Arms, to fully utilise a good accountant, you also have to have some knowledge yourself. i.e. have enough knowledge to understand what your accountant is saying and suggesting. I don't think it would be ethical for an accountant to just put you into a legal structure, for example, that THEY think you need even though you don't understand it! Also, you're going to be actually taking the day to day stuff of recordkeeping and making sure your personal and investment transactions are split correctly, for example.
My suggestion is to get yourself up to speed with the basics by reading books, articles, etc, then you'll know when you talk to an accountant whether he/she is good or not. While a good accountant will teach you, it's much easier if the client already knows the basics, and it's very difficult to teach someone, say, all about trusts if they start with no knowledge about it (I don't know how much knowledge you already have, of course).
Alex
