The shocking ways an accountant can improve your finances
Accountants may be more useful than you think — even if you're strapped for cash.
Most people think accountants are just for the wealthy or big businesses, but they can actually help anyone—no matter their budget. Sue Coffey, CEO of the American Institute of CPAs, joined TheStreet to discuss how having an accountant can actually help improve your finances.
Related: Tax Day is coming — How to avoid these costly mistakes
Full Video Transcript Below:
SUE COFFEY: We are the language of business. And so we account for things. We assure things. We help capital markets meet their deadlines. We help capital. We help businesses have access to capital, whether it's a stock market or lending or whatever the case may be, and then making sure that those who invest in those businesses or those who are loaning money to those businesses have the information they need to make business decisions. Warren Buffett has this amazing quote about accounting being the language of business. And without accountants, where would we be.
We actually make sense out of the numbers. I mean, we understand very deeply what's behind the numbers, and we can help simplify it for the individual in terms of their life goals. So you use financial planning. I always talk about life planning because in someone's life they may have a goal of x, but then x turns into y and y turns into z. So I want to send my kids to college. I want to buy a house. I want to retire with a certain amount of money. There are absolutely things that we do every day to help those individuals meet those goals and understand what they need to do in order to get from point A to point B. There are cost and benefits of all of them. And that's exactly what we do in order to advise businesses and individuals. What are the costs and what are the benefits and what goal are you trying to achieve. And let me help you make the best decision you can for your circumstance.
