company | Polymath Programmer

May 14, 2018May 13, 2018

Company bank account closed with a vengeance

My chest started to clench up. My neck and face started to heat up. I was about to lose it.

One hour earlier…

After the final AGM of my company, one of the final processes involved in closing my company was closing the company bank account.

“But it’s just closing the account. You don’t have to do anything. The bank people are the ones doing the work!”

I hear you. But as in some things in life, they’re sometimes complicated for no good reason.

So it was that I arrived in the bank in the mid-morning. I didn’t want to be at the bank at an unearthly early hour, because you know, I just closed my company. I deserve a rest. I also didn’t want to be too late so I could avoid the lunch time crowd.

So I waited for my turn, holding my queue slip and my bank account stuff such as the bank account book and the digital doodads. I was at one of those bank branches in the town area, so the clientele were a little … upper class. There were a lot more people dressed in business attire for instance.

As a final impression, I was dressed in my business casual too, just so the bank staff took me seriously. 🙂

I whiled the time away, with the small amount of bliss in my heart because I’m going to finally be free of this nightmare… And my number was called.

“How may I help you?” the bank staff asked.
“I would like to close my company bank account. Here are the account stuff.” I handed the bank book and doodads to the bank staff.
“Give me a moment and I’ll get back to you.”

I stood at the counter, my mind wandering a little because it’s finally free from worrying about project deadlines, negative profits and the troublesome business partner.

“Hi! Sorry to keep you waiting. The rest of the money in the bank account will be written into a cheque. Please fill in the details of the recipient of the cheque.” She handed me a form. I filled it in, where I’m the recipient of the rest of the bank account money. Long story, maybe I’ll fill you in next time.

“Thank you. There will be a one dollar admin fee for the process. It will be deducted from the bank balance. Are you ok with it?”
“Sure. No problem.”

One dollar wasn’t that big a deal in the grand scheme of things. I continued to wait with that small inexplicable piece of bliss in my heart.

“Hi sir, sorry to keep you waiting. Here’s your cheque.” She handed me the cheque and the receipt of the whole transaction.

“Wait, where is the one dollar admin fee? I can’t find it in the transaction.” I asked.
“Oh that is not printed out.”

Not printed out?!?!

“I need it to be reflected in the transaction list. Can you print it in the transaction receipt?”
“I can’t do that…”
“Can you print out a separate receipt stating that there was an admin fee of one dollar?”
“I can’t do that either…”
“Can I speak to the manager? I need that one dollar printed out somewhere.”

You might think a missing one dollar isn’t a big deal. After all, it’s just one dollar. And at that point, the cheque went to me, it shouldn’t be a problem, right?

Wrong.

I had to bring all that to my accountant so she could do the final financial statement for closing. She had a final number on her end, calculated from when the bank account was created, and then all the way to the end.

And this “end” included this final closing of the bank account. Everything must tally. That missing one dollar was unacceptable.

I don’t care if the admin fee was one dollar or one hundred dollars at that point. I just needed the admin fee reflected somewhere as an official document so I could give to my accountant.

“Hi sir, how can I help you?” The bank manager asked.
“I understand you charge a one dollar admin fee for closing bank accounts. Can you print that one dollar admin fee in a document for me?”
“I’m afraid we can’t do that.”

My chest started to clench up. My neck and face started to heat up. I was about to lose it.

“I really need that one dollar printed out. You can even print it out as a separate piece of paper.”
“I’m sorry. We can’t do that.”
“My accountant needs it. Is there anything you can do?”

After some back and forth, where the bank manager went into their office, probably to confer with an even higher level manager, she came back out again.

“Hi sir, sorry for the trouble. We have decided to simply waive off the admin fee. Here’s the updated print out.” She handed me the transaction list and the updated cheque. Both have the correct figure I was looking for.

“Thank you for your help. Is there anything else you need me to do?” I asked.
“No.”
“Have a nice day.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

I went back to my office and handed the documents to my secretary, who would then hand it to my accountant (the accountant didn’t work for me full-time). I also scanned the cheque addressed to me into an image file, of which was also to be given to the accountant to tally the figures.

Then I left the office and cashed in my cheque. I was *so* done with the day…

When handling money, I suggest taking great care, regardless of whether that money is yours or other people’s.

May 7, 2018May 6, 2018

Closing my company was painful

I never thought closing my company would be such a relief.

Three years ago, about this time of the year, I was preparing the final documents for the very last Annual General Meeting for my company. I was doing so as both the (sole) company director and the CEO. Before that, I had already sent the accountant all the payment receipts, invoices, the company cheque book and other finance related documents for review and to generate the financial statements (to be presented to the stakeholders during the AGM).

The only agenda of the AGM was to accept or reject the closing of the company.

On the fateful day of the AGM, I waited in the appointed room for the other two stakeholders. They were business partners only in name, but legally speaking they were considered stockholders.

There was one particular business partner that I hoped fervently did not appear for the AGM.

When the other business partner arrived, I breathed a small sigh of relief. I needed *this* business partner to appear and that the other business partner to *not* appear.

If at this point you’re thinking that I’m doing some sort of subterfuge, you’re right. I hated to have to do it, but it was necessary because that other business partner had been giving me trouble to no end.

Legally speaking, I needed a majority from the stockholders to approve of the closing of the company before I can proceed to close it. You’d think I have the majority of the stocks but you’d be wrong. I was fairly sure I could convince the amiable business partner to agree, since we’ve already decided beforehand that it was best for the both of us and for the company.

I told my secretary the amiable business partner had arrived. That business partner, my secretary and I waited in the room. 15 minutes passed the appointed time. Half an hour passed the appointed time. I called for the AGM to proceed without all the stockholders present.

I presented to the amiable business partner the financial statements of the company. The partner reviewed the documents, and asked me and my secretary questions, including why the other business partner wasn’t present.

I’m not going to tell you how I managed to get the other business partner to not appear. It’s still painful (even after 3 years) and I hope I never have to do something like that ever again. Well maybe in a future post, I’ll talk about it…

In any case, the amiable business partner agreed to the closing of the company. I closed off the AGM and thanked the business partner for coming. I discussed with my secretary the final document preparation of the closing of the company. Then I left the office.

I don’t remember what I did after that, but I *do* remember the immense weight that was lifted off my shoulders. I might have stood still and shivered. I might have cried a little.

Because it was the first time in a long time that I felt… free.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret running the company. I had to work with the venture capitalist organisation that funded the company project. I had to make payroll (it was sobering to see how much money was draining from the company bank account every month). I learnt to do company taxes and all sorts of company admin work (that only I as the CEO/director could do).

I was also doing consultancy work and running my own private business at the same time. Because I didn’t get paid anything for being the CEO nor being the company director. I was doing the equivalent of three jobs. I had trouble sleeping. I had to sometimes consciously remind myself to breathe because my breaths were so shallow. And my blood boiled every time I thought of that troublesome business partner.

It was not a good way to live.

Next time, I’ll tell you of the heart attack I almost got when the bank closed the company bank account with a final figure that did not tally with that from my accountant.

February 10, 2014May 6, 2018

How to found a company

Just do it.

But jokes aside, the bigger question is not how. It’s why.

[Disclaimer: any information you read here pertains to Singapore laws and regulations. Your country’s laws and regulations might differ.]

I have people emailing me “Wow Vincent, you’re running your own business! That’s totally awesome. I wish I could do something like you did.”

Or “I don’t really have a product to sell.”

Or “I have this small thing that I’m working on, but it’s too early to tell.”

Or “I have a family to take care of.”

Or “I’m scared.”

All perfectly valid reasons. And at some point in time, all of them were applicable to me. And I’m still working for myself now.

Now for the big news. I founded a company! Yay! (ok I co-founded a company, but the circumstantial details are more complex than I’d like it to be. I might talk about it in an email. Sign up on the right side bar [or wherever it might be in case the position is changed]).

So about the how thing. It’s not hard. It’s just frustratingly tedious. Mostly because I don’t know what forms to fill in, in what sequence, and “Is there anything else I need to do because I don’t wanna get sued and go to jail!”.

Also, because I’ve never done it before. Most people will feel scared if they’re doing something they’ve never done before. So they find it frustrating and tedious and moan and groan and go drink a bottle of whiskey and go to bed.

You go to ACRA, come up with a company name, decide on the shares allocated to each share holder (probably decide beforehand and not on the spot), put in share holder details, company official member details, pay ACRA for the registration and you’re done!

There’s also quite a bit of legalese and fine print. Since I don’t want to get sued and go to jail, I read them. You might want to go on the wild side and just skip them. To each his own.

So it’s not so much the how. Find a strong enough reason for why, and you’ll just do it.

By the way, I founded a company! The company name is One North Soft. I have a secret project in the works. Tell you more in future.