It's been two weeks since the event in the gallery. Emilia was more serious about her new interest in business. Right now she was reading the book on accounting for hours but she couldn't quite understand the principles without having anything to apply it too. But then she realised. Crimson Tech had public accounts of their taxes and Patrick send her enough of information on their revenues and profits that she should be able to apply her new knowledge on the numbers herself and see if it matches.
She sat down in front of her laptop and opened up the spreadsheet, soon filling it out with set of numbers. She was subconsciously biting her nails when the messaged popped up from Jacob. He apologised for silence and that he was intending to text her straight after the gala dinner, but he still invited her out to dinner. Emilia looked at the message in surprise. She already agreed to see his company in a couple of days as she agreed to it with Grace. After carefully crafting the response and pressing send she returned to her new self-inflicted torture.
"The corporation tax has changed from 1st of April 2023." Emilia read out loud. Her maths didn't math. What she calculated as a tax payment was over 50 million Pounds higher than what Crimson Tech has paid. She didn't understand where she went wrong. She re did all the calculations and she still got the same number. She wanted to bang her head on the table when Patrick called her.
"Hello." She answered the call with a slight exasperation in her voice.
"Good morning, Dr Vincent. Is everything alright?"
"Yeah. I am trying to learn a bit of accounting. I've used Crimson Techs accounts to practice and I am getting the wrong answer over and over again." Emilia vented.
"Accounting? I can get one of the accountants to have a look to see if they can spot what's wrong."
"Really?"
"Certainly. Send it across. Also, next event… you get a choice."
"Oh, go on."
"Classical concert or horse racing."
"Concert."
"You didn't even ask who is playing."
"I rather the concert over any races involving animals."
"I see. I'll send you the invite."
"Thanks."
Emilia send the spreadsheet across and left the house for the day. She was getting fidgety again. She didn't go far. Instead she started walking around the gardens.
Patrick forwarded the spreadsheet to the head of accounting with a clear ask to double check the numbers and provide the feedback. He went on with his day when he received the email back from the head of accounting asking for the meeting. Patrick was confused but agreed to it, meeting the man named Matthew as soon as possible.
"Where did you get this spreadsheet from?" The man asked as he turned pale.
"Ehh… an acquaintance. What's the matter?"
"It-… it's correct."
"What do you mean? Dr Vincent said that she was off from the amount we have actually paid in tax."
"That's true. There was an error. We underpaid the tax. I am investigating it. From the first glance, we counted the changed tax rate from a date later than necessary."
"What?!" Patrick's blood seemed to drain from his face.
"I know. It's good that Home Office didn't audit us yet. They may allow us to rectify the issue without major fines. But… I'm concerned about the public eye as the tax records have been published a few weeks ago now."
"I'll contact the PR department to prepare the statements. I will get finance on the call with you." Patrick said decisively as he rubbed his face in stress. "I'll inform Mr Hayden after the next meeting, although I'm not sure how I will do it without losing my head."
"Yeah." Matthew agreed, hurrying away to action the corrections of their mistake. He was likely to lose his job over a mistake of this magnitude.
Patrick went towards where Christopher Hayden was in the meeting, waiting for him outside.
"What's the problem?" Christopher asked as soon as he came out of the room, noticing Patrick's pale face.
"Everything is under control, sir." Patrick almost whimpered.
"What is it?"
"Well…" Patrick's hands started shaking.
"Speak!"
"We just published our tax information for the past year a few weeks ago. Turns out that there was an error."
"How bad is it?"
"We under paid the taxes by £50 million."
"How did it happen?" Christopher started walking towards his next meeting.
"The profit for 1st of April was counted under the previous rate rather than the new rate."
"Rectify the issue as soon as. Ensure the statement is ready for release and contact Home Office." Christopher sighed. It wasn't the amount that worried him but the impact of it on the image of his company. "I'm guessing we're in trouble with Home Office?"
"No. Not yet."
"No? Then how do you know?"
"Well…" Patrick blushed. "Someone noticed the error and informed me of it."
"Send them to me."
"But sir, they do not work here."
"No? Who was it?" Christopher paused.
"Dr Vincent." Patrick responded automatically. He still had to adjust to using Emilia's married name name. He bit his tongue.
"Emilia?"
"Yes, sir."
Christopher turned around in surprise.
"How?"
"She's been very interested in Crimson Tech and she started reading our public documentation, including our financial declarations and taxation certificates. I don't know how exactly she spotted it, but she called me this morning asking about it. I didn't think much of it, but she send me a spreadsheet and I forwarded it to our accounting team to check it over and they confirmed that her working outs were correct." Patrick was nearly hyperventilating.
Christopher smiled slightly which came across as a smirk.
"It's Dr Hayden, for the future." He corrected Patrick before walking away.
"Dr Hayden." Patrick repeated. "Why does it have to be so complicated?"
Christopher caught up with the actions taken by different teams, soon leading a huge inter-departmental meeting and getting into a huge mess this was causing.
In the mean time, Emilia explored the grounds for the first time, finding bikes in the shed on the side of the manor. She was quick to ask Bernie and the groundskeeper about it, and they both encouraged her to use it. She spend the afternoon cleaning the lovely bike with a cute basket at the front, and brining it up to an usable state.