Help! Non responsive accountant

[dollybird66]

Can anyone give me some advice. The accountants I am with have made an error on something they submitted for me. I am trying to get them to amend it and to send me proof it has been done. They are also supposed to be doing my CT which is due at the end of Sep along with all the accompanying papers to file for HMRC. However, they are now not responding to any queries I have by email. I have been patient and waited two weeks for them to reply and sent another email which they have now also failed to respond to. If I phone I get told they will call back which so far has not happened. I am seriously worried as we have to have all the CT paperwork ready soon and payment by the end of September and I feel I have to hold their hand and check with them constantly to make sure they have actually done what I have paid them to do. I think I would have trouble finding another accountant who is prepared to do 2008 CT at the very last minute (6 weeks). I chose these accountants because they are PCG approved, but that doesn't seem to count for much.

So, my question is, how long should it reasonably take for accountants to get back to a client query (in writing) and what can I do if I do not hear back from them within the next week (I will wait another week which will have been 3 weeks since my first email was sent)?

Thanks!

[JamesCartwright]

That sounds bad, the firm of Chartered Accountant that I work for would never be that unresponsive. With something like that they would try to get is done ASAP.

Have you considered changing accountants? How was their customer service before? Are they Chartered or Chartered Certified Accountants? If they are either, you may be able to report them for this.

If you are interested in finding out more about the Chartered Accountants I work for, PM me. I don't want to post any info here in case it looks like spam or in case you're not interested in switching.

Good luck with the CT, I hope it all gets sorted out soon.

James.

[dollybird66]

They are Chartered Accountants.

[elainec100@cheapaccounting]

So, my question is, how long should it reasonably take for accountants to get back to a client query (in writing) and what can I do if I do not hear back from them within the next week (I will wait another week which will have been 3 weeks since my first email was sent)?

Thanks!

Every one varies depending on the level of client service but this is quite a long time IMO.

The issue you have is that if you leave it much longer and you have to go else where then you have not got much time to sort everything out before you CT deadline.

So I think you have to decide quite soon if you have given them enough time.

I would suggest finding out who the partners are and ringing one of those to complain but bear in mind that that may not get your accounts done!

At the end of the day you will be liable for late filing etc and given 7.5 to 8 months must have already passed since your year end then I know what I would be doing - but of course I would say that!

[elainec100@cheapaccounting]

They are Chartered Accountants.

Then phone to ask for their formal complaints procedure. We all have to have one in place. If you are then not happy with the response complain to the ICAEW.

[Tom Egerton]

The accountants appear to be guilty of discourtesy and by definition unprofessionalism by failing to respond within a reasonable time. You should have little trouble finding another accountant despite what you perceive to be a short time frame.

It's difficult to comment on everything else because of the vague summary you've laid out.

"They have made an error on something". What exactly was the error and how did you find out about it?

"They are supposed to be doing my CT". Can we assume that the relevant accounts are for the year to 31 December 2008? Have these accounts been prepared? If so, the CT (as you realise) is due for payment by 30 September but the CT return and computations are due by 31 December. Difficult to establish the correct payment without the return I admit but not impossible.

What exactly have you paid for and did you pay in advance? If not, you've hopefully got some evidence of the work carried out (accounts which you would have signed, for example).

Sorry to be so inquisitive but the quality of the advice is likely to be in direct proportion to the detail you can provide.

[David Griffiths]

I'd agree that two weeks is probably too long- even if the person dealing with this in on holiday you should at least get an acknowledgement. There's no excuse for not returning phone calls.

You say that the CT return has to be done by end September. Is that because you have a Septemeber year end, or because you have a December year end, and the tax is payable on 1 October? Does the previous error have an affect on the CT return?

[Maslins]

Agree with much of the above...but if you do want to change, 6 weeks should be plenty of time provided you've got all your stuff ready and answer any queries from the accountant fairly promptly.

If the only deadline approaching is the CT payment deadline, then missing this will incur a bit of interest, but nothing else. You could of course make an estimate of what the tax would be (say 21% of your accounting profit...if you know that?) and pay that over on the due date, then you'd only pay interest on any excess which is unlikely to be significant.

[Maslins]

...and re: the PCG approval, from what I can tell that simply means those firms can help you write contracts that lie(!) their way around IR35 et al. In no way means they're good at accounting or have great customer service.

[dollybird66]

The accountants appear to be guilty of discourtesy and by definition unprofessionalism by failing to respond within a reasonable time. You should have little trouble finding another accountant despite what you perceive to be a short time frame.

It's difficult to comment on everything else because of the vague summary you've laid out.

"They have made an error on something". What exactly was the error and how did you find out about it?

"They are supposed to be doing my CT". Can we assume that the relevant accounts are for the year to 31 December 2008? Have these accounts been prepared? If so, the CT (as you realise) is due for payment by 30 September but the CT return and computations are due by 31 December. Difficult to establish the correct payment without the return I admit but not impossible.

What exactly have you paid for and did you pay in advance? If not, you've hopefully got some evidence of the work carried out (accounts which you would have signed, for example).

Sorry to be so inquisitive but the quality of the advice is likely to be in direct proportion to the detail you can provide.

Sorry to be vague but I didn't want to put too much information in case they read this.

Basically they have made quite a big error and lots of little errors in the accounting on various end of year payroll forms which I am trying to get amended and resubmitted which I am none too happy about.

The CT year was Jan 1st 2008 - Dec 31st 2008 and although I understand the paperwork can be submitted some time after the actual payment, they have yet to send me any computations even though I gave them the information months ago (March I think). I have paid extra for them to do the CT (several hundred pounds) as I thought our old accountants who we were with would not be competent (they were even worse and that is a whole other story:rolleyes:)

[Tom Egerton]

Sounds like you're paying a lot of money (several hundred pounds for a CT return?!) for a poor service - they may well have done everything correctly (apart from the payroll returns) but failing to communicate negates any useful work they might have
carried out.

If you mean you've paid several hundred pounds for the accounts preparation including the CT return, I'd revise my comment above and say it sounds reasonable.

I'm not sure why you can't just make an appointment with them but maybe you're a long way from their offices. Suggest you give them a "final warning" in writing to communicate or be sacked. You could point out that you will be expecting reimbursement of your fees if you have to pay again for the work.

Being Chartered, I can almost guarantee that they'll react quickly. When I was in the Institute, the last thing I would have wanted was a complaint against me.