The first meeting with a prospective accountant sets the tone for what could become a years long working relationship, yet many small business owners walk into it without a clear plan of what to ask. They focus on price and qualifications, which matter, but often miss questions that reveal far more about how the day to day relationship will actually feel. A first meeting is your chance to interview the firm just as much as they are assessing your business, and asking the right questions makes it far more likely you will choose a firm that suits how you actually want to work.
Start with a simple but revealing question: who will actually be handling my account day to day? Many firms present their most experienced partners in the first meeting, but hand ongoing work to junior staff you never meet beforehand. There is nothing wrong with a tiered team structure, provided it is transparent. What matters is knowing in advance whether you will have a consistent, named point of contact, or whether you should expect to explain your situation afresh each time you call. Firms that operate with a dedicated account manager model, such as Fred Michael & Co, should be able to answer this clearly and specifically.
Ask about typical response times for questions outside scheduled meetings. Every business has moments where a quick answer is needed urgently, whether that is a query from a supplier, a question from a bank, or a concern about a tax notice that has just arrived. Understanding whether the firm typically responds within hours, within a day, or within a week gives you a realistic sense of what ongoing support will feel like, rather than relying on vague reassurances about being available whenever needed.
It is worth asking directly how the firm communicates with clients throughout the year, beyond the statutory deadlines. Do they send proactive updates when tax rules change? Do they flag things in your figures that look unusual, or wait for you to notice and ask? Some firms operate almost entirely reactively, only engaging with clients when a deadline forces contact. Others build a genuine ongoing dialogue into their service. Neither approach is inherently wrong, but you should know which one you are signing up for before committing.
Ask what channels are available for communication and which one the firm actually prefers or uses most reliably. Some practices are strongest over email, others prioritise phone calls, and increasingly many use secure client portals or messaging apps for quick exchanges. If you strongly prefer one channel, such as being able to text a quick question rather than compose a formal email, it is worth checking early whether that fits how the firm actually operates day to day, since a mismatch here can create low level friction throughout the relationship.
Do not overlook questions about how the firm handles mistakes or disagreements. No accountant is perfect, and things occasionally go wrong: a deadline slips, a figure is miscalculated, or advice given turns out to be based on incomplete information. Ask how the firm has handled situations like this in the past, and listen carefully to how openly they discuss it. A firm that acknowledges mistakes happen and describes a clear process for correcting them and communicating about it honestly is generally more trustworthy than one that claims to never make errors at all.
It is also useful to ask about the firm's approach to explaining things in plain language. You might ask them to briefly explain a moderately technical concept relevant to your business, such as how dividends are taxed differently from salary, or what triggers VAT registration. Pay attention not just to whether the answer is correct, but to how clearly it is explained. This gives you a genuine preview of what future conversations will feel like, far more useful than any written description of their communication style.
Ask what the firm expects from you as a client in terms of providing information and meeting deadlines on your side. A good relationship runs in both directions, and understanding what is expected of you, whether that is submitting receipts monthly, responding to queries within a certain timeframe, or attending a set number of review meetings each year, helps set the relationship up for success from the very start rather than leaving expectations vague and open to later disappointment.
Finally, ask about fees in a way that goes beyond the headline number, specifically asking what is included in ongoing communication and support. Some firms charge separately for every phone call or email beyond a basic package, while others build reasonable ongoing communication into a fixed monthly or annual fee. Understanding this distinction matters enormously, because a seemingly cheaper quote that charges extra for every interaction can end up costing more, and creating more friction, than a slightly higher fee that includes genuine ongoing support as standard.
It is worth asking how the firm handles growth and changing circumstances within a client relationship. Your business today is unlikely to look exactly like your business in three years, whether because of hiring, expansion, a change in structure, or a shift in strategy. Ask how the firm has supported other clients through similar transitions, and whether the same team would continue supporting you as your needs become more complex. A firm that can point to concrete examples of growing alongside clients over time is generally better placed to support you through your own future changes than one that only speaks in general terms about flexibility.
Ask, too, about how meetings are typically structured and how much preparation is expected from each side beforehand. Some firms send a clear agenda ahead of every meeting along with any figures to be discussed, allowing you to prepare questions in advance. Others take a more informal approach, discussing whatever comes up on the day. Neither style is inherently better, but knowing which one to expect helps you prepare appropriately and get more value from the time you spend together, rather than feeling caught off guard by an unexpectedly formal or unexpectedly loose meeting structure.
Finally, trust your own instincts about how comfortable the conversation felt overall. Beyond any specific answer given, notice whether you felt genuinely listened to, whether questions were answered patiently, and whether the overall tone felt collaborative rather than transactional. Many small business owners who have gone through several first meetings with different firms report that this instinctive sense of fit, formed during the very first conversation, turned out to be a remarkably reliable predictor of how the working relationship actually unfolded over the following years.
Consider also asking how the firm keeps clients informed about changes in tax law or regulation that might affect their specific type of business. Rules around VAT, dividends, company car benefits, and countless other areas change periodically, and a firm that takes communication seriously will have a system for flagging relevant changes to affected clients rather than expecting business owners to keep track of legislative updates themselves. Asking for a recent example of a change they proactively flagged to clients is a useful, concrete way to test whether this genuinely happens in practice or is simply described in general terms during the sales conversation.
Taken together, these questions help you look past qualifications and pricing to the practical reality of what working with a particular firm will actually feel like month to month. The right first meeting should leave you with a clear sense of how communication works, who you will be dealing with, and what to expect when things go smoothly and when they do not. Choosing an accountant based on these answers, rather than price alone, tends to produce a far more satisfying and durable working relationship over the years that follow.
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