Bookkeeping involves the recording of financial transactions by an individual or organisation. It is a legal requirement to keep records that are accurate and true for a period of at least 5 years from the date that the documents were prepared, obtained or the transaction completed, whichever occurs the latest.
Being compliant on this front can be a very time consuming process and causes many headaches for small and medium business in Australia.
In Focus Bookkeeping is able to provide bookkeeping services that will free you to focus on the operational side of your business.
General Bookkeeping Services
BAS & GST
General Bookkeeping services include:
Bank Reconciliations - compare your internal records with bank statements in order to identify and rectify any discrepancies
Profit & Loss Statements - generated monthly and/or annually that reports the earnings of a business by stating all relevant income and all expenses that have been incurred to generate that income. Also referred to as an Income Statement.
Cash Flow Management – manage your cash flow to ensure you have cash when you need it. This is the most critical aspect of business.
Financial Reporting & Analysis – key information about the financial state of your business into language you can understand.
Accounts Payable & Receivable – identify money you owe suppliers and money that is owed to you by your customers.
End of financial year processes – take away all the pressure associated with ensuring your books are ready for the end of financial year.
Budgeting – forecast your income and expenditure in order to identify how much you can afford to dedicate to particular expenses.
Training of existing staff to assist with the day to day running of the accounting systems
General Office Administration
A Business Activity Statement (BAS) is a form that must be submitted to the ATO in order to report business tax obligations. This needs to profile all business tax obligations. Your BAS may need to include GST, PAYG Withholdings and Instalments, Fringe Benefits Tax, Luxury Car Tax, Wine Equalisation Tax and Fuel Tax Credits.
Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a broad based tax of 10% on most goods, services consumed in Australia.
Registered businesses will generally:
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Include GST in the price of sales to their customers
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Claim credits for the GST included in the price of their business purchases
GST is paid at every step of the supply chain, but businesses can claim GST credit for the majority of their business purchases and therefore the final customer bears the economic costs.
If a business has a GST turnover of $75,000 or more, or is a non-profit organisation with a turnover of $150,000 or more, they must:
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Register for GST
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Work out whether their sales are taxable, GST free or input taxed
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Include GST in the price of taxable sales
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Obtain tax invoices for business purchases that have GST included in the price
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Calculate any adjustments
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Account for GST on cash or non-cash basis
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Report sales and purchases by lodging activity statements and pay the required GST
All In Focus bookkeepers are registered as or supervised by a BAS Agent, which means they have met all qualification requirements of the Tax Practitioners Board.
Bookkeeper and words derived from it (e.g. bookkeeping) are the only words in the English language with three consecutive double letters! Cool…yeah?
Software & Systems
Payroll Services
Do you need help setting up accounting systems to assist you with good record keeping or do you have the system established but not the time, knowledge or expertise to reap the benefits of your good record systems?
Accounting systems and processes are an extremely important element of any business, no matter what the size or industry.
Businesses engage in various activities whereby money flows in and out of their organisation. Tax invoices, wage records, cheque butts and credit card statements support all these transactions. These documents contain key information that needs to be recorded such as dates, payments made, amounts received and total GST paid.
Having the correct accounting systems in place can be critical to the success of your business.
There are a number of reasons why effective business accounting systems are important:
The right system can give you much more control and greatly ease your data entry wherever you are and whatever technology you are using.
It is a legal requirement to keep records that are accurate and true for a period of at least 5 years from the date that the documents were prepared, obtained or the transaction completed, whichever occurs the latest. All records must be in English or in a form the ATO can understand.
It makes it cheaper, easier and quicker to complete activity statements and in turn your annual tax returns.
It enables businesses to monitor the health of their business and in turn make sound decisions.
It helps businesses manage their cash flow.
It demonstrates the financial position to banks and other lending institutions.
It enables business to make better use of their tax adviser.
It shows the basis for any amendments that may need to be made in activity statements or tax returns.
In Focus Bookkeeping can implement accounting software and systems appropriate for your small business. Having an efficient system in place alleviates much of the stress associated with ongoing bookkeeping work.
Payroll is the sum of all payments made to and on behalf of employees and is critical to businesses. The primary objective of payroll processing is to ensure that employees receive all the financial entitlements they are owed in a timely manner.
Poor payroll processing can be very detrimental to a business as it can significantly impact net income and lead to disgruntled staff. With an abundance of legislation, payment methods and withholdings, payroll management can be a difficult and time-consuming process.
Payroll outsourcing is often a cheaper and more reliable option. As legislation continues to change, payroll management services are becoming highly sought after.
Our payroll management services can ensure your wages is correct and you have happy staff.
Payroll processing services include:
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General Payroll – ensure your staff are paid the correct rates and paid according to the correct hours worked.
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PAYG Withholdings – Any business that has employees or pays employees of another business must withhold an amount from payments made to them. Any payments made to a business that doesn't quote an ABN on an invoice or other documentation must also have an amount withheld from payments.
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Entitlements – calculation of leave including holiday, personal, long service and rostered days off.
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Payroll Tax, Workers Compensation Insurance, Employment Forms – some or all of these may be needed for your business.
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Efficient and Electronic systems – these should simplify all processing and provide greater security for you and your staff.
In addition Superannuation should be calculated and paid – this is a compulsory whereby employers are required to pay a percentage on top of "ordinary earnings" to a nominated superannuation fund. These contributions need to be made at least once every three months and penalties for late payment are very severe.