Day 21 - Guardian Angel
Jan. 21st, 2011 11:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wolfsbrideOr maybe it's a demon.
Whatever it is, my boss definitely must have SOMETHING looking out for her.
One of our clients is going through an audit. A three year audit. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal because usually, meaning when I do things, I make sure there's back up for everything so it's just a matter of the auditor comes out, looks at the stuff, sees that everything is there, asks a few questions trying catch you in something since they have to justify their time, comments on how tidy everything is and goes away again.
However, I have nothing to do with this particular client. I never have. I don't even do her tax returns. She's one of the few clients we have that I've never worked on. So, when this audit came up, my boss handled it, which was fine. We got the records out; the auditor came and did her thing and went away. But she also asked for a copy of the records on a disk.
That immediately made me think, okay, she's found something she wants to study in more detail. Not good. We sent off the disk at the end of December and we hadn't heard anything back from her.
Today, I got a call from the client. She wanted to talk to my boss. I told her my boss was away and was it something I could help with. She hesitated a bit and I said, is it to do with the audit. When she said yes, I said, I can probably help since I was there the day the auditor was out and so I do know what's going on. So she said okay and then told me the auditor had met with her... FOR THREE HOURS. Also, not good.
She asked me to pull some stuff and fax it to her. Sure I said. I'll get that to you in a couple of hours. She was all boggled. You mean today?!?!? Yes, I said. Oh. You're sure??? Yes, it might take a bit longer if the day gets busier but definitely before 5pm today. *long pause* Oh. Well, thank you. Here's the fax number. And we parted ways.
As I was pulling the stuff, I realized that for 2006 we, and when I say we, I mean my boss, made a couple of small mistakes. She claimed a couple of expenses we didn't have invoices for. Not too bad only about 500 or so dollars. For 2007, she did the opposite, she missed claiming an expense - 700 or so dollars.
However, and here's the BIG ASS SCREW UP, in 2007 she put in an estimated amount of 18,000 for assistants because the woman couldn't remember exactly how much she'd paid this one person but she knew it was about that much. Her 2007 tax was filed with this amount. In 2008, the cheque to this person came through, so the woman did the work in 2007 but didn't get paid for it until 2008. My stupid boss claimed the cheque which was for 18,240.00.
So what this means is that the expense was claimed twice when it should have only been claimed once. We're talking over 18,000 the woman will have to pay tax on if this comes out in the wash. Not only that, about 8,000 of expenses were over claimed because they should have only been claimed as 50% not 100%.
Now this screw up is both my co-worker's and my boss' fault. When my co-worker was entering the invoices, if she had bothered to use her brain, she would have noticed that some of them said, paid only 50% on them. Then, still using her brain, she would have asked my boss, and my boss would have asked the client and the client would have said, yes, I paid half and my partner paid half on all those invoices and they would have been entered correctly. But because my co-worker is brain dead, she just entered them as the full amount of the invoice not even questioning why the woman had only paid 50% on them and because my boss is an idiot, when she reviewed my co-worker's work, she clearly didn't really look at anything.
So when I put everything together, on the cover sheets for each year, I detailed the points and said I'm bringing these things to your attention because it may become an issue with your auditor. On the one with the BIG mistake I said, I'm advising you of this so that if she asks, you are not caught unawares. I don't know how you want to handle it. If she doesn't say anything, you'll have to decide if you want to bring it to her attention or not. I just wanted to let you know. Then I faxed everything through. It actually took me four hours than the two but that was probably because my boss called me like every five minutes for about two hours because she was shopping and couldn't remember what she needed to buy. SIIIIIIIIIIIIGH.
Anyway, half an hour later, I get a phone call from the client. She was all oh my gosh! I didn't realize it would be so much stuff! Thank you so much for doing that! I said, hey, it's my job. And then I asked her if she'd read my cover pages. She said yes, and then she was quiet for a bit. Then she said, you're sure those invoices got entered 100% not 50%? I said yes and then she swore.
Then she said the auditor had asked her to get her partner to write a letter swearing he didn't claim those invoices on his tax return. And now she knew why. I said yeah. If he says he claimed them on his tax return 50% and you claimed them on your tax return 100% then you've over claimed them by 50%. Then she swore again.
And she asked about the thing with the 18,000. Again asking if I was sure. I said I'm really sorry but yes. I pulled your tax returns for those years and checked them. It was claimed in 2007 and 2008.
She was quiet for a moment and THEN SHE SAID... oh well. It's just human error.
I just about fell off my chair. IF THAT HAD BEEN ME, I WOULD HAVE BEEN ALL I PAID YOU THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR TO TO SCREW UP MY TAXES?!?!?!?
Then she thanked me again for my help and told me I had done an awesome job. And we parted ways again.
And then, when my boss came home, she told me she had met with another client, who had been assessed a 1,000 dollar fine because we, meaning my boss, had never sent in her T4 summary. She started out by saying the the client was furious. And I was all good! She should be! But it turns out she's furious at her partner because she thinks that the notices would have been going to her partner's address back then and my boss instead of doing the right thing and admitting she had screwed up, let her think that. So again she managed to escape unscathed.
So like I said, something or someone is watching over her.
Whatever it is, my boss definitely must have SOMETHING looking out for her.
One of our clients is going through an audit. A three year audit. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal because usually, meaning when I do things, I make sure there's back up for everything so it's just a matter of the auditor comes out, looks at the stuff, sees that everything is there, asks a few questions trying catch you in something since they have to justify their time, comments on how tidy everything is and goes away again.
However, I have nothing to do with this particular client. I never have. I don't even do her tax returns. She's one of the few clients we have that I've never worked on. So, when this audit came up, my boss handled it, which was fine. We got the records out; the auditor came and did her thing and went away. But she also asked for a copy of the records on a disk.
That immediately made me think, okay, she's found something she wants to study in more detail. Not good. We sent off the disk at the end of December and we hadn't heard anything back from her.
Today, I got a call from the client. She wanted to talk to my boss. I told her my boss was away and was it something I could help with. She hesitated a bit and I said, is it to do with the audit. When she said yes, I said, I can probably help since I was there the day the auditor was out and so I do know what's going on. So she said okay and then told me the auditor had met with her... FOR THREE HOURS. Also, not good.
She asked me to pull some stuff and fax it to her. Sure I said. I'll get that to you in a couple of hours. She was all boggled. You mean today?!?!? Yes, I said. Oh. You're sure??? Yes, it might take a bit longer if the day gets busier but definitely before 5pm today. *long pause* Oh. Well, thank you. Here's the fax number. And we parted ways.
As I was pulling the stuff, I realized that for 2006 we, and when I say we, I mean my boss, made a couple of small mistakes. She claimed a couple of expenses we didn't have invoices for. Not too bad only about 500 or so dollars. For 2007, she did the opposite, she missed claiming an expense - 700 or so dollars.
However, and here's the BIG ASS SCREW UP, in 2007 she put in an estimated amount of 18,000 for assistants because the woman couldn't remember exactly how much she'd paid this one person but she knew it was about that much. Her 2007 tax was filed with this amount. In 2008, the cheque to this person came through, so the woman did the work in 2007 but didn't get paid for it until 2008. My stupid boss claimed the cheque which was for 18,240.00.
So what this means is that the expense was claimed twice when it should have only been claimed once. We're talking over 18,000 the woman will have to pay tax on if this comes out in the wash. Not only that, about 8,000 of expenses were over claimed because they should have only been claimed as 50% not 100%.
Now this screw up is both my co-worker's and my boss' fault. When my co-worker was entering the invoices, if she had bothered to use her brain, she would have noticed that some of them said, paid only 50% on them. Then, still using her brain, she would have asked my boss, and my boss would have asked the client and the client would have said, yes, I paid half and my partner paid half on all those invoices and they would have been entered correctly. But because my co-worker is brain dead, she just entered them as the full amount of the invoice not even questioning why the woman had only paid 50% on them and because my boss is an idiot, when she reviewed my co-worker's work, she clearly didn't really look at anything.
So when I put everything together, on the cover sheets for each year, I detailed the points and said I'm bringing these things to your attention because it may become an issue with your auditor. On the one with the BIG mistake I said, I'm advising you of this so that if she asks, you are not caught unawares. I don't know how you want to handle it. If she doesn't say anything, you'll have to decide if you want to bring it to her attention or not. I just wanted to let you know. Then I faxed everything through. It actually took me four hours than the two but that was probably because my boss called me like every five minutes for about two hours because she was shopping and couldn't remember what she needed to buy. SIIIIIIIIIIIIGH.
Anyway, half an hour later, I get a phone call from the client. She was all oh my gosh! I didn't realize it would be so much stuff! Thank you so much for doing that! I said, hey, it's my job. And then I asked her if she'd read my cover pages. She said yes, and then she was quiet for a bit. Then she said, you're sure those invoices got entered 100% not 50%? I said yes and then she swore.
Then she said the auditor had asked her to get her partner to write a letter swearing he didn't claim those invoices on his tax return. And now she knew why. I said yeah. If he says he claimed them on his tax return 50% and you claimed them on your tax return 100% then you've over claimed them by 50%. Then she swore again.
And she asked about the thing with the 18,000. Again asking if I was sure. I said I'm really sorry but yes. I pulled your tax returns for those years and checked them. It was claimed in 2007 and 2008.
She was quiet for a moment and THEN SHE SAID... oh well. It's just human error.
I just about fell off my chair. IF THAT HAD BEEN ME, I WOULD HAVE BEEN ALL I PAID YOU THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR TO TO SCREW UP MY TAXES?!?!?!?
Then she thanked me again for my help and told me I had done an awesome job. And we parted ways again.
And then, when my boss came home, she told me she had met with another client, who had been assessed a 1,000 dollar fine because we, meaning my boss, had never sent in her T4 summary. She started out by saying the the client was furious. And I was all good! She should be! But it turns out she's furious at her partner because she thinks that the notices would have been going to her partner's address back then and my boss instead of doing the right thing and admitting she had screwed up, let her think that. So again she managed to escape unscathed.
So like I said, something or someone is watching over her.
