How Do I Hire a Technical Accounting Expert?

At this point, you may be starting to feel a bit overwhelmed with what needs to be done to get your company’s accounting compliant with US GAAP, and how you’re going to do it. This is a normal feeling! Unless they’re a huge company with a dedicated technical accounting department, most businesses don’t have in-house resources with technical accounting expertise. Like how you outsource specialized and complex legal areas to specific attorneys and legal firms, it is often best to bring in a technical accounting expert for your US GAAP needs.

Where Do I Start?

When you first reach out to a specialist, they will generally request a 15-to-30-minute introductory call with you and your team. The purpose of this call is for them to introduce themselves, provide more information on their background and expertise, and to better understand your company and the specific technical accounting topics/areas.

A good specialist will ask questions to better scope the projects, and you can ask any questions you might have on the specialist and their process. At the end of the call, they will generally confirm next steps (information requests for you and timing of a proposal from them). 

With the right specialist, this is an extremely valuable call for both parties.

Now let’s talk about how to get a quote. You’re likely looking for an estimate that is reasonably accurate so that you don’t get surprised with future unanticipated costs, and a quote that can be provided as quickly as possible. The problem is that technical accounting projects vary significantly between different industries, between companies within the same industry, and even between transactions within the same company! Simply put, a specialist will have no idea how to develop a budget without obtaining specific information about your company, including key documents.

After the introductory call, a technical accounting specialist will generally send you a shortlist of information requests that will help them do their scoping effectively. For some of these common requests, see the common scoping information mentioned in our previous article here.

If you or your company feels uncomfortable sharing sensitive information with a potential specialist, that is completely understandable. If working with a licensed CPA, know that CPA standards set a very high standard of confidentiality when it comes to sensitive information provided by clients or prospective clients. If additional comfort is needed, you can request entering into a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with the potential specialist prior to sharing any materials. Many specialists should be happy to sign an NDA for this purpose, though larger firms may require review/revision of your company’s NDA, or even require the use of their own form. If a specialist refuses to sign an NDA for this purpose, consider it a red flag.

What Happens Through the Proposal Process?

Once you have provided the necessary information, you may wonder what happens on the specialist’s end when preparing a quote. The quote process can vary by firm, and seem like a bit of a black box, but here is generally what happens.

First, the specialist reviews all the information you provided; this is based on your discussion from the intro call. They also scan through the key documents provided; this is not a detailed review (which will be part of the project), but more to get a sense of the volume/complexity of the related information. They may reach out with follow-up questions.

For example, if the business needs help with their lease review and accounting under the Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 842, a technical accountant would consider various factors that include:

• The nature of the Company’s lease arrangements (e.g., Company is a lessee and/or lessor in its contracts)

• The size of its lease portfolio (e.g., # of leases) and complexity of its contracts (e.g., short/simple or long/complex agreements)

• Whether the Company is open to exploring software for its lease management, or prefers manual review.

All of these factors can impact the estimated effort to complete such a project.

From this, an estimate is prepared of the efforts required for the project; most times, this is the number of hours expected to be incurred to complete the project. Note that this is an estimate; it may take more or less time once the specialist begins to work through the project. Once a budget of hours is prepared, the related pricing is applied (e.g. hourly rate, any administrative fees), and the cost of the project is determined.  Administrative fees are explained in greater detail below.

With this complete, the final step is to incorporate the quote amount into the proposal format that will be delivered. In addition to pricing, the proposal may also include a project plan, estimated timing, and related deliverables for the project, as well as any additional information requested by your team. A proposal can be as simple as an e-mail, or a more formal document such as a Word document or PDF with branding and visuals. A more formal proposal document can take additional time to prepare; if you are mainly interested in quickly receiving a quote without all the bells and whistles of a formal document, you can mention this to the specialist and save yourself a few days (or weeks) of waiting.

Once delivered, the specialist may ask for a follow-up call to walk through the proposal, and will ask for any further questions, or if you accept the terms to proceed with the engagement. This is generally not a firm commitment, but doing so will lead to a formal contract (commonly referred to as an “engagement letter”) for signature.

And that’s it! Once the contract is signed, the project begins.

So as you navigate the proposal process, do you more comfortable of what is happening and when?

Or, if ready to start the process now, reach out to us for a discovery call.