Good Morning guys,

I have a situation with a previous accountant:

I have taken over a client from her. The client asked me to handle his income tax affairs from 2014, and to enquire on some outstanding refunds from 2014.

The client's documentation was handed over by the previous accountant yesterday. After going through all the paperwork, I realised that she didn't provide me with tax type reports for the VAT201's, or any reports of her work done on Pastel.

I found her invoices issued to the client, and she specifically charged him for her posting work on Pastel.

I immediately contacted her to ask for either the pastel company or detailed ledgers of the general ledger, customers and suppliers, as well as her VAT reports.

She simply forwarded a trial balance for the year.

Is the client not entitled to the data, as he paid for the work done? I simply think it is not fair for the client to have to pay me for an entire year's work, when he has already paid the previous accountant. Furthermore, I am of the opinion that she should be able to support her figures in the VAT201?

This is the second time she has done this.

Is this normal procedure? Am I being unreasonable?