Accountants
Even if your background is in finance or accounting, one of the first relationships you should establish is with an accountant. Unlike a bookkeeper, an accountant acts as an advisor on your overall financial situation. Be sure to interview a number of accountants, talk to people who have used them, and check their references thoroughly. You should come away from your accountant with the sense that he or she understands your business and what you want to accomplish. A good accountant should also leave you with the confidence that he or she will offer valuable practical financial advice as your business grows and matures.
While you may intuitively know more than your accountant about the economics and finances of your business, the accountant is much better trained in putting these aspects of your business into an understandable form. The ability to translate your intuitive knowledge into a recognizable form is precisely what you need in a good accountant.
Beyond the advisory aspect of your accountant's role, he or she will also be able to advise you on the multiple levels of taxation and government regulations that need to be dealt with on an ongoing basis in most businesses. Without sound financial advice in these areas, the results can be both costly and disastrous. For instance, if a business does not remit its employee's payroll taxes to the IRS on a timely basis, the owner of the business can be held personally liable for them even if the business is incorporated. If the average portable executive tried to figure out today's complex business regulatory system, he or she would have very little time to focus on actually starting the business.
Lawyers
Lawyers serve a critical function in the start up phase of one's personal service business entity by helping make all of the appropriate filings to qualify to do business in a state and city, and by determining what legal structure is appropriate for a given business. While you may not need a lawyer as much as an accountant once your business is running smoothly, working with one in the beginning will help you understand the various legal aspects of your business. The advice of a lawyer will prove invaluable in enforcing regulations, collecting on overdue accounts receivable, drawing up contracts with partners and clients, and forming strategic alliances. It is important to establish a relationship with a lawyer early, so that he or she gains a good understanding of your business and where you plan to go with it before any problems arise.
Insurance Agents
Many insurance agents are deeply involved with their clients' businesses. Among your basic insurance needs will be medical insurance, liability insurance, and disability insurance. In many cases a portable executive cannot become a supplier company without certain insurance policies in force.
Bankers
Business's relationship with banker is as critical to the development of business as her relationship with accountants, lawyers, and insurance agents. But it is essential to devote sufficient time to educating one's banker about the business so he will feel comfortable and understand it. That way, when the need to borrow money arises, he can consider the long term goals of your business. Even though you may not need to borrow money or even consider it, it is still important to establish some kind of credit relationship with a bank in case the need to borrow money does arise. In recent years, the banking industry has become stricter about lending money to small businesses, so it is wise for you to understand precisely what parameters your bank will set around lending money. One critical factor you must consider carefully when borrowing is the extent to which you are comfortable putting personal guarantees behind your business loans. Such guarantees expose all of your assets, so it is important to approach such agreements with the same caution you would use in deciding to tap your savings.
Benefit and Pension Advisors
One of the great advantages of working for a corporation is that the complex administration of health care benefits and pensions is usually taken care of for the employees. For setting up a business, this can be an area of great complication and frustration. And while your accountant and insurance advisors may be able to develop a workable plan together, it of ten makes sense to seek the advice of a professional benefits ad visor. Be sure to select someone who is compensated on a fee basis rather than by commission in order to ensure that you are getting a fair judgment.
Should look to the advisor to:
- Identify health care plans that strike a balance between routine care and catastrophic care at an affordable price.
- Prepare a comparative analysis of the coverage, approach, cost, and reliability of various health care programs.
- Advise on how best to set up a disability program.
- Advise on whether to "roll over" corporate pension plans or take immediate distribution.
- Provide a review of different programs that allow the accumulation of funds on a tax deferred basis for retirement
