So, you think your accountant is bad? How to deal with the situation, pragmatically.

Are you having a bad experience with your accountant, and you’re looking for ways to better the relationship, or potentially move on?

Let’s work through some possible solutions.

And, no, I’m not just going to suggest you request a meeting with me!

Identify the issue

You will of course know how you feel about the situation, emotionally. Probably pretty bad, let down, angry…and more.

I’ve had situations with clients that have left me feeling like a completely deflated balloon, even considering my choice of occupation! I’ve been there.

So trust me, your accountant is probably also feeling terrible.

The first step in these situations is to identify the issue. Try taking the emotion out of the situation and looking at it from a purely business, apathetic-like viewpoint. I know it’s hard!

What’s happened?

1. Is there an issue with fees or have you received an unexpected invoice?

2. Was there a miscommunication? Or more commonly, NON-communication…?

3. Were your expectations not met, or was there confusion around your and the accountants responsibilities in the relationship?

It’s tricky, as all professional, client-based relationships, are, of course, human RELATIONSHIPS.

As we are all emotional beings, these situations can get the better of us.

Who’s at fault?

Frankly, I’ve learnt that who’s at fault doesn’t actually matter. You will always think it’s the other person, and vis versa.

You’ve got to try and avoid laying blame. It will make your life harder.

If you are looking at the issue pragmatically, and would like to move on, you have probably already realized this.

In the 1% of cases where blame is easily placed and both parties AGREE who is at fault, you’ve hit the bad situation jackpot, congratulations! 😜

What are the solutions?

The best is to communicate.

Lay the issue(s) you’ve identified down on paper. Draft an email to the accountant and sleep on it.

Again, keep it professional.

Accountants are professionals after all and are held to a high standard of professionalism by society, so I would be surprised if in response to you they weren’t professional.

If the email communication goes OK, the next step would be an in person meeting to discuss moving forward with the relationship. Of course it’s dependent on the issue, if it was on the smaller side, the email comms and (or) a phone call will probably resolve things.

Enough is enough and you want to end the relationship and move on?

Fair call.

Relationship based issues can be very difficult to resolve if they’ve reached a certain point, or the relationship was pushes too far.

Fortunately, leaving an accounting firm is quite easy.

You don’t need to engage with the old firm at all if you don’t want to (this is actually the industry norm).

You just need to find a new accountant. Once terms are agreed with them, they will send a letter to your previous accountant requesting the handover of your files and records.

And booyah, issue resolved and you can move on with your life!