Category: Bookkeeping Academy

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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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Working from Home Doesn’t Have to Mean Working Alone

Lonely office man

We are constantly refreshing the content of our MYOB training course so that you are privy to all the latest information you need for becoming a bookkeeper, running your own bookkeeping business, or doing the books for the businesses of others.

Certainly, technology has reshaped the way most of us work, learn and interact with each other. Whether working from home or from an office, many of us spend the bulk of our time online, and for many, it’s not uncommon to feel increasingly disconnected from others, lonely, even. However, in this ever-increasing virtual world in which we live and work, there are ways to combat loneliness — things we’ve probably learned from our mother’s and grandmother’s: to mind our P’s and Q’s.

Everybody Emails

If you are thinking about working from home and running a bookkeeping business in 2013 (or you already do this), it goes without saying that things are substantially different to the way they were 20 years ago; different, even to just 10 years ago. Instead of seeing your clients often and chatting regularly on the phone, you email. On a daily basis, your Inbox fills with emails from clients — emails you rarely read in full, scanning instead for keywords or instructions that you mentally note down for later; the email is then closed. Rarely a response longer than “No problem”, “Done” or “Sure, will do” is sent back (something I’m guilty of myself!).

However, there was a time when a client would have phoned through their request or query, you’d have chatted, built a relationship, and some of the loneliness of working from home would have been assuaged. Today, we rarely indulge in such pleasantries — and we complain we’re lonely.

Building Relationships

But loneliness is so easily rectified, particularly in business. Instead of emailing a one-word email back, engage with your customers. Get to know them; ask them how they are, how business is travelling and, above all, thank them for continuing to do business with you. People like to feel appreciated; they like to feel that they’re not alone in the world.

At EzyLearn, we’re in the business of helping people build profitable businesses working from home. With all of our online training courses, we strive to ensure our online students don’t feel detached or lonely. We know that studying online can sometimes feel like you’re missing out on the student-teacher, student-student interaction, making your road to graduation a long and lonely one. It’s why we implemented the ZenDesk customer support system — to handle and respond to your queries quickly and efficiently — and why we’re also active on social media so you can connect with us quickly and easily, every time.

Next time you feel lonely when working or studying online or from home, perhaps consider whether technology has effectively placed a barricade between you and those around you. Are you likely to be regarded as a real person by your clients, or more a faceless, voiceless email that happens to bear your name? Use technology, instead, to connect (or reconnect) with people — and what better place to start than by saying, “Thank You”!

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Cloud Accounting Software and Automatic Bank Feeds (MYOB training video)

As part of our commitment to be the number one choice for online MYOB Bookkeeping training courses we are always keeping an eye and ear out for changes and improvements in the bookkeeping industry. If you do your own banking reconciliation, you might agree that sifting through printed statements and checking each entry off in your accounting software is maybe the most tedious part of bookkeeping.

But it need not be. With accounting bank feeds – a new feature in the world of cloud accounting – your bank transactions are automatically synched with your cloud accounting software.

This means that as long as you’ve entered your purchases into your accounting software, when your statement comes in from your bank, it will automatically marry up your purchases for you to approve with just the click of a button.

Automatic bank feeds removes the single most tedious step from the banking reconciliation process, which, depending on the size of your company, can take anywhere fifteen minutes to two hours (sometimes even more).

For a little more detail on how MYOB and bank feeds works, watch this video:

http://youtu.be/XKBUH5ycGYY

Or, for more information on how Xero and bank feeds work, watch this video:

http://youtu.be/qTsy3lW-UZM

But it’s important to know how your accounting software will access your sensitive banking information as currently there are two main methods for doing so.

First there is the method used by the likes of MYOB where your accounting software provider integrates a direct feed of your bank transactions from each of your banks into your software without needing your bank username and password.

The second method, called screen scraping, requires your accounting software to use a third party to access your bank transactions, thus necessitating your bank usernames and passwords, which can become a grey area with regards to protecting yourself from banking fraud.

While the companies that use the screen scraping method take security very seriously, should a breach occur, you could find yourself in violation of your bank’s terms and conditions because you gave out your usernames and passwords.

It’s up to you to choose what method you feel comfortable with but always check your bank’s terms and conditions before you give out your login in details.

Whatever option you choose, by eliminating the hours of data entry, your saving not only time, but also money.

And for the layperson doing their banking reconciliation themselves, services like Shoeboxed only eliminate the data entry even further.

PS: We’re also almost ready to announce our new Cert IV in Small Business Management with the Australian Small Business Centre so if you are looking to start a business or learn the skills to manage one stay tuned…

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What’s the cheapest cloud accounting software? How does it compare with MYOB AccountRight Live?

We’re augmenting our MYOB Training Courses as you may already be aware and that includes new training courses for cloud based accounting software like Reach Accounting.

Currently, the cheapest Australian cloud-based accounting software is Reach Accounting, provided by Australian domain registration and web hosting company, Net Registry.

Net Registry has been operating in Australia since 1997 and, over the years, has grown from a start-up business to the largest and most trusted provider of domain names and web hosting in the country.

Web hosting, as some of you probably already know, is another cloud-based service, so it seems only natural that Net Registry would eventually move into the cloud accounting space, which they have done with Reach.

While Reach is certainly the cheapest Australian-based cloud accounting software on the market, offering great benefits, such as, multiple user access (so everyone from owner, to staff, to bookkeeper, to accountant can have access at the same time from different offices), unlimited support and no hidden fees, it differs in functionality to MYOB AccountRight Live.

Over the years, MYOB AccountRight, has become a rather sophisticated piece of accounting software; its features include, access via the PC or the cloud, inventory, bill by time and more.

However, if your business model is relatively simple, Reach Accounting could prove a more economical option coming in at around $10 per month cheaper than the basic version of MYOB AccountRight Live, by far Australia’s cheapest cloud-based accounting software.

Although we do not provide training on MYOB AccountRight Live, we are exploring it along with Reach Accounting as part of the Bookkeeping Academy.

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Is Reach Accounting good for serviced based Small Businesses?

We have previously written blog posts about our Bookkeeping Academy and in particular, how students of our MYOB training courses can gain access to this for FREE. We are currently creating training materials on how to use Reach Accounting from NetRegistry.

We are currently creating new content for various cloud accounting software vendors, and in particular is the Reach Accounting package. This package is ideal for small serviced based businesses such as graphic designers, website designers and even bookkeepers . The Sales layout (Invoice) is more suited to small service based businesses’ as it does not allow you to manage items or inventory, but at only $14.95 per month it is extremely affordable while enabling you to remain compliant with your recording and reporting requirements.

Reach Accounting BAS Calculation Report
BAS Calculation Report

Our Course Designer, Certified Bookkeeper and Registered BAS Agent had this to say about Reaching Accounting:

I love the report functionality and its ease of use, especially for people who are not familiar with bookkeeping or accounting reports. The BAS Calculation report is a prime example of this, whereby [quote]it gives us the information needed to simply transfer onto the BAS[/quote] . Another thing that really impressed me was the Thank Client Email functionality, this is received by the client in a professional look, displays the information needed and they can also see a list of their transactions regarding the invoice just by clicking a link in the email.

We are continually creating new content for our Bookkeeping Academy and if you have not already, sign up to one of our MYOB courses which include Lifetime Membership, and free 12 months access to all the content at the Bookkeeping Academy.

Please feel free to share your comments with us our Facebook page and connect with us at Linkedin.

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Online Accounting: Has Xero Turned the Tables on MYOB in Australia?

Xero cloud accounting Share Price on ASX via CommsecWE RECENTLY FEATURED AN article by Margaret Carey comparing Xero vs MYOB and as early as 2010 I wrote about Xero’s solid growth in the online accounting area and how it could steal business away from MYOB.

If you read my blog posts or follow the news about accounting software and cloud-based accounting software, you’ll be aware that MYOB is now owned by a large private equity organisation called Bain Capital (which was co-founded by Mitt Romney). I believe it overpaid for MYOB and as a result has to fight hard to justify its price and keep as many customers as possible. However, regardless of that, it’s interesting to see that MYOB is now the US competitor to the New Zealand and Australian owned Xero.

How is MYOB American?

What do I mean? Well, MYOB was once an Australian-owned company that you could buy shares in — it was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. It was subsequently purchased by Archer Capital and later sold to Bain. During this time, the man who started MYOB, Craig Winkler, sold his shares in MYOB and became a major investor in Xero. Read this article from the Sydney Morning Herald to better understand the “lay of the land” about cloud-based accounting software.

You can buy shares in Xero

Up until last week you could only buy shares in Xero through the New Zealand stock exchange. Last week, things changed and you can now participate in the fresh new competition in the online accounting market by buying shares in Xero! The graphic shows the rise of the share price since listing.

This blog post isn’t financial advice because I don’t know about your personal circumstances, but it could prove to be some safe career advice to get to know the software because they have listed in Australia in order to endear themselves to you and other small businesses in our part of the world.

Want to check out Xero’s ASX ticker and start keeping track of their price? Follow this link.

MYOB Bookkeeper, does this affect you?

If you are looking for work as an MYOB bookkeeper you will come across cloud accounting sooner or later because all the accounting software vendors are developing cloud based products. MYOB has recently launched their cloud accounting program MYOB AccountRight Live because they want to take advantage of the mass movement into the cloud.

More importantly as a bookkeeper these days you need to have bookkeeping qualifications like a Cert IV in Bookkeeping as well as software skills to find work or run your own bookkeeping business. Because of the more competitive landscape in online accounting you’ll also find several different accounting systems are being used and the more you know, the move valuable you become.

Always updating our content

In conjunction with bookkeepers, accountants and other finance industry experts we are always adding training materials covering a number of different cloud accounting applications like Xero, SAASU, Reach Accounting and MYOB AccountRight Live to our online training platform. We are also adding case studies to our courses to make them more true to life and interesting. When you enrol and opt to purchase our Lifetime Access option, you will have access to all updates to our courses forever.

Our online courses can be counted towards your CPD points

Online bookkeeping accounting training courses for CPD points

EzyLearn Excel, MYOB and Xero online training courses count towards Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for bookkeepers and accountants. We’ve been an accredited training provider of the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers ever since the organisation started in Australia. Find out how CPD points can be of benefit to you.

 

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Should I switch to Xero or remain with MYOB?

Xero and MYOB

cloud-accounting Xero and MYOBI’ve written many articles about the building competition between cloud-based accounting services like Xero, SAASU and Reach Accounting and MYOB’s AccountRight Live, but I sought an opinion of someone with much more experience with the various bookkeeping programs. Margaret from BusinessEEz is an accounting software specialist and she will share her opinions about whether you should switch to Xero or remain with MYOB.

We’ve noticed some big changes in the most recent version of MYOB AccountRight version 2012 and these changes not only affect small business owners, but also bookkeepers who perform most of the day to day and month end tasks for these small businesses.

Here’s what Margaret had to say about Xero and MYOB.

Should I switch to Xero or remain with MYOB?

Cloud accounting specialist xero and MYOBBy Margaret Carey

MYOB is about to launch AccountRightLive, the cloud-based version of AccountRight 2012 which is exciting news for business owners, bookkeepers and accountants as it means that you will have the ability to remain on MYOB and enjoy the flexibility that the cloud can offer. Xero has of course been in the cloud for some six years and has wooed many Australian small businesses with its ease of use, functionality and flexibility. However now AccountRight Live is becoming a reality, business owners and bookkeepers can more readily compare apples with apples when deciding whether to switch or remain with the familiar product.

There are a number of key points of difference.

Firstly with MYOB you can choose to switch between the cloud and the desktop at any time but Xero however is a cloud-only product, accessed via a web browser and an internet connection. Some people may like the flexibility of being able to switch between the two, taking offline backups etc. and others are happy with the restriction of internet–only access, no offline backups.

[quote]MYOB is also allowing for up to 5 concurrent users, a welcome addition for users on Plus and compares well with the unlimited users for Xero.[/quote]

However, I believe that functionality is a major driver in product decision and there is a lot to consider here.

Functionality of MYOB

MYOB has been around for many years and over time has built up some industrial strength functionality. Xero has only been around for 6 years (less in Australia) and whilst new releases with new features come out every couple of months, it still has a way to go to catch up with the in-depth functionality of MYOB. So if your business has some more sophisticated processes – eg Job Costing, Purchase Order tracking

If you hold inventory for buying and selling, then you need to remain on MYOB, Xero does not have an integrated inventory solution, there are plenty of add-ons available but why go for an add-on if you can have an integrated solution?

Xero does now have a reasonable integrated payroll solution but again, if you have some more sophisticated requirements such as TOIL, RESC etc, you should carefully review how well Xero will handle these.

The number one efficiency feature with Xero is its bank feeds. You can directly download transactions from your bank accounts into Xero and through some sophisticated but easy to set up rules, Xero will suggest the correct postings for the transactions – this is a powerful feature that can save several hours of data entry but is probably more suited to the micro business than the small business.

In summary,

  1. If you have a fairly simple business model, no inventory, straightforward payroll and are comfortable with a cloud-only solution then test drive Xero – you could well find that factors such as the bank feeds clinch the decision for you.
  2. But, if your business model is more sophisticated, you are still attached to a terra firma option or you need inventory then you are better sticking with the software you know.
  3. For all shades of grey in between – further analysis may be required to make the best decision for your business.

Learn more than just MYOB

When you enrol into our MYOB courses you receive free membership to the Bookkeeping Academy where we’ll show you how to use other accounting software programs like Xero, SAASU, Reach Accounting and more..

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Will MYOB in the cloud take Bookkeepers jobs offshore?

accountants and MYOB bookkeeper jobs going offshoreI’ve written a lot about MYOB in the cloud recently as training companies like us, accountants and MYOB software users grapple with their changing software and upgrading issues and a recent article I read brought up an interesting topic. Whether Cloud based accounting software will takes jobs offshore?

MYOB in the Cloud and IT support

The article I read was more about IT jobs and IT departments and whether cloud computing was making It Departments redundant. When you think about the various jobs within the accounts department the same question can be asked. I wrote a blog post about the looming threat to Australian jobs by overseas workers earlier in 2012 and scarily, it was reinforced by an article in yesterdays Sydney Morning Herald about 1 million jobs going offshore in the next 30 years.

If you check out the article you’ll notice that not only bookkeeping jobs, but accounting in general is one of the largest sectors under threat from offshoring! The picture above shows some other sectors under threat.

MYOB in the cloud vs data files on your PC

MYOB in the Cloud will enable the bookkeeper, data entry operator and accountant to access accounting records at the same time and from different locations and this is one of the best selling features of MYOB in the cloud compared to a data file on your computer. The issue for Australian workers is that anyone in the world can now perform this work if they have the skills to use the software and knowledge of basic Australian accounting.

Keep upskilling

One of the best ways to ensure your worth and value as a MYOB user is to keep yourself up-to-date. Continuing Education is important if you want to be a BAS agent, but it is also a very good way to become the MYOB and Bookkeeping resource for your own customers.

When you enrol into our MYOB training courses, you’ll automatically receive 12 months membership to the Bookkeeping Academy as well as free student membership of the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers.

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EzyLearn students receive MYOB courses for free

MYOB AccountRight Plus 2012 online training coursesHave you pondered the benefits of a lifetime student access to our MYOB courses? Here is the best answer we can think of – our newest MYOB course is the MYOB Setup course for version 2012, and all students will have access to this course for no extra charge*.

I wrote recently about the significant changes that are occurring with MYOB accounting software as they take their journey from desktop to cloud and in-between. I’ll explain more about the in-between part in another blog post. These modifications have caused a change in how to use MYOB software so we’ve undergone a re-write of all of our courses. The MYOB Setup Course is now in beta stage and we are looking for existing students who want to give it a bit of a run through. Do you want to have a sneak peak at it?

Beta stage simply means it’s ready, but we want to see if our existing students like it. Do you want to become a VIP training member? It’s free, so submit your details in our Bookkeepers Register and select the VIP option.

I just want to use this opportunity to let you know another reason for choosing EzyLearn for your MYOB training: We create our own training materials and the people who create the courses also provide support to students. This means that we are amongst the first company to create training material for the latest versions of MYOB.

* If you have enrolled into a lifetime MYOB course access option.

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MYOB bookkeeper training VIP member

MYOB Bookkeeper VIP

EzyLearn MYOB Bookkeeper Gold VIP member logo - smallA great way to participate in a continuing education program for bookkeeping is to apply for our MYOB Bookkeeper VIP membership. It’s free! Membership is not guaranteed however and you have to participate in our MYOB bookkeeping Training Courses incubator. If that sounds like you, read on…

Why a MYOB Bookkeeper VIP membership?

If you are a regular EzyLearn blog reader, you’ll be aware of the sadness we experience by not being able to have a coffee and Tim Tam with you. We are inching closer to finding a solution to that though and I think we’ve found it! The MYOB Bookkeepers VIP membership. You could call it a club for people willing to participate in our training material creation process.

What’s in it for me?

  • You get to road test our new training material and participate in the creation process (well OK, that’s also a benefit for us)
  • You get to elevate your status in the learning community
  • We’ll include your details in our forthcoming bookkeeper register
  • We’ll explore ways to help you perform online marketing to build your own business
  • You’ll get access to other training resources to widen your skill base
  • You’ll get to know similar minded people and build a great network
  • You’ll be able to explore new bookkeeping technologies with us and keep your skills up-to-date

Continuing Professional Development for Bookkeepers

Continuing Professional Development is going to become more and more relevant and important for MYOB Bookkeepers across Australia as the industry becomes more regulated and you will be at the coalface of our training development.

We have some exciting news to release in the coming months about new partners who will be working with us to provide our students with small business management skills including the ability to write a comprehensive business plan including financials. As a MYOB Bookkeeper VIP member you will have privileged access to this new material.

The MYOB Bookkeeping Training Courses is your first step to gain access to the club but even if you are an experienced bookkeeper or accountant you are welcome to submit your details into our Bookkeeper Register.

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MYOB AccountRight version 2012 is different

Reasons to decide if upgrading MYOB Accountright version 2012We create new training content for our online MYOB training courses each quarter and we’ve just been going through a flurry of recordings and re-writes for our MYOB Setup course because we know that MYOB AccountRight version 12 is different.

MYOB AccountRight version 2012 is part of the cloud strategy

Did you know that MYOB is going through a lot of changes as they position themselves as a cloud based accounting software provider? A recent article in The Australian goes onto explain that MYOB’s cloud-based strategy is designed to get people away from using Microsoft Excel (for which we have training courses with lifetime access) and onto their cloud based systems. It also explains that one benefit to the company is the ongoing monthly revenue stream as opposed to many of their customers who only upgrade their software when they really need to.

MYOB is created on a Microsoft programming platform

The other major reason for the changes in MYOB AccountRight version 2012 is that it, and all their other products, have been re-written from the ground up using a whole new programming language in Dot Net (Microsoft .NET framework). We wrote a controversial blog post about how accounts are recommending some of their customers not to upgrade their MYOB software and some information on their website reveals that MYOB themselves are not recommending the upgrade under certain circumstances, in particular:

[quote] If you use M-Powered services, or other third party add-ons, we recommend waiting until we’ve finished developing these features before upgrading. [/quote]

Benefits of MYOB Training Course lifetime access

Either way, we are upgrading our training materials and keeping our old training material available for those students who want access to both versions. We promote lifetime access for our MYOB training courses and all students on this enrolment plan will have access to the new MYOB AccountRight version 2012 courses for free.

Stay tuned as we keep you up-to-date on our progress. The 45 new videos for our MYOB AccountRight version 2012 course have now been recorded and are uploading to our training video server as we speak. When they are live at the training site we’ll issue another blog post.

You can find out more about the upgrades that MYOB AccountRight version 2012 software is going through by visiting this link at the MYOB website.

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Start a Bookkeeping Business For Very Little Money

I recently wrote about our MYOB Training students and how many of them want to start a bookkeeping business so I thought we would go through some of the costs involved.

Remember that these are the startup costs and you may incur more marketing costs as your business grows. Starting a bookkeeping business, like most other businesses, takes a little extra time, effort and money initially. You need to spend money on advertising so you get to speak to as many prospective clients as possible.

The more prospects (or leads) you speak to, the more you understand what bookkeeping clients want and also what you are able to help them with – and what you can’t or don’t want to.

Continue reading Start a Bookkeeping Business For Very Little Money
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Law makes CPD for bookkeepers relevant

CPD for Bookkeepers

I WAS RESEARCHING ABOUT SAFE HARBOURS for a recent blog post and noticed a reference to an ATO Practice Statement. I then realised another reason why Continuing Professional Development (CPD for Bookkeepers) is so important.

Safe Harbours only became relevant to bookkeepers since changes in the law made it mandatory for anyone lodging a BAS to be a registered BAS agent. These changes then resulted in registered Bookkeepers needing Professional Indemnity Insurance and qualifications that demonstrated a thorough understanding of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Safe Harbours ATO PS LA 2006_2 CPD for bookkeepers
Safe Harbours ATO PS LA 2006/2

CPD for Bookkeepers and Tax Law

When I explored this practice statement I realised that it was outdated. The ATO Practice Statement was outdated because of the outcome of a court/tribunal case (see below).

Safe Harbours ATO PS LA 2012_5 CPD for bookkeepers
ATO PS LA 2012/5

I don’t know about you, but if I have some spare time and I’m in the mood for researching, I find it fascinating to discover how the law works, how and why decisions are made and how it affects people in that industry. CPD for Bookkeepers gives you the benefit of keeping up-to-date with your bookkeeping skills.

If you are enrolled in our MYOB Training Courses you get free membership to the Bookkeeping Academy (CPD for Bookkeepers) where I will introduce you to bookkeeping industry professionals who will help you understand more about the industry, the laws that govern the industry and tools you can use.

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Safe harbour for misleading statement penalties

Use a registered agent in a safe harbour

Safe Harbour for registered agentsIf you or your BAS agent take care in making a tax return or statement you will not incur a penalty if you have understated your tax liability or overstated your entitlements. This is part of the safe harbour definition by the Australian Tax Office and it highlights a significant change in the legal framework for completing  BAS returns.

The safe harbour only applies to statements made on or after 1st March 2010 and  it  affects who is responsible for tax information lodged with the ATO.

It’s a question of who is responsible for tax information lodged with the ATO, you or your bookkeeper/BAS agent?

Below is a quote from the ATO’s website that puts it in their words:

[quote]For statements made by a tax agent up to and including 28 February 2010, you are liable for any administrative penalty for the making of the false or misleading statement. It is not relevant if you made the mistake, your registered agent or a mix of both.[/quote]

Read more about safe harbours at the ATO website and see a simple example case study.

Safe Harbours around the world

Wikipedia has a definition of a Safe Harbour as it applies in a legal concept.

[quote]Legislators may include safe-harbor provisions to protect legitimate or excusable violations, or to incentivize the adoption of desirable practices.[/quote]

Does it apply to you?

Safe Harbours apply to you if:

  1. You want to be a bookkeeper and lodge BAS’s for your customers and/or
  2. You are a business that uses a bookkeeper.

Legislation came into place on 1st July 2011 whereby BAS agents must have professional indemnity (PI) insurance to protect their clients in case of negligence.

If you are contemplating our MYOB Training Courses to start a career as an MYOB bookkeeper speak to us about the qualifications required to gain admission to the Tax Practitioners Board.

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Video: Receipts in a Shoebox?

Receipts in a shoebox

Receipts in a shoebox? Shoeboxed Australian websiteI WAS LOOKING in my top draw and noticed some receipts, bundled by the month, with a bull clip holding them together. Do you know someone who also stores their receipts in a shoebox?

I have, of course, now entered them into our MYOB accounting software. However, it begs the question: How many business people do you know who still store their receipts and other paperwork with way?

The legal requirement to file receipts

Continue reading Video: Receipts in a Shoebox?

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Want to take a peek at XERO, part owned by MYOB founder?

xero online accounting for remote bookkeepers dashboardI recently wrote about my discoveries of the preferred accounting software for local startup businesses in Sydney and wanted to share something that our resident BAS agent, certified bookkeeper and MYOB trainer has created for you. A training video about how to enter a payment for an invoice you create using Xero online accounting software.

If you are looking at starting your own bookkeeping business it is useful to learn more than just MYOB accounting software to widen your potential client base. It is also good to learn about an online accounting program that is growing very fast in user adoption, such as Xero. Why is Xero growing so fast? There are several reasons, but one simple reason is that you can access your accounting file from anywhere.

As you can see in the free Xero training video at the bottom of this blog, using online accounting software is just like using many other online services, you login and click, type, tab etc. One of the other great features that we have discovered from speaking with accountants and some IT professionals is that your accountant or your bookkeeper can use your accounting system at the same time as you do, without having to worry about sending a data file and wondering who has the most recent version of that data file.

One of the new great features of doing your MYOB training courses with EzyLearn is that you have 12 months free access to the Bookkeeping Academy, through which we will be releasing hundreds of bookkeeping training videos to help budding bookkeepers learn a wider range of software as well as develop new skills to help them find work or build their own business.

Feel free to let us know if you are a XERO user and share your experiences at our facebook page.