Today (when this was written) was not my normal sort of day.    After a late night celebration, I didn’t feel like (up to?) arising at my normal hour of 5 AM.  And, I had no client obligations until 10 AM.  So, I putzed around, proofread my blog before posting, went to St. Elmo’s for my coffee and friends (realizing that I left my coffee cup at a client’s facility yesterday, too), and prepared to relax and read my paper(s)….

When I got a call from an Oregon exchange.  My immediate thought is that none of my clients there should be up yet- it wasn’t yet 9:30. (That’s 6:30 Oregon time.)  But, I went outside and answered the call.  It was one of my client’s sisters.  He had died…

Mark was an interesting fellow.  Hard working, always happy, and solicitous of his clients.  Organized?  Hell, no.  He was one of my original “shoebox” clients.  Aw, heck.  He never even kept things in a shoebox.  Bags, drawers, stacks…

The IRS was not among his fans.  (His clients- you bet!)   But, we reached a compromise of sorts.  Mark brought us his “stash” a few times a year.  We had a junior member of the staff sort through the piles, putting things in month order.  Then, he scanned everything into our server.  Then, he entered each credit card and cash receipt, check, and deposit into our accounting programs.   And, that way we kept Mark legal.

Of course, Mark always needed an extension.  Which is why we now have a real problem.  He’s dead and we have to find all his receipts to file his corporate and personal taxes for 2013.  And, the corporate deadline – even with extensions- has already passed.

After that auspicious start to the day, I headed to one of my clients.  We’ve been working with this firm since early July, trying to fix the errors made by the clerk they let go.  And, to keep the accounting and business operations up to date, at the same time.  But, since July, the CEO of the firm has been present (and accounted for) on less than 10% of the occasions we interacted with the firm.   And, even then, the CEO was never present for more than an hour or two.

The CEO didn’t like the way we did things.  Of course, we had no idea how they wanted things done.  The clerk had no organization, there were no manuals of practice, there were no notes or instructions.  So, we operated the way we operate our firms- and all our other clients.

We don’t use an A/P file.  We put the vendors’ bills in the front of each firm’s file (this client has no working scanner), since the accounting system maintains the list of bills to pay.  The CEO wanted all the bills in an A/P file.  Fine.  We did that.  But, then the CEO complained that we entered the bills before they were reviewed.  (Note:  The bills were in the A/P file for days- nay, weeks- on end and were never touched or examined.  Any notes or changes could have been integrated simply.)

The CEO told us which bill to pay.  After the due dates.  Then, complained that their credit history was being dinged.  All that we could have tolerated.  We are used to crazy clients, after all.  (I’m sure we are a little bit crazy, too.)  But, we couldn’t abide being blamed for paying bills we were ordered to pay- and then told that the bill had still not been reviewed. Or for sending out checks that were signed and put on our desk- and then being questioned why we did so.

So, I finished the day by resigning our services.  Now, we must notify the IRS and the Commonwealth that we no longer wish to maintain our Power of Attorney for their taxes.  (What?   You are surprised they have tax issues from previous years?  Including the dreaded payroll tax game, where officers feel they can NOT pay social security, Medicare, and withheld taxes.  That is a MAJOR no-no… These invoke civil AND criminal actions.)

Well, our revenue will take a temporary dip.  But, we will be able to maintain our convivial attitudes for our other clients- without being annoyed and harassed by the one rotten apple in the bunch.

Why did I write about this?  To let you know the consequences of your actions, should you fail to promptly pay withheld employer taxes, fail to maintain an accurate and adequate accounting system, have systems in place to insure that anyone can pick up the slack should you get sick or- heaven forbid- die.

We want you all to succeed.   It says so on our signature line:  We make the world a little bit better, one client at a time.

Share this: