h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Heh, as if But that's what one of my closest colleagues jokingly suggested when I finally cracked the mystery of the great VAT differences.

See, when the company you w*rk for ends up no. 2 on the list of the '2011 list of the 100 companies with biggest turn-over in the hotel and restaurant business' (only bested by McDs) VAT is a thing of importance.

Every third or fourth year, Skatteverket (think IRS) hits us with a audit of some kind. And I'm the one usually ending up with the task of delivering all the information they ask for *sighs as last time it took several days of just creating the data files*

And we've been having this problem with incomes not matching the VAT they should have generated. Last year, a difference of 26 million SEK in revenue. So not a small thing.

And this week, I finally cracked it. Hah! Analyzing the figures from a different point of view compared withothers who had tried before me.

Left with a much smaller difference, I managed to crack that one too

I totally agree with the intelligence test I took several years ago that told me I'm best at 'abstract analysis'.

Wow, clever you!

I always joke with my staff that I 'm going to look at the figures sideways on - as you say, sometimes you can spot something previously overlooked.

What was it, if you're allowed to reveal?

Well, in Sweden, we have six hotels that aren't part of the company - five on franchise contract and one on management contract (which I've no idea what that means).

Turns out we register the result (including sales) of the management contract hotel as part of the main company's revenue, but they still report their VAT as a separate company.

That was the big nut.

The smaller nut was that one of our hotels that don't have a restaurant of their own cooperates with a local restaurant situated nearby, where the hotel guests can use their 'bonus coupons'.

Registered as a discount (lowering the revenue) but sans VAT.

y enough for you, Sir Bea?

Each hotel has a unit number and, instead of focusing on a time period, or speficic kind of revenue, I split the hotels up in unit number intervals (1-10) comparing the differences between each interval.

And bingo! The interval that contained the unit number for the management hotel showed a considerably bigger difference than the other intervals - and in the opposite way, at that.

Congratulations, you have every right to be smug

Brilliant!

Its amazing the way that data tells a story. I was at a fraud course yesterday, where they were demo-ing some new analytical software. One of the fraud indicators that it could pull out was purchasing transactions that had been processed on a Sunday.

That's outstanding Ti! Go you!

I managed to fix the coffee machine in the office the other day - and they didn't offer me the rest of the year off! ...

That's a pretty amazing talent you've got there!

Whisky, they should have made you at least 'hero of the day' - a day at the office without coffee?

Oh, and Baron Grim, I'm going to steal that smiley combo

I was rather happy with that combo.

You should be a forensic accountant, Ti.

I practice Zen accountancy.

Is that like navigating Dirk Gently style?

re 9:

Whisky, you're doing it wrong. People able to fix coffee machines will NEVER be allowed to leave for holidays

- like ever!