Your Views

Didn't find your answer?

Just interested in your approach to situations such as this :

In a former job, I encountered the following :

Boss asks colleague (A) to give me access to the entirety of the company folders, A then supplies me with restricted access to 2% of the folders. When raised by boss, A does nothing more. A is not sacked despite repeated requests.

Then a new employee arrives and I am put in a meeting with him discussing a few figures, and he asks me why (A/rate Z) does not match (A/rate Y). He speaks a very poor standard of English. He is later involved in interviewing new candidates, unlike myself.

A few months later, a new consolidation exercise arises, given to me by my boss and the template which I am told I must use is not much good.

 

My boss then later tells me that had I created a template for the new consolidation exercise, I would have saved trouble. I ended up doing one a month later, despite the original insistence of my boss on using a dysfunctional one.

 

This consolidation comprises stand-alone accounts which are prepared by myself (for the UK companies, which are all audited by a Big 4 company and correct), and stand-alone accounts of companies in another EU country (I), prepared by staff hired by my boss and only corrected once I analyse them months after they are first compiled, and I have only a few days to correct them - they required 70 adjustments in total. My boss didn't lift a finger to verify the work performed by staff he hired in Country I.

 

The stand alone accounts in country I are audited by the same Big 4 company, and not only wrong, but materially wrong.

 

I ended up having to write the 70 adjustments across the Country I stand alone accounts, promptly. 

 

I send the 70 adjustments to the Big 4 office, and 3 weeks later they respond agreeing to all the adjustments (after protracted telephone calls over days). Bear in mind that the consolidation is being delivered within a 45-day deadline (yes, I have been in depts where the reporting is nigh on instant, but please bear in mind the lack of control I have within this particular dept, and that this is the inaugural exercise for this company's consolidation and the report is in the process of being established.)

 

Then, I issue the report but for 1 quarter later, by this stage I have ironed out the original problems, the same Big 4 office audits the stand-alones of this consolidation with no errors, and the same is done by a service provider in country L (for the consolidation as well as the stand alones), where the parent company within the group is registered.

 

Then the same report, already checked twice, is sent to the same Big 4 company (office in Country L, so not the same Big 4 staff as above), then this Country L Big 4 office rearranges the entire report, then sends it back to me to ask me to explain the new numbers. The staff member there also shuts down communication with me and insists that I speak to a totally new colleague at the Big 4 company to provide answers regarding their rearranged report, despite the validation (from the service provider/ other auditor) of my previously issued reports.

 

Later the same day, I have a conference call with the original Big 4 auditor (who had approved my reports), who has persuaded the country L Big 4 auditor to join our call, and in the call we all agreed that my reports were fine and ready.

 

Now, due to the ignorance of the other staff in my company and my bosses, who also refused to understand how cretinous the actions of the country L auditor were, and under a strict deadline where every minute mattered, mainly due to the volume of errors by my colleagues, country I staff in our company and the 2 Big 4 auditors, I had left the office to get away from the false and inept approach to a reality which they did not comprehend/ acknowledge. The boss would literally be next to me, so no progress could be made by me.

 

There was literally nobody there in the company ready, willing and able to comprehend / master what I was tasked with on consolidation, other than myself.

 

The conference call I mentioned above with the auditors took place away from the office and then the following day I was given notice by the company, partly for "not doing what my (ignorant) boss had asked" (critically, he didn't even understand what he was speaking about, he had previously told me that a perfectly functional reconciliation I had done was not an acceptable reconciliation, which only consisted of 2 elements in any case). E.g.:
 

The Sage account 1111 balance @ 31.03.2018  is £107,410.70

 

Within this, there is the JJ element valued £81,355.70 (attached)

 

subtracting this gives the balance @ 31.03.2018 for "Westminster" Sage account 2222 £26,055 (all made up data.)

 

The boss also thought that it would be ok to report a shareholder loan, net of some cash owned by the company (held with the solicitors.)

Replies (28)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

Psycho
By Wilson Philips
06th Feb 2020 22:30

If there’s a question in there I’ll be b*ggered if I can find it.

Thanks (1)
Replying to Wilson Philips:
avatar
By [email protected]
06th Feb 2020 22:38

Just interested in your approach to situations such as this...

Thanks (0)
Replying to [email protected]:
Psycho
By Wilson Philips
06th Feb 2020 22:45

I don’t have an approach because I’ve never encountered such a situation, and never will. I’m willing to bet that the same goes for every other member of this site.

Thanks (0)
avatar
By Truthsayer
06th Feb 2020 22:41

I gave up after three paragraphs. What are you asking?

Thanks (3)
By Tim Vane
07th Feb 2020 01:16

Good grief. Give me the fellow with the poor English any day.

Thanks (0)
avatar
By Tax Dragon
07th Feb 2020 06:33

If you are asking whether you have a case for wrongful dismissal or some claim against your former employer, you need to see a solicitor. If you are asking anything else, you need to spell your question out a bit more clearly.

Thanks (0)
Replying to Tax Dragon:
avatar
By [email protected]
07th Feb 2020 10:12

Just interested in your approach to situations such as this.

Thanks (0)
Replying to [email protected]:
avatar
By Tax Dragon
07th Feb 2020 10:54

Which role are you casting me in? (Ignorant) manager or (problem) employee? (I do both rather well!)

FWIW, I don't think "A-B = C" is a reconciliation of anything unless A, B and C are quantified elsewhere.

Thanks (0)
Replying to Tax Dragon:
avatar
By [email protected]
07th Feb 2020 11:04

a, b and c are comprehensively quantified/ analysed

Thanks (0)
Replying to [email protected]:
avatar
By Tax Dragon
07th Feb 2020 11:22

I'm really not sure what you want here.

If you have a new job, do your best to forget about your old one. (If you don't... get back out there and get one. Either way, move on, as others have said.) My other half currently works somewhere (multinational) where similar tales as yours seem to exist - there's a problem manager. We've most likely all either had such managers, been such managers or at least seen such managers.

What can you do? Try not to be one yourself, when the time comes. (I have to say that in your case you might want to look for issues closer to home - it's unusual, if the problem is elsewhere, to be the only one feeling aggrieved.)

Thanks (1)
avatar
By paul.benny
07th Feb 2020 07:43

My view: The OP needs to learn to be succinct.

Thanks (1)
Routemaster image
By tom123
07th Feb 2020 08:09

Sounds like an employment relationship that went wrong - best try and move onwards, OP.

Thanks (0)
ALISK
By atleastisoundknowledgable...
07th Feb 2020 08:47

I think your trying to say @ive been sacked, I believe wrongly, should I have done anything differently”.

Answer, probably not, some people (boss) are just dix - it’s a fact of life.

If you were there >2 years you might want to speak to an employment lawyer, but unless you have any written evidence with you, you’ll find it hard to prove wrongful dismissal. If you’ve been there <2 years, I’m afraid you’ll just have to take it on the chin and do your best to forget about it and move on. And think of a succinct factual way to tell the story in future interviews without sounding bitter or you coming across inept - that’ll be the hard part.

Thanks (0)
Replying to atleastisoundknowledgable...:
avatar
By [email protected]
07th Feb 2020 10:06

Thanks for the advice

was there < 2 years

All of the above, I documented, additionally, the MD and 3 asset managers, in recognition of the consolidation and corrective work I did on the FSs of all the qualified accountants who had messed up, called me in to a meeting prior to my departure to ask me to document the entire process, which I also did for them in my spare time.

not particularly interested in legal solutions in any case.

I had contacted the asset managers and the MD to explain that I had all the evidence to demonstrate my competence and the demonstrable ineptitude of the other "accountants", but as I expected they did not reply. I thought contacting them would be just worth the shot.

Thanks (0)
RLI
By lionofludesch
07th Feb 2020 09:33

What's Sage account 1111 ?

Why should I care about it ?

Thanks (0)
Lone Wolf
By Lone_Wolf
07th Feb 2020 09:41

I'm lost. Has anyone managed to decipher what's happened here?

If your accounts were as clear as your post, then I'm going to hazard a guess that all the problems were your own fault.

Thanks (0)
avatar
By bernard michael
07th Feb 2020 09:51

A small piece of advice. If when asked in interview for a new job "Why are you leaving your current position " do not attempt to repeat what you have told us

Thanks (4)
Replying to bernard michael:
ALISK
By atleastisoundknowledgable...
07th Feb 2020 11:25

Say something like “the MD wanted the accounts prepared in a manner that was fundamental different from how the auditors and I prepared them. There was a professional disagreement which put me in a very awkward position and I left”.

TBH, you’ll come across at the best questionable, more likely a problem/incompetent, but there’s very little that you can do about it I’m afraid.

Thanks (0)
Replying to atleastisoundknowledgable...:
avatar
By bernard michael
07th Feb 2020 11:37

atleastisoundknowledgable... wrote:

Say something like “the MD wanted the accounts prepared in a manner that was fundamental different from how the auditors and I prepared them. There was a professional disagreement which put me in a very awkward position and I left”.

TBH, you’ll come across at the best questionable, more likely a problem/incompetent, but there’s very little that you can do about it I’m afraid.

My understanding from his post was that he was sacked

Thanks (0)
Replying to atleastisoundknowledgable...:
avatar
By [email protected]
07th Feb 2020 11:47

Thanks for the advice. At least you're keeping things real for all of us.

Thanks (0)
avatar
By JD
07th Feb 2020 18:43

If you are so good and what we can perhaps assume are your former employers so bad, then why are you wasting your time on this - it is presumably their loss...?

Thanks (0)
avatar
By [email protected]
15th Feb 2020 10:40

The most important takeaway from the response, is that the misrepresentations made by the directors/ company / auditors of precise & complete work is in no way shape or form illegal, which is something I have suspected of the accounting industry for many a year. That is to say that when it comes to being ready to report anything, financial or otherwise, individuals in the industry are, to say the very least, way out of their depth.

Thanks (0)
Replying to [email protected]:
Psycho
By Wilson Philips
15th Feb 2020 10:54

Boo hoo

Thanks (0)
Replying to [email protected]:
Psycho
By Wilson Philips
15th Feb 2020 10:55

[duplicate]

Thanks (0)
Replying to [email protected]:
avatar
By Tax Dragon
15th Feb 2020 11:15

Sorry, what was your question again?

Thanks (1)
Replying to [email protected]:
avatar
By johnhemming
15th Feb 2020 18:34

When I find that someone disagrees with me I like to try to work out why. Not so much as to enable me to persuade them I am right, but moreso for me to work out if my model of reality needs tweaking and I can learn from it.

Thanks (0)
Replying to [email protected]:
By penelope pitstop
22nd Feb 2020 22:07

Used to work for a firm of Chartered Accountants.

One evening at the office, one of the audit partners was caught sobbing in his room by an ex-partner.

When asked why he was sobbing, the partner admitted he could not get his head around the ltd company accounts he had to polish off for the shareholders meeting the following day.

All I can say is that this tough luck story could not have happened to a better person (in the ironic sense)!

Talk about someone who was promoted beyond their capabilities or what. A too often to mention story in the accounting profession I am saddened to say. But sooner or later the wheels will fall off the accounting wagon, so to speak.

So, [email protected], do not get too het up because your evident brilliance has gone completely unnoticed thus far.

You are evidently one of the many overlooked Albert Einsteins of the accounting profession. That being the case, sooner or later, your outstanding contribution to said profession will be recognised, and you will thenceforth merit the promotion, respect and distinction you undoubtedly deserve.

I wish you all the best in your journey up the "greasy pole" to success.

P.S. I have found that expressing yourself in simple, plain English may speed up your progress in life. Go on, give it a try.

Thanks (0)
Replying to penelope pitstop:
RLI
By lionofludesch
23rd Feb 2020 06:38

What? No management speak ??

Thanks (1)