I have had my company’s auditors in the office for the last couple of days. Now anybody who has lived through this (and most managers have) know that it is not their favourite time of year.
We are a small company – with ONLY two employees, and that includes yours truly. The audit paperwork for the year is contained in 5 lever arch files (three of which are for banking, and two for invoices – one for our ONLY supplier and one for our sales, and our sales are largely to only ONE customer).
Today it took two accountants nearly two hours to go through what they hope will be the final walkthrough before beginning our audit. And they also wanted the files for 2011 – even though this audit is for the year ending 31 December 2012. Now they will be in touch if there is any additional outstanding information required.
All of this for a two man (or, in this case, two woman) company.
After they left today, I had what I thought would be a very good and helpful idea : I would like to recommend this accounting firm to the South African Government. They seem extremely competent and thorough and use universally accepted accounting practices.
Wait, is that going to be a problem for a noble institution such as the SA Government ?
If it’s not going to be a problem, can someone please let me know to whom I can send their contact details.
I wonder what my kickback would be ? Oh damn, I forgot that these are thorough and competent accountants.
And that the SA Government has an accounting and accountability policy which whilst not unique to South Africa, is probably pretty complex given the size of the Government and the number of people involved.
But that can’t be right – because they have no accountability. So damn, there goes my good idea – and my kickback. It seems a normal person just can’t win when you involve the Government.
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