Educate yourself, sure. But don't get any ideas about how much you know. When you do meet with an accountant, go in with ears open and mouth shut. You probably

Educate yourself, sure. But don't get any ideas about how much you know. When you do meet with an accountant, go in with ears open and mouth shut. You probably don't know half as much as you think you do. Plus, their knowledge is what you're paying for. If you don't utilize that, you're not getting your money's worth. Finally, it's probably a good idea to at least get a cursory second opinion. From what I've seen, accountants are a lot like programmers. Where one is adamantly behind Ruby on Rails, another will recommend PHP. There probably is no single right answer, but it never hurts to hear opposing viewpoints.