In one way or another we nearly all have to go through a process of choosing someone to give us advice.

It could be a multi-national corporation choosing international tax advisers or someone selecting an estate agent. While the circumstances may be very different, whenever you must choose an adviser, the difficulties involved and the principles to follow are broadly similar.

The first step is to decide if you do actually need to take advice over any particular issue. As a professional adviser, I would naturally encourage anyone to consult an adviser over difficult or key decisions. It is probably better to be safe than sorry by taking advice if there is any doubt. A good adviser will say if they can't add anything to the current process.

So what should a business or individual do when appointing an adviser?

Try to define as clearly as you can what you are looking for (eg do you have a specific problem or are you looking for general advice).

Don't rely too heavily on a list in the telephone book. While these are useful to find out who is who, they are not ideal for making the final choice. Remember, the bad ones are listed alongside the good ones!

Ask other trusted advisers for a referral. Often they will resist making your choice for you but will usually be prepared to give you a list of, say, three people who they know and you can chose from.

Ask the following questions:

Do you trust them and feel comfortable with them? Many customers part company with their advisers because of lack of care to relationship rather than the quality of the work itself.

Are they successful? Bad advisers are unlikely to be successful in the long term.

Do they act like they want your business? Advisers who are not enthusiastic to act for you don't deserve to do so.

Do they have experience in the kind of problem you wish to solve and do they have experience in advising people like you? Ask about the individuals who will be acting for you. It's no use the firm's credentials being good if they have inexperienced staff.

Are you and your issues the core of their business or is it a peripheral part of their activities?

However much you research for advisers with the proper technical qualifications and apparent experience in your area, the only real way to find out if they are good advisers is by experience. Things may turn out badly if you wait to learn from your own experience so, wherever possible, try and learn from other peoples' experiences. Consequently, if you think it appropriate, ask for references from people similar to yourself to judge how happy they are with the service they have received.

Roland Clark is a partner at Grant Thornton.

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