New business owners are often faced with unexpected aspects of doing business, and one of those is bookkeeping. Keeping track of everything can sound easy and a ‘everyone-can-do-it’ job, and yes, it is, but only if you know what you are doing. The last thing you want to do as a new business owner is to mess up your accounting from the very beginning, because at the end of the financial year, someone else would have to correct it, and guess what, it would cost you more than hiring a professional and qualified bookkeeper from day 1.
However, if you have a solid-basic accounting knowledge, you can certainly do it, and accounting software are there to help you out.
Here are some tips that you should follow religiously if you are keeping your own books:
- Have a bank account for business only. This is to avoid confusion and mixing up personal with business-related expenses.
- Get an accounting system such as XERO, QBO, MYOB, etc. There are so many out there and they all do the same job, some have extra features (and bigger bill subscriptions $) than others. This will save you hours and hours of data entry – remember to switch on the bank feeds feature though!
- Buy some cloud storage to store your receipts and any other business-related documents, eg. insurance policies, etc – you must keep your recording for 5 years, so do it safely.
- if you are GST registered, get a BAS Agent or TAX Agent to do your BAS. This will avoid bad consequences in case the ATO knocks at your door and wonders one thing or two.
- Make sure your chose a tax practitioner that is registered! They should have a symbol like the one we have on our front page, with a visible and clear licence number.
Any other questions or doubts? Get in touch today 🙂
YOUR BOOKS, YOUR WEALTH