Posts from — January 2009

Congratulations to all those Australians honoured for Australia Day

We 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!

Perhaps with all the best intentions, our financial planning client was having a go at doing their own bookkeeping.

When a financial planner contacts a bookkeeping service because they are eighteen months behind in the paperwork, there’s a touch of irony.

It’s like the sparkie who still hasn’t wired up some extra powerpoints in his house though his wife’s been nagging him for three months

Or the accountant who has not lodged their own tax return for a couple of years

Business owners can get so caught up in the busy-ness of every day activities that they can never seem to find time to work on their business.

Even financial planners need the help of freelance bookkeepers to help them with the genera bookkeeping duties such as entering customer and supplier invoices, entering receipts, and calculating fuel expenses etc

Unless you’re passionate about bookeeping, you’ll always find excuses for putting it off.

As a bookkeeping service covering Pascoe Vale South, Coburg North, Keilor East, North Essendon, Inner Northern Suburbs of Melbourne, we are often called up to tidy up the mess that has accumulated over the past few months. Contact us for details[Read more →]

You may well ask how can a book-keeping fix a leaking pipe.

Simply this: If you’ve got a leaking pipe, you get it fixed; If you’ve got problems with cashflow, you want it fixed.

It’s hard to fix the problem if you do not know the cause. As business owners and/or operators around Pascoe Vale South, Coburg North, Keilor East, North Essendon, Inner Northern Suburbs of Melbourne you need to keep a handle on your finances to keep your business running. Contact us now for a free consultation
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Use an efficient and simplified system to keep your book keeping in order, your books upto date and produce reports so that you have an accurate and current record of where your business is each week.

Do you know that saying:”A Little Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing”? When applied to an accounting software package like Quickbooks or MYOB, it can become costly.

Many clients around Pascoe Vale South, Coburg North, Keilor East, North Essendon, Inner Northern Suburbs of Melbourne have contacted our professional bookkeeping service after having difficulties keeping on top of their bookkeeping. Contact us for more details

They’ve been shown just enough to be able to enter data and produce reports. However the reports that are generated are not a true reflection of their business.
[Read more →]

The Rudd Government recently announced that it’s found a way to help small business owners.

Australian Government Reducing December Quarter PAYG by 20%

In an attempt to weather the global financial crises, The Australian Government is reducing by 20% the quarterly PAYG (Pay As You Go) instalment due for the December 2008 Quarter. If you make monthly payments, the PAYG is due on 21 January 2009, while most small businesses that report quarterly, this instalment is due on 28 February 2009

However, the information released by the ATO then adds a comment. Note that as the date falls on a long weekend in some states, the lodgement and payment deadline has been extended to 3 March 2009 Australia Wide)

You may have already received a letter from the Australian Taxation Office in relation to the December quarter PAYG reduction. Just be aware that it’s not a tax cut and it will all be adjusted at the end of the financial year

PS We are not registered Tax Agents and cannot give advise in such matters – Speak to you accountant to see how it affects you

PPS Is Kevin Rudd the new face of the Nestle’s “Milky Bar”?

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 details

She then admitted that there were two different data files being used in the office for the bookkeeping!

Here lies the problem: If you are working on the bookkeeping in one MYOB data file, and someone else is working on the bookkeeping in another data file for the same company at the same time, errors will arise – because MYOB is not designed to cater for that.

So we asked her to send us the other MYOB data file , and then we had to work out which file was the most current.

Often the problem is not with the BAS form

Often when clients around Pascoe Vale South, Coburg North, Keilor East, North Essendon, Inner Northern Suburbs of Melbourne ask us to help them with their BAS (Business Activity Statements) the problem is not with the BAS.

The problem lies with somewhere within the bookkeeping process during the BAS preparation. You know the saying GIGO – garbage-in, garbage-out! The actual completion of the BAS form is the easy part.

After all, if the figures do not balance, you can simply make a general journal entry to fix it all up – right? WRONG Contact us for details

PS The ATO advises that:” if you make monthly payments, the PAYG is due on 21 January 2009, while most small businesses that report quarterly, this instalment is due on 28 February 2009
Note that as the date falls on a long weekend in some states, the lodgement and payment deadline has been extended to 3 March 2009 Australia Wide)

We’ve had a number of potential clients contact us, surfing the internet to find the cheapest bookkeeper.

Is a cheap bookkeeper cheap because they themselves do not value their work/worth?

We’ll save you time, the cheapest bookkeeper is probably one who is straight out of TAFE and has got a piece of paper to say that they can do bookkeeping. Maybe the cheapest bookkeeper has done a MYOB course, or a Quickbooks course. Contact us for more details

Maybe the cheapest bookkeeper is just “starting a bookkeeping business” and does not feel confident in “charging too much”

It seems that these days you can get a bookkeeper around Melbourne Inner Suburbs, Fitzroy, Richmond, Toorak, or Pascoe Vale, and Essendon from [Read more →]

In a tight economy you need to ensure that you have a handle on what money you owe and to whom, and what money is owed to you and by whom.

If you do not use an accounting software package such as Quickbooks or MYOB, if you do not have a bookkeeper, or book-keeping system in place then you could be heading for disaster

Just remember, unlike Kevin Rudd’s government, you do not have an unlimited supply of cash, so as a small business owner around Pascoe Vale South, Coburg North, Keilor East, North Essendon, Inner Northern Suburbs of Melbourne you need to ensure that you have a handle on your cashflow. If you do not have a bookkeeper, or book-keeping system in place then Contact us here for details

[Read more →]

Many people are returning to work today after the Christmas / New Year break.

With lower interest rates, lower fuel prices and Kevin Rudd throwing money around like it’s burning a hole in his pocket, what is in store for 2009?

The Australian Taxation Office continue on their relentless search to hammer small business owners and squeeze every last cent out of them. Meanwhile, at the big end of town, multi-nationals and large corporations seem to get away with paying very little tax in comparison.

We’ve seen an increase in small business owners receiving the dreaded ATO letter chasing possible outstanding taxes. Maybe you’ve been a little slack in submitting your Business Activity Statements (BAS) lodgments, and need some help in preparing the paperwork to complete the returns. Contact us here for details

Next Quarterly BAS due 28 February 2009
There’ a few more weeks before the December 2008 quarter is due to be lodged, but bear in mind that the following quarter is then only due a few weeks later, 28 April 2009. It sounds like there’s plenty of time in between, but in Australia there’s a few short weeks in April with Good Friday, Easter Monday and ANZAC day

Don’t get stressed about your bookwork, leave it to professional mobile bookkeepers like us. You can outsource your bookkeeping needs, in the know;ledge that it will be taken care of in a speedy and efficient manner.

Who knows, we may even find some extra income in your business that you were not aware of. Don’t be fooled by believing that bookkeeping is an expense for your business.

Having a good bookkeeping service such as ours, can be a great asset to your business, and you’ll find that our service far exceeds the level of fees.

Smart business operators around Pascoe Vale South, Coburg North, Keilor East, North Essendon realise that an outsourced bookeeping service is an excellent investment for your small business. Contact us here for details

12 Jan 09The ATO advises that:” if you make monthly payments, the PAYG is due on 21 January 2009, while most small businesses that report quarterly, this instalment is due on 28 February 2009
Note that as the date falls on a long weekend in some states, the lodgement and payment deadline has been extended to 3 March 2009 Australia Wide)

With Christmas out of the way, and many small businesses returning to work, it’s time to get all your paperwork together and get it to your bookkeeper or outsourced bookkeeping service- to report on the 2nd quarter (1 September to 31 December 2008) to get your BAS lodged on time.

Maybe the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) does have a heart, after all. Rather than asking for lodgements on 28 January, they automatically give everyone an extension to the BAS lodgements to 28 February.

However, don’t be fooled by their grace, because there is NO WAY that they’ll consider granting an extension after that date. So you need to ensure that you have your Business Activity Statement lodged by 28 February 2009

If you are struggling and need help, if you do not have a bookkeeper, or are looking to outsource to a mobile bookkeeping service, then contact us now

Our bookkeeping Service has clients in and around in the City of Moonee Valley, Pascoe Vale South, Coburg North, Keilor East, North Essendon, Inner Northern Suburbs of Melbourne. Contact us here for details