Maintaining financial records with day to day data entry of invoices, purchases, payments and expense receipts is critical to ensure accurate preparation of financial reports. The end of month and quarter preparation of financial reports occurs after all data entry is reconciled to match the bank statement and provides the basis for good quality financial data and records.
With accurate and up-to-date financial records a manager, business owner or accountant can read the financial reports to understand how to the business is performing from several different angles, including
With a good understanding of the financial reports and adviser can then analyse, interpret and compare current data with historical financial reports and even work on budgets and forecasts.
Some accountants perform these “forward looking” tasks as part of what is called management accounting as opposed to compliance accounting.
EzyLearn offers training courses to help you understand financial reporting using Xero & MYOB as well as QuickBooks Online & Microsoft Excel. Presentation of financial reports can also involve the use of Microsoft Office programs: Microsoft Word for long form, complex documents and Microsoft PowerPoint to present the information in a broader more graphical format.
Have you spent any time looking at this foundational accounting formula? It’s a formula that shows how wealthy you are – what your worth.
If you are a property owner you would be smiling because of the increase in home values since Covid – and for the last 30 or more years in Australia!
Continue reading Your Equity = Assets – LiabilitiesLike most financial reports they don’t tell the full picture by themselves.
I wrote about the messy startup for Jerry’s new business venture. It is used in the BAS Courses for QuickBooks, MYOB and Xero and in The Next Quarter case study you’ll see the results of Jerry’s business decisions and how some of his financial transactions have turned out.
You’ll get enough information from the financial reports to advise Jerry how to make future decisions for his business – particularly when it relates to cashflow, credit management and purchases.
In The Next Quarter Bookkeeping Course case study we look at Jerry’s financial reports and start to keep better track of income vs expenditure as well as better ways to use his money (like buying assets vs paying off loans).
Jerry will also have the knowledge to make product and services decisions because he’ll know what is selling well and where he is making more profit.
In The Next Quarter we look at how his business gets discovered online and what other digital marketing options are available to him.
We explore whether he should continue to use a project bidding site like HiPages or focus on getting more traffic to his own website.
Ultimately, no matter which digital marketing medium you use you’ll want to strengthen your sales skills to learn how to identify ideal clients and turn them into customers. At the same time you’ll want to learn how to help clients who are not ideal.
Cashflow is critical for the survival of a business. It’s like the blood pumping through the veins or the air going into and out of the lungs and without enough positive cashflow you don’t have a business that can survive.
This case study is used in our Advanced Certificate in Xero Cashflow and Financial Reporting Course.
People often ask “How long does it take to complete a Business Activity Statement” but there are several different correct answers to that question.
If all your transactions are entered correctly in your accounting software and your bank account is reconciled the BAS Lodgement takes a matter of minutes.
The hard work is often completed by bookkeepers who do the daily data entry or the catchup bookkeeping to make sure all the data is captured. This task can take days or even weeks!
If you want to save money you can lodge your BAS yourself and use our BAS Course workbooks to learn how to do it.
Learn how to lodge your BAS, including simple payroll wage payments using our Xero BAS Course training workbooks and sample data.
We use Jerry’s Messy Startup case study and you will be his bookkeeper to make sure everything is accurate for lodgement.
It is assumed that you know how to perform daily data entry and bank reconciliations using Xero.
The tricky part of lodging Business Activity Statements is making sure you get the correct tax codes for GST transactions and payroll. If you get these codes wrong you could end up paying less tax to the ATO than you are supposed to or even underpay your staff.
The difference between a BAS Agent and a junior bookkeeper is the compliance requirements to make sure they get it right. A BAS Agent has a duty of care to ensure that the correct tax codes are used and the Cert IV in Bookkeeping and BAS Agent skillset courses (which are Nationally Accredited) take students through the legal framework around compliance.
When a Registered BAS Agent provides these services as a contract bookkeeper they are providing a BAS Service and that is administered by the Tax Practitioners Board.
A BAS Agent is trained but more importantly insured to ensure they get the information 100% correct – otherwise they can be sued. That means they have to have Professional Indemnity insurance to provide BAS Services to clients.
If you want to start your own bookkeeping business and provide BAS Services you need the Cert IV in Accounting and Bookkeeping Course.
In most circumstances where you are completing the BAS as an employee you will be working under the supervision and direction of the business owner, business manager or the bookkeeper or accountant for that business.
Students who enrol into our BAS Courses simply want to know how to perform these tasks using accounting programs like QuickBooks, MYOB and Xero.
Financial reports reveal the financial state of a business and there are a bunch of standard reports for very specific parts of a business. The most common ones are the Profit and Loss Report and the Balance Sheet but they are more often referred to as Statement of Financial Position (Balance Sheet) and Statement of Profit or Loss .
If you’re a subscriber to this blog you’ll recall that I wrote about Xero’s 2023 financial report and how they announced a big loss yet their share price sky rocketed. There’s a lot involved in financial reporting and sometimes a business is more valuable if it is growing quickly than if it makes a loss, particularly if that loss is caused by one off items and helps contribute to future growth.
Continue reading Need to Learn How to Read Financial Reports?If you are looking for computerised, online accounting software now is a great time. Just doing a Google search for comparisons between MYOB and Xero will reveal a flurry of ads to capture your attention.
Many micro businesses with one main worker/contractor etc just want to keep track of quotes, invoices, purchases and payments and there are some pretty cheap options available – cue… BillCue.
Continue reading 1$ per month alternative to Xero just for invoices and daily transactions
It’s the end the of the financial year and for small businesses that means getting your affairs in order and buying things if you need them so you can claim the business expense this financial year.
Public companies that are listed on the ASX and other stock exchanges around the world report quarterly or half yearly and if you are a business owner or a share investor it’s important to understand how to read financial reports.
An interesting and relevant example is how Xero recently announced a big loss in their recent financial report but their share price sky-rocketed.
Continue reading Xero’s financial report reveals BIG loss but share price pop.
We’re approaching the end of the financial year and everyone will be reading and trying to understand their annual financial reports, particularly if they have outstanding Superannuation to pay (and claim) or they need funding.
I’ve written in the past about how to create a cashflow forecast using Xero and Excel and this post is a summary of good practices and recommendations when it comes to cashflow reporting
Continue reading Tips for Cash Flow Forecasting using Xero
One of the most common questions we get asked by students when they enrol into an online course relates to access to the software.
Years ago you could buy the MYOB AccountRight software from Officeworks for $10 and use it forever but online software like Xero, QuickBooks Online and MYOB Business Essentials are all subscription based and offer a 30 day free trial.
Although 30 days doesn’t seem like a long time if you are enrolled into a MYOB or Xero course that provides 12 months course access, there are ways you can still make VERY good use of these trial periods.
Continue reading 6 Months Access to MYOB Business (Essentials) for Training Course Students
If you are feeling the pinch financially right now it would be good to find out why. It’s easy to make a statement like “petrol and food prices are through the roof” but the truth might be a bit different when you get all your expenses into a spreadsheet.
Interest rates have gone up a LOT in the last few months so your mortgage payments might be chewing up most of your disposable income. If you have a car loan, personal loan or other debts where the interest rates are much higher you might find that you need to “consolidate” your debts to make ends meet.
A household budget exercise file is included in the Excel Intermediate Training Course 306 and a similar exercise file is available in the Excel Intermediate Training Course 305. The goal is to help you visualise the changes in your costs and expenses.
Continue reading Achieve Your Financial Goals: Microsoft Excel Graphs & Charts Course Show Costs of Food and Petrol – Your Personal Budget
One of the more time-consuming and tricky parts of catchup bookkeeping is reconciling your bank account and bank statement – which means going between your accounting software and bank.
In software like MYOB, even if you use bank feeds to import your transactions into your accounting software, you still need to make sure these match your bank’s records.
But what if your accounting software got the information directly from your bank daily? With ANZ in talks to buy MYOB, here’s what you need to know about where banking and accounting software meet:
Continue reading If ANZ Bank Buys MYOB will you EVER need to reconcile again?
Bookkeeping is an essential part of business, not just to keep track of financial activities for the business’ sake, but also to meet obligations from the ATO. It’s nothing ground-breaking to highlight the importance of bookkeeping, but lots of businesses might start operating without considering the necessity of bookkeeping.
If you’re a business owner who doesn’t have a background in accounting or bookkeeping, then you’ll want to learn at least the basics quickly – even if you intend to hire accounts staff, it’s great to understand the bookkeeping tasks that need to be completed.
EzyLearn has you covered with out new Bookkeeping Basics Training Course. Let’s break down how you’ll learn the foundational aspects of bookkeeping with this course:
Continue reading NEW “Bookkeeping Basics” Training Course Covers Beginner Level Xero, MYOB & QuickBooks Online
Do you provide your employees with gym memberships or concert tickets? Or maybe you work for a company that provides you with a vehicle or accommodation? There are lots of perks that business can provide to their employees outside of salaries and wages – and these are called fringe benefits and they may apply to you if you worked at home due to COVID-19.
FBT is not as simple as handing out freebies. Employers have to pay tax on these benefits they provide, and the amount can depend on the type of fringe benefit they’re providing.
We’ve written before about how fringe benefits tax is important to consider when you engage a new worker, but let’s look more in-depth into what fringe benefits are all about, and how to ensure you comply with your liabilities:
Continue reading Are You Complying With Your Fringe Benefits Tax Liability of up to 47% (especially COVID-19 related ones)?
If you’re looking into a business, maybe you’re thinking of buying a product from them, subscribing to a service, or even just doing a bit of research, one of the places you’ll want to go is the ratings and reviews page.
I’ve written before about how reviews and testimonials are more valuable than number ratings when it comes to revealing important things about a business but for medium and larger companies, who aren’t able to have a personal relationship with their customers, they have to rely on these ratings. They’re also used an opportunity to measure what matters to their clients.
One of the ways they do this is through Net Promoter Scores (NPS), and you’ve probably contributed to one even if you don’t know it!
Continue reading Xero Asks Nicely for Feedback using NPS, But EzyLearn Interviewed Xero Course Students via Zoom
Expense management is an important thing to have control of in order to keep a business running smoothly. But it can be a time-consuming process, full of paperwork, data entry, and chasing up staff members for receipts and invoices.
Xero’s integration with DiviPay promises to make the whole process easier, with seemingly half of it being done by staff members on their mobile phones!
But how does it all work?
Continue reading Xero’s Integration With DiviPay Can Help Small Businesses Manage Expenses
For small businesses, getting the administrative aspects of payroll and super in order can be stressful and confusing. Things need to be paid by certain dates at certain amounts, and failure to comply can have some serious consequences, PARTICULARY when it comes to employees pay and entitlements.
So what does it mean for a small business or employer if they don’t pay super on time? Here’s what you need to know about the super guarantee charge, and how you can avoid it.
Continue reading ATO’s SUPER GUARANTEE CHARGE Could Slug Employers Extra for Late Super Payments (SG vs SGC)?
Creating training materials for cloud-based accounting software is a continuous process of improvement. In fact it is much like the process that the software goes through in their Continuous Innovation & Continuous Delivery process.
Two of Australia’s newest billionaires Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar have become wealthy because they created software that enables companies like MYOB manage a team of developers, designers and analysts in the pursuit of continuously adding enhancements, updating the software, fixing bugs and providing support for their MYOB Tax software via their company Atlassian, but I digress.
The reason for this post is because of obscure behaviour by MYOB regarding their essentials software and a recent upgrade they performed on the MYOB Essentials software.
Continue reading APOLOGIES to students on behalf of MYOB Essentials Accounting Software. Attn: MASSIVE update coming for MYOB Essentials Course Materials
