Today we bring you new sad stories of our clients. Fortunately, they always have a good ending. With their input, we want to make you think about whether you are handling your accounting data in their best interests and yours. They are the kind of situations that most ordinary business people would probably not consider realistic if they didn’t encounter it. Unfortunately, they’re not digital scenes from the new Avatar. They are realities that a few (maybe dozens) of entrepreneurs in the country have already encountered. We know of at least two of them. For a quick glimpse into their stories, see the lines below.
In mid-April this year, a new client contacted us. He had bookkeeping and data at another accounting firm. The accounting service provider in question did have the data backed up, but unfortunately on the same server as the original. The entire server burned down and the supplier lost the client’s data. We had to do a complete reconstruction of the accounting system, call all the suppliers and get all the documents to be able to do the 2022 financial statements and roll forward to 2023.
On the 22nd of the month, a new client called us saying they needed to do their accounting but had no accounting data. His accountant was down and the client’s accounting data is on accountant’s laptop. The client had no copy and needed to file VAT. He was lucky in his misfortune because at least he had all the paper documents with him. So we processed the VAT for the month for him based on these paper documents, filed a tax return and an audit report. It was so-so, but it all got done. The client can rest easy again.
Dealing with situations like this is an expense for the client and a lot of stress for him and us. Thankfully, the situation is usually manageable. All too often in cases like this, however, we see that business owners have been too trusting and have abdicated any control and hedging against the unexpected. As the saying goes, those who are prepared are not surprised.
