Bookkeeper Westernport Archives | Flawless Figures Bookkeeping

February 5, 2020 Accounts, Bookkeeping

How Healthy Is Your Working Capital?

We all know that cash is king when it comes to business success, but what exactly is ‘working capital’ and how does this financial metric help measure the health of your business?

Working capital is made up of the cash and assets that are available in the business to fund your operations and keep you trading. It’s worked out by taking your current assets (the things you own) away from your current liabilities (the things you owe to other people).

So, why is working capital such a critical metric?

Having the liquid capital needed to trade

It’s possible for your business to be busy, successful and profitable, but for your cash position to still be in poor health – and that can have a serious impact.

If you can’t readily convert your assets into liquid cash, it’s a struggle to meet your cashflow goals, pay your bills and fund your day-to-day operations. But with the optimum level of working capital, you strengthen your balance sheet and put the company in a solid financial position.

To achieve this healthy level of working capital you’ll need to:

Proactively manage your cashflow – cashflow feeds your working capital by pumping liquid cash into the company and keeping the balance between assets and liabilities in a strong position. But to achieve this, it’s vital to achieve a positive cashflow position, where your cash inflows are greater than your cash outflows. This means getting paid on time, lowering your outgoings and keeping a close eye on your ongoing cash position.
Monitor and forecast your financial position – running regular financial reports helps you stay in control of your finances. With careful monitoring and forecasting of your cash position, you can ensure you don’t end up in a negative cashflow position, without the requisite working capital to trade and fund the next stage in your business plan. Cloud accounting software and business intelligence apps have made it easier than ever to create up-to-date, real-time reports and run dashboards that show your key metrics.
Use additional finance when required – if working capital is looking thin on the ground, then additional funding may be needed to bolster your balance sheet. Short-term finance options (such as overdraft extensions or invoice finance) and longer-term business loans can be needed to keep working capital on an equilibrium.

Talk to us about optimising your working capital

Working closely with your bookkeeper is vital if you want to promote the ideal level of working capital in the business. We can help manage your cashflow, monitor your financial metrics and provide access to additional finance and funding when your capital needs a boost.

Get in touch to start maximising your working capital.

September 18, 2019 Uncategorized

Finding Work-Life Balance

Looking for a little more work-life balance?

Sometimes it seems impossible when you are in the thick of it. The following ideas might help provide some light at the end of the tunnel.

Prioritise – Work often dictates to us, rather than the other way around. Create a list of all the things that need doing and categorise them. For example, work out the tasks that are ‘important but not urgent’ and ‘urgent but not important’. Task or project management tools like Trello can simplify your workload and and help to prioritise your time.

Delegate – Letting go can be an opportunity for others in the team to shine. Alternatively, bring in a contractor to help clear the load and you may find they bring in new ideas, create opportunities or streamline the process. Don’t limit yourself to what’s on at work – think about what would help at home too, such as a meal kit delivery to simplify the end of the day.

Book it in the diary – We are all guilty of putting off an exercise class or a coffee catch up because work takes over. These events are important for your mental and physical health and may give you space for creative thought or the ability to think with more clarity. Plus, you’ll return to work feeling more productive. Book it in and consider joining a group so you are more committed to turning up!

Use the technology to help you – ‘Always on’ technology such as smart phones are designed to make life easier but we’ve ended up busier than ever. So choose the apps and tools that can reduce the stress. Whether it’s for communication and meetings, or your filing and accounting. An app could save you time and allow you to get on with other things. We can help with the right accounting software solution to reduce the paperwork.

Share with your network – Are there individuals in your network who face the same challenges or can help you achieve your goals? Set up a monthly breakfast to catch up, support and learn from each other. You’ll go back to work with new inspiration.

Do what you love – At the end of the day, your work is ‘part of’ your life not separate from it, so if you enjoy it, you’ll feel you have more ‘balance’.

Get in touch to talk about how we can help you achieve balance in your business.

August 28, 2019 Bookkeeping, Uncategorized

Automation can ease your business workload

Small and medium-sized businesses are spending on average 120 hours a year on admin tasks, according to recent research into productivity at UK SMBs.

If your people are spending 120 hours wading through tedious and unproductive admin, that’s bad for the business and for your overall efficiency. Fortunately, technology and software automation can go a long way towards automating the low-level admin tasks.

Better productivity through automation

Automation is an important way to ease your business workload, with a host of different business apps and cloud solutions offering ways to automate your admin.

With ‘smart business tools’ increasing in number and choice, software is utilising automation algorithms, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and cognitive solutions to help remove the mundane admin tasks from your workflows.

Core processes that will benefit from automation include:

Automated bookkeeping – Just take a photo of your receipts, expenses and invoices and ‘optical character recognition’ (OCR) technology will digitise the output and pull it through into your accounts software. No data entry, no human error and no lost receipts! We can do the rest to ensure your records are accurate.
Automated credit control – chasing up debts and late-paying customers takes time. Automated credit control apps track your debtor numbers and automatically sends out customised chaser emails as soon as an invoice is late. This reduces your credit control time, speeds up cash collection and cuts your aged debtor figure.
Automated payment collection – the easier it is to pay you, the faster your customers will pay. Automated card payments and cloud-based Direct Debit solutions allow you to automatically take payment from a customer as soon as an invoice is due. Some solutions will even automate the invoice matching and bank reconciliation process.
Automated reporting and forecasting – the better your reporting and business intelligence, the easier it is to make informed decisions about your company strategy. Accounting platforms and fintech (ie. financial technology) tools now offer automatic, real-time reporting and forecasting, giving you access to the important numbers and metrics, fast.
Automated digital marketing – digital marketing is key to raising your brand’s profile. Marketing platforms offer important time-saving ways to schedule and post social media content, or email automation that sends a pre-programmed cadence of emails to specific target audiences within your wider customer base.

Talk to us about embracing the power of automation

If your admin is starting to hold you back, come and talk to us about how automation can pick up some of the heavy lifting as well as giving you the metrics you need for decision making. We can review you business processes and identify the automation opportunities, helping you choose the best apps to drive your business efficiently.

March 26, 2019 Uncategorized

Invoices – What should you include?

When you’re running a small business or working for yourself as a contractor, getting paid relies on sending your invoice. And because getting paid, and on time, is essential to staying afloat, it’s important to make sure that you’ve got all the important information included. Setting up your invoices correctly will ensure you get paid quicker. Here’s what you need to cover.

If a customer asks you for a tax invoice, provide one within 28 days. Your invoice needs to contain the following:

The words ‘tax invoice’, ideally as a heading.
Your business or trading name.
Your contact details- these aren’t technically required for invoices for under $1000, but it’s a good idea to include them in case the recipient needs to get in touch.
Your ABN or ACN.
The date you’re issuing the invoice.
An itemised list of what you’re invoicing for, including the price for each item or service. Make sure that you clearly indicate whether GST is included in the total price.

If you are using accounting software simply fill in the templates or you can see some examples of invoices on the ATO website.

A well set out invoice will make it easier for your clients and customers to pay you. Accounting software will make the job easier by providing the format for your business and increasing your efficiency. Talk to us about your invoicing to ensure you make it easy for people to pay you.

August 9, 2018 Uncategorized

5 Reasons To Move To A Cloud-Based Accounting System – Flawless Figures

Talking about online accounting, every day more and more businesses are turning to cloud – the platform where you access the data online anytime, anywhere, from any device.

Comparing with traditional Desktop versions, cloud-based versions may have slightly different functionality but they are versatile & provide long-term viability. Their peculiarity to get easily deployed, managed and upgraded than the contracts of the past, makes it an ideal choice. Although, it simplifies your accounting process from start to finish.

Benefits of Cloud Accounting:

Ease of Access:

Accessibility is the prime benefit of cloud-based bookkeeping. While using that old desktop-based system, all your data & accounts are on the local drive. Consequently, you get stuck in one location – resulting in limited access to your data & financial information.

However, with the cloud-based accounting, you are no more restricted. All your data is safely encrypted and stored on cloud-server. In order to access your business’s financial data from anywhere worldwide – whether you are traveling, gaining new clients or taking care of other important business matters – all you need is your device and an internet connection.

Cost:

Eliminating the need for expensive computer equipment and resources to set up and maintain office servers, it cuts the wide amount of cost for your business. Thereupon, it is the most economical way to go.

Usually, there is a monthly subscription fee in the cloud-based systems – in which updates in software and hardware are done automatically by the service provider. This helps you in staying always up-to-date at a reduced implementation cost.

Collaboration:

Well, in the desktop approach, there is limited access to the accounts. Hence, the collaboration with other colleagues & advisors is difficult.

On the other hand, cloud-based approach lets you view real-time accounting information anytime, anywhere. As a result, Key People can stay connected with up-to-date information, regardless of the location.

Security:

Keeping your data secure is critical for any organization. When you are using a cloud-based system, all your data is stored online with Military level encryption. Also, it includes backup functionality to prevent the possibility of data loss.

Even if your computer is stolen, no one can access your data unless they have a login to the online account. Your data is safe and backed up because your data is no longer at a physical server in the office. Thus, it also controls the privacy access of confidential data.

Free Storage:

All the records – file, information, and data are stored online on ‘cloud storage’. This means there is no need to install anything on local hard disks. It saves a huge amount of storage & hence reduces cost. Although, every time you log in to your account, you will get to the most up-to-date version of the software – without paying any extra cost or without updating it yourself.

This proves that cloud accounting is an accessible, cost-effective and secure solution – regardless of the Industry or firm you are competing in.

Being a business owner, you might have exclusive entrepreneurship skills but if talk about financing and accounting, it could be a tedious distraction. While you are focusing on building your brand and growing your business, it is too burdensome & toilful task to manage your bookkeeping concurrently. Thus, to alleviate your stress & pressure, Flawless Figures has come across exclusive cloud-based bookkeeping services involving Business setup, Payroll, Bank Reconciliation, Accounting software & much more.

July 6, 2018 End of Financial Year

Top Tax Deductions for Tradies!

Tax deductions are a great way to claim back hard earned money at the End of Financial Year. Below is a list of a few common expenses that that tradies could be claiming back in their tax returns!

Transport
If you are using your vehicle as your main method of transport to get you from one job to another, then as long as you can prove that you are using your vehicle for business use, then you are able to claim back the costs associated with that vehicle.

Using one of two ways to track your mileage, you can to claim back the cost of running your vehicle for business use. Firstly, the log book method means that you will need to prove your odometer readings for a period of at least 12 consecutive weeks. By tracking the mileage you can claim the percentage of vehicle expenses allocated to business use, including running costs and depreciation. Alternatively, the cents per kilometre method allows you to claim $0.66 per km on up to 5,000 kilometres of business travel.

Tools and equipment
Tools and equipment that you purchase to help you run your business can be claimed and so can repairs and maintenance on the tools and equipment purchased.

Training courses, licences and certificates
If you’re undertaking any professional development or studying for any qualifications that relate to your trade, you are able to claim back the cost. The course must be to improve or maintain your skills in your profession in order to claim it as a tax deduction.

Uniform and Protective Clothing
If you purchase certain protective clothing or items for your work, such as hard hats, sunglasses or steel-capped boots, you can claim them as a deduction. This also applies to clothing needed to distinguish you from the public, like a uniform. You can also claim the cleaning and laundry costs of your uniforms.

Communications
Don’t forget about all of that time that you spend on the telephone and sending emails for business purposes as you’re also able to claim back the cost of work related phone and internet expenses.

Travel
Any expenses associated with travelling for work , such as accommodation, meals and transport costs e.g. taxi fares, tolls etc, can be claimed as long as you have your receipt.

Subscriptions
Union fees and subscriptions to professional associations that relate to your business are also claimable in your tax return.

Not sure if it’s claimable or not? Ensure you keep a copy of your invoices and receipts and if you’re not sure whether it is claimable or not, check with your bookkeeper!

If the thought of keeping track of your income and expenses is totally overwhelming, contact Flawless Figures on 0414 859 665 or email [email protected] so we can help you alleviate the stress at tax time.

July 3, 2018 Superannuation

What is the Superannuation Amnesty?

The Australian Government has announced its plans to allow employers with outstanding superannuation debts, a 12-month amnesty to pay overdue superannuation to their employees before penalties will be imposed.

It is reported that in 2014-15 alone, approximately $2.85 billion in Superannuation went unpaid.

To comply with the amnesty guidelines, employers must pay all of the superannuation that is owing to their employees, including nominal interest. The usual hefty penalties for late payment will not be applied during the amnesty period.

According the Australian Government’s announcement, employers that do not take advantage of the amnesty will face higher penalties when they are subsequently caught.

Throughout the amnesty period the ATO plans to continue its usual enforcement activity against employers who do not voluntarily disclose their historical obligations.

The SG Amnesty is a great opportunity for businesses to wipe their slate clean and for employees to be paid the entitlements that they are rightfully owed.

The amnesty is a draft law before parliament.

Click here to read the Australian Government’s announcement of SG Amnesty.

April 13, 2018 Superannuation

SBSCH to join the ATO Online Services

On February 26 2018, the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH) will join the ATO’s online services. This will streamline how you use the SBSCH and also include extra functionality, such as the ability to sort employee listings and payment by credit card. Businesses will be able to access the SBSCH within the Business Portal. For further information, click on the following link.
https://www.ato.gov.au/business/super-for-employers/paying-super-contributions/small-business-superannuation-clearing-house/

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