Hands up all accountants -vent

no-oneknowsme

It baffles me why people would leave something as important as their tax return until the last minute...i mena , its something that you have many months to prepare for so why leave it ?

Im not self employed so dont have to do a return but my OH is and i found myself being responsible for filing his first return this year.

There was a bit of a mix up somewhere in HMRC and they sent his notice to file to the wrong address and somehow it ended up at our home address 4 months after HMRC had actually posted it.

We received it in mid October or so and within one day of receiving the notice to file i had his return filed online.

Theres no way my nerves would have allowed me to leave it any later !

The relief of knowing its done and dusted for another year is immense.

Pennywise , i think your reply of "No" was well justified.

no-oneknowsme

liam8282 wrote: »

Just a thought about this thread, quite a few accountants complaining they don't have enough time to do tax returns etc.

Yet, they do have time to go on the internet and post comments on here!

I too am an accountant, but luckily enough everything I needed to do is now done!

For all you know , these accountants could have been working their !!! off for the past few weeks getting everyones returns done for them.

Maybe they decided that as off today they wernt going to feel pressurised to complete returns for stragglers who have known for months that they need an accountant !

liam8282

no-oneknowsme wrote: »

For all you know , these accountants could have been working their !!! off for the past few weeks getting everyones returns done for them.

Maybe they decided that as off today they wernt going to feel pressurised to complete returns for stragglers who have known for months that they need an accountant !

For all you know, they may have been doing nothing for the past few weeks. No need to be so touchy about it!

I understand how some accountants may be at breaking point today, but to be fair it is the same for most accountants, there are always the same people who will wait until the last minute to do anything.

In these hard times a snotty or blunt response from their accountant may result in one less customer.

Fair enough if it is your own practice and you don't want that customer.

But if it is just a 20-30 mins job, that you could have done whilst reading and replying to this thread, then I just think you might be cutting of your nose to spite your face.

You won't teach the client a lesson, you will just force them to move to another accountancy firm.

At the end of the day, the accountants are providing a service and getting paid for it by the client.

gravitytolls

And you still have time to come on here for a moan?:rotfl:

Best get to it then, time's against you, you know ~ where's that whip?:D

no-oneknowsme

liam8282 wrote: »

For all you know, they may have been doing nothing for the past few weeks. No need to be so touchy
about it !

I understand how some accountants may be at breaking point today, but to be fair it is the same for most accountants, there are always the same people who will wait until the last minute to do anything.

In these hard times a snotty or blunt response from their accountant may result in one less customer.

Fair enough if it is your own practice and you don't want that customer.

But if it is just a 20-30 mins job, that you could have done whilst reading and replying to this thread, then I just think you might be cutting of your nose to spite your face.

You won't teach the client a lesson, you will just force them to move to another accountancy firm.

At the end of the day, the accountants are providing a service and getting paid for it by the client.

I dont see anything "touchy" about my post at all.....maybe you are just a little sensitive?

liam8282

no-oneknowsme wrote: »

For all you know , these accountants could have been working their !!! off for the past few weeks getting everyones returns done for them.

Personally I find that the above statement, shows that what I said seems to have hit a nerve with you, especially as you know exactly nothing more than I do.

I am not sensitive about this subject, just merely pointing out the obvious.

The obvious being, if you have enough time to read and reply on an internet site, you have time to be doing your work!

no-oneknowsme

You are making assumptions !

Seems to me that you should be off doing your work instead of being argumentaive on an internet forum !

You are now on ignore so any further ranting shall be to yourself :rotfl:

ceeforcat

Know the feeling - agreed to do an SA for the wife of a lifelong friend yesterday - 'had a few properties which she let out'. Didn't tell me they were in Republic of Ireland until half an hour ago!

liam8282

no-oneknowsme wrote: »

You are making assumptions !

I have not assumed anything.

I have given a differing view to yours that's all.

no-oneknowsme wrote: »

Seems to me that you should be off doing your work instead of being argumentaive on an internet forum !

Now you are making assumptions yourself, I have already said everything I needed to do, is done.

Plus, you don't know where I work, who I work for, if I am working today etc......

no-oneknowsme wrote: »

You are now on ignore so any further ranting shall be to yourself :rotfl:

Yes, and every other person on this thread.

:hello:

Touchy, touchy.

Pennywise

liam8282 wrote: »

Yet, they do have time to go on the internet and post comments on here!

It's called a work:life balance. Just because someone is in business doesn't mean that they have to work all hours nor take on all clients.

My client base consists only of people I like/respect and who are willing to pay a decent fee and work in co-operation with me - in return they get an exemplary service far beyond what they could expect of a typical High Street practice.

I'm not interested in those who want the cheapest accountant and who think they can treat any service provider like dirt, i.e. bringing in things at the last minute and expecting me to jump or bringing in a carrier bag of screwed up receipts smelling of cat-wee and expecting me to sort them out.

I had years of being a wage slave and being forced to put up with carp clients who didn't give a toss because my employer told me to do it. I also had a hard few years when I started up on my own as I felt the need to take on all-comers just to pay the mortgage, but never again.

It is true that 20% of clients cause 80% of the stress. I got rid of that 20% and now screen potential new clients to avoid any repetition. As a result, I have virtually zero stress and intend to keep it that way. I now work in a stress free environment and my clients get a far better service for it as I have time and energy to devote myself to them in a properly organised and planned manner - not in fire-fighting mode!

Today, for example, like the rest of this week, is already planned with client meetings scattered evenly, and a task list. To take on any unplanned work causes stress, re-organising, potentially inconveniencing other clients, etc., and in my opinion, is just not worth it for the sake of someone who can't be bothered to take responsibility for themselves.

As for just 30 minutes to do a return, you must be joking - it takes longer than that just to have a phone call and set up the file, and that's before the work starts - more like 2-4 hours for anything other than a simple employee/pensioner!