When you are looking for someone to assist with bookkeeping North Fremantle services, then you have an excellent option to select us at Bilanz For Business. Our professional team can provide you with comprehensive services. We work with you in BAS-related services, business analysis, payroll services and perform Xero cloud integration. We are Xero Silver Champion Partners and able to provide cloud accounting software integration.
In addition to Xero, we work with MYOB and QuickBooks Online.
With our assistance, you will be able to save a lot of time and frustration as we work with you to create a seamless relationship and act as if we are your own internal accounts department. The key benefit of this is that it makes your accounts department more efficient as we are a 100% local business located in North Fremantle.
Our expertise include providing business analysis, comprehensive payroll audits, and other areas of bookkeeping which can assist in the positive growth of your business.
If you are a small or medium business owner struggling to find the time and consumed in managing the accounts area of your business, then we would love to assist you.
The Federal Government has released a new subsidy to assist employers to keep their staff employed.
This will help our Bilanz clients retain their apprentices, trainees and other staff through the next 6 month period, as the economy is hit by the impacts of COVID-19.
For the next six months, each worker in hard-hit businesses will be eligible to be paid a wage of $1,500 a fortnight.
If your small-medium business (under $1bn turnover) has suffered a revenue hit of 30 per cent due to COVID-19, your business qualifies.
If your larger business (over $1bn turnover) has suffered a revenue hit of 50 per cent due to COVID-19, your business qualifies.
These losses are self-assessed.
Full time, part time and stood-down workers are eligible.
Sole traders, not-for-profits, and casuals who have been employed for 12 months are also eligible.
The JobKeeper Payment is considered ‘equivalent’ for the purposes of Supporting Apprentices and Trainees, as it is designed to help businesses cover the costs of their employee’s wages.
An employer will not be eligible to claim Supporting Apprentices and Trainees for any period where they elect to claim the JobKeeper Payment for the same Australian Apprentice.
An eligible employer may elect to claim the JobKeeper Payment after they have begun claiming the Supporting Apprentices and Trainees. One payment will stop when the other starts. The two cannot be paid simultaneously
If you must lay off staff, help your employees to apply for Centrelink. $550 per fortnight will be paid to individuals who are currently eligible for certain income support payments, including the: – Jobseeker Payment; – Youth Allowance; and – Parenting Payment (Partnered and Single). Furthermore, it appears that this new (additional) supplement will be paid to eligible individuals as part of their existing income support payments (e.g., Jobseeker Payment and Youth Allowance).
FOR MORE INFORMATION on the Australian Government’s Economic Response to the Coronavirus visit treasury.gov.au/coronavirus.
Businesses can visit business.gov.au to find out more about how the Economic Response complements the range of support available to small and medium businesses.
We have tried to take the guess work out of what is available to you and have provided a summary below:
please note that the situation is rapidly changing. We will endeavour to keep you updated as it changes.
The small business relief includes:
$17,500 grants for small businesses with a payroll between $1 million and $4 million.
The $1 million payroll tax threshold (announced in October 2019) will be brought forward by six months to 1 July 2020.
The WA Government will waive rental payments for small businesses and not-for-profit groups in State Government-owned buildings for six months.
JobKeeper As well as the following measures announced on 31 March 2020:
One-off $2,500 credit on electricity bills for small businesses that consume less than 50MWh per annum. For more information read the statements on the Synergy and Horizon Power websites.
Power and water disconnections will not occur and interest will not be charged on deferred payments until 30 September for small businesses facing financial difficulty due to COVID-19. Please note: This applies to Synergy customers.
Payroll tax will be waived for four months for businesses with annual wages under $7.5 million (NB: this replaces the previous payroll deferral measure which was announced).
Affected businesses can apply for interest free payment arrangements and for late payment penalties to be waved for a range of taxes and duties, including payroll tax, transfer duty, landholder duty, vehicle licence duty or land tax.
A range of business licence fees have been waived, including liquor licence renewal fees for 2020, which will be waived and refunds given to businesses that have already paid
Payroll grant payments (updated 30 March) Grants of $17,500 will automatically be paid by cheque to eligible businesses from July, however you should log in to Revenue Online to ensure your postal address is up to date. There may be delays for those whose tax status changed in 2018-19 or liability for payroll tax changed in 2018-19 or 2019-20.
Rent relief for WA Government commercial tenants (announced 30 March) The WA Government will waive rental payments for small businesses and not-for-profit groups in State Government-owned buildings for six months to help these lease holders respond to the impacts of COVID-19.
The plan will benefit businesses such as convenience stores in train stations, cafés in government buildings, and restaurants in tourism precincts, such as Elizabeth Quay and Yagan Square. It will also benefit eligible small businesses leasing land from the State, such as caravan park and eco-tourism operators.
Chat to us about how Xero can work for your business and receive 15% off plans!
• Run your business on the go – Easily add contacts, reconcile, create quotes and send invoices from anywhere. • Manage your cash flow – Schedule payments and batch paying suppliers. • Simple payroll solutions – Input timesheets, calculate leave, pay employees and automate super. • Directly connect to your bank – Process transactions and get paid faster. • Manage Projects – Drive profitability with simple time tracking and job costing in Xero Projects. • Dashboard – Get a snapshot of how your business is tracking in real time. • Add on marketplace – Explore 700+ time-saving apps that connect with Xero.
Bookkeeping is more than just data entry or keeping the books ‘in order’. Bilanz for Business, based in Perth improves overall business management. We work with you to implement processes that will efficiently and effectively streamline areas of business
Online Invoicing:
Create and customise invoice templates, email within Xero and accept payments using the Xero platform.
Xero integrates with PayPal, Stripe, Square and other payment processors
Create and convert quotes to invoices
Schedule repeating invoices automatically.
Drag and drop features with Invoices
Automatic payment reminders can be set up. Saving you time by not having to chase up customers to pay on time. You can turn this feature on or off at any time.
Attach files to invoices, such as a document or photo of work completed.
Inventory Tracking and Purchase Ordering:
Create quotes and invoices, manage inventory levels. Create alerts for reorder quantities.
Convert purchase orders to bills for payments or invoices for your customers.
If you stock more than 4000 items you can integrate other applications from the Xero app marketplace easily.
Smart Reconciliation
Bank transactions automatically feed daily into Xero (once set up), allowing for reconciling against the bank transaction directly using the bills and invoices you’ve previously entered into the accounting software. Xero starts to identity repetitive transactions and automate them by providing you with suggested matches that you can approve or deny. Time is saved by eliminating the need to sift through records for information.
Mobile Capabilities
Create and send invoices while on the go!
Capture receipts for expense tracking
Reporting on the go
Reconcile transactions and monitor spending
Manage and add clients convert quotes into invoices as tap of a button
Stay in touch with all things Bilanz for Business:
With quarterly superannuation payments due on January 28th for the last quarter (payments are always due 28 days after the quarter ends). It seemed like an appropriate time to discuss superannuation in more detail. If you run a small business with employees who are 18 and over, and earn more than $450 before tax in a calendar month. You are legally obligated to pay a minimum of 9.5 % superannuation your employees ordinary time earnings (OTE).
Ordinary Time Earnings (OTE)
Commissions
Shift Loadings
Allowances but not overtime payments
Rostered Days Off (RDO)
In Lieu of Notice
Bonuses (except for in respect of overtime only)
Certain Leave
Always check with your accountant or certified bookkeeper to ensure that you are calculating the correct amount of superannuation based on Ordinary Time Earnings. There are a number of ‘ordinary time earnings’ that must be taken into consideration during payroll and superannuation contributions.
Bilanz for Business, located in North Fremantle, Western Australia, has experienced bookkeepers and accountants available to help answer any super related questions. Part of our service that we provide is to manage your business’s superannuation payments, on time, every time. For small businesses in Perth, Bilanz can provide crucial forecasts and help to manage cash flow so that there is adequate cash available in order to pay each quarter. Don’t get stuck in a financial deficit each time super is due. We offer competitive pricing for Payroll Packages (Which includes superannuation reconciliation and reporting).
Jane Betschel, head of customer marketing and direct sales at MYOB states that for the businesses that do make superannuation payments, almost a quarter (24 per cent) of operators surveyed revealed they had issues meeting payments due to cashflow issues.
“We know that cashflow is one of the big pain points for businesses, particularly small and medium sized enterprises,” Betschel said. “Owner operators may sacrifice their own super payments to ensure that payments owing to staff are met. They may also decide to pay bills that will keep the doors open today, at the expense of future, personal financial security.
This is a reality for many small businesses.
Process for reconciling Superannuation, an example provided by ICB.
The Consequences Of Paying Superannuation Late
Missing superannuation payments even by one day can cause serious financial strain on a small business and subjects you to the Superannuation Guarantee Charge (SGC), which is not tax deductible.
The charge is made up of:
SG shortfall amounts (including any choice liability calculated on your employee’s salary or wages)
interest on those amounts (currently 10%)
an administration fee of $20 per employee, per quarter.
Director responsibilities for Superannuation:
A director that fails to meet the Super Guarantee Charge by the due date, then becomes personally liable. The ATO can initiate legal proceedings with Directors in order to recover the money owed. Don’t get caught out with missed payment dates. Ensure you have a reliable bookkeeper or accountant to keep you aware and up to date on payments.
Bookkeeping for business and payroll/superannuation management can be very time-consuming – it may be too much to do for a small team and yet not enough to employ a full-time bookkeeper. Bilanz bookkeeping and payroll management service are cost-effective so that business owners can focus on growing their businesses instead of focusing on the paperwork and legalities behind payroll, super and tax. We can assist you onsite or remotely and from as little as a few hours a quarter.
Get in touch which us today via the ‘Contact Us’ Page and we will be in touch with you as soon as possible.
Did you realise that in some cases, flexibility is legislated by the ‘The Australian National Employment Standard’ (Fair Work Act 2009 ‘NES’).
There have been countless articles in regards to 4-day work weeks, flexibility and remote work environments. The concept is not new, combinations of these work solutions are already in place and adopted by a variety of businesses. The tides are changing. Slowly.
I think it’s clear now that these arrangements have a positive effect. They create more inclusive and diverse workplaces, better morale, higher engagement, longer-term employee satisfaction and access to a key group of worked – individuals staying home during child rearing years.
The 2017 census results concluded that an ‘estimated 246,700 (42%) women had started or returned to work since the birth of their youngest child.’ That is a staggeringly low percentage of women returning to work following childbirth and note this is after the birth of their youngest child. If families have 3 children, it’s unlikely that they will be able to return to work for a minimum of 6 years and at this point, many will require part-time employment for several years. Six years out of the workforce makes for a very difficult return to the corporate world. Increasingly, as many fathers opt to remain at home with children they will inevitably come up against the same issues, albeit not to the extent of women simply due to the remaining unconscious bias’s that still exist.
It’s no secret that many organisations are now under requirements to include women in leadership positions. This can be difficult for organisations with fewer women available to climb the corporate ladder once they have become mothers. Imagine if the pool of women was greater, that women hadn’t left the workforce but continued their journey, acquiring more experience. A simple change in flexible arrangements and the pool would be fabulously rich and diverse; quotas would soon be a thing of the past.
As families become more reliant on double incomes to support their lifestyles, the cost of child-care is becoming prohibitive however necessary for workers who need to stay in the workforce to keep their employment eligibility. Let’s not forget that this inevitably leads to less disposable income, affecting the economy; the livelihood of brick and mortar business’s, the hospitality industry, the list goes on.
How can we work to remedy this?
Flexibility is a great solution
I have first-hand experience – flexibility has allowed me to build a top rated Bookkeeping business in Perth. I write this article from my home desk, with a cat and a dog sleeping soundly next to me. I get to pick up the kids from school and I can keep going while they argue in the background, or at a more convenient time. My bookkeeping business keeps five people in employment and each of us has the option to work flexibly. We come together for a weekly catch up or more, when necessary. This is our ‘normal’ and it works.
Not every workplace will be able to adapt to this working arrangement however it is imperative that those who can, unreservedly adapt and make flexibility available to all employees.
GST, PAYG, Wages Payable, Super Payable, Wages expense, Super expense, ATO…. the joys of owning a business… these are the things you dreamed about when you were thinking about running your own business right?!.. hmm maybe not! The reality is that not only do you need to focus on the basics of business, sales and making a profit – now we’ve thrown in all the above to take into consideration for your ever growing to do list! FUN!
But wait, good news!! We live in a world of endless opportunity, and lucky for you the option to outsource the management of your business’s activity papework and statement submissions to the ATO is a viable and (might I add) time-saving opportunity.
Lets Discuss!
What are the benefits to hiring someone to manage your Business Activity Statements.
Reconciliations:
Each quarter we ensure your BAS is correct by reconciling the GST, PAYG, Wages Payable, Super Payable, Wages Expense, Super Expense and ATO integrated accounts. For reference we have added the BAS filing schedule below:
Safe Harbour:
When lodging BAS on your own, you can easily make mistakes which can incur fines from the ATO. However, a BAS agent is covered by the Safe Harbour laws, which adds an extra level of protection for you. For example if you fail to lodge a document on time or there is an error in your statement resulting in a shortfall of tax you may be protected by administrative penalties imposed by the ATO if you’re going through a BAS Agent..
More time to Lodge:
Additionally, when you lodge BAS on your own, you must pay by the due date. Under the BAS lodgement program, an Agent gets extra time to lodge which means you do too!
Code of Conduct:
You have confidence knowing that you’re working with someone who is knowledgeable, professional, honest and confidential. Registered BAS Agents are bound by a code of conduct and must always reflect these attributes . In any case the Agent breaches the code, you can report it to the Tax Practitioners Board.
Qualifications and Ongoing Study:
There are a number of minimum qualifications that need to be met in order to become registered. This includes: 1400 hours experience, at least a Cert IV in bookkeeping, PI insurance, be apart of a professional membership and partake in 45 hours worth of study every 3 years in order to stay registered. These requirements enforced by the law ensures the Agent is knowledgeable on new updates to GST and tax laws, industry changes and complex topics so you don’t need to be!
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Bilanz for Business has a superb team of BAS agents in Perth who can assist you in your business and help take the pressure off – so that you can focus on the rest of your to-do list!
Finally, if you’re wondering how to verify BAS Agents. Make sure to check the Tax Practitioner Board and type in the business name to see if they are a registered agent: https://www.tpb.gov.au/registrations_search
Ahhhh ‘the Cloud’… where is it and what does it do!? You may be unaware but you probably already adopt a number of cloud technologies in your business today – these are systems where you can access your data remotely. Dropbox, Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft Office 365 or even a Google App… these are all on ‘the Cloud’, and as you would have noticed they are greatly beneficial to your business.
Here at Bilanz, we work with a number of Cloud Accounting Softwares. But what is Cloud Accounting you ask? Well, the good news is that it works in a similar way to the other cloud systems. You use it the same as normal accounting software however the data isn’t stored on your own computer, instead the data is stored remotely on secure severs. The benefit to using cloud-based accounting software is that it eliminates the threat of vital data being deleted, corrupted, stolen or lost. This means that you can access your information anytime from anywhere, whether it be from your laptop, phone or tablet. Information is readily available, reducing your IT costs and giving you, as a busy small business owner, an all access pass to your accounts, bookkeeping and invoices.
So what is the Cloud?!
Walk in to any small, medium or large business a few years ago (and some still today) and you’d see some type of IT server. This server device might have sat under a desk, or in a bigger business there would be a dedicated room in the corner of the building full of them. Unless you were the IT person this was strictly forbidden territory. Fast forward to now and many businesses no longer need this infrastructure on their premise. Whether or not they realise it, they’ve moved to storing and accessing information using the internet, and so we have the Cloud.
How does Cloud Accounting fit into all of this and is it easy to convert to the cloud?
Just like other cloud based applications, Cloud Accounting has really taken off in the last few years and for good reason. Transparency, ease of use and latest accounting tools are allowing businesses to spend less time worrying about their books and more time focused on optimising their business in other areas, such as selling more goods, delivering quality service or managing their general operations more efficiently. Bilanz CPA Accounting Manager: Andi Moneta enjoys using Cloud Accounting because of the “flexibility and efficiency that Cloud accounting allows. Cloud software offers the latest in powerful accounting tools and applications while allowing for the convenience of being able to work from anywhere with an internet connection”.
Cloud conversion easy as 1,2,3.. and we can show you how!
Although it is possible to convert to cloud accounting at any point, most business owners find it easy to start fresh with a new accounting system by converting at the beginning of a fiscal year (new *fiscal year, new me.. right?!). Now is the best time to start using a cloud based accounting system and we are showing you how easy it is to set up at our Bookkeeping Basics & Software Set up Workshop on July 25th, 2019 (4-6pm) at our fun office in North Fremantle. Check out our Workshops/Training page for more information or get FREE tickets now at Eventbrite!
I don’t know about you, but as a small business trying to grow, marketing has always taken a back seat to other demands within the business. What an oxymoron! Imagine trying to grow your business without considering marketing at all… yet we all do it.
I suspect much of the resistance to progressing our focus onto this simply stems from the fact that we are in the business of running our own business and for most of us, our business is not in digital or print marketing. So what do we do when we aren’t confident in a task? Procrastinate. Obviously. We use any spare time we may find to review important topics such as; ‘cute animals doing cute things’, watch national yoga and spend countless hours formatting that spreadsheet you’re not being paid to format. Although to be fair, a poorly formatted spreadsheet is sacrilege. I like to call this marketing for small business, Phase One.
Once we have finally woken up to the inevitable, we seek the advise of our modern day oracle – google. This search leads to a plethora of advise – all a little different from one another. Congratulations, you have now progressed to Phase Two of small business marketing attempts. Otherwise known as the ‘bugger this’ phase (go straight back to Phase One, do not pass go and do not collect more business along the way).
Lucky for most entrepreneurs I know, we do have one very handy skill. We have a relatively short attention span to attempts of trial and error (read an ability to move on very quickly from what doesn’t work). We are able to blindly follow our nose to the next brainwave of success which visibly (yet precariously) balances on the horizon. Phase three, we usually also have absolutely no qualms in asking for advice from fellow business owners (or anyone who looks vaguely like they might know something). I was lucky enough to be able to come across some excellent advise which has sent me on a path of totalsuccess (note positivity noted above).
Phase Four – I simply had to accept that this process was not going to be much fun and much like algebra in year 12, I just had to do it…
The ‘Good News’
The small business development corporation has a great 8 step process for starting up. Yes, some of them you’ve seen before, however these are the steps which you simply have to take. Jumping into digital or other marketing avenues without going through these steps is more than likely going to lead to an unsuccessful marketing campaign which will leave you with a sour taste in your mouth and a bank account to match. Sorry.
Step 1: Conduct your market research. Identify your top 3 competitors and have a look at what they are doing. Talk to existing customers, as them what they needed or still need.
Step 2: Profile your target markets. This was a tricky one for me. My answer to this was … all of them! The advise was, choose. They don’t have to be the target forever, but you need to choose. A broad brush simply doesn’t produce results. Consider geography, demographics, behavior and lifestyle.
Step 3: Identify your unique selling proposition. Even if you have hundreds of competitors, you went into business for a reason – you wanted to provide goods or services and produce results for your customers. Every business has a uniqueness of service. You need to find yours.
Step 4: Develop your business brand. Whether we like it or not, our brand is important. It needs to talk to people, it needs to encourage people to want to engage with you, it needs to be consistent and it needs to look good.
Step 5: Choose your marketing avenues. There are so many ways we can go with this, try to work with a professional who can give you the best result for the least investment, particularly early on. Website, SEO, promotional material, advertising, donation & sponsorships… the list goes on.
Step 6: Set goals and a budget. This might be the hardest for small business owners. Many of us will say ‘what marketing budget?’. We have not had the experience to know how much we need to spend for the results that we are looking for but we need to be willing to spend for a few months before the results and a return on investment start to show.
Finally – a shameless plug to Angela Han @ Media On Mars (https://www.mediaonmars.com.au). If you want results, that’s all you’ll get with these guys.
