Accountant from hell (Part 1)
Alright the story goes like this. This accountant D is actually a friend of my good friend AC. I asked AC to recommend an accountant to me earlier this year, and he recommended D who owns a small accounting firm, to me. I passed all my receipts, invoices, bank statements over to D and discussed with him about my accounts around February. Then I entrusted him to do his stuffs.
At around September, I contacted D to ask about the status of my accounts. D told me it was completed long time ago. Feeling relieved, I arranged a date for D to meetup with me in my office to deliver the accounts. However, at the day when we were supposed to meet up, D sms me that he had a last minute meeting with another client and requested to postpone the meeting with me. I didn’t suspect anything and agree to D’s suggestion.
Then at the postponed date, D again called me to postpone the meeting because he had some other meeting at IRAS (or ACRA, I couldn’t remember the details). So our meeting was postponed again. Apparently, the subsequent meetings were all postponed by D at the last minute, each time with a different excuse.
Then finally, on one Monday which I were supposed to meet D, I did not receive any sms or calls to postpone the meeting. I thought this time D would deliver my accounts. But it turned out that D never appear at my office at all. I sms and called him several times but wasn’t able to contact him. I had no choice and thought maybe I will just email him. To my surprise he returned my email, saying that his handphone and laptop were confiscated by MINDEF because he accidentally brought them into camp. D told me that he would be able to get back his stuffs on Friday and would call me by then.
So I believed in him and waited again. Then on Friday, he didn’t call me as promised. Ok to cut short the story, eventually after a few other postpones (with all kinds of excuses) I finally get to meet D in my office. But to my dismay, the accounts he presented to me had a few glaring errors. The income was totally wrong, having a few extra transactions that did not have any names or invoice numbers. The director fees and some other items were also computed wrongly. At that point of time, I was really furious. The balance sheet looked like some last minute work because it was full of errors that even a layman like me was able to spot. The director’s report was virtually non-existent as the only thing he showed me was 2-3 pages of the report and some sample templates of other company. I kept my cool and asked him to do the appropriate ammendments. I asked him when he could deliver the amended accounts and he told me next Wednesday.
So I waited again and as expected, he did not send me the accounts as promised. Two weeks passed by and I still did not receive his accounts. Again I sms him to check and he replied that he had emailed me the accounts and will email me again the week after. But I was very sure that he did not email me, as I had never failed to receive any emails that went directly to my company email account. To confirm that, I even check my spam folder.
So now, three weeks after the date which he supposed to deliver the amended accounts, he was uncontactable by phone calls, sms and email.
I remembered D once told me that he was a CPA (Certified Public Accountant). I would expect a minimum level of professionalism from him. But now it seemed that he doesn’t even have the basic responsibility. No matter how well educated you are, or how many professional certifications you have, you cannot claim to be a professional if you don’t have the basic responsibility. To me, people like D will never be a professional, because he has a serious character flaw.
P/S: My aircon repairman charged me only $10 because he was late. He seemed to be more professional than D. Or at least, he dares to take responsibility.
At around September, I contacted D to ask about the status of my accounts. D told me it was completed long time ago. Feeling relieved, I arranged a date for D to meetup with me in my office to deliver the accounts. However, at the day when we were supposed to meet up, D sms me that he had a last minute meeting with another client and requested to postpone the meeting with me. I didn’t suspect anything and agree to D’s suggestion.
Then at the postponed date, D again called me to postpone the meeting because he had some other meeting at IRAS (or ACRA, I couldn’t remember the details). So our meeting was postponed again. Apparently, the subsequent meetings were all postponed by D at the last minute, each time with a different excuse.
Then finally, on one Monday which I were supposed to meet D, I did not receive any sms or calls to postpone the meeting. I thought this time D would deliver my accounts. But it turned out that D never appear at my office at all. I sms and called him several times but wasn’t able to contact him. I had no choice and thought maybe I will just email him. To my surprise he returned my email, saying that his handphone and laptop were confiscated by MINDEF because he accidentally brought them into camp. D told me that he would be able to get back his stuffs on Friday and would call me by then.
So I believed in him and waited again. Then on Friday, he didn’t call me as promised. Ok to cut short the story, eventually after a few other postpones (with all kinds of excuses) I finally get to meet D in my office. But to my dismay, the accounts he presented to me had a few glaring errors. The income was totally wrong, having a few extra transactions that did not have any names or invoice numbers. The director fees and some other items were also computed wrongly. At that point of time, I was really furious. The balance sheet looked like some last minute work because it was full of errors that even a layman like me was able to spot. The director’s report was virtually non-existent as the only thing he showed me was 2-3 pages of the report and some sample templates of other company. I kept my cool and asked him to do the appropriate ammendments. I asked him when he could deliver the amended accounts and he told me next Wednesday.
So I waited again and as expected, he did not send me the accounts as promised. Two weeks passed by and I still did not receive his accounts. Again I sms him to check and he replied that he had emailed me the accounts and will email me again the week after. But I was very sure that he did not email me, as I had never failed to receive any emails that went directly to my company email account. To confirm that, I even check my spam folder.
So now, three weeks after the date which he supposed to deliver the amended accounts, he was uncontactable by phone calls, sms and email.
I remembered D once told me that he was a CPA (Certified Public Accountant). I would expect a minimum level of professionalism from him. But now it seemed that he doesn’t even have the basic responsibility. No matter how well educated you are, or how many professional certifications you have, you cannot claim to be a professional if you don’t have the basic responsibility. To me, people like D will never be a professional, because he has a serious character flaw.
P/S: My aircon repairman charged me only $10 because he was late. He seemed to be more professional than D. Or at least, he dares to take responsibility.
Labels: My Adventure in Uncharted Waters
posted by The Uncharted Waters @ 11:17 AM
Comments: 1
