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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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.
by Melissa Lange | Oct 7, 2016 | Account On Me, BAS, GST, Payroll, Uncategorized
Important Dates for 2016-2017
These dates are from the Australian Taxation Office, but when lodging with a Registered BAS Agent, like Account On Me Bookkeeping Service you can get extra time to lodge. If you want to get extra time to lodge, contact us today.
Date
|
Obligation
|
| 21 October |
Pay annual PAYG instalment notice |
| Lodge and pay quarterly PAYG instalment Activity Statement |
| Lodge and Pay September monthly activity statement |
|
28 October
|
Lodge and pay BAS for 1st quarter Jul-Sep |
| Lodge and pay Superannuation for 1st quarter Jul- Sep (must use a super clearing house) |
| 21 November |
Lodge and pay October 2016 monthly activity statement |
| 21 December |
Lodge and pay November 2016 monthly activity statement |
| 21 January |
Lodge and pay December 2016 monthly activity statement |
| 28 January |
Lodge and pay Superannuation for 2nd quarter Oct-Dec (must use a super clearing house) |
| 21 February |
Lodge and pay December 2016 monthly business activity statement |
| Lodge and pay January 2017 monthly activity statement |
| 28 February |
Lodge and pay BAS for 2nd quarter Oct – Dec 2016 |
| 21 March |
Lodge and pay February 2017 monthly activity statement |
| 21 April |
Lodge and pay March 2017 monthly activity statement |
| 28 April |
Lodge and pay 3rd BAS for 3rd quarter Jan – Mar 2017 |
| Lodge and pay Superannuation for 3rd quarter Jan – Mar 2017 |
| 21 May |
Lodge and pay April 2017 monthly activity statement |
| 21 June |
Lodge and pay May 2017 monthly activity statement |
| 30 June |
Last day of Financial Year
Super contributions must be paid – to qualify for a tax deduction in the 2016-17 financial year |
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.
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