Last week, I signed a resignation letter.
From a newly appointed client.

Our associate had done their accounts before we came in for audit and tax compliance.
Something felt fishy.
I called my associate.

She said:
“Bro, the client wants to cook the book lah.”
“Loss-making to profit-making.”
“For bank loan.”

I asked her: “You can do or not?”
She said:
“I also want to help him.
But under e invoice era still can do cowboy?”

Many SME bosses still think this is zaman dulu.
Last time, maybe you can adjust here, move there, explain later.

Today?
Different game already.

A few years back in GST era.
IRB walked into a client’s office.
Said very politely:
“We would like to see your audit trail in SQL.”
Not your P&L.
Not your tax return.

Your audit trail in your accounting software.
Every entry. Every edit. Every deletion.
The date. The time. The user ID.

The officer pointed at the screen.
“This entry deleted. 11:47pm. Sunday night.”
“This entry came right before you lodged your report to SSM.”
“Can you explain?”

That was 2017.
Today, e-Invoicing is live.

Every invoice goes through LHDN. Real time.
Your record must tally with your buyer’s record.

MITRS is here.
Your tax software talks directly to IRB.
P&L. Balance sheet. Tax worksheet. Submitted digitally.
The system remembers everything.
Everything.

IRB asks for soft copy of your ledger.
Not PDF. The actual accounting file.
They import it. They run their own analysis.

One funny journal entry, they will find it.
One big transaction entry in director account, they will question it

Worse still, IRB hired many ex-colleagues from our industry.
Ex-auditors. Ex-tax agents.
They know every trick.
Because they used to sit on your side of the table.

So when my client said:
“Just cook a bit only lah, who will know?”
They thought about zaman dulu.

I picked up my pen.
Signed the resignation letter.
Passed it across the table.

25 years in audit and tax.
I have seen this saga before.
I know how it ends.