Client Reviews of Kathy Marciniak, CPA

So I'll just start at the beginning of my working "relationship" with Kathy. At first I thought she was going to be the answer to my prayers for a good accountant / bookkeeper. We agreed that she was going to do my monthly bookkeeping and then my taxes when they came due. The next few months were a little odd because I never received an invoice from her for the monthly bookkeeping, I had to actually reach out a couple of times and inquire about the bills and where we were at accounting wise. She said that everything was going good and that she would "try" and get me a monthly invoice, which never happened. Before 2021 taxes were finalized, I called for some advice about buying a new truck for my business. I needed to know what my tax obligation looked like before I purchased the truck. She told me a dollar amount and based off that information I purchased the vehicle. When it came time to sign off on the taxes my tax obligation went up almost $6000. I called and asked her why and how they went up so much in such a short period of time. Her response was that they need to re-categorize some things and that they were giving me 100% credit for business meals, she said that I was only allowed to claim 50%. (Which is not true for tax years 2021 and 2022, the Federal Government was allowing 100% deduction for those two years due to Covid.) I bit my tongue and moved on. Still not receiving any monthly invoices other than what I owed for the tax preparation. Reached out multiple times throughout 2022 and was told by one of Kathy's employees that they needed monthly bank statements or access to my bank account on-line. Which I gave them a log-in for my bank. This employee received it and logged on, confirming that it was all they needed. Again, months go by and no contact or invoices. We are now in 2023. I am now an LLC filing as an S-corp (per Kathy's recommendation), so I'm assuming that it's important to stay on top of things. I reached out again to Kathy and inquired about the invoicing and where things were at with the accounting. She responded with "You were supposed to get us access to your bank last year and you never have, so nothing has been done". Never mind that I got them access in the beginning of 2023 and have the email chain with her employee verifying as such. She then said that she was mistaken and would look into it. A week goes by and all of a sudden she emails me asking about my S-corp application, wondering if it was approved. I told her yes and that her employee was aware of it as well at the beginning of 2023. She then proceeds to throw together my taxes for 2022 and tells me to sign them, "they need to be filed by September 15th." She had questions about some debits in the business account but never received the answer to those due to the fact I thought we had until October 15th to file. She just moved everything to "supplies" and threw the tax forms together. I sent her an email listing my concerns about how things have gone up to this point and was looking for some answers. She filed the taxes and quit. Now I have NO idea what has been done or what NEEDS to be done. I'm now in the race to find another accountant that can come in and clean up her mess. By the way, that truck I bought? I had to sell it immediately for a $2500 loss. This "accountant" has potentially cost me thousands of dollars by leaving me high and dry the way she did. My next step, filing a complaint with the Oregon Board of Accountancy. If you're in the market for a new accountant, go somewhere else.

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