For the business owner looking for help: When you interview a prospective accountant, there is no way to assess his/her tax or accounting competence. You can look at their certifications, degrees and experience to get some idea but that doesn't tell you if this person will be good for you. What you really want to know is if you can have a conversation with this accountant and feel comfortable that you both understand what the other is saying. One way to do this is to lay out one of your problems and ask for an opinion on a your chosen solution. (It helps if you have already gone through this problem before and know the pit falls) In other words, get the prospect talking. If all you get is jargon, move on. If you start getting questions that indicate they understand your problem, you are on your way to a good relationship.

For the accountants looking for new clients: People want to be able to relate to their accountant as a person. That means the accountant returns calls and emails, remembers the clients tax and financial situation, knows if retirement, getting kids through school, business partners, the bank or whatever is their highest priority right now. Above all, know when to say, "I don't know. Let me look that up.". Don't pretend that you have all the answers.