Fremantle Bookkeeping Services

Business Activity Statements were due on 28 October 2009, so if you are late with your BAS then what options are available to you?

Here are ten options to consider if you have failed to lodge your BAS for the reporting period 1 July 2009 – 30 September 2009:

Contact us (quickly) because we may be able to get an extension for your BAS

1) Bury your head in the sand and hope that the whole thing will go away

2) Have a panic attack and wonder what to do now you’ve missed the deadline

3) Shrug your shoulders and just accept the fact that you’ll be making a late lodgement of the BAS

4) Stay up all night sweating away trying to complete the BAS even though it’s going to be a late lodgement

5) Call the tax office (ATO) and tell them that your dog grabbed the BAS form and has buried it in the garden

6) Look through your pile of paperwork, because you remember seeing the Business Activity Statement somewhere, sometime whilst making a mental note that it had to be lodged by the end of October

7) Call your accountant and ask him / her what you should do next

8.) Do nothing, and just accept that fact that you’ll be fined for a late lodgment, and look forward to receiving fan mail from the ATO

9) Go to the fridge and grab a coldie, sit down and relax in frnt of the widescreen TV that Kev’s just help you buy

10) Contact us (quickly) because we may be able to get an extension for you, as well as getting all your documentation sorted out to help you ensure that you’re not going to be paying Kev07 more than you need, since he’s shown us all how good he is at spending all that money

We received an email, apparently from the ATO, advising us that we had a Tax Refund due.

The amount was for AUD$210.75. Nothing strange about that, except for the spelling and the grammar.

They ask you to click a link that takes you to a website [ wv.us ] not anything to do with [ ato.gov.au ]

DON’T CLICK ON THE LINK – who knows what may happen – it could result in a little piece of software that invades your computer and extracts your usernames and pass words

It’s probably going to ask you for all your credit card details, so that the fraudsters in question can then go on a spending spree in London!

Not since Kevin Rudd organised for us to have a cheques sent out from the ATO have we had a tax refund.

And, thank you Mr Rudd, because the cheques arrived a couple of days after the ATO sent us a request for us to pay more tax – so much for the “Stimulus Package” – a waste of money, a publicity stunt – and a wonderful inheritance for the yournger generation of this fine nation.

All you had to do was to show me a little courtesy

It’s been proven that customer service is critical to maintaining a happy client base. The following was seen in the local newspaper, attributed to a reader names “The Archeologist”:

Remember me? I’m the person who goes into a restaurant, sits down patiently and waits while the waitress does everything but takes my order.

I’m the one who goes into the store and stands quietly while the counter staff finish their little chit chat.

But who else am I?

I’m the one who never comes back, and it amuses me to see you spending thousands of dollars every year to get me when I was there in the first place ….

And all you had to do was to show me a little courtesy

As MYOB professional partners, we’re authorised to supply MYOB accounting software. We can supply, install, and train our clients to do their bookkeeping using MYOB software.

A client contacted us yesterday asking us to supply them with MYOB Premier Enterprise for their franchise. It’s a “high-end” version of accounting plus – and comes with five single usr licences

This means that you can have five different users – in different locations, all access the one data file. It’s great for retail outlets – maybe a chain of shops linking back to head office.

The clients have a bookkeeper that’s going to come in and do their bookwork. What is surprising is the fact that the bookkeeper did not advise the client that they would need their own server – and possible an IT guy to come and help them get the system set-up.

Clients are looking for more than just a bookkeeper these days. Clients are looking for a bookkeeping service that will actually supply “customer service” – you know, the old fashioned type of service that was not just knowledge. It’s “service with a smile” service with “heart”.

If you want the “wham, bham, thank-you ma’am”, then there’s plenty of cowboy bookkeepers out there who’ll do the work for next to nothing, and more often give you no service, and heaps of headaches, a set of incorrect figures but at least you’ll have not paid much for your bookkeeping fees.

As bookkeepers it seems that we’ve known something that WBC has only just discovered: Clients actually respect and demand REAL customer service.

This amazing fact uncovered by WBC (one of the big four Australian Banks) was revealed by one of their bank tellers whilst we were doing some banking on behalf of one of our Fremantle bookkeeping clients

One wonders how much money was spent by their marketing department to learn that customers actually want to be treated like real people by, wait for it, real people. Read more… »

Business Activity Statements, (June BAS) for business owners reporting quarterly, are due on 28 July 2009 (next week).

For many small business owners and especially for their bookkeepers around Fremantle and Canning Vale, July is always a busy time of year.

With end of financial year reporting, together with reporting of the 01 April to 30 June quarter, businesses that are behind in their paperwork can struggle under extra pressure that they really do not need

Cash flow has certainly tightened up in the economy. As bookkeepers, we’ve seen that invoice payments are being dragged out longer and longer, as suppliers wait to be paid by customers, and service providers wait to be paid by their clients

The phone’s been ringing as desperate business owners in a panic wanting help with their MYOB and Quickbooks files. In most cases, they can simply email us the files and we’ll have a look at their reporting and can generally work out where the problems are within a short time

One lady contacted us after spending two days trying to reconcile her Quickbooks bank accounts. We had a look at her file and solved the problem in 35 minutes. Look at the time and stress she would have saved if she had contacted our bookkeeping company when she first noticed that there was a problem

As a small business owner we encourage you to focus on what you do best, and we’ll do the rest

The Rudd Government is helping small businesses with the Small Business and General Business Tax Break.

The package is such that small businesses can claim a bonus 50 per cent tax deduction for eligible assets costing more than $1,000 acquired from 13 December 2008 until 31 December 2009, and installed ready for use by 31 December 2010.

They are telling everyone how the Rudd Government is helping small businesses with the Small Business and General Business Tax Break.

The package is such that small businesses can claim a bonus 50 per cent tax deduction for eligible assets costing more than $1,000 acquired from 13 December 2008 until 31 December 2009, and installed ready for use by 31 December 2010

To benefit from this Tax Break a small business must have a turnover of less than $2.0 million a year.

Forget the tax break, shop at your locally owned store

This may look good on paper, but unless you actually need to make any investment in capital purchases such as motor vehicles or equipment, how does it actually help small business?

It certainly helps large businesses – the suppliers of motor vehicles, national stationary / office equipment suppliers, hardly normal electical chain stores and the like, but how does it help you, the small business owner in and around Cockburn, Melville, Fremantle, or Canning Vale?

Speaking to an accountant of one of our bookkeeping clients recently, he said that whilst the incentive looks very rosy, you should actually look at the costs involved in the purchase of a new vehicle.

Taking all things into consideration for this particular client, the client was going to be worse off purchasing a new vehicle compared to finding a cheaper second-hand vehicle

Many small business owners are understandably looking to save money wherever they can, believing that’s the only way that they can increase their income. Yet at the sametime, they also want to increase their turnover by attracting more customers or upselling existing customers.

Why do small business owners have a problem with supporting other small-to-medium enterprises?

Many of our bookkeeping clients take their shopper dockets from the major supermarkets, to get discount fuel, rather than paying a few cents more (perhaps) for fuel from independent service station operators.

The same clients buy all their fruit and vegetables, meat and other groceries from the large supermarket chains instead of supporting small independent green-grocers or butchers

Why do small-to-medium enterprises complain that your potential customers are going to the large companies or multi-nationals instead of shopping from you? Maybe we should stop pointing the finger at other people, and start asking ourselves, why do small businesses have a problem trading with other small businesses?

Do large companies really care about the local Cockburn, Melville, Fremantle, Canning Vale business owner? Not when the head office is in Sydney, Melbourne or even overseas

The positive effect on the local economy would be far wider reaching than all of those small business owners that continue to support large companies who are only interested in making huge profits for their shareholders (many of whom are large multi-nationals themselves).

Go shopping at your local independantly owned business, take business away from large corporations and bring back competition to the market place – you’ll be helping the local econmy whch will in-turn help your small business

Desperate phone call from a bookkeeping client in Fremantle: What to do about unpaid accounts? Our professional bookkeeping can help small businesses chase up unpaid accounts. Contact us today for a free quote.

It’s the “good cop” / “bad cop” thing

You know the “good cop” / “bad cop” thing. Get the bookkeeper to get on the phone and chase up those unpaid accounts before it’s too late. As the recession that we had to have deepens, more small businesses will experience bad debts. It even happens at the big end of town.

If you don’t have a handle on your bookkeeping, then you can quickly find that those clients owing you money have nothing left to pay you with. Many operators get caught up in getting the job done, and forget to chase up payments of previous jobs.

Our bookkeeping service can help you keep a closer eye on your unpaid accounts. We can get on the phone for you. We can reconcile your accounts, track all your payments and receipts- and do so many other things to ensure that you have your financials in order.

Don’t get caught in the trap of skimping on your bookkeeping – it can be a false economy to look at saving money by spending so much time on your paperwork. Hand it over to the professionals and focus on what you do best: running your business. Contact us today for a free quote.

Could 80% of BAS forms really be completed incorrectly? Apparently this is the figure that the Australian Taxation Office estimate when reviewing Business Activity Statements.

Are You Paying More GST than You Should?

When you consider that many small business owners around Cockburn, Melville, Fremantle, Canning Vale, and South Perth believe that bookkeeping is an expense, rather than an investment, it is hardly surprising that so many people who have no idea what they are doing complete Business Activity Statements.

Many clients approach our professional contract bookkeeping service because they realise that a mobile bookkeeper can save them heart-ache and stress in getting their paperwork upto date. Contact us today for more information.

Speaking to a client in Canning Vale last week, it transpired that he had absolutely no idea what was involved in running a business from the financial aspects. As long as there was money in his pocket at the end of each week to pay the bills, he was happy.

When the first BAS form arrived on his doorstep he just figured he’d guess what figures went where and hope that it would all sort it self out at the end of the financial year

The crazy thing is, that by having to report quarterly Business Activity Statements, small businesses are being encouraged to record their business activities every three months.

If you leave it all for your accountant at the end of the financial year, then guess what? It’s all too late.

If you’re now faced with a large tax liability after the end of the year, there’s nothing you can do about it. Whereas if you are aware of the situation beforehand, then there maybe avenues that you can follow to reduce your tax liability. We are not registered tax agents and cannot give guidance in such matters, so you need to speak to your accountant.

We’ll look at your bookkeeping and assess your requirements. It’s not uncommon for us to find some major savings for our clients. Contact us today for more information.

Are you struggling to complete your BAS form?

No sooner have we finished lodging BAS for the December Quarter, to find the January – March 2009 Quarter will soon be due. Contact us for HELP

Quarterly BAS
Most businesses submit quarterly, and the 1 January – 31 March 2009 (Quarter 3) BAS is due 28 April 09 for lodgment and payment with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

A new client contacted us out of desperation. Struggling to prepare all the documentation for the Business Activity Statement, she could not get the figures to balance.

We suggested she email us the MYOB data file, so that we could get a clearer understanding of where she was at with her bookwork. Contact us for HELP with your BAS

“I had trouble with my MYOB files and contacted Carol and her team and they were just excellent.
They listened and then explained what they could do to help.
Everything was done speedily, efficiently and most of all cost effectively.
They emailed me how to send my files and worked on them that day!
Most of all “they listen” and don’t treat you like a dummy!
It got me out of a potentially tricky situation and literally saved the day!
Thanks Carol.
Liz Bird, Perth WA”

Monthly BAS
If your business submits the (BAS) Business Activity Statement monthly, then 21 March 09 was the due date for lodgement and payment of the February 2009 monthly activity statements

Superannuation Guarantee Contributions
Also on that date are due the Quarter 3 Superannuation guarantee contributions (1 January -31 March) contributions to be made to the fund by this date.

If you are struggling to complete your BAS form, contact our team of Fremantle Bookkeepers for HELP