The new shoe box

[oceanlovin'ea]

love this thread

I remember the shoebox days. Actually mine favorite was a bigger department store box. This man had about 15 rentals and the box was full of receipts for repairs on all of them. Since I was new at Block then, I got the box and the man for several years. It was a joke around the office, but I charged him for my time. He didn't care. I think I actually miss him now.

I have one client that brings me a print out from Quicken, I think. But I have figured out her system. She brings me the bank statements too. So she is not so bad now.

Now my own stuff is another matter. It is the file cabinet very neatly filed but not posted anywhere yet. We will do that in December.

Love this thread. What would we do if we didn't have these crazy people to deal with.

Linda

[BHoffman]

Some clients use off-the-shelf accounting software as a word processor to print checks and invoices.

The check prints: "Hey looky!! I'm doing accounting!!!"

[MAJ]

Still laughing...

I'm still laughing after reading the other posts. This is just so true. Had a client bring a QB backup in last season. They couldn't figure out how to set up a bank account so they posted everything against Retained Earnings.

Funny - I got up to this message & before I read it - I sat back & laughed.... Saying... That's sooo True... I'm sure we've all got some great stories.. It boggles the mind... Some of my disorganized clients I try to offer them a montlhly write up. Each year. They swear they'll do better... Each year - they come disorganized. They wonder why the price keeps going up. One finally asked. I told them. I provide a service of tax preparation. You cannot expect me to provide a years worth of bookeeping in the time we allocate. You have to come, review and i chug through all the stuff and generate a ton of questions. We then have to answer those questions together (to the best of your knowledge) and then start again with entering the new information. It's not fair to you because I know you're missing some things - and it's not fair to me because during my busiest time of the year you want to monopolize me. Let's do it monthly. it'll cost a few more dollars each month but you'll have a better prepared return and we'll both have a lots less of a headache!

[JG EA]

... and it's not fair to me because during my busiest time of the year you want to monopolize me...

This is a quote I want to remember!

[TaxmannEA]

As I sit here typing this, I'm looking at about 9 packing cases and 3 grocery sacks full of cancelled checks, invoices, receipts, etc. Seems the client decided that they need to file from 2004 on up. No books, but they did save everything! ( This is a business, by the way) I'm willing to do the job during this time of year as long as the client understands that they will pay handsomely for the service ($110/hr). I do wish that people would just learn to use a simple set of record books, but if they are willing to pay - I'm willing to earn the fee.