Was it a case of imaginative accounting?

So the ‘big’ news everyone is talking about concerns Britain’s largest retailer. With the biggest crisis in its history looming over its head, how on earth did Tesco succumb to a £250m shortfall in its profits? After an apparent ‘whistle-blower’ alerted Tesco’s general counsel their new financial director has been released early from his previous role to deal with the scandal – what a great way to start your new day job! An investigation has been launched and as always the authorities are now monitoring them (why were they not being monitored beforehand?). But was this simply a case of ‘imaginative accounting’ or something more sinister? I wouldn’t like to say so I’ll let you decide.

Well, misleading the public isn’t a good start. I am sure Tesco have their fancy lawyers and are well protected, so will probably [merely] be fined – but how different would it be if it were the small business man. They would probably be treated much harsher and with sterner consequences and could possibly lose their business altogether and its tarnished reputation would hit them a lot harder. Smaller businesses also take much longer to recover; if they can.

Most, if not all SMEs are run by hard-working and law-abiding business people who are focused on running and developing their business and providing good service to their clients – that is a better recipe for success than fancy accounting. Yes of course you need an accountant, but any professionally qualified accountant will be able to work with you in a sensible manner without resorting to imaginative accounting – trust me you don’t need that!

If you like the way we think – you will like the way we work.

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