Until recently anybody could call themselves a bookkeeper, as there was no formal qualification, or legal requirements to safe-guard a small business owner.

All that is changing as Australia becomes a total “Nanny State” where there seems to be legislation being drawn up for everything, and the suppliers of Red Tape are experiencing a boom. It seems even cats and dogs need licenses, and maybe it won’t be long before your gold fish needs a license.

Everybody in business is now accountable in some way or another, yet politicians need no qualifications or experience to run a multi-billion dollar corporation and send the country spiralling down the same path as the USA and European Union

What has all that to do with finding a bookkeeper in Mandurah?
Well, the point is that freelance bookkeepers that offer BAS services are required to be registered with the Australian Taxation Board – yet another committee / portfolio created by the Federal Government to waste tax payers money

The problem is that no one in the Australian Treasury knows what a bookkeeper does or what bookeeping is (that’s quite apparent by the way that they “control” the purse strings of tax payers money)

So there’s a big grey area in the definition of when bookkeeping stops being “bookkeeping” and when it starts being “BAS services”

A further problem that the Federal Government have created with the new bookkeeping legislation is that they didn’t want it to be too difficult for bookkeepers to become registered BAS agents, because they realise that there’s too much bookkeeping work to be done to ensure that the ATO gets their sticky fingers on all our hard-earned cash

The result is that to become a registered BAS agent, you simply pay your money to a TAFE college or some similar educational establishment, who then hands out a certificate IV in bookkeeping because they are too afraid of being sued for failing their students.

Then these “wanna – be” bookkeepers apply to the Tax Agents Board to become a Registered BAS agent having collected a couple of cereal packet tops. And once these new bookkeepers receive their registration, they think that they are ready to be let loose on the unsuspecting business owner.

So these bookkeepers think they know it all because they’ve picked up a Cert IV in bookkeeping, and have received their BAS Agents registration, failing to realise that just because you have a driving license does not mean you’re ready to enter into the Monaco Grand Prix car race.

Where does that leave the Small Business Owner in Mandurah?
Business owners who are trying to tighten their belts think that they can save money by hiring bookkeepers that charge really low rates, not realising that the reason these bookkeepers are cheap is because thye have little or no experience in freelance bookkeeping, even though they may have spent the last twenty years in the accounts department of some large organisation or even a bank.

When looking for a bookkeeper in Mandurah contact us TODAY

They seem to think that as bookkeepers we are also mind-readers, so they decide that we know everything that goes on in their small business, and stop the channels of communication.

It makes sense that your bookkeeper is only as good as the information you give them. If you misplace or lose bank statements, invoices, receipts etc, then your bookkeeper will have to spend time (=money) chasing them or wait for you to locate them before their tasks can be completed

These delays equate to time lost and money wasted.

Similarly, if you are slow to get back to your bookkeeoer when quiries are raised, then that will slow down the work flow, and your bookkeeper may fill the schedule that was allocated to your work, with another client.

Again, delays that you cause through not keeping an eye on your bookkeeping can cost money.

Other examples are outlined in our free report that you can download HERE

The worst case scenario maybe that your bookkeeper is stealing and it may be months or even years before you notice.

By which time it could be too late – as in the case of the large electrical retailer, where the bookkeeper found it e-e-easy to steal $20million unnoticed. By changing a few simple habits you can truly make the most of your bookkeeper

Having an inaccurate set of bookkeeping records can create some challenges dow the track

As a result there’s some Mandurah small business owners that discovered their bookkeeping has become a nightmare for a number of reasons:

Any successful business owner will tell you that if you don’t have the skills or the passion to carry out certain tasks in your business, then you shouldn’t be doing them – One of these areas is the bookkeeping.

Quite simply some people seem to be “naturally gifted” with numbers, whereas others would rather crawl through the desert on broken glass than do their own bookwork

It’s totally unproductive to be getting frustrated and stressed out when you can outsource your bookeeping to a professional bookkeeper

An inexperienced bookkeeper can quickly become a liability in your business though making innocent errors, taking more time than is necessary, or simply not having the expertise

You can quickly come unstuck because a well-meanng friend or relative has offered to do your bookwork at “mates rates” or even for free.

Even some so-called “professional” bookkeepers just do not have the experience or expertise to be “let loose” on your accounts. They may be recently qualified and tell yo that there’s new legislation requiring bookkeepers to become registered BAS Agents before they can lodge your Business Activity Statements.

Before engaging a freelance bookkeeper ask them how many clients they have and how long they’ve been freelancing

MYOB software is not simply “plug-and-play” so that simply installing it into your computer will not mean you are ready to do your bookkeeping – you’ll need to enusre that the chart of accounts are correctly set up, and all the tax codes are correct for your specific business. Failure to do that can result in you paying the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) more than is necessary.

Contact us today for a bookkeeping health check

Get organised and stay organised
A clear desk and a clear mind will help clear thoughts and eliminate that feeling of being overwhelmed by the mountain of paperwork ahead of you

You can walk a thousand miles by taking one step at a time

Get on top and STAY on top of your record keeping, or contact our Mandurah professional mobile bookkeeping service to do it for you

- We LOVE bookwork!!!

Keep Good Records
By Australian Law, you’re required to keep business records for five years after they are prepared, obtained or the transactions completed, whichever occurs latest

There’s penalties for not maintaining the required records and for not keeping them for five years. Good record keeping will help you avoid these penalties.

Cash Flow Management
The life blood of your business is cash-flow. Just as you will die when your bllod flow is stopped, so too will your business die if the cashflow dries up.

Start this week with a Cash Flow Budget in four simple steps
Step 1: Prepare a sales forecast
Using figures from previous years, or guestimating figures (for new businesses)

Step 2: Cash In
Estimate cash coming into the business from customers, loan monies, assets sold off or money you put into the business.

Step 3: Cash Out
Guestimate money that you’ll need to pay to suppliers, wages, loan repayments, money for assets you expect to buy, money you take for your own use (drawings), and any loans you may provide to others.

Put aside between 20 – 30% for tax payments GST etc and amounts you’ve withheld from employees’ wages, and fringe benefits tax.

Step 4: Profit / Loss at end
Calculate the difference of Cash on hand at start of period then ADD your estimated cash coming IN (income) then SUBTRACT the estimated cash going out (expenses) = Estimated ending Cash Balance

Stop drowning in bookwork, struggling to perform tasks that you really do not enjoy doing – and let us get your bookkeeping upto date

Our team of professional bookkeepers around Mandurah, Dudley Park, Coodanup, Greenfields, Erskine, Pinjarra and Meadow Springs, love doing the bookwork, and can get your paperwork upto date in a shorter time. saving you money.

Whether you use MYOB or Quickbooks or any other accounting software package and you need help in any way Contact Us NOW!

With the new workplace laws and guidelines for employees it can be confusing

In Western Australia, since Christmas Day is on Saturday 25 December, and Boxing Day on Sunday 26 December, they are both deemed as public holidays. However, additional public holidays will be provided for both on Monday 27 December and Tuesday 28 December respectively.

An additional holiday for New Year’s Day will be held on Monday 3 January.

That can make a huge difference to your staff costs because of public holiday loading – so be warned!

Rather than struggle with trying to work out your BAS figures, you can save yourself both time and money by outsourcing your bookkeeping to a professional mobile Mandurah Bookkeeping Service

Focus on what you do best, and we’ll do the rest

Some business owners would rather spend hours working through their paperwork under the impression that they are saving themselves on bookkeeping fees – but how much is your time really worth

We had a leaking toilet cistern recently, and spent an hour trying to fix it rather than calling in a plumber. In the end, we gave up, called the plumber, who fixed the problem in under two minutes.

Since the plumber was on his way to another job around the corner, he didn’t even bother charging us – but a simple tow minute job had cost an hour of our time

In a similar manner, we’ve found business owners spending hours on their bookkeeping, only to finally call upon our bookeeping services.

The time they spent in making errors meant extra time for us to fix up the work – whereas if they’d accepted the fact they they don’t really know how to do bookwork and called us straight away, they would have saved themselves time, and also the extra money on bookkeeping fees undoing their “handy work”

As a small business owner we encourage you to focus on what you do best, and we’ll do the rest

Recently a client approached us with an A4 archive box full of suppliers’ invoices, and a couple of bank statements, for the 2009 – 2010 financial year.

We were just given the box, and asked to record all the transactions – we had no idea of the nature of the business, no opening balances – nothing. We looked through the paperwork and proceeded to find a pattern of transactions.

how good record keeping can save money on your bookkeeping fees

We’ve many years experience as bookkeepers, and were able to work out how many of the payments were made, though it proved to be quite a challenge, owing to the way that the client has been keeping the paperwork, such as:

• Incorrect cheque numbers were written on invoices
• Statements marked “paid” with no amounts detailed
• Cheques written with no payee
• Invoice amounts altered by hand
• Invoices marked “paid by Cash”
• No record of cash income from sales
• No record of what the cash deposits into the bank account represent
• Bank statements missing
• Cheque books missing
• Deposit books missing

A simple extra 30 seconds each time the client made a payment would have saved us a few minutes in trying to track down what the client had done. All those extra minutes turn into hours, and turn into increased fees for their book keeping

Don’t leave your bookkeeping until it’s too late! With end of financial year for 2009 – 2010 fast approaching, it’s a good idea to get your bookkeeping upto date.

By being ontop of your bookwork, you can have a chat with your accountant and make sure that you have the correct strategies in place to reduce your tax liabilities.

Failing to be prepared can be costly when you come to lodge your tax return after 30 june 2010

There’s many reasons why you should get your bookkeeping upto date before the end of the financial year on 30 June 2010.

Often clients are devastated when they discover how much tax they have to pay because they didn’t plan for the FYE (financial year end). Leaving it until after 30 June is too late.

We are not tax agents or accounts, but our team of mobile Mandurah bookkeepers can certainly help you get your paperwork upto date so that you can at least have three quarters of the 2009/2010 financial year upto date and ready to visit your accountant before the end of June 2010

If you qualify as an experienced freelance bookkeeper, and you need more clients in and around Mandurah, Dudley Park, Coodanup, Greenfields, Erskine, Pinjarra and Meadow Springs, Australia, then we may be able to help you and your business

We’ve successfully helped a bookkeeper start basically from scratch. He wasn’t sure how much to charge, or how to speak to clients, and generally struggled to get the business happening. Now he’s almost reached full capacity, we’re getting enquiries from clients wanting experienced MYOB and QuickBooks bookkeepers

We offer bookkeepers a program whereby we will find them bookkeeping clients for their bookkeeping business.

Right now we are looking for Quickbooks and MYOB bookeepers in and around Mandurah, Dudley Park, Coodanup, Greenfields, Erskine, Pinjarra and Meadow Springs, Australia, so if you are starting out, or need more bookkeping clients and feel that you have sufficient experience as a freelance bookkeeper*, then contact us today.

We talk about finding bookkeeping clients, and the sort of *experience that you need to start your own bookkeeping business in our EBook How To Find Bookkeeping Clients