The final few hours

So the final meeting is over. I ran through what I had done my findings on existing systems and processes and the spreadsheets I had set up for control and reporting. It all was very well received and everyone seems pleased and enthusiastic to implement them. The only real immediate gap is the balance sheet and fixed asset ledger which I have not really tackled. Due in part to lack of time but also because I just don’t know what assets they have and how they have managed or recorded them in the past. They do have someone that comes in once a quarter to pull together so called Management Accounts and that does have a balance sheet on it and depreciation, but nobody is very sure where he gets the numbers from. In fact, given what I found on the accounts so far and the difficulty I had getting to the bottom of 3 months worth of expenditure, I am not sure where he gets any of the numbers and I am pretty sure he is not reflecting the cash that the guys donate themselves ‘unofficially’. I have suggested that Vivian is perfectly capable of producing the management accounts. Which just leaves us to sort out the balance sheet – I am hoping I can wrap that one up remotely once I get back home.


Jedone said he was very pleased and that I had obviously approached it like an audit, which I can assure you, was entirely unintentional as I had never done an audit in my accounting life!!! I had to say as I ran through my findings and all the spreadsheets I had set up I did for the first time actually think I had done not bad after all and, yes I do believe I have helped move them forward. Only the first little step, but we got there.

I had my little gift giving ceremony after that. I had bought a selection of items over from Scotland, all with a Scottish theme, and all wrapped up in tartan paper. It was like Christmas, with everyone opening up their presents and having fun. Especially asking me how you said some of the Scottish dialect written on some of the items – like the ‘Things tae dae’ notepad!! I had tartan ties for both Jedone and Gideon which they seemed well pleased with. And I gave Vivian the little teddy bear dressed up in a kilt with bagpipes that play a tinny version of Scotland the Brave, which seemed appropriate given we have had several conversations about men in kilts. I don’t think they get the concept over here, so I guess I just need to get a bunch of Scottish guys in their kilts over to convert them!! Although I don’t think either Scotland or Zambia are ever going to qualify in any major sporting event that will bring the guys and kilts out in force!!

Must get back to my last few hours of form filling and work. Can’t believe I won’t be here in this office tomorrow. It is raining really heavily again, so I may get flooded in for one final time.

Oh, gave the ladies at the reception desk in the office where I used their facilities every day one of the gifts - some Scottish fudge. It was the least I could do under the circumstances. Think they were pleased, but then they hadn’t tasted the fudge yet!!