undefinedWhat is the name of your state?
Texas
I've been working for a wholesaler for about 4 months now. I started out inputting inventory into the accounting system, shipping packages, and doing some minor bookkeeping. My hope was that at some point I could work into doing this small and growing company's accounting from start to finish. I was out of the accounting field for several years due to illness and am now getting back into the field through this job.
In the last month I have been doing more of the bookkeeping/accounting and ran across some very serious errors due to lack of knowledge on the part of the person who has been doing the bookkeeping using computer software. What I found was startling. Cost of Goods Sold for a prior year was over stated in a huge way and the same was happening for 2004 before I cleaned that year's mess up. I told the owner, my boss, of what I found and his response was "I don't want to know about it". "If anyone asks in the future, this conversation didn't happen." My question is, now that I know of the situation, if the IRS ever audited the books and found the problem, and there is a good chance they will, would I have any liability in the situation even though I did not create the mess?
I am having difficulty persuading these folks they need to follow generally accepted accounting principles. They want to write off as much as possible and really aren't that interested in following guide lines. So, If I continue to work for them and they do something in the future which is very materail to the business which goes against IRS law, would I have liability in that situation?
Examples are lack of knowledge and caring about proper inventory procedures which might result in material mistakes in inventory figures and Cost of Good Sold this year or future years. It's not an obvious intent to break the law, but gross negligence on their part, as I see it. Could I be held liable and responsible for their negligent attitude and mistakes?
Texas
I've been working for a wholesaler for about 4 months now. I started out inputting inventory into the accounting system, shipping packages, and doing some minor bookkeeping. My hope was that at some point I could work into doing this small and growing company's accounting from start to finish. I was out of the accounting field for several years due to illness and am now getting back into the field through this job.
In the last month I have been doing more of the bookkeeping/accounting and ran across some very serious errors due to lack of knowledge on the part of the person who has been doing the bookkeeping using computer software. What I found was startling. Cost of Goods Sold for a prior year was over stated in a huge way and the same was happening for 2004 before I cleaned that year's mess up. I told the owner, my boss, of what I found and his response was "I don't want to know about it". "If anyone asks in the future, this conversation didn't happen." My question is, now that I know of the situation, if the IRS ever audited the books and found the problem, and there is a good chance they will, would I have any liability in the situation even though I did not create the mess?
I am having difficulty persuading these folks they need to follow generally accepted accounting principles. They want to write off as much as possible and really aren't that interested in following guide lines. So, If I continue to work for them and they do something in the future which is very materail to the business which goes against IRS law, would I have liability in that situation?
Examples are lack of knowledge and caring about proper inventory procedures which might result in material mistakes in inventory figures and Cost of Good Sold this year or future years. It's not an obvious intent to break the law, but gross negligence on their part, as I see it. Could I be held liable and responsible for their negligent attitude and mistakes?