Before heading off to an accountant (or not...) for advice on computer accounting, it's probably in your interest to be clear on a few things first...

1. You are not going to be doing 'accounting'...

'Computer accounting' is not really accounting. For our purposes, computer accounting is actually bookkeeping.

• Bookkeeping is RECORDING financial information; getting the detail correct and preparing the basic reports.  (It is what you can easily do on your computer).
• Accounting is MAKING DECISIONS about financial and tax matters. Accounting USES the bookkeeping data, and requires training and experience. (This is what you want to pay your accountant to do.)

2. So you need to keep your accountant...

Computer accounting does not mean going without an accountant. Since you will not be doing accounting, and since your computer CANNOT provide accounting, GST or tax advice – you still need your accountant.

You should be confident enough with your computer accounting system to file your own GST returns and to monitor how your business is going day-by-day, but you must take professional advice at year-end or when facing any decision you either don’t feel confident to make, or which may have potentially serious consequences for your business. It's crazy not to.

3. Listen to your accountant...

Accountants are the people to listen to on accounting matters - they know you, know your business, and know accounting.

Are they the right people to go to for advice on computers and computer accounting software?

They can be, but it's relatively common for busy accountants to suggest things that work best for them, and you should really choose your accounting program on the basis of what works best for you.

• If they say something like “… so we can put your data straight into our computer…” you probably want to ask yourself (or them?) why your own detailed reports can't be used. You can provide a printed list of every transaction so they can check your work too. Struggling with a complicated accounting package all year, just to get the same reports out of their computer doesn't seem to make much sense...
• Be cautious about feeling you have to use your accountant’s number code system too. Use their codes by all means, but computers don’t care whether you call an account a name or a number. For you, it is much easier to enter your power bill as ‘Power’ rather than looking up '51650'. Codes tend to be an unnecessary complication for you and they make it very hard for anyone else to help you with your data entry also.

Listen to your accountant - just recognise when their advice might be making their job easier and not yours.

4. Keep in mind they get paid for doing your accounting...

Your accountant gets paid for doing your accounting. If at least part of your aim is to reduce your accounting fees then clearly your accountant doesn't have much incentive to show you how to do it - and it is probably unfair to ask them to. When seeking their advice about computer accounting, keep in mind the impact you may have on their fees.

• If your accountant does your 'accounting' (tax returns, financial advice, depreciation, etc.) then giving them a full set of reports to work from should save some time, but it won't have a huge affect on their (your) fees.
• If your accountant does your 'bookkeeping' too (sorting through receipts and invoices, reconciling your bank statements, filing GST etc) then their income will be affected by you taking this over. Actually, many accountants don’t welcome doing your bookkeeping (because it they have to charge you for doing it and you grizzle about the bill!) so there could be a positive side to taking on your own bookkeeping. But it may affect their income...

You know your accountant better than we do - only you can decide if their advice has your best interests at heart...