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Friend or Foe? The Bookkeeper-Accountant Relationship

Bookkeepers and accountants can be allies.
Bookkeepers and accountants can be allies.

IF YOU’VE RECENTLY COMPLETED our MYOB course, or perhaps started your own bookkeeping business, or thinking about starting one, the word ‘accountant’ can sometimes make you feel a little nervous. Particularly if it’s hurled at you in a sentence like: “I’m going to check that with my accountant!”

It is unfortunate, but many people aren’t aware of the important function a bookkeeper can play in a business. Bookkeepers are often relegated to being “the accountant’s poor cousin” (not dissimilar to the way nurses are seen in comparison to doctors); while for some people the only bookkeeper they’ve heard of hangs out at the dog track!

Don’t Fear Your Accountant!

But the word ‘accountant’ really doesn’t need to put the fear of God in you. The fact is a bookkeeper provides valuable services that many accountants simply can’t; and nearly all accountants are more than grateful for the work bookkeepers do.

To work as a professional bookkeeper, you must show you are amply qualified in areas of Australian tax, payroll and sometimes, basic accounting. As it happens, there are many qualified accountants that work as bookkeepers — as is the case with bookkeeping firm, Build on Bookkeeping.

Since most business owners will find themselves an accountant first and a bookkeeper second, if you have a good working relationship with all of the accountants you deal with, they will more than likely refer clients on to you.

So if you can work well with your client’s accountants — by getting your EOFY analysis done in time and the relevant reports to them quickly — you may find yourself a personal advocate for your business.

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So don’t live in fear of the accountant — embrace them. Read our tips on keeping the accountant happy come EOFY and you’re well on your way to a prosperous working relationship with the accountants of all of your clients.

 

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Be Real about Yourself for that Bookkeeping Job

Does your resume really reflect you? Remember, it's important to be specific and provide examples.
Does your resume really reflect you? Remember, it’s important to be specific and provide examples.

We’re always trying to help people who have done our online MYOB course get work, so it’s time to emphasise again the message that overselling yourself in your resume stands out a mile — for all the wrong reasons!

What to Ditch

We’ve written previous posts with tips on how to make your resume stand out. Whether it’s a bookkeeper, office admin, virtual assistant or executive-level role you’re after, we’ve selected a few commonly used phrases that you should be leaving out of your resume and what you might include to replace them. Here goes:

“Highly qualified” – instead of using this generic and largely meaningless term, describe what you will bring to the role. Highlight specific accomplishments in previous positions and any awards or certifications you’ve earned.

“Hard worker” – explain just how it is you’ve gone the extra mile. Perhaps you frequently met tough deadlines, handled a high volume of projects or tackled tasks outside your job description?

“Team player” – well, it’s a bit of a problem if you don’t work well with others, so this tends to be assumed these days. Talk about a specific objective you achieved by partnering with colleagues or individuals in other departments?

“Problem solver” – again, be specific; highlight a tricky situation you encountered and how you solved the problem exactly.

“Flexible” – adaptability is a must in most organisations. Demonstrate your flexibility by describing how you responded to a major change at work or dealt with unpredictable aspects of your role.

“People person” – here it might be an idea to provide an instance of how you won over a challenging customer or co-worker.

“Self-starter” – yes, companies need people with initiative – show how you took the initiative when you saw an issue that needed to be addressed.

Remember, It’s the Little Things

We spoke to a couple of head hunters we know about what can make your resume stand out amongst the hundreds a prospective employer might receive. They were unanimous in their view that what piqued their interest were details and specifics about such things as what changes you contributed to your last position; in other words, some aspect that they could delve into and explore a little more. Real examples and instances of where you’ve contributed to a company in a positive way could then spark a conversation in a job interview.

Specifics for Bookkeepers

If you’re looking for bookkeeping work, we suggest ensuring you demonstrate some sound information about the evolving legislation around BAS agents and information about Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for bookkeeping professionals. Keep subscribing to our blog to receive other job seeking tips and tricks in your Inbox.

 

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Payroll Advice: The Role of the Payroll Professional

There's a lot of aspects to payroll.
Sometimes the importance of payroll is underestimated.

When the national minimum wage increased this month, it got us thinking about the role the payroll professional plays in a business. Payroll is an important and often complex aspect of every business — and a topic we cover in our MYOB training course — but it’s often the most underestimated. So we decided to take a deeper look at the role of the payroll professional.

Payroll: There’s Quite a Lot to It

Even though payroll sounds easy enough — you just pay people their wages, right? — it’s actually not as simple as it sounds. As a payroll professional, you’re entirely responsible for understanding and interpreting the ever-changing regulations and legislation relating to payroll; as well as managing the demands of both the employer and employee.

And as such, payroll is not a simple task for the uninitiated; it requires a person with solid knowledge of PAYG and superannuation, as well as an understanding of Australian tax.

For instance, how do you ensure you’re making the correct contributions to an employee’s HECS or HELP debt? Or make sure super contributions are made correctly (and to the correct fund)? Are you certain your employees are being paid according to the correct modern award? Getting these things wrong is not just time-consuming to rectify, but can also incur fines to your company!

In a recent new book by Tracey Angwin called The Payroll Revolution (which has gone on to become an Australian best seller) Angwin discusses the responsibility of the payroll professional and offers practical and guided tips on Australian payroll.

Just some of the skills that Angwin suggests the payroll professional should possess are:

  • Strong people skills
  • AIS/payroll software experience (such as MYOB)
  • General email, word and excel skills
  • Strong understanding of superannuation and PAYG
  • Good knowledge of the Fairwork Act
  • Ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines
  • Strong mathematical skills
  • Strong problem solving skills.

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We cover the technical side of payroll in our MYOB training course; the Australian Payroll Association website can also give you more information on payroll practices. We also highly recommend The Payroll Revolution.

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EOFY Update: Increase to the National Minimum Wage

With the new financial year, there's a new minimum wage.
With the new financial year, there’s a new minimum wage.

While you were busy with EOFY analysis — see our tips and checklists to ensure you haven’t missed anything important — you may have missed the Fair Work Commission announcing that the minimum living wage has increased by 2.6% from 1 July this year.

The New Minimum Wage

The new minimum wage for every Australian worker is $622.20 per week or $16.37 per hour and this affects all employees; even if they’re not covered by a modern award.

You’ll need to update your payroll records in MYOB to reflect this new change (we cover changes to payroll in our MYOB course if you’re not sure) so that you don’t get caught out paying your staff at the old pay rate.

If your staff are covered by a modern award and you’re not sure what their new rate of pay will be, you can check the Fair Work Award Finder on the Fair Work Commission’s website to ensure you’re paying your employees the correct rate of pay.

Effective from 1 July

As with the increase to the superannuation guarantee, the increases to the minimum wage is effective from 1 July. However, unlike the superannuation guarantee, an employee cannot receive two separate pay rates in one pay period.

This means that for businesses that pay their employees on a fortnightly or monthly basis, where part of their employees’ pay covers a week or few weeks in June and another part of their employees’ pay covers July, the employer needs to pay the old rate for that entire period and apply the new pay rate from the next full pay period commencing after 1 July.

It’s also important to keep in mind that most allowances (such as, leading-hand and industry allowances) are based on a percentage of the base rate and since this has increased, those allowances will increase, too.

If you’re unsure what these allowances will increase to, check the modern award on the Department of Fairwork’s Award Finder or register for email updates from Fairwork about how the changes apply to each particular award.

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For more information on the changes to the minimum wage, see the Department of Fairwork website.

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EOFY Tips: Keeping the Accountant Happy

bookkeeper accountant eofy tax preparation list
As a business owner, you don’t need to dread the 30 June!

30 JUNE IS VERY LIKELY a date dreaded by most bookkeepers. If you’re new to bookkeeping, we know it takes a while to remember everything that needs to be done, which is why we’ve been putting together blogs containing EOFY tips and checklists to make sure you make it to August!

And continuing in that tradition, we’ve put together one more checklist to help you out with your end of financial year analysis — some tips on keeping your clients’ accountants happy.

End of Financial Year Checklist to Keep Your Accountant Happy

Once you’ve done all of your EOFY reports, reconciliation and payroll (see our EOFY payroll checklist), you’ll need to forward on a few reports to your clients’ account.

These reports will vary from client-to-client and depend greatly on the size of the company, entity, or what services you’ve been engaged to provide, but typically every accountant will need the following:

  • Reconciliation Reports — BAS GST, payroll and accounts
  • Reports — balance sheets, P&L, general ledger accounts, accounts receivable & accounts payable at 30 June
  • Details of any motor vehicle usage
  • Accounting Information System copy of data file (backup)

For more tips to help you through your end of financial year analysis, see our EOFY checklist or our EOFY payroll checklist posts or visit the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers website.

learn online training Xero courses videos for less

Want to learn everything you need to know about Xero? Our Xero online training courses include EVERYTHING for ONE LOW PRICE. Furthermore, if you select our Lifetime Membership option, you’ll have LIFETIME access to our ongoing course updates.  EzyLearn courses are endorsed by industry professionals and can be counted towards Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points. Find out more about our Xero online training courses.

 

 

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Survive 30 June: EOFY Payroll Checklist

checklist
Make it through July with our End of Financial Year Payroll Checklist.

While everyone else is excited by the prospect of receiving a fat tax cheque from Mr Tax Man, if you’re a bookkeeper you’re probably not so much excited as you are busy. If this is your first time looking after the EOFY analysis for your new business (or maybe you’ve just enrolled in our MYOB course and you’re wondering what you’ll be doing this time next year), we’ve put together an EOFY payroll checklist to help you make it through July.

Get Your Details Up to Speed

Before you get started, make sure you check you’ve got the correct details for each of your employees — check you have the correct addresses and TFNs for all staff.

Also check that employees who have been terminated have a termination date and check the annual leave entitlement flag has “carry remaining entitlement” in MYOB.

Now we can begin!

  1. Reconciliations: reconcile total gross wages payment register, outstanding PAYGW liability, super liability and payroll tax for the year — see the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers payroll tax resource on the ICB website
  2. Print Reports: print payment register summary and payroll entitlement balance sumarry/detail
  3. Reconcile PAYG Withholding: see Insitute of Certified Bookkeepers payroll checklist resource
  4. Prepare Payment Summaries: remember salary sacrifice and ensure you send magnetic media form and EMPDUPE file to the ATO by 14 August
  5. Rollover Payroll Year: backup payroll file and store in payroll folder, rollover year to the next payroll year and load new tax tables
  6. Superannuation: don’t forget that the superannuation guarantee increased to 9.25% from July 1 2013.

For more tips to help you through EOFY analysis, see our EOFY checklist or visit the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers website. Happy EOFY!

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Tax and BAS: How to Register with the Tax Practitioners Board

Bookkeepers Who Want to Provide BAS Services Need TPB Certification

start a bookkeeping business
Don’t stress: The TPB certification requirements may actually kick-start some people’s bookkeeping businesses.

Whether you are a bookkeeper who uses Xero or MYOB or one of the other accounting software packages that we offer training on, you are probably aware that Australian tax legislation has changed recently. As a result, providing BAS services to clients is not as simple as it once was. 

All bookkeepers who wish to provide a BAS service for a fee, must now hold a Certificate IV in Financial Services (Bookkeeping or Accounting) or higher to be eligible for registration.

What makes up a BAS service?

The BAS services page on the ATO website can provide you with information about the qualification requirements and the education requirements for BAS agents to become certified with the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) so you can offer tax and BAS services to clients.

Becoming certified with the TPB is a lot like getting your drivers license: you need to be able to demonstrate the relevant experience of at least 1400 hours, or 1000 hours if you’re already a member of a professional organisation — like the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers — which you can become a member of for free when you complete an applicable EzyLearn Training Course.

If you’re working under the supervision of another registered Tax or BAS agent, you cannot provide any Tax or BAS services to any clients you may pick up of your own. In other words, you must only provide tax or BAS services to clients known to your supervising Tax/BAS agent.

For some newcomers to the industry, this may seem daunting. But that’s just because conventional wisdom suggests that you must take on some form of permanent employment, working for a bookkeeper or accountant who is registered with the TPB and can supervise you while you gain the necessary skills to go out on your own.

But that’s not actually the case. While this is an option — and a good one if you’ve never worked as a bookkeeper before — it’s not the only one. You can still work with another registered Tax/BAS agent as a contractor, providing these services to the registered Tax/BAS agent’s clients until you’re eligible to go out on your own.

Kick start your own business

This is a great way to get a start on your own business — perhaps just offering non BAS services to start with — while you gain the skills to become registered to offer GST and BAS services. Contract bookkeeping jobs of this nature are actually easier to find that it may seem — often by striking up a working relationship with an accountant or another certified bookkeeper.

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Find out more information on how to register with the TPB so you can provide tax and BAS services. And remember: you can become a member of the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers for free when you complete an applicable EzyLearn Training Course.

Online bookkeeping accounting training courses for CPD points

 

 

 

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1 JULY 2013: The Compulsory Superannuation Guarantee Increased

Keep up to date with the government's increases to superannuation.
Keep up to date with the government’s increases to superannuation.

Now that we are offering the Small Business Management Course, and with so many of our MYOB Course students running their own businesses, many of our readers will know that the Superannuation Guarantee (SG) rate increased on 1 July to 9.25% in a government scheme that will see the SG rate increase incrementally until it reaches 12% in 2019-2020.

The increase to the SG rate follows 2010’s Henry Review, which identified that the number of Australians over the age of 65 would increase from 3 million to 8.5 million by 2050.

Who Pays? Workers or Employers?

The scheme can be seen as a coup for workers. Business owners, however, will receive no government assistance in meeting the new rate. As such, the scheme has been criticised by some economists who believe it will adversely affect low-income earners.

Writing for ABC’s The Drum, Sinclair Davidson a professor in the School of Economics, Finance and Marketing at RMIT University, called compulsory superannuation a “fiscal illusion”.

“The illusion,” Davidson writes, “revolves around the fact that superannuation is an ‘employer contribution’ — many people think superannuation is paid by employers and not employees.”

While the government will kick in an extra $500 for those low-income earners taking home less than $37,000 per year, the increase to the SG rate for most workers will mean a reduction in their take-home pay, though maybe not immediately.

Conceding that many employers will reduce pay rises in order to offset the cost of the SG rate increase, the government has, however, cautioned business owners that breaking wage agreements won’t be tolerated.

But given most employers now advertise salaries as a “package” that includes superannuation, holiday and sick leave, annual leave-loading, overtime, and the like, a $60k salary package just became $150 lighter almost overnight.

On the upside, however, by increasing compulsory super contributions by 3 percent, an aggregate $500 billion will be added to the existing pool of superannuation savings by 2050.

If you’re a business owner, as it’s now 1 July, you must pay 9.25% super for each of your employees until 1 July 2014, when the SG rate will increase again to 9.5%.

For a full schedule of the SG rate increases visit the Future Tax Website.

 

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Why I Chose EzyLearn for MYOB

EzyLearn online MYOB training course
Get certified with our EzyLearn online MYOB training course.

Hi, my name’s Michelle Stone and I’m an existing EzyLearn MYOB student. I’ve been asked to write a blog about why I chose Ezylearn for MYOB. Well, it didn’t take me much time to decide at all.

Last year, I was put in a situation at home that required me to take over my late father’s business. In taking over this business I needed to reorganise everything, including the accounting software they used. I was introduced to a chartered accountant who became a mentor and he runs his whole chartered accounting firm using MYOB. So I went into his office one day and his assistant director tried to teach me MYOB in one day. At the end of the day I was so confused!

I knew I needed to find something fast to help me with MYOB. It’s complicated software that can’t be trained / taught in one day, unless you are a genius (which I’m not!)

I went home to my trusty computer and looked up MYOB courses on Google and really looked at the different courses on offer. I had a few criteria of my own that had to be matched:

I wanted:

  • To study when I wanted to — mornings, night, and weekends, anytime suitable/available.
  • To study where I wanted to — café, work or more relaxing environment at home.
  • To study and learn at my own pace, not someone else’s pace; be it the teacher or other students.
  • To have visual examples with step-by-step instructions, then be able to practise the same thing in MYOB.
  • To have assistance when I needed it, not just when I’m learning but when I’ve completed the course as well.
  • To have a certificate or certification at the end. This made me feel good once I completed the course and I felt it would assist me in acquiring work afterwards.
  • To be able to use the course materials in real-time situations.

EzyLearn met all those criteria and more. The EzyLearn online MYOB course helped me to learn the ins and outs of running a small business from an accounting point of view. It made learning MYOB easy because all the learning material and guidance was at my fingertips with a push of a few buttons on my own computer.

So for me it’s not so much why choose Ezylearn for MYOB — it’s why not?

— Michelle Stone

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More on Virtual Bookkeeping Businesses

Everyone's smiling: Your clients will benefit if you opt to go virtual.
Everyone’s smiling: Your clients will benefit if you opt to go virtual.

In our last post we discussed why we updated our MYOB training material to include MYOB’s cloud accounting software Account Right Live and how you could benefit from operating a completely remote or virtual bookkeeping business, which is great; but how do your clients benefit from your working remotely?

Convincing the Clients

Winning new clients is always difficult, but it can be especially difficult to convince the old school business owner that hiring a virtual bookkeeper is the way to go: “But I like having someone come in and sit down with me” is not an uncommon counter remark; while for many the idea of a remote bookkeeper conjures notions of unqualified cowboys.

If you’re thinking about starting a virtual bookkeeping business or turning your existing business into a virtual one, then you need to get used to overcoming these obstacles if you’re going to have any success.

It’s worth stating upfront to any potential clients, or existing clients you’re trying to convert, the benefits of retaining a remote bookkeeper over your bookkeeper that makes house calls, or office calls, rather.

Just some benefits:

  • By retaining a virtual bookkeeper, your clients only pay for time worked; that means their hourly rate is not inflated with hidden travel costs, which usually includes the time they spend commuting to your office
  • Virtual bookkeepers don’t have the costly overheads of renting office space, paying for utilities, equipment, storage space, and so forth — all of which decreases their hourly rate
  • For those businesses that may usually employ a bookkeeper as a full-time or part-time member of staff, using a remote bookkeeper means they’re no longer paying sick leave, annual leave and other entitlements
  • All bookkeepers, whether they work remotely or otherwise, have to be accredited by the Tax Practitioners Board to offer BAS services.

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If you’re thinking of starting a virtual bookkeeping business, our online MYOB course covers MYOB Account Right Live — a necessary piece of software to make any virtual bookkeeping business not only successful, but also feasible.

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MYOB Student Creates a Website for Dad’s Business Using WordPress.

ASBC-Crest-smaller-Certified ContractorYou might recall the blog post that I put out earlier this week advertising for an Admin Assistant for our Chatswood office. We had some fantastic responses and it confirmed my thoughts about promoting work opportunities to our own network as opposed to complete strangers on a website like SEEK.

You might be interested to read about our bad SEEK experiences at the Australian Small Business Blog! There’s also some interesting information about competition and business valuation that you might find interesting if you are planning to start your own business and want to understand the concept of value.

One of the most interesting experiences in my team building exercise so far is discovering people’s attitude to work. The best example I can think of is the story about one lady who completed our MYOB course so that she could help run her father’s business. In the short time she had to get up to speed, she was able to use her skills to not only help manage the finances of the business but she was able to improvise and adapt to each new situation that arose, including building a professional website for that business using WordPress and perform many other tasks outside of her area of expertise.

[quote]This is one of the key skills you need to run your own startup business. Improvisation.[/quote]

We are working on a Certification Program for the Australian Small Business Centre to credential contractors who make themselves available to help businesses manage their business from Day-to-Day. This program is designed to build a team of competent professionals who understand the principles of providing a good and competent service for a reasonable return. We are looking for contractors who want to work with local businesses and offer a win-win service.

If you want to start your own business or want help getting your existing business off the ground make sure you complete the Business Service Provider form and begin your journey on becoming a Certified Contractor.

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What’s a Virtual Bookkeeping Business?

Virtual bookkeepers can dictate their hours and place of work.
Virtual bookkeepers can dictate their hours and place of work.

WHEN MYOB FINALLY ENTERED the cloud accounting fray in 2012, we were pretty excited and we quickly updated our course material to reflect this new era of MYOB.

Moving MYOB online gave contract and home-based bookkeepers new career opportunities: the ability to go virtual.

A virtual or remote bookkeeping business is much the same as any other home-based or contract bookkeeping business; you still offer the same services — BAS and GST, for instance — except for one notable difference: you work entirely remotely from your home office.

Run Your Bookkeeping Business Anywhere, 24/7

Running your bookkeeping business from any location, any time of any day means you are never required to visit a client’s office to collect documents — or even work from their office. With MYOB in the cloud, all of your clients’ accounts are accessible from any computer, anywhere, any time you choose.

Rather than being confined to a client base in your immediate local area or city, working as a virtual bookkeeper opens you up to the possibility of working with people all over the country.

For bookkeepers operating in small communities where business opportunities may have previously been limited, becoming a remote or virtual bookkeeper will increase your business exponentially.

But virtual bookkeeping businesses have their benefits to city folk, as well. Because you don’t have to spend hours commuting to and from your clients’ offices, you can use that time to either pick up additional clients — or spend it with your family.

A remote or virtual bookkeeping business allows you the flexibility of working when you want, where you want, without having to compromise on your earning potential.

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And it’s why we were so excited when MYOB created MYOB Account Right Live: now the graduates from our online MYOB courses can compete with the big-name bookkeeping firms from their own homes; wherever they might be.

Excel and Xero combined importing_comp

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Office Admin Assistant Wanted in Chatswood

Perhaps you’re a mum who’s looking for part-time work and wanting to start your own business? We might have the opportunity for you. We have taken some office space in Chatswood and we want to work with talented mumpreneurs to help us with various aspects of our business.

Now that we have the Small Business Management Course on our Learning System we’re also very keen to help mums with their own business from our office right here in Chatswood. If you’re a blog subscriber from another part of Australia (or the world for that matter) you can still learn about our developments at this blog and at the Small Business Centre blog.

We are looking for someone to help us with Day-to-Day administration but we are also looking to work with mums who have excellent skills and motivation in:

  • Graphic Design
  • Business and Blog Writing
  • Website Design using WordPress
  • Social media
  • Online and Telephone based support
  • Bookkeeping
  • Marketing and Advertising
  • Google Online Marketing

If you would like to join us on a journey of learning and growth please enter your details at this form: http://www.australiansmallbusiness.com.au/services/business-service-provider/ (make sure you mention the EzyLearn blog post and we’ll receive all your information).

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Want Help Building Your MYOB Business? Here’s a List of Main Priorities

It’s all too easy to be distracted but if you do you’ll work harder and longer with less results.

As part of the Lifetime membership when you do an EzyLearn MYOB training course, you get ongoing access to the content we are constantly updating to reflect the ever-changing bookkeeping industry.

If you’re one of the many bookkeepers who have started your own business after completing our online MYOB course or perhaps you’re thinking of starting your own business, then today’s post is here to say loud and clear — don’t waste time on things that don’t matter!

As part of our range of courses, EzyLearn is now offering a small business management course which will give you the skills you need to start your own business. It will also teach you how best to spend your time by doing tasks that result in profits, rather than getting distracted by things that don’t matter. (It’s a little frightening just how many business owners do, though!)

Classic Time Wasting

We’re all guilty of it: logging into Facebook to post a quick update and spending an hour watching cat videos. Wasting half a day trying to create the perfect flyer/postcard/ logo/webpage/cover image/thinga-ma-jig when you should have outsourced it or settled on version #5. Taking a week to make a decision because you “need” to have all of the facts.

Here’s the thing. Wasting time may seem innocent enough. But it is destroying your business. It is causing you to work too hard and too long. It is causing you stress and making you feel unproductive.

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If sales and marketing are what you do when you have time or when you get around to it, then you will never have the business you want.

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The List of Main Priorities

Your main priorities should be (in order of importance):

1. Servicing current clients.

2. Having a sales conversation with hot prospects.

3. Cultivating warm prospects.

4. Identifying leads and getting referrals.

5. Marketing your business with social media and other tools.

6. If you have a website, creating content that people want to read.

7. Creating new products (that is, solutions) to service your client’s needs.

8. Everything else.

***

There’s no better time to start than right now (a tad cliched, but true). Spend the first hour of today only working on things that will get you more clients. That’s it. Nothing else. Only tasks that will grow your business. See how that feels. You’ll find it feels a whole lot easier doing the same thing tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after that. Learn to always prioritise and you’ll really start growing your MYOB or small business.

 

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What You Need to Do Before 30 June!

Print out our checklist of what you need to complete before the end of financial year.
Print out our checklist of what you need to complete before the end of financial year.

If you have recently started your own business after completing our online MYOB training course, and this is your first time doing end of financial year (EOFY) analysis, never fear — here’s an EOFY checklist to make sure you’re ready!

Even if you’re a veteran bookkeeper, these are still handy tips that are often overlooked in the rush to get everything ready by 30 June.

Before the EOFY:

  1. Make sure you present and clear any old cheques before 30 June before you reconcile your bank accounts — you don’t want to leave these until the following financial year, as it create problems later on down the line.
  2. Also chase-up any outstanding debtors (people who haven’t paid an invoice that’s overdue) as, again, if it’s paid after 30 June, this can create problems later on.
  3. If you have any outstanding debtors that are more than 12 months old, cut your losses (so to speak) and claim back the GST.
  4. You should also write off any old stock if it is also more than 12 months old.
  5. Once this is done, reconcile your accounts — is your un-deposited funds account bank to nil? If not, you need to go back and investigate why.

Now for Payroll:

  1. Don’t forget that the superannuation guarantee will increase to 9.25% from the 1st July this year — make sure you update your records so you don’t get caught out later on down the track.
  2. Make sure you have all of your employees’ tax file numbers before 30 June.
  3. Pay your June Superannuation Guarantee Charge (SGC) by 30 June this year to ensure you actually get the tax deduction this year.
  4. Also make sure you pay all your SGC obligations before 28 July 2013 to avoid SGC review and all the time-consuming paperwork that goes with it.
  5. Don’t leave your payment summaries until the last minute — by law you have to provide these to your staff by 14 July, so you give yourself plenty of time.

 

Remember: In MYOB the software requires you to enter a tax file number for all employees regardless of whether they have one or whether you have to print a payment summary for them or not.

In this instance use the following codes:

  • For a New Payee that has not made a TFN Declaration, but 28 days have not passed use: 111 111 111
  • Payee is under 18 years of age and earnings do not exceed $350 per week, $700 per fortnight or $1,517 per month use: 333 333 333
  • Payee is an Australian Government pensioner payee use: 444 444 444
  • Payee chooses not to quote a TFN and has not claimed an exemption from quoting a TFN or does not fit into any of the above categories use: 000 000 000.

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And while we’re dispensing handy tips, we find that if you have a checklist of all the things you must do for as part of your end of financial year analysis, you’re less likely to forget anything. So why not print out this list and keep it by your desk so you don’t get caught out.