I had my meeting with the accountant tonight to go over the final accounts for the business. The following facts emerged;

1. I billed over £2 for every £1 my partner billed.

2. The accountant says on that ratio there is no way I should accept 50% responsibility for the losses.

3. The business was "amazing" according to the accountant. If we had stayed open a full year we would have surpassed our business plan targets. The accountant remarked that this was also set against the worst general economic climate for nearly 100 years.

I don't know how to feel about it though.

3. The business was "amazing" according to the accountant. If we had stayed open a full year we would have surpassed our business plan targets. The accountant remarked that this was also set against the worst general economic climate for nearly 100 years.

Now dont be negative, everyone knows this rcession is being fuel by the media,to sell more papers etc.

What are yopu like at claiming compensation for a kid who was locked in a car and got attackedd by another kid, who just happened to have a car jack handy.

For your question above best to see a solicitor

Well you can stop beating yourself up for a start.

If nothing else, at least you know you did your bit to make a go of it - maybe you should consider trying again when the market returns?

You're going to have to accept a solution acceptable to the lazy scrote though or fight a losing battle through the courts which as he's a solicitor himself could be a nightmare.

I'd "feel" I should go through it with my wife and ask if she would back me trying again without a partner, taking on people as employees if the work load got too much. It's amazing how hard you can work and enjoy it when it's your own business.

I might give it another go when the housing market picks up.

I think Nobby has the sense of it. I was beating myself up that I had done something really stupid in starting the business. I could not see where I had gone wrong.

The accountant says at that disparity in billing it should not be a 50 50 split. Being a lawyer myself I put a clause in the dissolution agreement that the accountant would have the final say on the split of liabilities. Foresight?

Proves one thing, proves you got a big brass pair.

Most of us sit around, dreaming dreams and plotting our success...you went out and did it and there's nothing stopping you doing it again when the time is right.

Credit to you, both on your work rate and the foresight of that clause. The partnership failed, not you. So keep your options open but maybe give yourself some breathing room by doing something else for a time.

Your recent posts have mentioned being pulled every which way for things you don't value, I'd still say it's the time to streamline that part of your life.

Give yourself a big pat on the back and start feeling positive about yourself again .

Cheers BHB. I spotted this on the other channel and it his a note with me:

      "  It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. "

EDIT

Thanks to Nick as well.