Bookkeeping involves recording and classifying all the financial transactions in your business. It is keeping track of what your business spends and what your business receives. It gives you an understanding of how your business is performing on a current basis if kept to date so you can make informed decisions.

What software should you be using for your accounting? We recommend Xero accounting software because it is cloud based accounting and it easy to use once you get started and you can use it on your smart phone or tablet if you wish to. Xero works really well for quoting and invoicing.

Xero accounting software is a great new software program designed to make bookkeeping easy for small or mid size businesses in Australia and all around the world. The problem is not everyone has the time to code off and reconcile their transactions in Xero on a regular basis, especially small business owners who are working in their business all day. The last thing they need is to do bookkeeping at night. Bookkeepers can help relieve that stress, they can code off and reconcile your accounts on a regular basis, making sure the ledger account and GST are correct, then use this information to prepare and lodge your monthly or quarterly Business Activity Statement or BAS accurately and on time.

A bookkeeper gathers and records information on a regular basis. A bookkeeper can highlight any areas of concern quickly. A bookkeeper provides reporting on your business finances in real time so you can make informed business decisions based on current information and data. A bookkeeper and Registered BAS agent prepares and lodges Business Activity Statements, Income Activity Statements, sets up new employees, runs regular payroll, organises superannuation payments, year end STP finalisation and annual workers compensation actual wages declaration reporting.

An accountant assists with setting up your business in the best possible structure for tax planning. An accountant prepares your year end income tax returns and financial reporting for ASIC and the ATO. An accountant analyses your data and provides financial planning and advice.

It is important to have a bookkeeper to assist with processing your paperwork, making sure your BAS and other ATO compliance are taken care of accurately, efficiently and on time. This will allow you to make important, informed decisions based on accurate and up to date financial information.

You may have heard of a chart of accounts. Simply put it is a list of accounts or categories where you classify or code your transactions to like a journal or a diary so that you can produce meaningful reports.

A Profit and Loss statement is used for businesses to understand how their business is performing over a certain period of time usually in comparison to a previous period of time. By doing this, the business owner can take action if needed to bring their business back on track or make necessary changes in preparation of future trends.

A Balance Sheet should show a true financial position of your business and your equity in the business at any set point in time. It shows your assets (anything you may get money for) and your liabilities (anyone you owe money to) and the balance should represent the equity or net worth of your business.

Do you currently have a pile of receipts or invoices sitting in your glove box fading away? You do need to show the ATO a valid tax invoice for any deductions or GST claimed up to a five year period if you get the pleasant surprise of an ATO audit. It is not good enough to produce your bank statements or visa card statement showing the transaction. A valid invoice needs to show the supplier’s name, ABN and most importantly a description of the services provided or the goods purchased. If they are registered for GST, their invoice needs to state it is a tax invoice and show the GST amount.

A good bookkeeper can help you to save time and energy on your bookkeeping and organise your paperwork so it is easy to keep track of.

They can save you ATO fines and penalties by making sure that all of your BAS and other ATO compliance is prepared and lodged on time.

You get to focus more on your business and the day to day operations whilst your bookkeeper does the back end accounting and bookwork to keep your accounts up to date.

You get to make informed business decisions based on current up to date financial information.

We offer fixed price bookkeeping packages where you are invoiced once a month so you are covered for all your bookkeeping and ATO compliance so you don’t get any nasty surprises.

If you are in the building or construction industry, you need to report all payments made to subcontractors throughout the year to the ATO at the end of the financial year by preparing and lodging a taxable payments report.

This is a very grey area in some circumstances however the ATO are clamping down on businesses paying subcontractors through their ABN even though they would be deemed an employee under Fairwork and the ATO definitions. Deemed employees need to be paid superannuation directly to their superannuation funds, it can’t be included in your subbie’s hourly rate. Deemed employees also need to be included in your year end Icare actual wages declaration and annual payroll tax return if applicable.

You may want to visit the ATO’s website for more information on the link below.

How to work it out: employee or contractor