The lead up to Christmas is always a busy time for book keepers. Trying to finalise all our clients books as current as possible as soon after the new year it will be time to prepare Quarter 2 BAS for 10/11 and lodge with the ATO.
It is also a busy time as many of our clients with Payroll will need holiday leave and loading worked out for their staff and will want to know budgeting wise how much they need to put aside from the companies revenue to cover these additional costs.
Remember to make sure that someone within the organisation prepares leave records for each individual staff member so that entitlements can be worked out. These must be signed off by the owner or manager of the business prior to payment and of course confirmed with the employee involved.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Sunday, August 1, 2010
BAS Agent Registration
Any book keeper who wishes to provide a BAS service for a fee, or indeed code expenses and provide a book keeping service where decision are made in relation to GST must be registered as a BAS Agent. This was implemented on 1st March 2010. It is of course a good thing as it provides protection to business and individuals seeking the services of a book keeper without necessarily understanding themselves the skill set of a compliant book keeper.
The BookSitters have lodged applications to become BAS Agents for both the Company The Sitters Pty Ltd and our book keeping staff as individuals. I lodged our applications in early April and have just received confirmation of both my registration (Justine Day) and Michele Gorman (co owners of The Sitters Pty Ltd). We are more than happy to provide our Registration Numbers for verification where required to our clients, potential clients or clients Accountant.
The BookSitters have lodged applications to become BAS Agents for both the Company The Sitters Pty Ltd and our book keeping staff as individuals. I lodged our applications in early April and have just received confirmation of both my registration (Justine Day) and Michele Gorman (co owners of The Sitters Pty Ltd). We are more than happy to provide our Registration Numbers for verification where required to our clients, potential clients or clients Accountant.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Do You Run Payroll
A note on the upcoming end of financial year 2009/10. If you are using a computerised system for running your Payroll, like MYOB, make sure that you have the latest version loaded ready for your first payroll run post 1st July 2010 - tax tables are changing and if you are running old software, your PAYG Liabiliies may not be correct. This is an issue for both your business and your employees take home pay calculations.
Remember that the ATO requires Payment Summaries (aka Group Certificates) to be issued to staff by 14th July 2010 and that Annual PAYG Payment Summary Statements are to be lodged to the ATO by 14th August 2010, this is an orange form the ATO provides for your business which totals all wages and PAYG for the year withheld by your business and is a means of the ATO reconciling the Payment Summaries provided to individuals verses what is reported by business.
There is a step by step process that must be completed prior to rolling over a new payroll year to obtain this information. A new payroll year must be rolled to run wages post 1st July, however, Payment Summaries and various payroll reporting MUST be completed first as it cannot be done retrospectively once rolled. If your business needs assistance, we would be happy to help.
Remember that the ATO requires Payment Summaries (aka Group Certificates) to be issued to staff by 14th July 2010 and that Annual PAYG Payment Summary Statements are to be lodged to the ATO by 14th August 2010, this is an orange form the ATO provides for your business which totals all wages and PAYG for the year withheld by your business and is a means of the ATO reconciling the Payment Summaries provided to individuals verses what is reported by business.
There is a step by step process that must be completed prior to rolling over a new payroll year to obtain this information. A new payroll year must be rolled to run wages post 1st July, however, Payment Summaries and various payroll reporting MUST be completed first as it cannot be done retrospectively once rolled. If your business needs assistance, we would be happy to help.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
End of Financial Year Approaches
Well I can hardly believe that it is just 8 days away from the 1st of June....,meaning 4 weeks away from the end of another financial year. This year seems to me to have gone even quicker than usual. Maybe its because our business has been growing and we have been able to look after more business' book keeping needs??
Now is a great time to have a good look at the state of your financials and in particular, if you are on a Cash System, look at putting a plan into action to pay for as much of your supplies as possible and clear out the Accounts Payable (Trade Creditors) for the start of the new year....and in the same way.....get as many of your customers to pay for your services as possible Accounts Receivable (or your Trade Debtors).
Another thing to think about for the start of the new financial year....is ensuring that your Tax Codes are all correct in your MYOB file ready for your Accountant to lodge the final Quarter BAS with any end of year adjustments and that all your accounts can be reconciled successfully. This is not always the case if your BAS has not been lodged by a registered BAS Agent or Accountant. That is, not just your bank accounts and credit cards, but your Trade Creditors, Trade Debtors and BAS accounts too.
If you are not sure if this is the case in your business, we would be happy to assist. Putting these things in action before the end of the finanical year means that your books can be forwarded to your accountant quicker and cleaner post the end of the financial year.
Now is a great time to have a good look at the state of your financials and in particular, if you are on a Cash System, look at putting a plan into action to pay for as much of your supplies as possible and clear out the Accounts Payable (Trade Creditors) for the start of the new year....and in the same way.....get as many of your customers to pay for your services as possible Accounts Receivable (or your Trade Debtors).
Another thing to think about for the start of the new financial year....is ensuring that your Tax Codes are all correct in your MYOB file ready for your Accountant to lodge the final Quarter BAS with any end of year adjustments and that all your accounts can be reconciled successfully. This is not always the case if your BAS has not been lodged by a registered BAS Agent or Accountant. That is, not just your bank accounts and credit cards, but your Trade Creditors, Trade Debtors and BAS accounts too.
If you are not sure if this is the case in your business, we would be happy to assist. Putting these things in action before the end of the finanical year means that your books can be forwarded to your accountant quicker and cleaner post the end of the financial year.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
New Legislative Changes
There are a number of new legislative changes that become effective from 1st March 2010 with the purpose of regulating the Book Keeping industry.
We believe this is a good thing and support these legislative changes.
For example, when utilsing a sub-contractor book keeper, you should make sure that:
1. They provide you with a 'Letter of Engagement' so that you know the service that you are going to be provided with and the fees associated with this;
2. They have Professional Indemnity & Public Liability Insurance Cover;
3. They have the necessary skills, experience and qualifications to provide you with a professional book keeping service;
4. Your BAS should be completed by a Registered BAS Agent.
We are aiming to keep up to date with these legislative changes to make sure that we are ahead of things through the various bodies of interest like AAT (Association of Accounting Technican's Australia) and The Institute of Certified Book Keepers.
We believe this is a good thing and support these legislative changes.
For example, when utilsing a sub-contractor book keeper, you should make sure that:
1. They provide you with a 'Letter of Engagement' so that you know the service that you are going to be provided with and the fees associated with this;
2. They have Professional Indemnity & Public Liability Insurance Cover;
3. They have the necessary skills, experience and qualifications to provide you with a professional book keeping service;
4. Your BAS should be completed by a Registered BAS Agent.
We are aiming to keep up to date with these legislative changes to make sure that we are ahead of things through the various bodies of interest like AAT (Association of Accounting Technican's Australia) and The Institute of Certified Book Keepers.
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