Unprofessional Emotional Accountant

I've been working with MunroFin since 2017, and I regret to say that my recent experiences have been deeply disappointing. While I appreciated the personal touch that comes with working with an individual accountant, the lack of professionalism can severely impact a business; being forced to move without any notice from an accountant is incredibly disruptive & unprofessional.

So what caused this? In Aug 2023, MunroFin failed to submit the AR for my second business. This oversight led to the company being marked non-compliant by CIPC, which could've resulted in de-registration. I notified her and mentioned that it was something we could look into the following week. My reaction to finding this oversight was calm and understanding (people make mistakes. It's human), so the following week, MunroFin re-submitted the Annual Returns - great!

When reviewing my emails to see why I missed this (I always think it's my fault first because I am not good with accounting), I realised I accepted her quote for this submission. Usually, she sends an invoice after providing the service, but she forgot, and now (11 months later), she sends a new invoice and increases the invoiced amount. I then kindly requested that they honour the original quote - I should not have to pay more for a delayed submission for a quote/service accepted. After making this request, the response I received was unexpected & highly unprofessional. Rather than addressing the issue, the accountant told me to find another service provider. She refuses to let a client "dictate her pricing." She didn't provide any notice, immediately blocked me, & ignored all further communication attempts.

After 7 years of working together (I considered her a friend), trusting her with all my accounting needs, & only mistakenly thinking she forgot to submit my PAYE once in 7 years (which was a mistake I made because I didn't know at that time that PAYE disappears after 5 p.m. on FNB), apart from this one mistake, in 7 years I was never a problematic client. Yet, I was abruptly told to get someone else blocked, and she even attempted to insult me by comparing me to a "Jack Russel". Their emotional decision-making & lack of professionalism can overshadow any connection. Because of this & my attempts to talk to her failed, I moved my services.

Why this review? After 28 days, she decided to send a long, emotional email justifying her actions. The tone was shockingly unprofessional, with unwarranted personal attacks & a clear lack of accountability. I was accused of arrogance and insulted with terms like "Jack Russel" & "Mev Perfek" (Mrs. Perfect). The email questioned the handling of my business affairs & criticised my character in a completely inappropriate way for a business relationship. Instead of addressing the core issues, she deflects responsibility, points out unrelated matters (screenshots of her "good" client's feedback), and includes personal grievances that had no place in professional correspondence. I've never personally attacked or insulted this individual; I only called them unprofessional AFTER they abruptly stopped their services & prevented us from personally getting documents my new accounting firm needed. She also highlights that she didn't want to "waste her time" explaining accounting terms to me anymore - its why i trusted her in the first place, I'm not an accountant, these terms need to be explained?

The principle here - My request to pay the original amount was not unreasonable, yet the outburst telling me to find someone else is just shocking. I find it surprising that she would even resort to throwing in my face that some of her clients make more in a month than what I do in a year - how unprofessional is that.

This experience highlights the risks of working with an individual accountant who may let personal emotions interfere with their professional duties. I caution others to consider these factors when choosing MunroFin accounting for their business needs.