medium sized companies.

Once you’ve established a base of clients and have a steady income stream flowing in, there really is no need to continue utilizing a staffing agency. You will continue to gain more clients through referrals from existing clients and word-of-mouth, and it would be silly to continue handing over a high percentage of your potential earnings to someone else when you are perfectly capable of finding enough business to keep yourself busy.

Once you get to this point, and are comfortable finding your own clients, there is an opportunity for tax savings waiting for you. Many independent accountants are finding it advantageous to work with an employer of record. Accountants in particular recognize the value of these services, because you are, after all, experts in the financial business. Having a consistent employment infrastructure while still maintaining your independence, and still having all the advantages of taking business deductions for your expenses, can save you both time and money. Another benefit to umbrella corporations is that you may be covered under that organization’s general liability insurance and other business insurances, and you may gain access to true group benefits like health insurance and a 401(k) retirement savings plan.

If you’re an independent accountant, whether you’re new to the field or an industry veteran, you may want to take the time to find out how much money you could be saving by using this new way to work solo.