Bookkeeping | Account On Me Business Services

How often do I need to do my bookwork?

by Melissa Lange | Nov 3, 2016 | Account On Me, BAS, Bookkeeping, GST, Information, Payroll, Tips & Tricks

I get asked this question quite a bit and it all depends on your own circumstances, but good financial management from the beginning is essential so that you can work efficiently and you know how your business is performing.

Here are a few tips to help you:

Schedule a couple of hours each week or fortnight (depending on the size of your business) into your calendar or diary to do invoicing, pay bills, payroll (if you have any) and follow up unpaid accounts. If you are using an accounting program you could reduce that time.

At the start of the month schedule some extra time in to reconcile your bank account(s), credit card(s), process superannuation and BAS/IAS (if required monthly) and prepare your reports to see how your business is performing (eg Profit & Loss Statement, Balance Sheet).

If you report the superannuation and BAS/IAS on a quarterly basis then allow time each quarter to prepare these.

It is important to open a business bank account, so that you can keep your business and personal transactions separate.

End of year (EOY) requirements – your accountant or bookkeeper will usually send through a checklist of tasks that are required to be done and provided to them to process the tax return.

Setup some procedures to help keep on top of things. We can assist with setting up the procedures or provide the templates to help.

By following these steps, it will decrease the state of overwhelm because you have put off doing you bookwork for so long and there is so much to catch up on. Even if you miss a week, at least it’s not months.

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Records you need to keep

by Melissa Lange | Oct 27, 2016 | Account On Me, BAS, Bookkeeping, GST, Information, Payroll, Tips & Tricks

I asked the question this week “What are some things you wish you knew about bookkeeping in your business when starting up, or if new to business the things you want to know?” I got a great response and I thought I would address some of these in a series of blog posts, so here is the first instalment. The most popular response was what records to keep and for how long, so that’s where I’ll start.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) advises that by law your records must explain all transactions, be in writing (electronic or paper), be in English (or a form that can be easily converted) must be kept for 5 years, but there are circumstances that you will need to keep records for longer. The records you keep are what you use to help prepare your business activity statement (BAS), annual income tax return and to meet other tax obligations. Listed below are the records you need to keep:

Income and sales records – this is a record of all income and sales transactions, including tax invoices, receipt books, cash register tapes and records of cash sales.
Expense and purchase records – this is a record of all expenses, including cash purchases. These records include receipts, tax invoices, cheque book receipts, credit card vouchers and diaries to record small cash expenses.
Year-end records – these include lists of creditors (suppliers you owe money to) or debtors (customers that owe you money), expenses you incur buying, maintaining, repairing and selling business assets or stock.
Bank records – banking records can include things like deposit slips, cheque butts or payment records, bank and credit card statements and loan or lease agreements. If you are a sole trader it is recommended to keep your business and personal records separately to make your records easier to manage, whilst partnerships, companies and trusts separate bank accounts are mandatory.

Other records you may need to keep:

Goods and services tax records – if you are registered for GST
Fuel tax records – if eligible to claim fuel tax credits your records must show the fuel purchased, used the fuel in your business and apply the correct rate when calculating how much you can claim
Employee and contractor records – if you have workers you will need to keep records tax file number (TFN) declarations, wages, allowances and other payments you make to them, tax you withhold from payments you make to them, contributions to their superannuation, fringe benefits (FBT) you provided and contracts

There is plenty of resources out there to assist you like Business South West or the ATO’s Record Keeping Evaluation Tool and I am always happy to do a Free Health Check on your existing business.

Invoices – What You Need to Include

by Melissa Lange | Oct 6, 2016 | Account On Me, Bookkeeping, GST, Information

As bookkeepers we see a lot of invoices and sometimes they do not have the correct information or can be confusing. I recently came across an invoice that had a due date which was seven days after the invoice date and then further down the invoice it had “Payment Terms Strictly 21 Days”. So which is it 7 or 21 days? If you want to be paid on time you need to be very clear on your payments terms.

Here is what the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) advises your invoices should contain:

your business name
your Australian Business Number (ABN)
the words “Tax Invoice” if you are registered for GST, otherwise “Invoice” if not registered for GST
an invoice number
amount of the sale
amount of GST
nature of the goods or services sold
date of sale
date of document
the purchaser’s identity or ABN (for invoices over $1000)

A couple of other details that would be helpful on your invoices for your customers:

Your contact details, either a phone or email address – so that if your customer has a question regarding your invoice they can contact you when they receive it
Payment terms and bank details – make it clear what your payment terms are and include your bank details

With this information included you would be more likely to get paid on time.

For more information you can check out the ATO website or contact us if you would like assistance setting up your invoice give us a call on 9754 6572.

How Shoeboxed Helped Us Become a Paperless Office

by Melissa Lange | Sep 12, 2016 | Account On Me, Add-Ons, Bookkeeping, GST, Information, MYOB, Shoeboxed, Software, Xero

Over the past twelve months we have been using Shoeboxed to help us with our goal of becoming a paperless office (along with our favourite piece of equipment in the office – the Scansnap). Don’t get me wrong there is always going to be paper in the office, but we have reduced the amount that we have.

There is a great integration between Shoeboxed, Dropbox and Xero that helps our business to flow seamlessly. All you have to do is save the invoices in your Shoeboxed account (either by email to your unique address, save it into the Dropbox upload folder or drag and drop into Shoeboxed) when it has been processed by Shoeboxed check the details are correct, it will send the invoices as a Draft Purchase into Xero for you to approve and pay and then backup the invoices into a backup folder in Dropbox. It also works for MYOB online versions in the same way, but the desktop version requires you to import the information in.

Security is always a factor and they are dedicated to the security of your information and use strong SSL encryption (the same stuff banks use) to keep your information secure and private. They are also ATO compliant, so if you face an audit any time, simply export and submit your documents quickly and easily.

As an Australian owned and operated business, they are all about supporting local businesses and are committed to helping disadvantaged job seekers (mums seeking flexible work hours, students and long term unemployed) find and remain in work.

If you have had enough of all the paper in your office, email us today and we can assist you in getting underway.

Have you heard about TSheets?

by Melissa Lange | Sep 4, 2016 | Add-Ons, Bookkeeping, Payroll, Software, TSheets, Uncategorized, Xero

TSheets is a cloud based product that you can keep track of staff hours, rosters and client jobs and then use this information to send invoices to customers. We have recently started using TSheets at Account On Me, there are so many features that we have barely touched the surface.

Let’s start with the time tracking – staff can track time wherever they are, if they are working remotely or they are mobile, moving from job to job. This can be done in 5 different ways, which are:

Using the iPhone and Android apps which can be used online or offline and employees can easily clock in and out of jobs and you can also use the GPS;
There is also the TSheets crew app for iPhones and Androids which allows you to group staff together to clock them in and out in one click;
For the international tracking there is Twitter using 140 characters or less;
There is also GPS Time Tracking, this enables you to track where your employees are and allocate to a job in their area;
The final way is using the TSheets Touch Web app, this is for Windows 8 or Blackberry users to clock in and out, change jobs.

Or you can clock in/out with the desktop or laptop, by text messaging or dial in.

Another great feature is the rostering/scheduling – you can use this to prepare rosters for your staff or schedule jobs and tasks to staff so they are prepared for the day. It’s simple to use and easy to edit and if staff have the app on their phone they will be notified of any changes.

TSheets will help with the setup, so if you are interested in trying TSheets out, you can sign up for a free 14 day trial here.

Xero

by Melissa Lange | Aug 26, 2016 | Add-Ons, Bookkeeping, Information, Software, Uncategorized, Xero

Why I Love Xero

There are so many accounting packages (Xero, MYOB, Quickbooks, Reckon, to name a few) these days. Xero would have to be my favourite accounting system that I have used in the nearly 20 years in the industry, like anything there are pros and cons (no phone support would be the biggest, but they are quick to get back to you via email).

So I thought I will go through some of my favourites (there are so many more and I would be here forever if I went through them all!!!).

My number one favourite with Xero is that there is absolutely no software to be installed, you open up your preferred web browser (I use Chrome or Firefox as Internet Explorer was very slow to operate and run). Then all you do is login and away you go, it can be accessed from anywhere as long as you have internet access. You can also download the Xero app to invoice on the go. Please make sure you setup a 2-Step Authentication for added security.

The second favourite is how easy Xero is to use, although I do recommend you spend a bit of time going through the free instructional videos at Xero U. Or even spend a few hours with an experienced advisor, like myself to provide you with some training to help you use Xero to its full potential. We were recently contacted by a new business owner and I have spent a few hours going through the basics because they wanted to get it right from the beginning, which we love to see.

Finally, there are no more software updates. All updates for tax tables, superannuation rates and general software updates are done by Xero automatically behind the scenes. No more having to process the superannuation, payment summaries and closing a financial year.

So, if you are in the market for an easy to use and effective accounting system we can assist you with the setup, training and continued support. Phone us today on 9754 6572, send an email to info@accountonme.com.au or message us on Facebook.

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By Melissa Lange, 26 August 2016

How often do I need to do my bookwork?

Records you need to keep

Invoices – What You Need to Include

How Shoeboxed Helped Us Become a Paperless Office

Have you heard about TSheets?

Xero

Why I Love Xero

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