Any accountants who could offer a little advice on here?

[lifetime fan]

As above. 

[Clem H Fandango]

That Nigerian Prince will not give you 100m

[Elite]

When buying stocks, make sure they are the reduced salt ones.

[Clem H Fandango]

Hmm, is gold membership tax deductible?

[littletedwest]

Buy high, sell low 

 

 

 

[Babb'sBurstNad]

The crop report is in; buy frozen orange juice.

[littletedwest]

Genuine answer I have a basic grasp of book keeping and accounting principles. 

 

What's the question about? I may have no idea but worth putting it up

[lifetime fan]

1 minute ago, littletedwest said:

Genuine answer I have a basic grasp of book keeping and accounting principles. 

 

What's the question about? I may have no idea but worth putting it up

The missus was working for a small family run company, it was their first venture into food and beverage. 
 

Their accountant signed off their books as ok for the last 24 months. Then a couple of weeks ago told the owners they’d been paying VAT at 5% not 20%? 
 

The owners have had to declare themselves both bankrupt and the company has gone into liquidation. 
 

Surely there must be some way they can get some kind of redress from the accountant? 

[Bjornebye]

PST used to be CEO of Deloitte. Drop him a PM. 

[Nelly-Szoboszlai]

10 minutes ago, lifetime fan said:

The missus was working for a small family run company, it was their first venture into food and beverage. 
 

Their accountant signed off their books as ok for the last 24 months. Then a couple of weeks ago told the owners they’d been paying VAT at 5% not 20%? 
 

The owners have had to declare themselves both bankrupt and the company has gone into liquidation. 
 

Surely there must be some way they can get some kind of redress from the accountant? 

More of a legal question, I’d say.

 

They could sue for professional negligence if they can show that the accountant was negligent, in that they failed to show a level of skill and care that would be expected of a professional, qualified accountant and that they suffered loss and damage as a result of this negligence. 
 

If he’s an employee of a company, a complaint to a senior partner might be prudent too. 

[littletedwest]

31 minutes ago, lifetime fan said:

The missus was working for a small family run company, it was their first venture into food and beverage. 
 

Their accountant signed off their books as ok for the last 24 months. Then a couple of weeks ago told the owners they’d been paying VAT at 5% not 20%? 
 

The owners have had to declare themselves both bankrupt and the company has gone into liquidation. 
 

Surely there must be some way they can get some kind of redress from the accountant? 

I'd agree with Nelly-Szoboszlai on that.

 

I'm slightly confused were the figure of 5% came from but apparently there was a reduction at one point which then went back up for hospitality. You would expect an accountant to keep up with changes in legislation.

 

Unfortunately you are still liable for your tax despite an accountant doing your return.

 

This looks a decent link

 

https://www.jcssutton.co.uk/news/blog/accountant-error-liability/

 

 

[lifetime fan]

1 hour ago, Bjornebye said:

PST used to be CEO of Deloitte. Drop him a PM. 

I’ll ask him if he can buy out Starbucks for her. 

[Chip Butty]

=24

 

 

Next? 

 

 

 

[DalyanPete]

10 hours ago, littletedwest said:

Buy high, sell low 

 

 

 

NO! Buy low, sell high.

Classic Extras.

[tokyojoe]

Debit's the one nearest the window.

[VladimirIlyich]

My lad is an accountant and has to pay a yearly fee to his professional body,the ACCA,or similar? He used to be sent a monthly magazine and they had a 'wall of shame' in it. The list of discredited,imprisoned or struck off accountants got longer by the month until it was scrapped. I think they were running out of room.

[Bobby Hundreds]

I lost a fortune on the markets... literally dozens of pounds. Damn you heritage and your jarg gear and sickly smelling doughnuts!

[VladimirIlyich]

38 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

My lad is an accountant and has to pay a yearly fee to his professional body,the ACCA,or similar? He used to be sent a monthly magazine and they had a 'wall of shame' in it. The list of discredited,imprisoned or struck off accountants got longer by the month until it was scrapped. I think they were running out of room.

Edit. It was AAT.

[Stouffer]

The accountant should have had personal indemnity insurance, you can lodge a claim against that.

[redinblack]

I think the sue the accountant option is the only way to go, the accountant should cough out of their indemnity insurance if found to be negligent or to have not performed a service as contracted to do so ( would be good to check the original engagement letter from the accountant also if to hand).

 

Sorry Stouffer was ahead of me.

[Captain Willard]

2 hours ago, tokyojoe said:

Debit's the one nearest the window.

Great accountancy joke 

[Captain Willard]

I’d start a negligence claim via the small claims court. It’s surprisingly cheap and easy to do this yourself on line and very satisfying when you win. I took my daughter’s landlord to court for withholding her deposit and won £1000s. Brilliant day. 

[Alfie Noakes]

On 22/02/2024 at 21:20, lifetime fan said:

The missus was working for a small family run company, it was their first venture into food and beverage. 
 

Their accountant signed off their books as ok for the last 24 months. Then a couple of weeks ago told the owners they’d been paying VAT at 5% not 20%? 
 

The owners have had to declare themselves both bankrupt and the company has gone into liquidation. 
 

Surely there must be some way they can get some kind of redress from the accountant? 

I’m not an accountant but have run my own business for 13 years. As the company is in liquidation any claim realised in the companies name would be paid to the liquidator (not the previous owners) as an asset of the company and would form part of the liquidation dividend to be paid out to the creditors. 
 

As the contract is likely to be between the company and the accountant the owners are not party to that contract, so there is no path

 

There is one (expensive) way they could pursue it in common law as a claim for negligence as individuals (neighbours), but I don’t see that they’ve suffered any loss, in fact they’ve potentially benefitted from the 15% difference between the 5% they’ve been charging & 20% they’ve been receiving.