We understand that launching a new business is an exciting time and we wish you every success. But without dampening your enthusiasm, it’s important to recognise from the outset the importance of bookkeeping. In Qld, at JSM Accounting, we provide a friendly and flexible bookkeeping service for small and large businesses tailored to your individual needs.
Why is bookkeeping so important?
Without keeping a record of your business transactions, expenses, and revenues, how can you possibly know how your business is going?
Our professional bookkeeping service will benefit you in many ways:
- Enables you to know the financial status of your business at any given time
- Helps with planning company growth, complying with state regulations, and filing tax returns on time
- Saves you time wasted in maintaining your books – sustaining your business through positive cash flow
- With organised records and financial reports, you can easily qualify for a business loan and make informed decisions.
That said, even if you’re planning to do your own bookkeeping in Qld (at least for the time being) here are a few helpful tips and 7 bookkeeping fundamentals that can’t be ignored.
- Open up a business account
It’s crucial when starting up a new business to open a separate business account. This way, it’s easier to keep track of what your company has spent and earned. If you don’t do this, it will be extremely challenging to track which transactions were for personal use and which were incurred by your company.
Also, when you come to file a tax return, it’s going to be difficult to claim tax deductions without having proof of business transactions. If you need to add personal funds to your business then regard it as a short-term loan that will need to be repaid to you.
- Create a bookkeeping system in Qld
The ideal method of organising entries is with double-entry bookkeeping. It also works best for new ventures in Qld which have growing needs and demands.
Every entry is made twice under this system as both a credit and a debit. You may want to consider cloud-based accounting software to manage double entries as it helps minimise errors and promote accurate calculations.
- Categorise your transactions
As bookkeepers, we categorise all transactions and the same needs to be done by you. It helps identify which tax concessions are applicable to your business in Qld and makes the job of auditing that much easier.
All transactions can be divided into 5 categories – assets, liabilities, revenue, expenses, and equity. Avoid cash payments as these will be hard to track.
- Reconcile your bank accounts
This is where you compare your monthly bank statement with your internal records. It will help you spot any unrecognised transactions which could be down to an accounting error or fraudulent activity. Ultimately, it makes bookkeeping more efficient with the proper verification of every transaction.
It’s a good idea to access your business account online and download transactions on a daily basis to prevent any issues from escalating into big problems.
- Invoice and make payments on time
Generating an invoice as soon as products or service have been delivered to customers is an important part of maintaining healthy cash flow. Be sure to follow up an invoice soon after to get payments in as quickly as possible.
Also, make sure that you pay bills in a timely fashion to keep your incomings and outgoings balanced. Falling behind on payments can incur penalties and loss of money.
- Payroll management
Managing the payroll is another task which needs to be handled efficiently and precisely by whoever is doing the bookkeeping in Qld. Records of wages must be kept in an orderly manner and the accounts suitably updated.
You’ll also need to evaluate health, life insurance, and superannuation contributions of your employees. It helps to streamline the payment process and removes discrepancies in data.
The single touch payroll system gives you real-time access to payroll data and structure for tax and superannuation reporting procedures.
- Preparing financial statements
These are prepared by the bookkeeper. It’s vital to be on top of the documents as these are critical for sharing information with the management or stakeholders. The basic financial statements required are the balance sheet, cash flow, and profit and loss statement.
To sum up …
Even if you’re doing your books yourself, it’s important to seek a professional bookkeeping company in Qld to help ensure you get the above matters right and lower the risk of errors and losses.
At JSM Accounting we can assist in reducing your workload and stress. We make bookkeeping a hassle-free process. Get in touch today to learn how we can help you.