My accountant just died, and my business needs to report monthly. What do i do?

Hi guys, I would love to have the luxury of shopping around for a great accountant, but unfortunately our reports are due monthly. My accountant died 1 week ago...

Currently his wife is managing whats going on right now, but she doesn't have the formal qualifications. What do you suggest is best practice in this situation?

 

talk to @Paul@PFI

 

Consult the reference aisle of civic video. Look for "weekend at bernies"

 

Gee, that is bad news - especially for the accountant and his wife. Is the accountant a corporation? If so they may have other staff. Someone may be appointed to take over - but that could take ages.

Your best bet is to find another accountant asap.

BTW, if this happened to a lawyer the law society would appoint an administrator to run the practice for a while.

 

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is the reference aisle of civic video? Thanks

He was running a tax practice in a residential suburb, complete with the "tax accountant" sign and a number in the front yard. I don't think he belonged to a corp or a society .

Does you know a good accountant who has experience with retail stores (particularly bulky home goods)?

 

Dont panic. The staff may include others who are familiar with your affairs and the software and all records havent been lost or destroyed. They would continue to do their jobs and are also anxious for the loss of the boss and a colleague. They may also fear loss of their job. I would give it time - The ATO will give extensions to lodge. These are special circumstances. The first thing I recommend is you stay on top of payments even if its an estimate....The rest can be sorted in time.

At a future date you may face a change of owner or even decide to change accountants. No rush for now. However you may want to start that process soon as I see from your last post its a sole practitioner issue. Any new accountant may want access to prior records which may be difficult at this time for the wife.

Do you have cloud software ? If so it could be quite simple to transition.

 

Civic Video is an old video store. Weekend at Bernies was a comedy film during which the characters carried on regardless, pretending that someone who had passed away had not. Head in the sand behaviour that of course got out of control and ended badly.

 

From memory of the movie it didn't end too badly because they had a great party without anyone realising Bernie was dead - and I think there was even a sequel movie.

 

Sounds to me like it's a one man band:
'He was running a tax practice in a residential suburb, complete with the "tax accountant" sign and a number in the front yard.'
Plenty of them still around. His wife would be out of her depth and coping with the death of her husband.
First step would be to see what state your records are in at the accountant's office and how portable they are. I suspect if you mention 'cloud' to the accountant's wife she'll look out the window to see if rain is imminent.

 

I had a vaguely similar even a few years ago when a key staff member left and I had no one to do the books that were due. A simple call to the ATO and I had an extension with enough time to sort things out.

Talk to whomever is left at the accountancy practice. Get an understanding of what they can and can't achieve and by when. Change accountants if necessary. Talk to the ATO about what's going on and get an agreement on when things can reasonably be delivered by.

Above all, keep being proactive about it.

 

Civic video was a chain of video stores.
There was a video in the 1980s called weekend at nbernies.
It a funny movie dealing with a dead boss who a bunch of lads car

If it was me the phone would ring out. The party noise would mean my wife wouldnt hear the call.

 

Thanks for all the help guys.

Paul if you're familiar with retail businesses, would love to give you a call tomorrow?

 

i have had three die so far ,one did a runner and she was very smart ..Best thing is go along to the funeral and the wake and your new Accountant will find you..after all once you drop all the folders on the table and they flip the screens around and they look at you..

 

@Chabs you need to call the ATO and get an extension on lodging. I have done this in the past and it only takes a few minutes. Then you will have a chance to sort out finding a new accountant and having the activity statement prepared.