Have you been asked to get an 'Accountants Letter' from your bank or broker? Lucky you ... said no-one ever! They have certainly gained popularity with banks and finance brokers recently.
So why do you need one? Post the royal commission and pandemic, banks and lenders are risk averse and want to cover their arse (let’s be honest shall we), they want assurity that you are a good lend, even though you have provided them with every potential skeleton in the closet already. In essence they are wanting to shift liability from themselves to accountants. Why? If sh*t hits the fan they want someone to sue, whoops, we mean blame!
Accounting institute bodies (like CAANZ, CPA, IPA) have recommended that accountants NOT provide them for the above reasons and the high risks attached. Ouch right because you really need one and that is why you are reading this blog.
So here’s the downlow. Accountants deal in facts. So if the lender is needing confirmation of historic and present financial information we can absolutely provide the deets and state the facts, ie confirm what has happened.
Future? not so much. We can forecast (educated guesstimating) with assumptions but cannot provide any sureties and unfortunately the psychic qualifications will never arrive. Why? Because things happen in business that are out of anybody's control no matter how much planning has been taken or years you have been in business. Pandemic, sickness, clients and suppliers with freewill, you get the gist (hopefully)! so if your banker or broker is asking us to confirm or predict the future we are unable to do so and we may not be able to say exactly what they want us to.
So here’s the realest deal, based upon all of the above we are happy to help where we can, I mean heck we want you to get the house/car/biz loan BUT we are not miracle workers and also have limits of what we can and cannot say, are you with us?!.
And ... there is also a cost? Hey what now we hear you say! Due to the time we need to take to find, confirm and provide the information requested together with the risk attached there is a cost attached and that means if you need one there will be a charge. I mean you wouldn’t order a coffee from a cafe and not expect to pay right? Service based businesses are the same, we need to get paid for our time. No charity status here yet, haha
Don’t fret if we can’t provide exactly what you need as all hope is not lost. We have worked with brokers and banks to find other ways or other information that may be acceptable, and if we are laying it all on the line ... if a way cannot be found then it just wasn’t meant to be *we know that may be hard to hear, but trust us ... we have seen things go pear shaped and don't want that for you.
Hope you still love us! And remember we’ve got your numbers AND your back. Calc-u-later!
Disclaimer: This blog is for general informational purposes only. For advice on your specific situation, please contact a tax professional, ie us 😊
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