
I was recently asked to help the owner of a new business. She rang me as her Dad had found my number online. I set up a meeting at her Dad’s business to chat what we needed to sort for her and Dad wanted to be there to help her and me.
Dad warned me she would need some ‘hand holding’. It all seemed great and just up my street to help her out, new business owners are my sweet spot as I enjoy helping them out through all the jargon and red tape of running a business.
I set up her limited company, I set up the bookkeeping system, I sent her a monthly invoice (and the first two were paid), she called me several times to ask me the same questions over and over, but we had a plan and I thought we were working together.
My last call with her was she wasn’t going to use the bookkeeping package and wanted me to just enter everything, and she was going to put all her bills and paperwork in an envelope and call me once it was starting to fill.
Roll on a few weeks and I thought I should give her a call to check on how big that envelope was but before I got chance, I got a letter from another Accountant asking for “professional clearance”, I mean, what the? A letter, how old school can he be? I replied (via email) and said I had no problem handing her over to him, but I did tell him our short history together. In fact, I think I dodged a bullet as sometimes you just can’t help some people. His reply………. “Will I regret this?”