What is an Accountant?

If you asked a hundred friends, "what is an accountant?", then you would quite likely get a hundred completely different answers! But what really is an accountant? Wikipedia describes an accountants as:

"An accountant is a practitioner of accountancy (called accounting in the United States), which is the measurement, disclosure or provision of assurance about financial information that helps managers, investors, tax authorities and other decision makers make resource allocation decisions.

The word "accountant" is derived from the French word Compter which took its origin from the word Computare. The word was written in Middle English as Accomptant, but in process of time the word, which was always pronounced by dropping the "p", became gradually changed both in pronunciation and in orthography to its present form."

It is debatable whether or not this answers the question or simply creates further questions. Perhaps it would be more beneficial to focus on what an accountant does. Again if this question was asked to the public then you should get considerably different answers. The most common response is likely to be "An accountant prepares accounts!" followed by "An accountant completes tax returns!" It is certainly true that the majority of an average accountants time in public practice is spent dealing with those activities. However, many UK accountants have evolved and offer many services above and beyond those traditionally associated with the profession.

These can include:

• Business planning
• Business benchmarking
• Tax planning
• Business modelling
• Systems implementation
• HR advice
• Outsourcing
• Business assurance
• Forensic accounting
• Expert witness
• Cash flow management
• Resource planning
• Business growth development and advice
• Company secretarial work
• Financial advise, such as mortgages, pensions, insurance and investments
• Auditing
• Grant advise
• Corporate finance

Of course this list is not comprehensive and not all UK accountants either offer or are authorised to provide all of the services above. If you are looking for an accountant, then it is recommended that you choose only after careful consideration. Areas for consideration may be:

• Qualifications of the accountant
• Authorisations for the firm
• Does the accountant come with any recommendations?
• Has the accountant got experience in carrying out similar work for similar clients?
• Location of offices and ease to get to
• Basis of charging, does the accountant offer a fixed rate?
• Reputation
• Guarantees, regulation by a professional body and adequate professional indemnity insurance.

Again this list is not intended to be comprehensive but a guide only. Careful choice is recommended as a good accountant can add significant value to your business.

Harries Watkins Jones, South Wales Chartered Accountants with offices in Bridgend and Pontypridd.

Accountants Cardiff
Accountants South Wales