Notice To Client We Are Closing Account: Fill & Download for Free

Have you ever desired, to be powerful enough that people around, fear you? Well we Chartered Accountants live that desire, almost everyday!Scene 1: The vicious email.The Financial year ends and Accounting teams are on their toes. Provisions, adjustments, closing entries and legal compliances - their sedentary life becomes labourious during the next few months. The Secretarial team & the Chief Executives along with the Directors are to some extent, also facing a similar situation. Then comes the vicious email or sometimes, it’s a call. “Dear Sir, we are planning to conduct the Statutory Audit for this year, starting next week. Kindly confirm the arrangement. Regards, Auditors.”The watch dogs are coming ! (like ‘Winter is coming’ in Game of Thrones). It is like SOS emergency alert for the Accounting & associated team. The fear inside them is at its peak. Though they have worked diligently throughout the year, never collated in fraud, ensured all compliances, still that fear emerges. Above all, Statutory Audit is about Financial Statements of the company and not an assessment of work done by Accountants, but they feel it is about them.The fear is out of respect and not because of fault in their work. They fear (respect) Chartered Accountants because they know, the Auditors will definitely find some loopholes or technical errors and then, they will be liable to answer why & what happened to the Auditors & their own Bosses.Scene 2: Good morning, Sir!“Taddah, Daddy is home.” That’s what I wish I could say during the first meet, instead of “Good Morning, Sir. How are you doing?” *Joke*But yes, jokes apart, we almost have that ‘Special 26’ team feeling on the Day 1 of Client Visit. Our role ofcourse is, to review & verify accounts; but the kind of environment that employees at Client place create evokes that feeling.We either use our company identity card or the company gives us a special identity card which says ‘Auditor’. So every time we go around the company premises, people around look at us with awe. Their look reads like “Ohh, Auditors. Wow”, while some others, “Omg! Auditors. Hide.”Right from the first day, the Accounting team makes sure that we get the best hospitality during our visit to make us comfortable. This is to ensure that the Audit starts on the right terms as the co-operation between Auditors & Accounting team is a must. (On our part, we too make sure that the Accounting team gets advance notice for everything.)We get undivided attention from the Accounting team. At times, some employees reach out Accounting team for Salary or related issue and this is the response they get, “We are with Auditors right now, so come later.”Let’s say, there is a Salary Advance given to employee. As per Audit procedures, we would ask for a Balance Confirmation from such employee. There are at times, when the employees are not even ready to give the confirmation, just because they fear why the Auditor asking for confirmation from me? Back in their mind, they feel CA will ask to refund the entire amount or raise a query there.” Sometimes, even Accountants use our name to just install fear in the minds of others or to get the work done as sooner as possible.Some other examples -When your parents mention to the relatives that your child is doing CA course or is a Chartered Accountant, the reaction that they get is, “Your son/daughter is really intelligent. CA course is a difficult course.” At that moment, there’s a little pride on your parents face and you are the reason.Disrespect that we receive -When the society sees frauds happening around the economy and blame the Chartered Accountants for the same, we feel disrespected. It’s a shame that some Chartered Accountants indulge in such activities, but certainly, the entire fraternity shouldn’t be blamed for it.When there is black money getting accumulated in economy and questions are raised on our work, we feel disrespected. There may be Chartered Accountants who might have been giving the wrong advises, but then, it is seriously disheartening when someone honest has to face the wrath.Our institute has made the course more difficult than any other course. Every student goes through a tough 4–5 years of life, as minimum, while most other professionals have already qualified by then. But then, after all such hardships, when we expect a little respect we are seriously disheartened, when someone calls CA an “Overrated course”. Our years of efforts seems dirt to them!Our institute is competitive. They make sure that the Chartered Accountants get the best scope of services, after making them capable of delivering the same. However, when instead of competing, people from other professions, blame us for their unemployment or less scope, we feel disrespected. Blame the Constitution for allowing multiple professions to operate simultaneously. We gained knowledge, put in efforts & are working competitively, there’s nothing unfair on our part.Special Note -Dentist can recommend you tooth removal, but at the end of day, it is up to you, whether you want to remove it or not. Chartered Accountants advise the client, but at the end of day, it is up to the businessperson whether they accept it or not. We cannot force the businesses to follow our advice.We are watchdogs. The law requires us to report on Financial Statements of the businesses and general overview, whether they are in place or not. Our report is on Financial Status, not the Operations of the company.We are not RAW, CID, IRS, Investigation Directorate or any other kind of Intelligence or Investigation team. There is a huge difference between ‘Auditing’ and ‘Investigating’.Law (which is created by parliament chosen by people), expects us to only give “reasonable” assurance i.e. only overview of affairs whether they are in place. But the general public, asks and blames us for anything and everything that the businesses do. Should we abide by the laws or go as per public opinion?If client goes in wrong direction, our role is to tell them what is right and what is wrong, what will happen if they choose right and if they choose wrong. What they choose after that, is their choice. The law neither asks us to report such trivial points & nor did we commit the crime ourselves.I am ashamed of Chartered Accountants who advise the other way but I am honest in my work and I won’t accept abuses for the dishonesty of others.Conclusion: These are just some of the examples, of how Chartered Accountants are respected and sometimes disrespected for their knowledge, their role & their work. Truely obliged to our profession and institute for this status. At the end of day, we have our own version of what Dr. W. Edward Deming recommended the Management,“In God we trust, all others we Audit.”

Well, well… Let’s talk about this Indian IT company - Tech Mahindra (formerly Mahindra Satyam) and their employment bond scam.It’s common practice for Indian IT companies to coerce new joinees, especially from campus, to sign a service bond. This bond requires them to pay an exorbitant amount if they choose to leave the company before the bond period ends. However, Tech Mahindra has taken this one step ahead.So, my wife attended an on-campus job fair conducted by TM, way back in 2013. She got selected and was sent an offer letter, which mentioned about a service bond requiring her to pay Rs. 1.0 Lacs in case she quit the company within 2 years of joining. The offer also required her to be present at their Chennai office on 17th Jan, 2014, the date of joining, failing which the offer would stand withdrawn.Owing to several reasons, she chose not to accept the offer and replied to the recruiting manager in unequivocal terms, that she wouldn’t be joining. As obvious, neither did she go to their office in Chennai nor did she sign and submit any document.Considering the matter closed, she went ahead with life, as usual.Till in March, 2014, she started getting mails from TM HR stating that she had been on unauthorized leave from office from Feb 3, 2014. A week later, she got a mail stating that she had been ‘terminated’ for unauthorized absence from work. The termination letter though stated that she had not been in office from Mar, 2014 onwards. Imaginative as they were, TM HR were as confused as they were incompetent. We were obviously baffled by this chain of communication but thought it best not to respond to these mails since it a waste of our time.7 months later, in October 2014, the real drama unfolded. My wife started getting emails asking her to furnish Rs. 90,984 and 15% p.a interest from Feb ’14 as penalty for breaking the service bond. Concerned that the spirit of Satyam Computers may have been reinvigorated in Tech Mahindra and they had now forayed into the space of online bank fraud, we didn’t respond. Neither did we pay any money, as there was no contractual obligation whatsoever to start with.In November 2015, physical letters started coming to her parents’ home, threatening legal action in case the money wasn’t paid. We then reached out to Mr. CP Gurnani, CEO of Tech Mahindra and Mr. Anand Mahindra, Chairman of Mahindra Group. One Mr. Nigel Franklin from their HR team responded and promised to get back with details. We asked him to show us the purported documents signed by my wife, her employee ID card, bank account to which salary from Jan to Mar was paid etc. We even shared my wife’s time sheet from her employer proving that she was in her office in Kochi on the original joining date - 17th Jan, 2014 and hence could not have joined TM. Mr. Franklin never replied, despite a reminder from us. Again, we thought the matter had been closed.But, no. 4.5 years after the original ‘joining date’, this week, we received a Legal Notice from an advocate on behalf of his client, TM asking us to pay Rs. 90,984 and 15% p.a interest from Mar 14 onwards within 7 days, failing which he would file a case against us.We’ve just filed a reply to this notice to their lawyer, keeping Mr. C.P Gurnani and Mr. Anand Mahindra in CC. A copy of the reply is given in the link below, in case you’re interested. (Notice Reply Final.pdf)To go to such extents to recover a service bond amount from a person who had never been an employee of theirs to start with, would definitely rank as one of the most creative means of boosting revenue employed by an Indian IT Company. The fact that even though senior leaders like Mr. Gurnani and Mr. Mahindra were reached out to, the issue has still dragged on till now, shows these so-called industry leaders in poor light.We now await what new story the creative minds at Tech Mahindra HR come up with.Edit 1: 10.08.18:Thank you for all the support mentioned in the comments.We just got a mail from Tech Mahindra HR as a response to the email sent to Mr. Anand Mahindra and Mr. C.P Gurnani. Mr. Vinay Agrawal (Head, Business HR) has written stating that they're investing (I hope he meant investigating) the matter and that the legal notice is being kept in abeyance.Guess we will wait for their investment/investigation to get complete and see what new story comes up.Edit 2: 27.08.18:Mr. Vinay Agrawal (Head, Business HR) has written to us that ‘this clearly appears to be a case of impersonation with an intent to cause harm to you as well as the organisation’. He goes on to ask whether my wife had shared the offer letter with somebody etc., trying to insinuate that this issue is my fault.In our reply, we call bullshit and ask them to present all documents that they claim to have in possession. We tell him in no uncertain terms that we feel he’s lying and this entire episode is just a result of Tech Mahindra’s incompetence, not a highly sophisticated identity thief.Still no apology from Tech Mahindra for 4 years of harassment.Edit 3: 04.09.18:Mr. Vinay Agrawal seems to be having issues understanding simple sentences. He has just replied in a complete tangent to the last email, stating that their Ombudsman team would reach out for the investigation and that the legal notice is being kept in abeyance. Still no apology for all the harrassment and no sight of the purported documents they have in possession.Edit 4: 05.09.18:The Tech Mahindra Ombudsman Team calls us for what is a pointless, fruitless 32 minute conversation. Just listen in to the absurdity of the questions posed by the Tech Mahindra ombudsman team and the non committal attitude towards fixing any time frame for resolution:Tech Mahindra Ombudsman Team CallEdit 5: 10.10.18:Well, long story short, Tech Mahindra surely has some of the stupidest HR personnel I’ve ever seen! At the end of all this colossal waste of time, they revert with the below email:Dear Ms. Parvathy,We refer to our Legal Notice dated July 19, 2018 issued to you by M/s V. Venkata Subramanyam & Associates and your subsequent responses on the same. As informed earlier, we have investigated this case. Since the matter pertains to January 2014 and that the RMG recruiter who was in touch with you at the stage of rolling out the job offer has since expired, we are unable to complete the investigations.Under the circumstances, we are withdrawing the aforesaid legal notice with immediate effect. We sincerely regret the inconvenience this may have caused to you.Thanking you,Vinay AgrawalAfter close to 5 years of harassment and finally, they conclude with no admittance of fault, no apology, no clarification whatsoever on the signed offer letter that they purportedly had in possession and no initiative to hold the people responsible for this stupidity accountable. They have conveniently and shamelessly tied the entire episode to a dead man and brushed it under the carpet.From our perspective, we didn’t bother responding to this last email. The people on the other side are just too stupid to warrant us spending any more time on this. Hopefully, no one else in Tech Mahindra dies in the foreseeable future, and this issue is laid to rest permanently.

That happened to me once. I had a company come for an estimate to remove a tree and other debris after a hurricane. I thanked them for the estimate and said I would be in touch. The next day I returned home from work and there they were working away. I went over and asked what they were doing and I hadn't given them notice I was going to hire them. He shrugged his shoulders and said he didn't know and the office just sent him and his crew to work on this job. He was polite and honestly had no idea of how the office received jobs from customers. He said they were actually finished and were cleaning up and would be out of my yard quickly.I called the office and spoke to the owner, who was the one who gave me the estimate, and asked why he started before I gave him notice I would hire them. He said that since he knew he gave the best price I would get (he didn't even come close to the best I got) he just went ahead and did it because he was too busy to wait for my call back and I could mail him a check for his services and hung up.The next day I came home and saw the same crew at my neighbor's. I went over and knocked and when Reggie came to the door I told him of my experience. He said he just got home and had just told them to stop work and leave because he didn't hire them and only got an estimate. We both went to his back yard and asked the foreman if he knew his boss was sending him to jobs they were not hired for. He honestly didn't know that was what was going on. He was red with embarrassment and damn near in tears as he apologized profusely.Going back through Reggie's house I went home and back into my back yard. Their truck was parked behind my fence and I was about to start measuring my fence line to replace my fence when I heard him on the phone talking with his boss, (he could not see me because I was behind a hedgerow) asking him just how many people he was attempting to force to hire him by just showing up and starting a job without permission. He then said he couldn't work for a crook and said that he quit and since he brought that crew with him when he started there they would leave with him too. His whole crew (four guys) stood by his truck when he said it and all agreed with him. He said “sorry guys but we can't be a part of this kind of outfit. I'll go to the bank and pay you for today with what ever I have available.”They still had quite a bit to pack up and load the Bobcat so I went back and explained to Reggie what I heard. He came up with a great idea and we trotted out back to talk to the foreman. We didn't let on that I heard his conversation but simply said that we understood they may have some free time on their hands and would be available for some side work. He looked a bit confused but nodded in agreement. We said great, you guys want to build our fence? They built mine and Reggie's and after word spread they built several others and had clean up jobs all over the neighborhood, enough to last them for over the next two months.As for his boss, I got on the computer and made a lovely certificate thanking him for volunteering his time and money to clean the debris from my yard. Never heard a peep from the owner, but I see John (the foreman) from time to time and he'll buy me a cold one. Seems word spread beyond the neighborhood and customers from his old job and new ones too, needed so much work he had to hire another crew and was going to have to hire an office manager after he found an office.I think it worked out well for everyone.**Edit** an update actually. First thank you for all the upvotes and kind comments. It has been enjoyable to share this with you.I had been hearing rumors so I started looking into them. I have family that works in the DAs office and the county clerks and tax appraisers offices in the court house. Also a sister in the Police department and always the best source of info, a bartender. This is what I have learned.After word of his shenanigans spread, he began losing accounts. The crews were jumping ship, leaving him to hire from the guys hanging out at the local convenience store/ chicken stand (temp agency wasn't in budget).Lack of experience and lack of work ethics combined with a low priority for safety and their inability to pass a drug test led to an accident. Just under $2k to clients property & < $1k to rented equipment and a day laborer with a broken thumb or hand.Bad time to be short on income and let your business license (and bond) and insurance lapse. His client got wind of this info and not wanting this slimeball to liquidate assets and ooze out of town, he filed suit. The laborer is waffling (drug test worries I presume) about suing for medical bills. Iam not sure what role the state and workers comp will take as to license and insurance.All in all it seems as though his world is imploding and no one wants to be associated with his now very sullied name. I slmost feel bad for him. Almost.I really hadn't planned on updating this info but a trip to the property appraisers office last week changed my mind. As I was leaving I bumped into John (the foreman come new business owner). I guess he was at the DMV across the hall because when I asked how things were going he just held up two new license plates and said “I had to buy two new trucks and now I gotta find crews to put in them”. I just chuckled and said “ Yeah, that's the burden you are saddled with when you dare to be reliable and do good work. Wouldnt wish this suffering on anyone else”.It was when I watched John climb into a new (used but twenty years newer than his previous one) crew cab truck with a crew of five smiling guys wanting for him that I decided to update this answer.John, if you happen to be on Quora and see this, know that there are a bunch of folks around here that are proud of you!