Account for Small Import Business
January 25, 2007 6:01 PM 
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Help my friend find an accountant for her small but growing import business.
She is currently bringing stuff from Africa into the US, but she may start selling in other countries in the coming year. She recently got some outside investment to help her grow the business. She also recently incorporated (c-corp, I believe). Previously the business operated as a partnership.
She is looking for an accountant who has experience working with import businesses, including issues like inventory, currency transfers and exchanges, and maybe even things like US employees working overseas.
Any advice on finding such a service provider? New York would be ideal, but other locations would be OK too.
posted by alms to work & money (2 comments total)
First, in a growth scenario for an import business such as you describe, your friend could do worse than signing up as a client with one of the Big 4 for a couple of years. If her issues at present are not complex, she'll pay hourly rates for basic accounting and audit services that are on the high end of the range for NYC, but can still be comparable to that of other firms with international experience, if she negotiates hard. What she's really buying for the rates she pays is access to the best practice files of the firm she signs with, and perhaps, to the senior level people, and the partners in international practice, including their contacts in foriegn lands. That, believe me, is worth a lot, sometimes, to a new business, trying to form good relationships with vendors and banks abroad. If she would be spending, say, $10K on accounting and audit services for a simple import business, at the rock bottom rates she might get for a small partnership or sole proprietor's accounting firm, she might expect to pay anywhere from 10 to 25% more for Big 4 services, with the difference being what she might consider an "experience premium" for the Big 4 firm. That might be money well spent, if her planned expansions quickly complicate her bookkeeping, as she starts buying currency futures, or doing more complicated letters of credit, or taking on other kinds of trade obligations to grow her business, particularly if it is going to involve multi-country trans-shipping, barter, or other kinds of international trade deals with which she'll need competent advice on a range of financial and regulatory issues.
If she doesn't want to go with one of the Big 4, then I suggest she mine her international business network for suggestions and introductions, starting with her bank's international department. Her business attorney can probably make some referral suggestions, too, as can her customs broker, and perhaps even her main transportation companies. It's worth asking. And if she doesn't already belong to regional trade associations for the areas from which she is doing business, it would be good if she researched those, and made efforts to join and take advantage of programs they offer. Though it is a bit beyond the scope of your question, one thing she is likely to hear is that, as she develops banking relationships and business connections in Africa, she may be in a position to balance her import business with related export activities. If she is importing African coffee, for example, she might have opportunities to export U.S. made packaging materials, machinery or parts, or similar products used in the production or packaging of coffee, thus qualifying her company for EXIM bank financing, for some part of her activities. Though limited, such financing can be important in cementing relationships, and bringing attention to her company.
posted by paulsc at 1:51 AM on January 26, 2007