Bookkeeping Checklist For Australian Businesses

Whether your business is new or you have spent many years in this field, you should consider having a well-organised bookkeeping system in your company. Bookkeeping involves tracking the business costs and income, payroll management, and regular invoicing, and thus gives a clear understanding of the overall business performance. 

Outsourcing professional bookkeeping firms can be an effective way as it serves your purpose and saves significant money. Go through this blog to know the checklist and tips you must consider for the bookkeeping system in your company.

Basic Bookkeeping Checklist For Australian Businesses

The basic bookkeeping checklist for an Australian business involves various daily to annual tasks that all owners must be aware of.

Daily tasks

• Knowing incoming and outgoing payments
• Checking the due bills

Weekly tasks

• Reconciliation of the bank account, which is a must-do duty for all owners
• Recording customer payments and invoices, dealer bills and payments
• Preparing and sending invoices to customers
• Updating payroll files by adding information of all the new hires as they arrive

Monthly tasks

• Reconciling the bank statement with the bank account to ensure the accuracy of the transactions
• Verifying the amount of money that you owe from the customers past the deadline
• Satisfying the payroll obligations, including payroll tax payment
• Checking profits and losses
• Reviewing the balance sheets at the end of the month
• Preparing, lodging and paying the BAS (business activity statement)

Quarterly tasks

• Over-viewing cash flow and projected budgets 
• Preparing, lodging and paying the BAS (if your business is set to pay it quarterly)
• Checking the aged receivables, i.e. the amount you owe past the due date

Annually tasks

• Completing the tax return
• Checking the annual accounts and comparing them with your yearly business goals

Tips You Should Consider For Your Australian Business

Here we share some vital bookkeeping tips for small businesses in Australia. 

 

Choose The Correct Accounting And Bookkeeping Software

Making investments in top-rated accounting software can create a big difference for small businesses that have just started their ventures. Before you choose, it will be important to go through all the available options like Reckon, Quickbooks, MYOB, Xero, etc.

Only you need to have internet access. It means your bookkeeper and accountant can also do their work from remote locations. Many small business owners also prefer online accounting packages that allow them to work on the data from anywhere in the world.

Another point to note here is that some bookkeeping and accounting firms provide one or two specialised packages. So, if you want advice on which software can best match your requirements, it will be better to look for advisors capable of working with all packages. 

Another benefit of using bookkeeping software is that the monthly subscription fee can be claimed as a business cost when filing a tax return.

 

Keep Your Personal And Business Bank Accounts Separate

If you are new to this world of small business, you should first separate your personal bank account from your business bank account. Make sure that all your company transactions are made through these accounts so that you can have a clear idea of daily income and expenses.

This is important because once your business grows, you will need to deal with more transactions, and if your accounts are not separated, it will be challenging for you to keep track of the expenses. It will also waste resources and time because your bookkeeper will need to enter the financial data into the bookkeeping software, and separate fees must be paid for that purpose.

You can also consider setting up a business savings account to keep some money aside from your business income to pay your tax obligations. 

 

Understand The Tax Obligations

Any earning individual has to pay taxes in Australia. You may need time to understand the tax obligations, but it is one of the most important tips that all business owners should be aware of. Business taxes are very different from individual taxes, and you should be very careful about it.

Keep in mind the following factors regarding your business tax obligations.

• Whether you need to register your business for GST
• Reporting requirements for your BAS
• How you can stay compliant with ATO rules and regulations

In addition, you should also focus on keeping all the records accurately to make sure you receive all the tax deductions.

 

Learn The Most Useful Bookkeeping Reports

In most top-rated accounting software packages, you can easily produce a wide variety of reports that will help you understand the overall performance of your business. However, you can only use them if you can understand their actual meaning.

Therefore, we recommend investing some time to learn which bookkeeping reports can benefit you the most for your business. Usually, the balance sheet and accounts receivable report are among the essential reports you need to give more attention to for your small business.

 

Know When You Should Outsource Professional Bookkeepers

When you own a business, there will be a lot of responsibilities you have to bear. You may opt for doing the bookkeeping on your own initially, but once your business grows, you will find it hard to manage your bookkeeping duties. That is why it is very important to know when you should involve a professional bookkeeping service.

A highly qualified bookkeeper can help your company by:

• Maintaining accurate financial records, thus helping you remain compliant with the requirements of the ATO
• Helping in BAS reporting
• Discussing with the accountant to provide the owner with a meaningful advice

 

Where To Find Outsourced Bookkeeping Services?

There are numerous small business advisory services in Perth that can assign you a professional bookkeeper. Besides providing the standard bookkeeping services, these bookkeepers can also offer you other benefits like preparation and lodgement of the BAS, payroll outsourcing, accounting software support, etc. For specific details, you may contact the officials of Accounting Services Perth WA.