Accountants Submitted Accounts without my Sign off

[bipo912]

Hi Guys,

Quick question. I use a well known firm for my accounts(people here will know them). A couple of weeks back I emailed them to ask when I could expect to see my accounts and would they be ready by the end of January. I was told that the accounts had been submitted to HMRC on December 28th.

On review, it turns out that they had emailed me the completed accounts on December 17th but for some reason(completely through my own fault) I had missed the email and had not seen it. The accounts they had sent to me required an electronic signature, which I did not give as I didn't see or open the email until late January.

Anyway it turns out that the accounts have a number of significant mistakes in them. Expenses I have reported are missing, dividends paid out are incorrect and do not match the dividend amount on my personal tax return. They also list expenses that I never reported e.g. there is an expense for petrol - I am an IT contractor and have never used a car for my business - in fact I do not have a car. There are other expenses that also do not mean anything to me.

I have asked them to clarify what has happened and to file an amended return, which they have agreed to do. But it has been over a week now and I have had no clarity on what went wrong or indeed when the amended tax return will be ready.

Is it unreasonable for me to be unhappy with the firm about this situation, or is it completely my fault as I missed their email with the accounts included?

Thanks

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

I'd be VERY unhappy with them. The fact you didn't see the email is irrelevant - they should have emailed you a reminder. They had absolutely no authority to submit your accounts without your sign-off.

[Darren at Fox-Bartfield]

Accountants

Agree with CP, submitting documents on your behalf without authority is not good and that's putting it mildly!

Authority to be submitted should always be obtained and chased if not received.

[Louisa@AardvarkAccounting]

The accounts they had sent to me required an electronic signature, which I did not give as I didn't see or open the email until late January.

Agree with TCP, your accounts should not have been filed without you authorising them first. They should have sent you a number of reminders and called you before the submission, to at least get you to email your permission to file them if you couldn't officially sign them before the deadline. Your accountant might have thought they were being helpful by avoiding you any late filing penalties... But even then, if the accounts are now full of mistakes...

Anyway it turns out that the accounts have a number of significant mistakes in them. Expenses I have reported are missing, dividends paid out are incorrect and do not match the dividend amount on my personal tax return. They also list expenses that I never reported e.g. there is an expense for petrol - I am an IT contractor and have never used a car for my business - in fact I do not have a car. There are other expenses that also do not mean anything to me.

I would request from them a full breakdown of all the items behind the figures (a nominal) so you can see the detail and query anything that does not look right. Plus, get clarification on the dividends, to make sure this matches your self assessment tax returns for your personal income. Or this could trigger HMRC to ask later on down the line why the dividends don't match up.

Is it unreasonable for me to be unhappy with the firm about this situation, or is it completely my fault as I missed their email with the accounts included?

No, technically it would be your fault for the late submission of the accounts and any penalties. However out of courtesy, they should have phoned and emailed to chase you beforehand.

I would definitely get clarity on how the accounts were prepared though and check through the amendment with a fine tooth comb, to make sure your 110% happy with them.

[Lambert Simnel]

Sounds completely outrageous to me.
Personally, I would at the very least require a change of the accountant assigned to me if I were to continue with that firm. I certainly had a duffer assigned to me initially (5 years ago) but the accountancy firm were happy to assign a different (and more capable) accountant to me rather than lose my business.

[northernladuk]

Other have answered the question about authorizing the return but this bit stands out to me...

Anyway it turns out that the accounts have a number of significant mistakes in them. Expenses I have reported are missing, dividends paid out are incorrect and do not match the dividend amount on my personal tax return. They also list expenses that I never reported e.g. there is an expense for petrol - I am an IT contractor and have never used a car for my business - in fact I do not have a car. There are other expenses that also do not mean anything to me.

None of this would have happened if you had FreeAgent tbh. There is a lot to be said for taking control of your own accounts. I'd be leaving on this point alone. I'd hate to see the process they use to allow this to happen.

I am an IT contractor and have never used a car for my business

This looks wrong to me. What is being an IT contractor got to do with it? We do have cars and we do use them for business.

[Invisiblehand]

You're quite right to be annoyed.

Which firm was it?

[SueEllen]

This looks wrong to me. What is being an IT contractor got to do with it? We do have cars and we do use them for business.

He doesn't have a car.

Though I agree whether you are an IT contractor or even a permanent IT employee you may need to use your car for business. I have as both.

[Michael at BI Accountancy]

Submitted without any permission or signing off is a big no no!

Almost sound's like an "old school accountants" that have estimated you had x amount of the normal expenses, bar petrol? Are you sure it's for petrol as that would be an odd nominal to have in the accounts (normally Motor expenses which would be made up of mileage).

Not a great situation to be in, as NLUK say's look at getting your affairs onto FreeAgent.

[Maslins]

Basically agree with the above. A couple of slight devil's advocate things though:

- as alluded to by Louisa, I know a few accountants who will sometimes "make a judgement call" around filing deadlines, and submit things without proper authority. It's a tricky one, and one where you can be damned if you do, damned if you don't.

- more for my own interest, I'm intrigued whether they deliberately submitted the accounts (perhaps on the questionable logic your silence meant you had no queries, hence approved) or whether it was a complete accident. In today's world of online filing from within the software where the figures are prepared, this can be quite easy to do.

Assuming they fix any errors and resubmit, then no/negligible long term harm done. If I were in your shoes I'd be keen to find out how/why it happened though, as I feel that's perhaps as relevant as the fact it happened in the first place.