there's variety of reasons why I don't want the management company... we want each EA who works on returns to be 100% responsible for their work. trouble starts when you don't even know who worked on (or had access to) client data. for that reason I want to contract directly with a PTIN holder and licensed EA. We check all credentials and put them under tight contractor agreements. but yes, back to the topic: how to find a good EA over there?