Don’t use Dolan and Co / CMR Accountants
I don’t slag people off on this blog. If I’m annoyed enough to talk about people in public, then I should at least talk to them privately first. Up until now, that’s been good enough to resolve most things.
So for Dolan and Company / CMR Accountants to get the honour of being critisied in public, they must have behaved pretty badly. Yes, they’re the ones located at the Steelworks in Foley Street Dublin (near Busaras, Connolly Train station). They’re now our Ex-Accountants, for reasons that will soon become clear.
Dolan and Co were our company accountants from Dec 03 until Mar 06. We’re not the biggest of companies. Our accounts could probably be done using Excel by somebody with a Leaving Certificate qualification. We prefer to subcontract rather than employ people, so that makes our accounts even easier.
So what have Dolan done to annoy us so much?
Overcharging. We had a set monthly fee for their services, paid by direct debit. Easy enough? Even if a mistake was made, it shouldn’t be too hard to sort out. Well no actually. During the last 15 months of our arrangement, I spent more time on the phone to Dolan / CMR about the fees than talking to them about the actual accounting service. While I wasn’t happy at the end, Dolan agreed to refund me a set figure in March last year and I moved to another accountants.
End of story, or so I thought. Not nice, but not enough reason to blog about it.
Ok, so how have they really annoyed you?
The basic reason to have an accountant is to file accounts with the Revenue Commisionars (Government Tax Department). These accounts / reports are (i) How much money you take as Salary from the business and (ii) How much VAT you owe the Government (based on your Sales).
Not surprisingly, the government takes a very dim view if you don’t file these accounts / reports on time. Fortunately , they’re easy enough, so long as you keep on top of them. For example, you can pay your Tax every month by Direct Debit. At the end of the year, you file a final report and pay any (small amount due).
Here’s the problem. For 2005 , Dolan / CMR set up a the Direct Debit but did not make the final report. This is despite assuring me that that the return had been made when we signed off the accounts at the end of the Year. (You know who you are). While I do not owe any tax (because we paid by DD monthly), the Revenue are entitled to fine me several thousand.
My new accountants say it will take them about 5 minutes to complete and post via the web (the ROS.ie website).
I will accept a large part of the blame for this – after all it is me , not the accountants, that they Revenue Commissionars will chase. But if you (a) are paying a professional service company to do work and (b) they tell you that this (basic) work has been carried out, would you not be annoyed to find out that it hadn’t?
I’ve left the comments section open for Dolan / CMR to reply if they see fit.
Thanks to Martin Boylan and Co (Drogheda) , our new Accountants, who are helping tidy up this mess.
Well done on putting that out there Paul. Its not the first time I’ve heard of such carry on. One guy told me how his accountant firm ( quite a large reputable firm) had not filed their returns for 3 years running, had been receiving fines from the CRO and had been lumping these into the overall bill they were charging the client. The client only discovered this when going through due diligence when in final stages of taking VC investment. Needless to say, this is not the kind of discovery you want to be making in front of potential investors.
I came across this blog by chance.
I have used Dolan & Co for several years and find the service they offer to be fair and also fairly priced.
Any business can make mistakes and they are judged by what they do to rectify them. If Dolan & Co, gave you a refund then you don’t have much to complain about.
Also if you are not personally checking that your returns have been made then you are a bit naive. I always ask for a copy of the completed return.
You make mention of the fact that you could have been fined but don’t actually note whether you were fined?
Also, It seems a bit unfair to slag off any company on a web site where the blogger is also the developer and owner of the site.
On balance I think that you might be just a bit over the top in your comment.
Seems to me that you have an axe to grind and are using a bit of unfair advantage to get your point across.
Lewis,
I’d be interested in how you stumbled across this old blogpost ‘by chance’ – most people that are happy with their accountants don’t search for new ones in Google.
All the same, I’m glad that you’ve had a good experience with Dolan and Co and hope that it continues. It’s a good tip to ask for a copy of the completed return to double check. Do you have any particular reason for doing this?
I stand by my opinion in this case; Would I do things differently with hindsight – yes. Like I say, as the company director I am ultimately responsible for getting the accounts submitted.
Sadly, you didn’t leave a valid url or email , but I’m not sure how leaving this blog open to differing opinions (such as yours) gives me an unfair advantage. Also, allowing Dolan should they wish to (openly) comment on this blog hardly smacks of someone with an ‘axe to grind’.
Again, I wish you luck in your dealings with Dolan and company.
Paul
I used these shower of clowns until recently.
They were recommended to me however I wish to advise others not to use them.I had a number of issues re their service.
Firstly the level of service was shocking.There were multiple errors with VAT returns in 4 out of 6 periods in the year.They had not given me the correct credits for my income tax return which is realling schoolboy.My corporation tax return was wrong.They didnt add back the right amounts.All of this resulted in me getting a Revenue audit.
I didnt let that shower look at it as they had got me into the mess.
I had discussions with two partners who were shocking in their approach.The first one DD just shouted down the phone.He had no business acumen at all.He struck me as an overweight farmer with a very poor attitude and the second one was worse.He was very ignorant and had very little knowledge of accounting and tax affairs.I had been briefed by my new accountant and knew what to say.I am surpised as EG lied straight through his teeth.
I would never use them again and would never recommend.
Right from the top they were incompetent and made bare faced lies to me.Ive heard from others who used them that they provide a very poor service too but i can only comment on myself.
James,
I’ve approved your comment without editing or endorsement, same as the previous comment by Lewis. Mainly because I can stand over my own experience (in the original blogpost) and have the paperwork to back that up!
I’m sorry that anybody has had a bad experience with any accountant, as the process of filing tax returns can be stressful enough even when things go well!
Paul
I have been audited as a result of their inadequacies, they simply said “Your return date was missed, you now will be penalised”, I had to pay a fee for them not keeping track of my accounts!!!
They also charge exhoberant fees in my view for their level of ’service’.