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Business Activity Statements (BAS), for business owners reporting quarterly, are due on 28 July 2009.

For many small business owners, and especially for their bookkeepers, July is always a busy time of year around Ormeau, Yatala, Coomera, Eagleby and Beenleigh.

With end of financial year reporting, together with reporting of the 01 April to 30 June quarter BAS due 28 July, businesses that are behind in their paperwork can struggle under extra pressure that they really do not need – contact our Ormeau, Yatala, Coomera, Eagleby and Beenleigh bookkeeping service today for help with your BAS

Cash flow has certainly tightened up in the economy. As bookkeepers, we’ve seen that invoice payments are being dragged out longer and longer, as suppliers wait to be paid by customers, and service providers wait to be paid by their clients.

Some small business owners use their GST money as cash-flow for their business, forgetting that these GST funds are monies collected by the business on behalf of the federal government – then they seem shocked that they have no cash to pay what’s owing on their BAS lodgement

The phone’s been ringing as desperate business owners in a panic wanting our Ormeau, Yatala, Coomera, Eagleby and Beenleigh bookkeeping service to help with their MYOB and Quickbooks files. In most cases, they can simply email us the files and we’ll have a look at their reporting and can generally work out where the problems are within a short time

One lady contacted our Ormeau, Yatala, Coomera, Eagleby and Beenleigh bookkeeping service after spending two days trying to reconcile her Quickbooks bank accounts. We had a look at her file and solved the problem in 35 minutes. Look at the time and stress she would have saved if she had contacted our bookkeeping company when she first noticed that there was a problem

As a small business owner we encourage you to focus on what you do best, and we’ll do the rest – contact our Ormeau, Yatala, Coomera, Eagleby and Beenleigh bookkeeping service today for help with your BAS

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Is your bookkeeping upto date for your tax return? July and August are busy months for many registered tax agents – as individuals hurry to lodge their income tax returns in the hope that they’ve been paying too much PAYG tax and hope to get a tax refund.

This time of year brings many enquiries for our bookkeeping service. The main questions are, for a basic Tax Return: “How Long, and How Much Fees?”

Stroll through any large shopping centre, and you’ll see that centre management have rented out the floor space in the middle of the mall to tax agents who’ve set themselves up like a fast-food outfit.

Wham, Bham, thank you, ma’am, and it’s all over!

Get ‘em in, sit ‘em down, fill in a form, and click a button …. Gone!!

We get quite a few enquiries from individuals, on a salary, with little expenses that they can claim, so their tax return is very straight forward. We are not registered Tax Agents and cannot advise / lodge tax returns on their behalf.

Normally if you go to a shopping centre you’ll most likely find a registered tax agent – they’ll most likely set up a table at this time of year, and be sitting with their laptop waiting for the next customer to come along – costs about $100 and takes about 20 minutes, with about 3 or 4 weeks to get answer from ATO

Some of these tax agents only operate for a few months of the year, specifically to help individuals with their tax returns.

Small business owners may find that the service offered by these quick-fix-tax-return booths are not set up to handle your needs, and that’s where a mobile bookkeeping service such as ours can be of great benefit to you

As bookkeepers, we can help with any bookkeeping requirements you may have, so please feel free to contactour Ormeau, Yatala, Coomera, Eagleby and Beenleigh bookkeeping service today for help with your bookkeeping setup

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The Rudd Government is helping small businesses with the Small Business and General Business Tax Break. How does this help your small business?

The package is such that small businesses can claim a bonus 50 per cent tax deduction for eligible assets costing more than $1,000 acquired from 13 December 2008 until 31 December 2009, and installed ready for use by 31 December 2010.

To benefit from this Tax Break a small business must have a turnover of less than $2.0 million a year.

Forget the tax break, shop at your locally owned store

This may look good on paper, but unless you actually need to make any investment in capital purchases such as motor vehicles or equipment, how does it actually help small business?

It certainly helps large businesses – the suppliers of motor vehicles, national stationary / office equipment suppliers, hardly normal electical chain stores and the like, but how does it help you, the small business owner in Robina or Burleigh?

Speaking to an accountant of one of our bookkeeping clients recently, he said that whilst the incentive looks very rosy, you should actually look at the costs involved in the purchase of a new vehicle.

Taking all things into consideration for this particular client, the client was going to be worse off purchasing a new vehicle compared to finding a cheaper second-hand vehicle

Unless you want to buy some equipment, it seems that the Rudd government is doing little to REALLY help small business. It’s helped the Big Four Banks with it’s bank guarantee. It’s helped the Big Supermarkets by scrapping the consumer price-choice website so that it’s harder to see that consumers are being ripped off.

The Australian Government and State Governments are helping the construction industry by announcing massive infrastructure packages – contracts that will be doubtless won by Big Construction Companies

So what can the small business owner to benefit from the Rudd Government’s stimulus packages?

Many small business owners are understandably looking to save money wherever they can, believing that’s the only way that they can increase their income.

Yet at the sametime, they also want to increase their turnover by attracting more customers or upselling existing customers. Small business should support small-to-medium enterprise (SME), a concept that the Australian Federal Government seems to fail to comprehend.

Why do small business owners have a problem with supporting other small-to-medium enterprises?

Many small business owners support the Big Supermarkets by buying all their groceries to take advantage of the shopper dockets to get discount fuel.

Instead of supporting small independent green-grocers or butchers, those same clients, rather than paying a few cents more (perhaps) for fuel from independent service station operators support the Big Service Station chains

Those same small business owners are the first to complain that potential customers are going to the large companies or multi-nationals instead of shopping from them

Maybe we should stop pointing the finger at other people, and start asking ourselves, why do small businesses have a problem trading with other small businesses?

Do large companies really care about the local Yatala, Coomera, Eagleby or Beenleigh business owner? Not when the head office is in Sydney, Melbourne or even overseas

The positive effect on the local economy would be far wider reaching than all of those small business owners that continue to support large companies who are only interested in making huge profits for their shareholders (many of whom are large multi-nationals themselves).

Go shopping at your local independantly owned business, take business away from large corporations and bring back competition to the market place – you’ll be helping the local econmy whch will in-turn help your own small business. It’s a short term cost for a long term gain.

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Bookkeeping for the end of the financial year should be well organised before 30 June 2009

Each year many small business owners around Ormeau, Yatala, Coomera, Eagleby and Beenleigh,South East Queensland, Australia don’t start reviewing theirr finances until after 30 June, potentially missing opportunities to reduce their tax while building wealth. (more…)

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There are business owners around Yatala and Ormeau who are young enough to have missed the tough times of the last recession, and you may not be prepared for what’s around the corner. That’s when business owners start relying heavily on their bookkeeper.

When business gets tough, where’s your bookkeeper?

If you don’t have a book keeper, then now’s the time to get a contract bookkeeping service to come in and get your accounts upto date. We’re not saying that just because we’re bookkeepers.

We’ve had a couple of Oxenford clients expressing concern about slow paying clients, or even clients that are unable to pay their bills. So when business gets tough, where’s your bookkeeper?

If you don’t have a bookkeeper that’s keeping a close track of your income / expenditure, you could soon find yourself in trouble financially. Clients that may well have always paid their invoices within 30 days start stretching them out to 60 days. Sixty day accounts become 90 days. Three months roll into four months

Worst still, suddenly the door closes on your client’s business, and you are left out of pocket. AS chance would have it, your small business is the one that probable needs the money the most, and tends to be the one at the back of the queue if and when there’s any money being handed out to creditors.

You may have a copy of an accounting software package such as Quickbooks or MYOB sitting on a shelf in your office collecting dust. You may even have the software installed on your computer, and have been struggling working out how to operate the thing.

Don’t delay any longer

We’ve noticed an increase in clients contacting us to get their 2006 – 2007 tax returns upto date. Rather than burying their heads in the sand, they’ve picked up the phone and called us or emailed us to get their bookwork sorted out.

You can email us your quickbooks or MYOB date files. You can put them in an express bag, or we can organise to have our of our mobile bookkeeping team come round and get all your paperwork sorted out on your premises

So when business gets tough, you’re not the ones who’ll miss out with unpaid invoices. Before business gets tough, contact us to become your bookkeepers

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Are you struggling to complete your BAS form?

No sooner have we finished lodging BAS for the December Quarter, to find the January – March 2009 Quarter will soon be due. Contact us for HELP

Quarterly BAS
Most businesses submit quarterly, and the 1 January – 31 March 2009 (Quarter 3) BAS is due 28 April 09 for lodgment and payment with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

A new client contacted us out of desperation. Struggling to prepare all the documentation for the Business Activity Statement, she could not get the figures to balance.

We suggested she email us the MYOB data file, so that we could get a clearer understanding of where she was at with her bookwork. Contact us for HELP with your BAS

“I had trouble with my MYOB files and contacted Carol and her team and they were just excellent.
They listened and then explained what they could do to help.
Everything was done speedily, efficiently and most of all cost effectively.
They emailed me how to send my files and worked on them that day!
Most of all “they listen” and don’t treat you like a dummy!
It got me out of a potentially tricky situation and literally saved the day!
Thanks Carol.
Liz Bird, Perth WA”

Monthly BAS
If your business submits the (BAS) Business Activity Statement monthly, then 21 March 09 was the due date for lodgement and payment of the February 2009 monthly activity statements

Superannuation Guarantee Contributions
Also on that date are due the Quarter 3 Superannuation guarantee contributions (1 January -31 March) contributions to be made to the fund by this date.

If you are struggling to complete your BAS form, contact our team of Ormeau Bookkeepers for HELP

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The importance of Book keeping: Here’s 10 Tips to help small businesses in and around Ormeau, Yatala, Coomera, Eagleby and Beenleigh, South Brisbane, Australia, to manage your cash flow

Bookeeping is an important part of any small business

Bookeeping is an important part of any small business – whilst it is historical, in recording past transactions of money coming into and going out of your business, book-keeping can also help with managing the cash flow of your business

Whilst world leaders have a money-tree policy to create cash, the average small business owner has limited opportunities when cash flow gets very tight, as in the present economy.

Contractors in the building industry can quickly run up large accounts with builders and developers, and forget that even large companies can fall over in a recession.

On Australia’s Gold Coast a large property developer has collapsed with millions of dollars debt, and often the sole tradesman or small business owner is at the bottom of the food chain, even though they are the ones that need the cash the most, not the Banks or Finance Companies

Our bookkeeping team of mobile freelance bookkeeprs have put together ten tips to help you manage your cash flow:

1. As bookkeepers, we’re amazed by businesses that issue invoices with no specific payment date or credit terms. There’s nothing wrong in specifying the date on which you expect payment – after all, don’t the utility companies do just that on the invoices they send you?

2. Why not issue the invoice the day that you provide the goods / services, rather than waiting until the end of the week, fortnight, or month? Some business owners choose to issue their invoices monthly, knowing their creditors only issue payments monthly

3. There’s been a recent trend, again with utility companies, to offer an incentive to pay early, such as giving a discount. Notice that in reality they are adding a penalty for late payment rather than a discount

4. Ask your customer for a deposit in advance, particularly if they are requesting a high ticket item that you have to purchase from your supplier before receiving payment from your customer
(more…)

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Bookkeeping records the flow of money in and money coming out of your business. A fundamental factor of any healthy small businesses in and around Ormeau, Yatala, Coomera, Eagleby and Beenleigh, South Brisbane, Australia, is whether there is more money flowing in, than is flowing out.

Tracking the flow of money in and out of your business occurs through the recording of each transaction by the person responsible for your bookkeeping. Contact us NOW and we’ll help you determine whether there is more money flowing in, than is flowing out of your business.

In basic terms there are four sources of income, and four reasons why money flows out of your business.

Depending on your business, income is generated through the sale of goods and services, or the sale of business assets. Other sources of income can be through loans to the business, either from yourself, or money that you have borrowed from relatives, friends, or formal channels such as financial institutions.

There are very few businesses that incur no expenses to generate the income. Thus money flowing out of your business will be to pay bills for overheads, such as power, telecommunications, rent, wages etc.

Other expenses include buying or replacing assets to run the business. Then there’s your remuneration, as drawings etc, and also your business may lend money to others.

The recording of each transaction by your bookkeeper is critical to protect all parties concerned. Each transaction should be supported by the appropriate documents. When the Australian Taxation Office decides to audit your business, they will often need to see all your supporting documentation.

Your bookkeeper needs to ensure that all the documentation is filed in such a way that it can be easily traced. Each transaction recorded in the bookkeeping system should be supported by the relevant documentation also.

Consider the day that a piece of equipment fails, and you wonder if it’s still under warranty. Your bookkeeper should be able to tell you when you bought the equipment, how you paid for it, and also be able to located the documentation relevant to that equipment.

A logical and ordered filing system is just as important as the balance sheet or P & L reports for your business. For more information or a free appraisal of your bookkeeping system, contact one of our South Brisbane bookkeeping service NOW, and we’ll help you determine whether there is more money flowing in, than is flowing out of your business.

Filed under: ATO> Bookkeepers> Bookkeeping Tags: Tags: ATO, bookeeping service, bookkeeper, Bookkeepers, Bookkeeping, Mobile_Bookkeepers
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Before you realise, Easter will be upon us, then the end of the financial year

A client asked us today whether he should make the final balloon payment on his earthmoving equipment, even though he still has 12 more months to pay it off

We’re not registered tax agents and can’t advise whether he’s better paying the lump sum before the end of this financial year, or whether he should carry the payments over into next year.

If your bookwork’s not upto date, how do you make an informed decision about your tax liabilities?

If you don’t have your bookwork upto date, or if bookkeeping is the last thing on your mind right now, then how can you make an informed decision about your tax liabilities for the financial year ending 30 June 2009?

How do you know if you should make a lump sum payment on your vehicle lease this year? If you ask your accountant, you’ll most likely be told that without seeing any upto date figures for this financial year, your accountant cannot give you an informed answer

To prepare for the end of the financial year is not as difficult or as daunting as the task may appear. In fact, the ATO offer you encouragement to get your financials upto date with the quarterly BAS requirements.

Look no further, stress no more, simply contact us, as we provide an outsourced bookkeeping service. Our mobile bookkeepers can come to your premises, work on your computer, or pick up the paperwork and take it away to return with neatly filed and documented set of accounts ready for you to take to your accountant

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How bad do you feel when you’ve realised that you’ve paid a supplier’s invoice twice?

Often it’s a simple mistake made because you are in a hurry, or panic about a particular order that you have to fulfil. Contact us for more information

We can all make mistakes in the course of our business day, whether you’re based in Ormeau, Yatala, Beenleigh or Coomera, good bookkeeping is an important part of your business.

9 tips to avoid paying the same invoice twice

Here’s nine tips to ensure that you and / or your bookkeeper never pay the same invoice twice:

1 Always make a payment from an invoice, and not a statement
The statement may not take into account a recent payment that you have made

When you look at the supplier statement and see the total outstanding amount you may get feelings of guilt and pay the whole amount showing on that statement

2. Have your book –keeper keep your accounting up to date.
By entering all payments and invoices regularly into the system before you pay your invoices, you can match the statements and outstanding invoices with your bookkeeping system quickly

3.Set aside a specific day for paying your bills.
You can ask your bookkeeper for a report of outstanding bills, or simply have a folder marked “Bills to pay”
So if you receive a statement, place it in the folder, and on the assigned bill payment day, you can match any outstanding bills with the statement

4. Use Purchase Orders and keep delivery dockets
Often small business owners may get their purchase orders and delivery dockets mixed up. In some cases your supplier may use the invoice as a delivery docket, and then send you another copy of the same invoice when requesting payment.

So, if you are not diligent, you can easily find yourself paying the same invoice twice thinking that they were two separate invoices.

5. Do not make a payment based on a phone call.
In a slower economy, when everybody is chasing payments from everybody else, it’s easy to make a payment based on a phone call from a supplier. Just because they are chasing a payment, it does not mean that a particular invoice is still outstanding

6. No invoice – no payment
Just as we suggest to our business owners that they shouldn’t pay any staff claims for cash reimbursements without a proof of purchase, neither should you make a supplier payment without an invoice in your hand

7. A Delivery Docket is not the same as an invoice
Your supplier may issue a numbered delivery docket with prices included, but it’s not a tax invoice. Ensure that your bookkeeper does not enter the delivery docket as an invoice, as well as entering the invoice relating to the same order. If they can’t find the invoice, then ask the supplier to issue a copy of the invoice

8. Reconcile your bank accounts each month
At the same time you should get a report of suppliers invoices and reconcile them against your suppliers statements
If the two do not balance, then your bookkeeper may have entered an invoice twice. Once you’ve paid your supplier twice, it’s not always so simple to get a refund

9. Enter suppliers invoices into your accounting system
By ensuring your have suppliers invoices entered, you can quickly check for duplicate in voice numbers, which may warn you that you’ve entered an invoice twice

Contact us for more information

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