Business Financial and Tax Solutions, Inc.

This company handles our accounting. We had been unhappy with their handling of our accounts for several years and finally found someone better suited. After telling them that we were letting them go, the came up with more bills. Then we found out they hadn't signed our tax returns as a preparer.Now we have found that the depreciation schedule is missing from our taxes and they refuse to give it to us.Desired SettlementWe would like the depreciation schedule and a copy of any other records that this company has that belong to us.Business Response Worked for this company as an outsourced bookkeeper (5 year accounting degree) from June 2007 - June 2014 7 years. During this time, I worked mainly with the owner's wife. We worked together every month only problems were when they decided to move to a different accounting system as the new bookkeeper did not know the old system and the issues were minimal at that time. When the wife had a stroke and left the company they hired people who had little or no experience with bookkeeping and or accounting. Then in an effort to save money as they could hardly pay their bills they wanted us to do the tax return knowing full well we were not certified public accountants. We had to spend time every month fixing quick-books issue always waiting on payment for months. Then when they hired the last person, his girlfriend, she had no experience which created double work and double journals and double reconciling. This women hired us to fix her work and then disputed it. They had no idea what accounting was but always had "a feeling something was wrong"..... That was the issue. I billed them: they were always late months 4 - 6 months when the economy took its downturn. My employee made an arrangement to be paid in an effort to just get paid for the work completed and paid for. Then I received a call demanding tax returns immediately I was in the office and could send it immediately to their home address. I am currently in tax season, I Did respond with tax returns. Then I got a call demanding depreciation schedule not in a nice manner but a rather harsh rude manner. This company did not pay us for the services we did do then they demand we jump from clients we are scheduled on to do more work. I am scheduled a month in advance and needed time to research and see if they had paid their agreed payments for partial payment on work the company paid to do for them. I then asked for copies of the checks they paid and contacted [redacted] my employee to see if this was the agreement. Then I get a notice from Revdex.com. I have since sent out the depreciation schedule. Even-though they did not pay for their services in it entirety. We needed time to find the information that was now in storage...should they not allow for time to find out if they paid for that service? Can I make a complaint against them?Consumer Response (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)Dear Revdex.com: We would like to address the response from [redacted]. We were happy with our [redacted] system, it was [redacted] that wanted us to change because she was not familiar with the [redacted]. After my wife had her stroke, we did hire a few part time bookkeepers. With my son and the bookkeeper trying to handle the [redacted], we did have some problems. However, when we asked [redacted] about them, we were told "It will all work out". she never took the time to let them know what they were doing wrong so that it would not happen again. When we brought [redacted] on last year, she had worked with [redacted] and had begun to notice that things were not being done correctly in several areas. Yes, she also made mistakes, but we paid to have those mistakes fixed and we learned from them. We had also called in another accountant three years ago who looked at our books and said that there were a lot of things that were set up incorrectly. We have already paid her serveral hundred dollars just to get the chart of accounts in order and the payroll liablilities. Before [redacted] came on, my son and my wife both noticed that we were being charged for services that had been done in house or that were excessive. When we tried to ask about it we were told that that is just how their system is set up. I have gone back over all of our dealings with The Bookkeeper and have found that the longest they had to wait for a check was 30 days. We often didn't receive invoices until well over the time that they were due. The last batch were delivered on June 30 and most were dated for May, so they were already behind. We had not asked for this company to do our taxes, she volunteered to do them because the last CPA she recommended didn't do a good job. She prepared the taxes and did not sign them as the preparer. We had been asking for a copy of the depreciation schedule since last year, we just never got one. We had researched our billings from the Bookkeeper and found serveral duplicate billings and charges for items done in house. We disputed these charges with [redacted] and came to an agreement which we have paid. We have documentation to this effect. Unfortunately, [redacted] feels that her being let go is a direct result of [redacted] being hired and has made this well known. It has nothing to do with her, it has to do with poor business practices. We are extremely happy with our new accountant, she has straighted out our liabilities, chart of accounts and several other problems that should have been caught by [redacted] and her staff. Some of them could have caused us major problems with payroll taxes. We have kept all of our correspondence with this company and feel that we have never been rude or harsh in requesting what is ours. Thank you, [redacted]Final Business Response Dear Revdex.com, Please be advised that there are multiple mistruths and assumptions in the above response. I feel because of a lack of understanding or maybe to justify the fact that this company did not pay their bill. I also feel the complaint was made to threaten us to give out our work product without payment. I know most companies do not release work without payment. Trying to address all issues beside the original issue of Depreciation Schedule:Change of accounting system: This complaining company changed their accounting system because [redacted] the wife was doing less due to health issues and current system was not user friendly for [redacted], the owner and his son. I was asked, my opinion and I do think ** is a more user friendly system and I thought it would be easier for their part time person as well as the owner/and his son and the new part time person ([redacted]) had some ** experience. They expressed the need to be able to work in the file, Specifically, [redacted], wanted to be able to work in an easy file as they all had no accounting background. ** is much more user friendly than [redacted]. I had no reason to change. I had been using [redacted] for 15 years and at my job before I started my own business, where I had met the rep for [redacted] (this companies old accounting system, I am very familiar with both systems. (That is how this company became a customer of mine. The representative from [redacted] referred me ([redacted]). Not many people know [redacted]. The file was set up using the exact accounts that were in the old system and using the same balances moving forward GAAP adherence.Accounting Issues and interpretations: Most of the issues that were communicated to me about their bookkeeping/accounting were naming of a list in chart of accounts (this does not affect numbers) and yes I did state overall that is just a list and that would not hurt your accounting system or the numbers. Also, rates and notes are reconciled annually which is standard for outsourced bookkeepers/CPA for journals. Our work was not daily bookkeeping but rather monthly maintenance and reconciling. Much of our work was correcting work from their in house administrative part-time staff that made some typical mistakes in payroll and liabilities which we had to correct monthly, filing regulartory reports quarterly, etc. Our work stopped mid stream-- we were phased out and [redacted] took over, a woman who both the owner and she agreed had no experience in accounting but was looking for issues. The real issues were things that were being done incorrectly on a daily basis in all aspects of bookkeeping moving forward: Huge gross misstatement of liabilities or misclassifications or journals entered that made no sense. [redacted] and [redacted] met with me and specifically asked to have them corrected. We were in the process when [redacted] called another person in because she wanted more training. [redacted] (the new person) did not have any accounting background or ** experience as she entered journals backwards, reconciled bank accounts wrong. We had to redo and take huge numbers out of the sales. (This process was not complete when they stopped working with us) [redacted], the owner called me and pointed out to me Sales was hugely distorted by 700000 as we had been hired by [redacted] to re-reconciling and correct as [redacted] was trying to do the accounting by now (this report is still in my file) He will remember this. They then asked that we fix the sales distortions, I did and they still owe 1500.00 and then do this complaint. . We worked for this company 8 years until this time.How we billed:All billings from our company were a month behind; because I would reconcile for month prior in each month (normal process) and then billing was 2-4 weeks later as my work is always 1 month behind and I bill monthly. This is standard in the industry. That is how our billing works and most CPA/Bookkeeping and or Attorney firms. My invoices are consistent and use same verbiage from month to month; they would confuse this as being billed again. The time is directly from [redacted] Software (an online time keeping system). I can print a printout that tells the dates the checks came to me after billing. I still have 1500.00 on the books that I feel is completely still owed to us. Verbiage: In house bookkeeping, journal entry, reconciliation will be the same from month to month. Signing Return: At that time, I was getting my certifications and I was not CPA. I/we have 5 year accounting degree and have completed all tests for EA (Enrolled Agent with IRS) in 2014, so I did not sign returns at the time. They signed them. I was not in the office on the day they came to sign as well. They knew this and they knew it was much less than previous tax preparer and signed the return. I was staff accountant/bookkeeper and only and now currently EA certifications completed. [redacted] automatically prints Self Prepared as default on returns and that was the software I had available. This is done by bookkeepers/staff accountants all the time.The Depreciation schedule: (original complaint) was never asked for that is a complete lie, until just recently they would have no reason to ask unless doing a tax return. It is not normally printed with tax return in CPA or Accounting Offices as a standard. CPA's or new tax preparers need them to do returns. They requested on a day I was outside the office in clients. Weeks before, when they asked me for the tax return I mailed it to their home immediately. My employee looked at this account said we need payment as your account is outstanding and this is what ensued. It is our policy to be paid before we give out our work product however, I usually comply with requests. My employee pointed out to me that we had not received payment and he had no idea of any of the dealings with this company.Facts and My opinion:All this happened in a matter of days. I told them I would research payment. Should they not allow us time before they ruin our reputation? Should they not pay for work completed? My other employee made some type of agreement with them on their old balance in an effort to just get paid for amounts that we had paid out to have their work done to employees and taxes on their behalf. It was not completely adhered to either. But in an effort to put this behind us, as well as understand that this may be a lack of understanding or misinterpretation; we sent Depreciation schedule within a week of checking on agreements made with other employee, amounts still owed, etc. This complaint could hurt our reputation, my family, and my employees and would appreciate help having it removed as there are lies, assumptions and due to lack of understanding of accounting and systems, can hurt my business. Accounting is ongoing never complete: They received their work and they did not pay for entirely, and they received all requested paperwork. They had so many people in these books without having accounting background. Our work is double checked as we reconcile and back up the balance sheet. I have copies of these books as well as I save all my work. I would be happy to provide any documentation requested. This is a lack of understanding on their part and a change with an administrative person. Sadly, they chose to justify not paying us. Thank you.