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I've made it clear what I expect of them moving forward. They are more than willing to obliged it seems, they have just never had an accountant educate them on what is truly needed to have proper records. They want to do it right so I'm doing my best to get them on the right course.

Yes, there seems to be an ongoing stream of Audit Firms getting fined for substandard work.

When I was young (way back), I thought auditing was THE thing. As I got older and jaded and what took place out there in the world, I began to think of auditing as more meaningless, just glossing over things. Not that it should have been but what it had become. Maybe that's just me. Maybe there is still something to it. But I wonder how can you really audit these big organizations?

I wouldn't do anything yet without more information because I've followed some creative predecessors and clients that give incorrect answers. A typical audit scenario in textbooks is when the auditor discovers assets or expenses on the books or returns that can't be traced back to the only cash account and may indicate other hidden cash accounts and activity. I'm not saying this is your client though. Something else comes to mind that I've actually seen is when a client uses a personal vehicle for business and trades it for a new one with that new vehicle titled in the business name, thinking of all the deductions it could create. Have you seen the title, registration document, or insurance bill listing the vehicle? Perhaps the prior accountant was creative and booked the vehicle and "loan from shareholder" was the balancing entry of the trade-in value of the personal vehicle and/or new vehicle's loan payments being paid personally.

She did not live in the home two of the past five years. It is reported on 4797, correct.

I found auditing very boring too so opted out from going the CPA route. After a couple of staff accounting jobs at private business's I landed a position as an accounting manager with the 3rd largest vegetation management company in the country. They also owned a Canadian company and I found the international component and consolidation work very interesting. They even paid for me to get my CMA with a nice raise when I passed.

Does the entity even have books? If not, I'd send them packing. Not worth the trouble.

Not a particularly good sign, although also not (to my knowledge) a particularly bad one. If the guy trashed the prior companies, that would be bad. Explains why I've been getting marketing emails from TaxAct as well as from Drake over the past xxx months.

Can the client provide any financial statements or a trial balance for any of the years? What information did the client provide every year to whomever prepared the tax returns? Can the client go back to the prior tax preparer and obtain complete tax returns?

"Drake Software ("Drake" or the "Company"), a provider of comprehensive professional tax preparation software, today announced that Dermot Halpin has joined as Executive Chair. The appointment follows the completion of the acquisition of TaxAct, a leading provider of digital, do-it-yourself ("DIY") tax filing assistance software and services, and the combination of TaxAct with Drake under a single holding company. Mr. Halpin brings significant leadership experience building and scaling high-growth consumer marketplace platforms. Throughout his career he has led businesses operating worldwide, and previously held senior leadership positions including President of Attractions and Vacation Rentals at TripAdvisor and President of Europe, Middle East and Africa at Expedia. He currently serves as a non-executive Director at Datalex. Datalex is a public software developer headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. It works mostly with airlines to develop travel software, such as booking websites." So the Executive Chair of Taxwell previously held executive leadership positions at Trip Advisor, Expedia and an airline travel software developer

I once watched a squirrel burying nuts in my front garden. (Why not? Nice soft soil, no hard digging.) A chipmunk was hiding under a hydrangea in the other front garden. Every time the squirrel left to go get another nut, the chipmunk dashed across the walk and unburied the last nut, took it home, then returned to its hiding place.

Probably very boring in the "large" firms where you are "pigeonholed" when you first come out of school vs. the variety of working for a smaller firm. At least that's my experience.

I, too, agree with everything Margaret said and Lee too. I'm sorry for all you are dealing with and hope that lightening the work load sooner than later will make life more manageable. Many of us put others' needs ahead of our own wellbeing, as do I much of the time, but we have to be at our best to best care for those we love.

In my experience, ending your payroll services at the end of the 3rd quarter would be easier. without the complications of year end reports. Margaret is right placing a higher priority on your own health allows you to deal with everything else.

I have already told almost all of my clients that I am retiring at the end of 2024. I am trying to figure out how to end the payroll. If I finish out the year with them, then I have the quarterly and year end reports left and I was hoping to be done by 12/31. I just have too much to do with taking care of my husband, seeing my 95 year old dad as much as possible and taking care of myself. I found out last month that I have a small brain tumor and have a neurologist appointment next month. They think that it's benign, but it is strange that my mom and my sister had them too. At least I know that I have it so that it can't sneak up on me like my sister's did. Her tumor was huge and caused a seizure. She has recovered well from the surgery, but won't ever be able to smell again. My brother and I see some mental changes, but considering how large that thing was, we are amazed. I just need something else and 45 years is enough. I hope to work part time unless I can't leave my husband home alone. We would like to move to Littleton after I retire to spend time with our son and daughter-in-law and hopefully do some babysitting. He says that there are a lot of groups out there so that I might make new friends and do some light hiking. I would love to bowl again. I can't wait to spend more time reading for fun and travel more. It's tough to fly standby if you have a ton of deadlines to work around.