Hello everyone,

My wife and I are looking into incorporating. We are transitioning from primarily residential general cleaning, to pursing commercial carpet and hard floor cleaning. We have been owner operators with no employees all this time, but finally realize that it isn't very smart business.

We will be speaking with an accountant in a week. She is actually a former client of ours.

I just had a few questions that I've been thinking about.

How much should we expect to pay for accounting services for a very small corporation? Do all of you who are incorporated have an accountant? Also, is it necessary or recommended to have an account that lives in your area, or can it be done over the internet/mailing?

Thanks.

Yes you need an accountant even if you are not INC.
you do business with local people so yes you want a local accountant.


As far as costs do you mean what it is going to cost to INC or what you think they will charge you to do your books.

The price for both depends on how good you keep records, do you have any DBA's along with your parent corp, type of corp, along with a whole bunch of other things.

We have an amazing accountant that has very fair rates.
Having a good accountant is an absolute MUST!
It's just part of being in business.

Our accounting costs:
Corporate return $600. Personal return $200.
Random phone consultations $50-$75, billed a few times throughout the year.

Peace of mind; priceless.
For everything else there's Mastercard.







Rick Gelinas
rick@excellent-supply.com

P.S. Nancy and Jo handle all the quarterly reports, payroll accounts receivable, accounts payable, etc. Beth takes care of Purchase Orders. And all of our staff shares in handling sales orders and invoicing. So those accounting charges don't include any of the day to day accounting grunt work. You really should be able to handle all that stuff yourself, with a little direction from your accountant along the way.

P.P.S. Make sure you find an accountant who is an expert with whatever accounting software you use in your business. That way they can also answer all the dumb software questions you guys will likely run into during the year.






Rick Gelinas
rick@excellent-supply.com

Thanks Rick for that great advice.

I think part of the apprehension is fear of the unknown. Going from the simplicity of a sole proprietorship to a corporation sounds intimidating. Add this to trying to get into the commercial carpet world, and things can be a little scary, yet exciting at the same time.

I am looking forward to these new challenges and thank everyone on this board for all of the invaluable information.

My wife and I just sat down with an accountant today. She seems to be really good. However, for just the corporate and personal tax returns, her fee will be $3,000 a year.

Is that more than I should pay? I know this is Hawaii, and everything cost more. So, do I really need someone here to do my taxes?

The fee does not include payroll or any other day to day bookkeeping. She will provide assistance throughout the year, but not actually do any of the other work.

We are planning to form an S Corporation, if that matters.