Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Dont think you'll ve fired but you may take a performance hit. You should present a plan to prevent this from happening in the future. If Dave is the last stop then you need to make sure you put this in his hands or his Admin's hands and followup. Put it on his calendar.
it depends on the company and how fire happy they are. it may be more expensive to replace you. most companies have risk management teams that calculate these sorts of errors and tax attorneys and so on. most also forecast risks and opportunities in their annual plans and stuff. if its a much smaller company that cant afford these sort of mistakes then you may be thrown under the bus and get the ax. just keep you head up, mistakes happen and worst case scenario prepare to move on. good luck.
I just spoke to my friend's mother. She is an HR manager at a large company. I told her the whole story. Her response was, "Looking at it objectively, I would say some of the blame probably does belong to you. You should have put the check request somewhere where it wouldn't have gotten buried. However, the CFO was the one responsible for the end result. I can't see how they could justify laying the blame completely on you."
I'm sorry, how is Dave's messy desk the OP's fault? Dave needs to organize better, especially being the CFO.
The only thing I could say belongs on the OP is not following through. But that's how I work...if I have to rely on someone else to finish the job, I'm up their butts until I know they've done it.
I hate the blame game. Learn from it, and move on. Albeit the ultimate responsibility is the CFO's since this process falls under his area. Can they fire you? Sure, you can get fired for just about anything and everything. Whether or not you WILL be fired is a different question.
Personally, I see this as a process problem rather than a mistake or shortcoming on your part (its not like you mis-calculated the tax or something). So its really just a lessons learned - but I'm not Dave. If I was, I'd examine the procedure - unless the CFO needs to sign the returns or can't actually delegate the actual filing - I don't see why you or Ken can't file them (could there be some deeper trust issues??).
I would agree with the others that this is an opportunity to suggest a change (why is the CFO doing this?). If Dave decides that no changes are necessary, then you need to build some notification steps around what you do (i.e an email indicating that you have submitted your stuff for approval and filing).
I agree that if you cannot hand the papers to Dave personally, then you should e-mail Dave as soon as you put the documents on his desk reminding him that they need his approval. If his desk is messy, make sure the documents are where he can find them. Here are some suggestions:
1. put them in a bright-colored folder that he can immediately see on his desk. Mark the folder URGENT on the front.
2. put the documents on his chair, so that when he comes back to his desk, he will have to move them to sit down.
3. use something like this to put the documents on his desk, so they don't get buried.
I hope you don't get the blame for this. Hopefully there is an appeal process you can go through with the state to forgive or reduce the fine. Just make sure that this doesn't happen again.
I would think the CFO's Admin would actually be doing this type paperwork? Develop a method on documentation and suggest it. If they were gonna fire you it woul have been when it occurred. They di lay blame on you at the time.
"Mike, be careful where you put the check request on Dave's desk. It got buried and he didn't see it until this morning and the return got filed late."
Just show you've given some thought how to address this situation and prevent it from happening again. Protect yourself w/ documentation and confirmation. Good luck on this.
It's hard to predict, but it's also pointless to try.
It sounds as though the OP did everything that was his responsibility and someone above him screwed up. Does that mean the top dog won't kick the responsibility down to the bottom dog? Like that never happens, right?
Still, I would think the most important thing is to see if it's possible to get the penalty waived if this is the first time it's happened. The next most important thing is to document everything you did in case you have to fight a personnel action.
FYI if this is the first time that this has happened you can write the Department of Revenue and seek relief from the penalties... I used to do the same for client's often and many times the IRS would forgive penalties if it was an honest mistake.
When I had important documents for my boss, I always put them in his chair. He didnt like it, but at least they couldnt get lost on his desk.
One nit-picking question: You said "The penalty is 10% of the tax due per day late, and we had $500,000 in NY sales that month." If you had $500,000 in sales, what was the tax amount? And why are you being fined $50,000 when the fine should be 10% of the tax?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
