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Uncooperative Accountant

  • Fellow PM.Dip
  • Practice Licence
  • 8 posts
  • # 117839

Hello everyone. I have a client I have been working with for 2.5 years. During that time the business has been very busy & gone through a lot of changes. The owner put me in touch with his accountants & they effectively told me that the work I'm doing is separate to the work they are doing, and they refused to work alongside me, so two years' worth of accounts have now been prepared with no reference to my work at all. I am producing management accounts every month but am unable to keep a record of fixed assets, depreciation, loans etc. The owner is still too busy to talk to me very often, so there are big gaps in the work I am able to do, eg some of the bank feeds to Xero have stopped working so some of the bank accounts are out of date (there are 5 of them). I have repeatedly asked this to be sorted out, to no avail. So I know my work is not as accurate as it could be. Now the owner has appointed a new business manager who will be working with me to try & sort this out. I'm hopeful that we will get things on a better footing. Meanwhile, I'm beginning to wonder if I need to be more proactive with this client in view of my professional responsibilities as an ICB bookkeeper. I am certain that the accountants' work is not altogether accurate, and I'm concerned that an HMRC inspection would throw up all kinds of irregularites. I feel out of my depth, as I've never been in a situation where an accountant won't work with me at all, and indeed doesn't seem to think it's necessary! The business owner didn't have a bookkeeper before I came along, and on the accountants' website they actually state that bookkeeping is optional. I am aware the the owner is paying twice for the same job & now he is paying another professional to try & sort it out, but he is still at arm's length himself. I don't think anyone is being dishonest, just disorganised & seemingly unaware of the responsibility of a business owner to keep good records. The business is a limited company but I have not seen any evidence of dividends, just a regular amount taken out every month by the owner. It's likely that the accountants are preparing dividends, but I have not been given any info on them. Any advice would be much appreciated, thank you. 

  • Fellow PM.Dip
  • Practice Licence
  • 8 posts
  • # 117840

Jane Lynch said:

“Hello everyone. I have a client I have been working with for 2.5 years. During that time the business has been very busy & gone through a lot of changes. The owner put me in touch with his accountants & they effectively told me that the work I'm doing is separate to the work they are doing, and they refused to work alongside me, so two years' worth of accounts have now been prepared with no reference to my work at all. I am producing management accounts every month but am unable to keep a record of fixed assets, depreciation, loans etc. The owner is still too busy to talk to me very often, so there are big gaps in the work I am able to do, eg some of the bank feeds to Xero have stopped working so some of the bank accounts are out of date (there are 5 of them). I have repeatedly asked this to be sorted out, to no avail. So I know my work is not as accurate as it could be. Now the owner has appointed a new business manager who will be working with me to try & sort this out. I'm hopeful that we will get things on a better footing. Meanwhile, I'm beginning to wonder if I need to be more proactive with this client in view of my professional responsibilities as an ICB bookkeeper. I am certain that the accountants' work is not altogether accurate, and I'm concerned that an HMRC inspection would throw up all kinds of irregularites. I feel out of my depth, as I've never been in a situation where an accountant won't work with me at all, and indeed doesn't seem to think it's necessary! The business owner didn't have a bookkeeper before I came along, and on the accountants' website they actually state that bookkeeping is optional. I am aware the the owner is paying twice for the same job & now he is paying another professional to try & sort it out, but he is still at arm's length himself. I don't think anyone is being dishonest, just disorganised & seemingly unaware of the responsibility of a business owner to keep good records. The business is a limited company but I have not seen any evidence of dividends, just a regular amount taken out every month by the owner. It's likely that the accountants are preparing dividends, but I have not been given any info on them. Any advice would be much appreciated, thank you. ” ps the business is a non-VAT registered health services provider.

 

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