Had a bit of a run in with one of my clients accountant, and feel I need to let of steam here!
Have been doing the books for a client for about 18 months now. He seems very happy with what I provide. Had been was using his 10 year old PC with QBs from 2003! This gave me much cause for concern, if only that it was so SLOW . He knew he needed to sort this out. We discussed options (I'd discovered that updating QBs from such an old version was not straight forward, and prone to have issues.) Therefore, as I already had Sage, he decided to move across to that. This happened at his year end a couple of months ago. I felt completely happy, and confident in taking a TB, detailed Creditors/Debtors and Balance Sheet from QBs, and transferring this across to the Sage Balance Sheet. Before I did this, I emailed his accountant to inform him of the situation. My client also left a phone message to this extent with his secretary.
This accountant has now just woken up to what I have done and gone banana's. We had a very frank conversation about his views on my ability (or lack of it) to do this changeover, and he said that as it was such a major system change, he should have been in on the decision. He dismissed the issues I'd had with runnig such an old version, and said that preparing the 2011 accounts would now take him much longer.
It left me feeling that he was questioning my whole ability to provide support for his year end preparation. I felt like saying to him that if he had that much of a problem with me, perhaps he should do the whole thing himself!
I have never, ever had someone belittle my abilities so much. Going to get some chocolate from the corner shop now....
That seems rather heavy handed! Is it that the accountant uses QB and so previously has been able to use a backup to do the YE and will now have to do it from printouts? I guess that might cause him a little inconvenience but it's hardly world ending. I'm sure there's absolutely nothing wrong with the work that you've been doing, and as you say the accountant did have an opportunity to be in on the decision at the time but for whatever reason didn't respond.
Enjoy your chocolate, and then don't worry about it, there's always someone out there who thinks they are more superior!
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Jenny
Responses are my opinion based on the information provided. All information should be thoroughly checked before being relied on.
It sounds to me as though the accountant uses QB and moving the client to Sage is not what the accountant would have wanted so he's had a hissy fit and thrown all of his toys out of the pram.
On the older PC's issue a lot of old software will not run with some versions of newer operating systems that come with new pcs. I don't know about QB but certainly old versions of MS Office programs from the same time period will not run with some versions of Windows 7... Now can't for the life of me imagine why MS would do that to their own products!!!!
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
The only point I can understand is the not liaising with the accountant, I always feel that communication between, bookkeeper, client, accountant are essential.
However, an accountant should have the ability to derive data from any system. All bookkeeping packages are based on the same principles after all (some might not appear so easy at times!). For the accountant to be so negative about this is a bit of a shocker and at the end of the day may be an indication of his own lack of knowledge/ ability.
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Phil Hendy, The Accountancy Mentor
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He may have had a point about the changover, but as already stated, as long as the information is correct on the new system, he can easily work from printouts as long as he knows what he is doing. It will not take that much longer. Any auditor that I have worked with worth their salt doesn't care whether they get printouts or a QB backup, they normally just take an accountants copy so they do the year end adjustments for me (which is something you can do for your client from paper accounts anyway). Their prices are the same.
You may have been guilty of a faux pas by not consulting him first, but if you did email him, and your client also left a message with his secretary, he should be looking at why he apparently did not receive (or did not bother to acknowledge) 2 different communications about the matter at the time. Bearing all that in mind, I personally wouldn't take any insults, it seems to be his communication issues are are fault here too.
I really cannot see the problem with switching over the programmes especially if you have exported all the necessary info. Maybe its an excuss to increase the prices up
I agree with the majority here. It sounds as if he doesn't use Sage and now it's going to be more time consuming for him to do the accounts and so he's chucked his toys out of the pram. I'd be hinting to the client that maybe it's time for him to shop around for a new accountant if he's so old fashioned as to be happy to be using a 2003 version of software
Anyway, chocolate is good for you so eat it and enjoy ! - a glass of wine is even better to be fair !!
-- Edited by gillyfleur on Wednesday 20th of July 2011 06:03:51 PM
Yep the accountant might have spent ages getting that system in place, and he might not even have charged for that time in full. The client maybe charged extra for this and it may even work out cheaper for him to change back to Quickbooks or some other program.
The accountant may be envisaging spending x000's on sage so he can manipulate the data, for which he might have no other use. I'm with Phil re. liaising.
OK it may take him a little longer but are all his clients on QB? I find it hard to believe that there are accountants whose clients all use only one system.
As for liaison, how much notice does he need? An e mail and follow up TC would be enough for most people.
If there really was a need for him to get involved, whose fault is it that it was missed? Many accountants spend hours on marketing and business development and this one overlooks something that is presented on a plate.
OK, i was playing the devils advocate a little and displaying his emotions this way is unforgiveable. I'll stick by the point though that it is the accountant who is going to make the finished product for external filing and therefore he should give the 'OK' unless the client is sacking him first. He could have been in hospital for instance and how many times is it said that Sage is basicaly unsuitable for some businesses.
As so often, when things get heated, the question of renewing the old computer should have been add addressed much earlier.
I was actually thinking about this thread over the weekend (sad I know) and thought a bit more about it.
A change of accounting system is a fundamental difference in a clients procedure. If one of my clients did this without consulting me I would be extremely peeved. I stress the word consulted as I think this would need discussion.
Tim has just clarified the point that accountants prepare the final output. It may well be that he is using a system which syncs well with his bookkeping package. Accountants often only deal with one system, one I know has made a very good practice out of it.
__________________
Phil Hendy, The Accountancy Mentor
Are you thinking of setting up your own practice or have you set up and need some help?
If so a mentor may be the way forward - feel free to get in touch and see how I can assist you.
To be fair, Liz already realised, or strongly suspected that she should get the 'ok' and made several positive steps - investigating the problem in depth, proposing a solution, agreeing this with the customer, contacting the accountant, getting the customer to contact him as well so she had authority - and that was all before transfering the data. It would be interesting to know if she was paid for this extra time; it may have taken as long as the bookkeeping itself.
The thing is he has put himself in the wrong in our eyes because of his behaviour. Look at the conclusions we leapt to:
For one, I dont know if he put the system in place as a loss-leader or if he'd been in hospital. We dont know if he is old-fashioned, we don't know if he only uses one system, and we especially don't know about the previous client / accountant relationship, or how many years it has been. We don't have the background to recommend that he seek another accountant.
TBH, if it was me, my assistant would have known to say "dont change anything until he gets back".
. He knew he needed to sort this out. We discussed options (I'd discovered that updating QBs from such an old version was not straight forward, and prone to have issues.) Therefore, as I already had Sage, he decided to move across to that. This happened at his year end a couple of months ago. I felt completely happy, and confident in taking a TB, detailed Creditors/Debtors and Balance Sheet from QBs, and transferring this across to the Sage Balance Sheet. Before I did this, I emailed his accountant to inform him of the situation. My client also left a phone message to this extent with his secretary.
