Bookkeeping Solutions: 6 Tips for Small Businesses in the Gold Coast
Bookkeeping is one of those necessary evils that small business owners love to hate.
By law, every business (which means business owner!) is required to maintain accurate and timely financial records.
But there is a way to make it easy – and make it easy on you – by following our 6 simple steps to great bookkeeping:
1. Use the right accounting system – There are only 2, cash or accrual-based accounting, so make the right choice early on. If you are serious about growing your company, then you will have to move to accrual-based accounting anyway as it gives you a much better handle on your business’s true performance.
2. Embrace technology – Use PC-based software or go online with cloud accounting to make keeping your books as easy as possible. Your accountant will thank you and it is much easier to run off financial reports needed to manage your business.
3. Keep the faith – and the discipline by allocating time each day or week to update your books. Falling behind and relying on memory to catch up leads to errors and, ultimately, additional cost when it comes time for your accountant to do the annual audit of accounts.
4. Better banking - Keeping separate bank accounts for your business and personal finances will help make things more convenient by aligning your account statements to the end of the month so your bank balance ties up with your books!
5. Keep a paper trail – The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) requires you to keep records for a minimum of 5 years, which includes receipts, invoices, statements and check stubs so throw nothing away! When your accountant is asking for details of a check from 11 months before, you’ll be glad you kept those records.
6. Play safe with tax – All businesses need an Australian Business Number (ABN) and if your turnover is greater than $75,000 you must also apply for Goods and Services (GST) registration. If you have a staff, you’ll also need to register for Pay as You Go (PAYG) withholding tax so make sure you know your obligations and meet them, on time.
All these are great ways to keep on the right side of your accountant and the ATO but there is an alternative – get someone else to do it.
A professional bookkeeper can do most of this in their sleep, which means you can also sleep peacefully knowing your back is covered. Not only can they save you time which you could devote to more important (and more rewarding) pursuits like growing your business.
Wealthfarm has built a business providing financial advice, products and services – including bookkeeping – to businesses up and down the Gold Coast.
For more help on managing your business’s finances, get in touch with one of our qualified financial advisors at 1800-967548 or visit our websites www.wealthfarm.com.au and theoutsourcedaccountant.com.au for your outsourcing needs.