Messy new client and vat

[Spike67]

Hi all

I'm a newby on here and have just taken on a new and first client. They are in a real mess with many things including bank that doesn't reconcile. The only way I can see as a way forward is to go through all the bank statements for 2012 and tick and bash, then do journals to mispostings for the previous years difference (they didn't even start correctly at the beginning of 2012). My problem is though they don't seem happy with this as this will take more time and money, and they seem to want to ignore it!! The vat is due on thursday and with the state of their accounts I cannot in anyway see me having a return ready in the hours I have left and am not happy to do one when I cannot say it will be correct. Was wondering if anyone had had similar experience and had some advice please. Thank you.

 

[teddys]

I'm sure many accountants face similar situations when taking over micro business clients: sorting things out would mean spending hours and hours to meet a certain minimum standard and quality and the client doesn't care about nor is it willing to pay for it. In the end looks like a thankless job. Rather than looking for a short-term fix for this problem, the long-term solution is that be a bit choosy about who you want to pick up as your clients!

 

[Scalloway]

I've been there too. IF you decide to go ahead I would draw a line for the moment at the stuff prior to the start of the VAT quarter and just concentrate on getting the current return right. Remember VAT errors under £10,000 can be corrected on the next return without contacting HMRC.

 

[ruby1990]

This is part of your work buddy. You cannot avoid this.

 

[faradaykeynes]

If you have income and expenses invoices, get vat return out, bank reconciliation you can worry about it later on. Any adjustments to vat can be done in next return as Scalloway mentioned

 

[Bob]

Do you have a letter of engagement in place? Does it mention responsibility for accuracy of information for VAT returns. Do you think that the errors are likely to be material? If you feel it is worth your while keeping them as clients, make sure that you have notified them in writing of the inadequacy of the records and the limitations on the work that you have undertaken. bMight stop them blaming you later

 

[Billmccallum]

Hi all

I'm a newby on here and have just taken on a new and first client. They are in a real mess with many things including bank that doesn't reconcile. The only way I can see as a way forward is to go through all the bank statements for 2012 and tick and bash, then do journals to mispostings for the previous years difference (they didn't even start correctly at the beginning of 2012). My problem is though they don't seem happy with this as this will take more time and money, and they seem to want to ignore it!! The vat is due on thursday and with the state of their accounts I cannot in anyway see me having a return ready in the hours I have left and am not happy to do one when I cannot say it will be correct. Was wondering if anyone had had similar experience and had some advice please. Thank you.

In these situations you need to balance what you want to achieve and what the client wants.

If you feel there is a need for additional costs to reconcile older documents and to bring things up to date, then tell the client and give them the cost, it's up to them if they will pay or not.

As previous advice, get current VAT return complete as a bare minimum and work from there.

 

[kevin.doran]

Hi all

I'm a newby on here and have just taken on a new and first client. They are in a real mess with many things including bank that doesn't reconcile. The only way I can see as a way forward is to go through all the bank statements for 2012 and tick and bash, then do journals to mispostings for the previous years difference (they didn't even start correctly at the beginning of 2012). My problem is though they don't seem happy with this as this will take more time and money, and they seem to want to ignore it!! The vat is due on thursday and with the state of their accounts I cannot in anyway see me having a return ready in the hours I have left and am not happy to do one when I cannot say it will be correct. Was wondering if anyone had had similar experience and had some advice please. Thank you.

How about making them a messy EX-client??

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

Hi all

I'm a newby on here and have just taken on a new and first client. They are in a real mess with many things including bank that doesn't reconcile. The only way I can see as a way forward is to go through all the bank statements for 2012 and tick and bash, then do journals to mispostings for the previous years difference (they didn't even start correctly at the beginning of 2012). My problem is though they don't seem happy with this as this will take more time and money, and they seem to want to ignore it!! The vat is due on thursday and with the state of their accounts I cannot in anyway see me having a return ready in the hours I have left and am not happy to do one when I cannot say it will be correct. Was wondering if anyone had had similar experience and had some advice please. Thank you.

You need to assess what services you are actually going to offer clients.

You dont have to work for all clients

If you want to deal with bookkeeping that's fine, if not you need to be clear to your client regarding the standard of bookkeeping which you will work from.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

This is part of your work buddy. You cannot avoid this.

I'm puzzled.....why ? :|:|