Dear Nick: 'I need to disengage a client with serious mental health issues'
Nick Elston advises an accountant whose client has serious mental health issues. Should they disengage gently or try to help?
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When you have a bad client whom does not pay or causes trouble regularly, simply disengage and advise the ex-client to seek an alternative agent. I have learned via experience that it is a much better idea to release bad clients. It is not within our remit as accountants and agents to help clients legally or financially, and especially not with mental health issues.
We should not feel bad about this, merely relieved.
I will not categorise him as a bad client. Although disengaging is a good idea. The man needs help but it is not the accountant's job to help people with mental illness. I feel sorry for him and his wife. I knew a client like that when I was a trainee accountant 28 years ago. The partner in our firm was very good to him until the end, when he eventually killed himself. My boss acted like a Samaritan talking to him all night. This person needs help.
I had one guy say he didn't want to pay his taxes as he didn't want the money used for war.
I told him he had to pay otherwise he was not being a good citizen and then HMRC wouldn't listen to his complaints on war.
I also said if I submitted the return in such a way that the money went to the NHS, would he accept that instead.
He was happy with that and it all went through.
I put a note in the white space on the tax return asking that any taxes be used in the dept of health rather than defence.
I did wonder if that was breaching an ICAEW ethical standard?
was it a lie? I asked for the taxes to be allocated to the correct dept? Which is what I told him I would do.....
This client seems to be worrying about some thing to do with money. He needs the help of a trained psychologist in financial stress. If he was my client, I would certainly be on the phone to Mind for advice.
As someone who has struggled with mental health personally over the last 18 months, can I offer some advice. I do certainly sympathise with your clients struggles, however, they are not your responsibility to carry or to solve, much as you would like to help. He needs to seek the help he needs. There are a lot of organisations out there with which to do this, whenever he is ready to do so.
Also, thinking of the stress this is more than likely causing you as well, it is perfectly acceptable to put your own mental health first and say 'I need to disengage from this client'. By all means do this gently, but please try not to feel guilty doing so. As much as we do form a certain attachment to some clients, it's best where we can to keep things on a business level, rather than a personal one.
Best of luck.
A firm I know once had a client who sent ranty emails in the middle of the night. He claimed it was due to being bipolar.
Either way, the firm let him go after one of these emails explained, in an awful lot of detail, all the things he'd like to do to one of the female partners.
A very tricky subject, its probably best to inform HMRC as soon as is possible, and possibly in writing and by phone call, though there is the danger HMRC panic and issue him with a ludicrous demand out of the blue.
A very tricky subject, its probably best to inform HMRC as soon as is possible, and possibly in writing and by phone call, though there is the danger HMRC panic and issue him with a ludicrous demand out of the blue.
I don't believe any of this , …...but just send him a disengagement letter , and maybe contact a relative to ask if he is ok , and tell them that maybe they should check him out
the advice to notify HMRC when he is obviously either unbalanced or having fun (who knows) ….is ridiculous , the poster of that comment should really start a new career as a car park attendant