My list of Covid small business accounting horror stories is down to just three remaining open and unresolved:
1) A bank that extended a PPP loan application to 4 1/2 months and still counting; apparently due solely to lack of internal process control. I follow up with them every two to three days. All involved are appalled at the lack of ‘take ownership’ attitude at the bank. The last comment by the executive director was “you can’t make this stuff up”.
2) A credit union that mishandled a ACH funds transfer and SBA has not corrected the error 40 days later. At one point I was advised by all four parties involved (business, SBA, receiving bank, state investigator) to submit a police report in the suspicion of fraud. It isn’t fraud, just mishandling but I do think that maligned action was involved at some point in the process. SBA says there is nothing I can do to speed up their internal process of investigating and correcting the error. As of today, SBA says there is no timeline to their correction of the error; that they are so overloaded that it is simply “first come, first served” basis of customer service.
3) An S corporation owner with health issues (both physical and cognitive) was “trapped” at a west coast resort for months past his planned winter getaway and still doesn’t have things caught up after recently returning home to the east coast. We won’t likely meet his tax filing deadline today so I may need to appeal assessed penalties.
Collectively I have easily more than 100 hours of wasted unpaid time in these three cases since April.
Besides these three issues, we are well aware that at least a third of all small businesses, including my clients, will not have the cash required to meet minimal operating requirements for the year ahead. Some, like my Baysave company, have already planned to transition to a partially non-cash operating system for 2021.
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