Category: Case Studies

When Old Tom passed his assets to his two nieces, the estate consisted of a velvet cushion, 14 bottle caps, a comb and a half share in a chair. Both nieces claimed the cushion. A third niece, previously unknown, appeared on the porch holding a letter.

The letter was a menu. We nonetheless treated it as a claim and reviewed it with the same care as a will. It was found invalid on the grounds that it listed fish only, and Old Tom disliked fish.

The cushion was split by weight and alternate weeks. The chair was valued at $9 and sold to a neighbour. The bottle caps remain with us and are held in a drawer that we are not at liberty to open.

Three cats in Unit 4B shared one litter tray and no accounting. Over fourteen months a dispute arose over who had bought the last bag of clumping gravel, a matter of $11.49 and considerable strain.

We reviewed the household’s cash flow and found that the tray had been funded unevenly: Biscuit 60 percent, Noodle 30 percent, and Clementine 10 percent, with Clementine using the tray 55 percent of the time.

We proposed a usage based cost split and a quarterly settlement. Clementine objected. She left the meeting early, which we have recorded as acceptance of the principle and a rejection of the amount.

Mrs. Biscuit, a ginger shorthair of fourteen, came to us with 31 pounds of kibble hidden in a laundry basket, four wardrobes and one boot. She was concerned it would be taxed as hoarded inventory.

Our analysis found that the stockpile was a contingency reserve, a recognised accounting concept, provided it is disclosed. We recorded the kibble at cost of $1.12 per pound, set up a reserve account of $34.72 and gave the boot its own sub ledger.

Mrs. Biscuit is now fully compliant. She has asked us not to mention that she ate the entire boot reserve in September. We have recorded it as a loss on discontinued operations.