missing records, (and the rest)

[smithfield]

I am working with a company and am learning that the situation is much graver than my imagination could conceive....

* The year end is July, but there are no transactions on the ledger for the year to July 2011, (or indeed the year before).
* The former Accountant was self employed and worked remotely. He had previously offered a copy on Sage of the previous years accounts but this has never materialised.
* Said Accountant has gone on long term sick with Mental Health concerns never to be seen again.
* The Accountant advised he did submit the first quarter's VAT return, but there are no records of this available.
* To open communications, HMRC asked us to provide the VAT repayment figure for the last quarter, but the payment into our bank account does not match the figure they have on file!
* HMRC then asked us to match figures on the latest VAT correspondence, but again this is all with the former Accountant.

Have I painted a grim enough picture?!?!?

Any pointers (general specific or otherwise), as to how to proceed with this pickle would be very much appreciated!

Thank-you!

[Generix]

What does the business do?

Start off with getting everything the business has, surely they can't have been solely reliant on the previous accountant?

Expect to be telling the trader that bad news will be defo incoming in the near future.

[smithfield]

Thanks Generix.

Its a foods supplies company, so they are generally receiving VAT repayments.

I can pull together the invoices, income and bank statements etc, but there is no recent correspondence from HMRC.

I regret to say that yes, they have been solely reliant on the previous accountant....anything remotely "financial" was automatically sent to the accountant.

I'm trying to impress upon them that whilst trading might be great, I've never encountered a situation as shambolic as this!

Thanks again.

[Generix]

Thanks Generix.

Its a foods supplies company, so they are generally receiving VAT repayments.

I can pull together the invoices, income and bank statements etc, but there is no recent correspondence from HMRC.

I regret to say that yes, they have been solely reliant on the previous accountant....anything remotely "financial" was automatically sent to the accountant.

I'm trying to impress upon them that whilst trading might be great, I've never encountered a situation as shambolic as this!

Thanks again.

Preumably most of their purchases are zero-rated as are most of their sales.

So their main input VAT is freight, storage and overheads? I guess if you know some basic info like how many deliveries were made on a weekly basis and the usual delivery cost then you could begin to get close to a decent guesstimated figure.

[smithfield]

Thanks again Generix,

I can pull together a lot of financial information, from the start of the (last) financial year onwards, but the VAT return I arrive at should match what our former Accountant, (a CA), came up with....and submitted to HMRC!!

I can't think of any other plan now, other than to turn up at his home address and see what I can take away with me - presuming of course that he will anwer the door.

Thanks again.