Technical Problem!!

andiknowyou

Would love a bit of help on this query if possible -

A company I know have basically gone without a financial controllor for about 18months and the books are now in a mess. Various accountanats hve tried to go in and sort the 2008 accounts but to no avail, and the company is now resigned to the fact that given the nature of the industry it operates in, the 2008 accounts will not be able to be produced as there is so much infomation missing.

What are the options now? Can they carry on and produce an audit file for Dec 2009 even though there are obviously no opening balances to work from. 2008 is a definite write off but the present financial controllor has got some kind of order on the place, and has the basic records like bank recs etc up to date (by just journaling in opening balnces at the start of the period) Unusual situation I know so would appreciate any advice. What can be done with 2008 to carry on if no accounts are going to be completed

J.Ryan

As a limited company, accounts will have to be prepared.


How did the company operate VAT for 2008 or PAYE/PRSI?

Debtors control, Creditors Control and Bank Recs.

If you can peice those 5 together, you should be able to prepare accounts.

J.Ryan

Just to add, the directors need to spend the money required to restore the records, they have a duty under the Companies Act to maintain proper books and records.

DoMyBooks

I've seen this kind of thing before. The best solution I found was to get a smart reasonably priced bookkeeper and as above start with the three fundamentals.

Firstly set them at the bank rec, It may take weeks but it will give you a very good foundation, Then work their way through reconciling debtors and creditors.

dbran

Hi

Simple answer is unfortumately no. You must produce accounts for 2008.

As previously suggested, get a good bookeeper and methodically work through the bank debtors etc and reconstruct the 2008 figures. If the bank is balanced in 2009 it may not be as bad as you think.

You may have CRO late filing fees to deal with and as there is most likely an audit required for 2008 and 2009 which may be qualified.

Failure to keep proper books and records is an indictable offense and the auditor is required to report this to the ODCE.


Kind Regards


dbran

Fishyfreak

Agree with the above. Working on the bank rec will be the key. After that the rest should fall into place to populate the debtors/creditors etc.

andiknowyou

Thanks for the input. Unfortunately, where there are client acccounts involved and zero back up to any money being received into these accounts, it s simple to do a bank rec but impoossible to get any idea of the debtors, both client and office! Several book keepers have tried and failed so they are out of ideas. Creidtors are marginally better as there is a small amout of back up to cheques written etc, but the whole thing is a mess.

J.Ryan

Client accounts on top of the earlier information :eek: .


If its a case of getting the bank to give copies of every cheque (in and out) on every account, you need to do it and restructure those records.


The obligations are higher when holding other peoples money

dbran

andiknowyou wrote: »

Thanks for the input. Unfortunately, where there are client acccounts involved and zero back up to any money being received into these accounts, it s simple to do a bank rec but impoossible to get any idea of the debtors, both client and office! Several book keepers have tried and failed so they are out of ideas. Creidtors are marginally better as there is a small amout of back up to cheques written etc, but the whole thing is a mess.

Oh my god!!!! I presume you are not a solicitor as they cannot incorporate. You must be a pension or an insurance broker of some kind. The rules regarding client money for them is not so stringent as for solicitors but you will have to get all the info somehow either from the bank or the underwriter.

But if you are a solicitor......you are very in serious dodo.

Are you a solicitor??????:eek:

andiknowyou

Nope, not a solicitor, I am an accountant who has been asked to go in and try sort the mess out but have not come accross anything like the mess in my life so was hoping to post on here and get some miracle solution!! But it appears that, like I feared, there is no miracle solution!