Schonwit & Associates Cpas

Schonwit & Associates served as the Inspector of Election for the Board of my HOA in early 2015. We are at the beginning of a major capital improvement program and the election was contentious as homeowners were not happy with how that was progressing.
Schonwit hurried to count the ballots so the results could be announced during the annual meeting, failed to properly post the total counts to the summary sheet, and gave incorrect results. Homeowners at the meeting immediately commented that the vote totals were too low given that a quorum had been reached, but the results stood.
Fifteen hours later, Schonwit discovered and rectified the mistake which changed the finishing order of the candidates. The top four were elected and the incumbent who thought he had finished fourth and retained his seat dropped to fifth.
We received a letter from Schonwit explaining the error, the steps taken to correct it, and an apology, but it was too late. A recall was started, alleging all manner of ‘behind closed doors’ shenanigans, and since then it has been a barrage of ill will and character assassination.
We received another letter from Schonwit defending the firm’s performance, but all I could think was how could a CPA not build some error-​checking into his processes and spreadsheets. The failure to do so opened the door to the terrible situation we are in.
Twenty-​seven people signed a recall petition and 102 people voted to recall the Board, wiping out the 801 votes cast in the original election. We now have a new Board made up of the incumbents leading the capital improvement project and a bunch of newcomers. The three incumbents who were midway through their terms chose not to run in the subsequent election if the recall succeeded. The Board has lost much of its continuity as well as the confidence of many homeowners. It’s hard to imagine that this will turn out well.