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Secretarial Service wants MYOB training

Had an email from a secretarial service in the northern suburbs of Perth. The lady wants some MYOB training, so that she can “do the bookwork” for one of her clients.

“What experience do you have as a bookkeeper?”, we ask. “None. I just thought I could help my client out”

Yes, lady, you sure can. Since the client is looking at outsourcing their bookkeeping needs, then doesn’t it make sense to turn to a professional bookkeeping team that can do the job properly. One wonders that if her client wanted a plumber, would she ring up a local plumber and ask for some training, because she “just wants to fix a leaking pipe” for one of her clients?

Well. Why should we care? She wants MYOB training. We can certainly provide that for her.

We care because our goal is to help clients by solving problems, not hinder clients by creating more problems.

“I’ll only be doing some data entry, nothing difficult!”, she told us. If it was that simple, everybody would be doing their own bookwork, and nobody would need to outsource their bookkeeping to professional mobile bookkeepers.

Her client is no doubt under the impression that the lady provides bookkeeping as part of her secretarial services – do they know the truth is that this lady is just wanting to “help out” her client and believe she can just start doing bookkeeping for her clients

How irresponsible is that?

We should be very happy and eager to train this lady, because we know she’ll stuff up her client’s bookwork, and then she’ll need us to come in and clean up the mess

Those that control the purse strings have the power.

In any society, money talks. So why should it be any different in your business? Many small business owners in the Northern Suburbs of Perth are so busy being focused on the every day stuff in their business, that they look at the bookwork as being a chore rather than a fundamental part of the business. Whatever accounting software package you use, be it MYOB or Quickbooks, you should be able to access financial reports showing your business position in seconds.

Have a look at your daily operations, and ask yourself this one question:

Who is in control of your business? Are you, the business owner in control? or is it really you clients that are dictating your daily tasks?

Do you have a handle on your financial position each day or week or each month or quarter? Is your bookkeeping upto date? Can you ask your bookkeeper for the relevant MYOB or Quickbooks reports each day or each week, so that you can make informed decisions regarding your business?

Is the tail wagging the dog, or is the dog wagging the tail?

Have a serious look at the operations of your business. Is it your clients that are dictating when you can take time off? Or do you have that choice? Is it your clents who are deciding when you should be paid, or are you in control of your business cash flow?

Contact our bookkeeping team and let’s have a chat about how we can help you manage your cash flow and get a handle on your business. We can show you how to maximise the potential ow whatever accounting software package you use, be it MYOB or Quickbooks or any other package

Never deal with a company that has no (obvious) customer support.

An increasing trend is for large companies and groups of companies to hide behind 1800 numbers and post office boxes.

Their websites only have contact forms with no visible email addresses. The staff only has Christian names, never any surnames. There’s never any manager available to speak to, and the staff certainly do not have a direct phone number to contact a manager

If the management of a company are so hard to track down, then what is that company hiding?

There’s an Australian company that’s taken up yodelling with a team of telemarketers. They phone you up, saying that they are from Google, and that they’ll put your business on the front page of Google Read more… »

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 Perth Bookkeepers for HELP

The importance of Book keeping: Here’s 10 Tips to help you 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
Read more… »

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 Stirling or Warwick, or any inner northern suburb of Perth, 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 Perth bookkeeping service NOW, and we’ll help you determine whether there is more money flowing in, than is flowing out of your business.

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

Are you a small business operator struggling to keep your bookkeeping in order? The main problem that business owners have is not having a system set-up to handle their bookkeeping.

What you do with your paperwork, and how you handle your record keeping at the beginning can make a big difference at the end of the financial year.

Here are some basic tips to ensure that your record keeping is in order

1) Open a separate bank account for the business.
It may seem an expensive option at the beginning to be paying fees on two separate bank accounts – however you can claim the running costs of your business bank account as a business expense.
The same applies to a credit card. Even if you simple have another credit card in your private name, keeping a separate credit card for the business makes the bookkeeping so much easier

2) Don’t mix your personal expenses with your business expenses.
A simple example of this is when you buy fuel; if you happen to buy some milk or chocolate etc, pay for them in a separate transaction. You need to make sure that you have Read more… »

Sounds like a simple and obvious bookkeeping tip: Don’t pay an invoice twice.

Most times you’ve probably paid an invoice twice simply because you are in a hurry, see an overude notice or glance quickly at a statement that you’ve just received, and you panic, right?

Then when you set aside a few minutes to catch up on your bookkeeping, how bad do you feel when you’ve realised that you’ve paid a supplier’s invoice twice?

For professional bookkeeping help or to hire a bookkeeper, contact our Stirling to Warwick, Gwelup to Balga, Inner Northern Perth Suburbs book-keepers today

It’s easy to make some basic bookkeeping errors in the course of your business day. Whether you’re based in Stirling to Warwick, Gwelup to Balga, Inner Northern Perth Suburbs, 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: Read more… »

Congratulations to all those Australians honoured for Australia Day

We also salute all those that make enormous contributions to the country in their own small way, but because they are not well known sports people, musicians or film stars nobody seems to want to honour them.

[would the Australia Day honours be political?]

Without Australia’s anonymous heroes this nation would not be what it is today!

This year Australia Day falls on a Monday, so the nation gets a long weekend!

There’s a certain sector of the community with a big chip on their shoulders, who do not seem to want to move on with their lives, and want to call an event that happened over 200 years ago “Invasion Day”

Well, that’s fine, if it makes you feel better. However, why not join your fellow countrymen, who’ve realised that you can’t change the past, and instead take a more positive approach? Get over it, and move forward. On the one hand you want integration, and on the other you want to promote discrimination.

Happy “Australia Day” Australia! Let’s just party!