Why Choose Us
If you read our CPA vs. Non-CPA article, you already know that hiring a CPA beats hiring a non-CPA provider hands down. Still, you may ask how do I choose from many CPA firms and individual providers? Enter Davidov & Associates CPA, one of the sensible choices. Why choose us? Over the years, we have asked many of our clients as well as researched our competition to isolate what it is that we do that sets us apart. We have condensed the results of our research into the following bullet points:
- We are more personable than the majority of others. CPAs are stereotyped as being dry, emotionless and too technical. Many of the CPA you have met are probably very close to this stereotype. It is not the case with us. We are far from being dry and emotionless. We take an interest in our clients, know how to listen to them, empathize with their problems and suggest realistic, actionable and relatively low-cost solutions, remaining warm, receptive and caring at the same time. We love humor, too.
- We love helping our clients achieve results. There are different kinds of accountants. The first type is out there just to make money off of clients irrespective of results. They will bill you for short e-mails and phone calls, every little thing you can imagine. They will also convince you to buy products or services that you hardly need, just so they can make money off of this. This is especially true if the CPA also doubles as an investment advisor. And there is the second type who put the client’s interests first. We belong to the second type. Our approach is drastically different. While we are obviously in the business of making profit, we will only recommend that you buy those services that will truly benefit you or get you back in compliance, typically with benefits exceeding the cost. And we charge hourly rates mostly for consultations or tax research.
- We believe in your right to take advantage of all tax deductions you are legally entitled to based on your tax situation. Many others will be extra cautious and always talk you out of taking legitimate deductions out of the fear of IRS audits. I have heard stories of my clients missing out on thousands of dollars of refunds just because their ex-provider was extremely risk-averse and instilled the same philosophy in their clients. We preach a different philosophy. We actually recommend that our clients take all legitimate deductions they can qualify for as long as they can be substantiated by support documents. While in certain cases the IRS audit probability may go up, it is usually by a couple of percentage points, which is within the margin of error. So the risk is well worth the reward.
- We are creative. Sometimes this word, when used in accounting profession, invokes certain connotations with some people, namely, being unethical. We beg to disagree. Creativity has its important place in accounting profession. For example, we put together customized, creative tax planning scenarios, tailored to your unique situation. There is no place for cookie cutter approach at our firm unlike many other places.
- We are easily accessible. Call us and you reach our principal, Mr. Davidov, 95% of the time. E-mail us and get a response within 24 hours or 48 hours during the tax season. What is the typical experience with many larger CPA firms? A call goes to the receptionist who grills you on who you are and the purpose of your call. Then she either takes a message or transfers you to someone’s voice mail. Your call is either never returned or someone may call you several days later, and that person most likely isn’t even a principal. You get a run around, and obviously are discouraged from trying to reach anyone at that firm. That would never happen at our firm.
- We charge reasonable fees. Did you know that an average individual tax return fee at the larger CPA firm is around $2,000? At Davidov & Associates, this number is a little less than as half as much for comparable work. How can we pull this off? We do not have high overhead and pass these savings on to our clients. We are strong believers in cost/value ratio and do not want you to subsidize bloated staff and ineffective processes.
- Our client retention ratio is high. Most of our clients come back year after year since they love working with us. We value our clients and developed Loyalty Rewards Program that rewards those clients who stay with us and use our services.
- We will be there for you in emergencies. You can contact us after hours or over the weekend should anything happen that requires a very quick response – chances are we will respond momentarily or within a few hours. Just put URGENT in the subject line of your e-mail.
- We use technology effectively. Living in 21st century requires technology skills to efficiently serve clients. We acquire technology solutions that make our job easier and allow our clients to better communicate with us and exchange the files.
- Finally, we quickly adapt to our client changing dynamics. Today you require one level of service, but due to your rapid growth (if you are a business), you will probably require a totally different level of service six months later. We have developed ways to quickly adapt to that change and more.