Gross incompetence by accountant?
Discussion
Right, I think my accountant has messed up quite big, what do you think;
In 2007 I set up two companies for two different ideas I had, however, did nothing with them due to other obligations at the time. Let's call them Company A, which was set up in July 07 and Company B, set up in Dec 07.
At the start of 2009 I began trading with Company B. However, as neither had been trading no accounts had been filed to date with CH. Due to this they both found themselves listed as 'Proposal to Strike Off'.
So I went to see my accountant in order to rectify the situation. I explained, in quite clear terms, that I was happy for Company A to be dissolved but wished for Company B to remain Active. This was important as we were now trading with Company B. I was very clear on this, I even have it in emails I sent to him beforehand explaining the situation. So, I left it with him to deal with and I figured being an accountant and all he'd sort it out. This was about 7 weeks ago.
Today we had a customer, or should I say a potential customer, phone us up to inform us they'd checked Company B on CH and that we were listed as 'Dissolved' and they wouldn't be dealing with us. I was somewhat confused to say the least. How could this be, our accountant was supposed to have rectified this 'problem'.
So I checked CH myself and sure enough, Company B was dissolved. Still confused I decided to check on Company A to see if that too was now dissolved. It wasn't. In fact, it was very much now 'Active'. The previous status of 'Proposal to Strike Off' had 'mysteriously' changed to 'Active.
I contacted our accountant and told him what was going on, he said he'd speak to CH and get back to me. He's now emailed me and is trying to say that by the time he'd submitted the paperwork it was too late, a court date had already been set and the company was 'automatically' dissolved. This would be difficult to now reverse without an expensive court application. He says he tried to stop it but it was 'too late to do anything' before finishing off with "sod's law, the other company isn't even on notice of dissolution".
I'm not stupid, I can blatantly see what's happened here. I don't need to be an accountant to work it out. He's clearly kept the inactive company trading whilst closing down the one I actually bloody need. It's obvious because it makes no sense for the younger company to be dissolved and the older one to remain active.
The question now is, what do I do? About him. Surely this sort of incompetence isn't acceptable?
With regards to the problems with the company I've thought waiting until the 'dissolved' date (end of this month) then change Company A's name to that of Company B although don't know what issues will arise from that.
Any advice?
In 2007 I set up two companies for two different ideas I had, however, did nothing with them due to other obligations at the time. Let's call them Company A, which was set up in July 07 and Company B, set up in Dec 07.
At the start of 2009 I began trading with Company B. However, as neither had been trading no accounts had been filed to date with CH. Due to this they both found themselves listed as 'Proposal to Strike Off'.
So I went to see my accountant in order to rectify the situation. I explained, in quite clear terms, that I was happy for Company A to be dissolved but wished for Company B to remain Active. This was important as we were now trading with Company B. I was very clear on this, I even have it in emails I sent to him beforehand explaining the situation. So, I left it with him to deal with and I figured being an accountant and all he'd sort it out. This was about 7 weeks ago.
Today we had a customer, or should I say a potential customer, phone us up to inform us they'd checked Company B on CH and that we were listed as 'Dissolved' and they wouldn't be dealing with us. I was somewhat confused to say the least. How could this be, our accountant was supposed to have rectified this 'problem'.
So I checked CH myself and sure enough, Company B was dissolved. Still confused I decided to check on Company A to see if that too was now dissolved. It wasn't. In fact, it was very much now 'Active'. The previous status of 'Proposal to Strike Off' had 'mysteriously' changed to 'Active.
I contacted our accountant and told him what was going on, he said he'd speak to CH and get back to me. He's now emailed me and is trying to say that by the time he'd submitted the paperwork it was too late, a court date had already been set and the company was 'automatically' dissolved. This would be difficult to now reverse without an expensive court application. He says he tried to stop it but it was 'too late to do anything' before finishing off with "sod's law, the other company isn't even on notice of dissolution".
I'm not stupid, I can blatantly see what's happened here. I don't need to be an accountant to work it out. He's clearly kept the inactive company trading whilst closing down the one I actually bloody need. It's obvious because it makes no sense for the younger company to be dissolved and the older one to remain active.
The question now is, what do I do? About him. Surely this sort of incompetence isn't acceptable?
With regards to the problems with the company I've thought waiting until the 'dissolved' date (end of this month) then change Company A's name to that of Company B although don't know what issues will arise from that.
Any advice?
Edited by sky_man on Thursday 23 April 16:12
gtdc said:
But, but, but... you, as a director would have had at least 2 letters telling you it was going to happen... so you must have known...
Received one letter for each company around January, that's how I knew about the 'Proposal to Strike Off'. Just checking through emails and it's actually been going on longer than the 7 weeks I suggested earlier.
The issue is, I don't believe Company B was 'automatically' dissolved, if that is true then the same should apply to Company A which was incorporated earlier. That company is now Active so clearly this can only be down to him keeping the wrong company trading?
Edited by sky_man on Thursday 23 April 16:24
Who is your company secretary? If its your accountant or they are engaged to provide company secretarial services to you then you have a case, if its you you've no-one to blame but yourself I'm afraid. Filing domant accounts & annual returns etc is very easy online so it should just have been a 10 minute job.
Ali_D said:
Who is your company secretary? If its your accountant or they are engaged to provide company secretarial services to you then you have a case, if its you you've no-one to blame but yourself I'm afraid. Filing domant accounts & annual returns etc is very easy online so it should just have been a 10 minute job.
The accountant.It's not a huge issue I suppose, I was just somewhat annoyed. I could just do what I suggested earlier, I presume it won't be a huge problem?
sky_man said:
Ali_D said:
Who is your company secretary? If its your accountant or they are engaged to provide company secretarial services to you then you have a case, if its you you've no-one to blame but yourself I'm afraid. Filing domant accounts & annual returns etc is very easy online so it should just have been a 10 minute job.
The accountant.It's not a huge issue I suppose, I was just somewhat annoyed. I could just do what I suggested earlier, I presume it won't be a huge problem?
Hope you've not lost your potential customer for ever!
Ali_D said:
sky_man said:
Ali_D said:
Who is your company secretary? If its your accountant or they are engaged to provide company secretarial services to you then you have a case, if its you you've no-one to blame but yourself I'm afraid. Filing domant accounts & annual returns etc is very easy online so it should just have been a 10 minute job.
The accountant.It's not a huge issue I suppose, I was just somewhat annoyed. I could just do what I suggested earlier, I presume it won't be a huge problem?
Hope you've not lost your potential customer for ever!
an you not just form company C with a very similar name?
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