[USER]

Im in a bit of a situation and could use some calm advice.
I have a small consulting business that has grown.

It was time to work with a CPA–and I wanted the “gold” standard so, in Oct 2024, I found a CPA who was also a lawyer. I got Quickbooks, but I know nothing about QB and told the CPA this.

We had our first meeting in the Fall and we focused on 2 main issues:
he would reconcile my books in QB (I know he’s not a bookkeeper, but I was willing to pay the “gold standard’ for an excellent foundation and to have an “all-in-one” experience.

He was very agreeable to this, saying it woudl be no big deal)
he said it would be good to move my companies from LLCs to S-Corp.

I said that sounded confusing. And he said he would handle it but I would need to pay him quarterly to manage it. I agreed.

I have repeatedly reached out to him to ask him for the status of my books as this was the most important and timely thing to me.

There were some end-of-the-year decisions I wanted to make but wanted to see what the state of my books were.

I probably sent 6 emails and heard no answers to my questions.

I even emailed him saying; “I’m concerned about what’s goign on.

I feel vuln erable that I gave you access to all my financial data. Can you please help me?”
He never answered me.

Despite having paid him, I have gotten no guidance on the books, the state of the reconciliation of the books, the status of my company structure, W9s, 1099s, BOI, etc.

It’s now mid-January and I found another CPA. So I’ve had to invest more money and time having her do what I hired him in the Fall to do.

She said there was some stuff done in QB-but that not a single credit card transaction was classified and that there were some errors in how he classified.

For me, this is all concerning. He has a fiduciary duty to be responsive and professional to me.

I tend to be pretty judicious and calm. But Im a a loss in this siutation. I’ve never had a professional be so unresponsive.

Can someone give me their read on this? I have never worked with a CPA. What would you do in this situation? I am not looking to be reactive.

I would appreciate calm, judicious advice about the most prudent way to respond.

[Damon]

I’d move on from him. I’d consider what you paid him a sunk cost.wayne ask for a refund but I don’t ware a lot of time that can be used to germane more income and lesson learned.

I don’t know the size of your business but as a fellow business owner I’ll share what’s worked well for us (and we’ve made a ton of mistakes along the way in coming to this structure).

I think of it more as a team approach. We have a CPA/tax lawyer who is a tax strategist which is frankly her highest and best use.

She comes up with the tax strategy.

Then a highly experienced bookkeeper to do bookkeeping, then we use another CPA to build reports and answer the bookkeepers higher level questions which are more suited for a CPA to answer.

[Sonja]

What is your goal? Are you trying to get your money back? You could report him to the state bar association.

[Kristen]

I am so sorry this happened to you. I own a bookkeeping firm and hear about ghosting too often. Did you have a signed engagement? Were you paying on a credit card?

You could dispute the charges since you did not receive what you paid for. You said you emailed.

Did you call? Is it possible something happened, health related, that would have prevented him from completing the work?

We have systems in place to prevent situations like this but I know many do not.

[Alan]

So, a couple of things. Don’t pay CPA’s upfront – I don’t.
Read profit first and the tax and legal playbook by mark kohler – they’ll explain a lot of things you’ll need to know.

3rd you would still be an LLC but taxed as an s-corp which means you can do a 60/40 split with 60% taken as W2 and 40% taken as distribution – really need to be over 40k for it to make sense and it avoid the self employment tax and gives you a bunch of options around healthcare retirement etc

4) Have a bookkeeper separate from your accountant

5) take your previous accountant to small claims court yourself if you want the money back

[Kass]

I’m sorry this happened to you. I own a bookkeeping company and I see this happen a LOT. I understand the desire for “all in one” service, but you wouldn’t hire a plumber to do your electrical and drywall work.

Find a good bookkeeper who will work with you monthly – most of them do.

You can also look for one who offers consulting/strategic planning services if you want a step above just after-the-fact data entry.

If your new CPA doesn’t work out, your theoretical new bookkeeper likely has a good recommendation for you. Build yourself a financial support team.

I would try to reach out to the CPA one more time and ask for a refund.

If he still doesn’t respond, at the very least you should leave him an honest review so other folks know what they’re getting into.

[Jill]

He probably subcontracted out the QB stuff. CPA’s don’t know how to do that.

Pay by the month to a bookkeeper and require monthly financials.

[Author]

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