7 Things Your Accountant Wants You To Know For Your Business
Written by: Danny Grigg | Accounting Team
Your accountant is vitally important to your business, not only to ensure your compliance obligations are kept up to date, but also they have a wealth of knowledge and years of experience to help you with your business!
Your compliance obligations can include any or all of the following:
- Monthly or quarterly BAS/IAS lodgements for GST, PAYG withholding, tax instalments, fringe benefits tax, fuel tax credits or wine equalisation tax;
- Annual tax return lodgements;
- Superannuation processing and lodgement;
- STP reporting and annual lodgement;
- Annual Fringe Benefits Tax return lodgement;
- Monthly or annual payroll tax lodgements;
- WorkCover annual reconciliations;
- Annual TPAR lodgement; and
- Portable long-service leave lodgements for those in certain industries.
Compliance obligations with state and national government regulatory bodies are a necessary part of your business and not adhering to the lodgement and payment due dates can mean penalties being imposed and interest being applied to debts, meaning you end up paying more than you need to. We are here to help you avoid these additional costs.
Compliance is only a part of what your accountant can do for your business. Additional services we offer include:
- Tax planning for your business and individual taxpayers;
- Business Growth Strategies;
- Business Structure Reviews;
- Business Succession Planning;
- Business Financial Plan/Forecasting; and
- Business Coaching.
Why Is It Important To Listen To Your Accountant?
As said before, your accountant has a wealth of knowledge gained through years of study before beginning their work life, post-graduate studies and continual professional development to stay up-to-date with the complexities of the Australian taxation system.
Combine this with years of experience working with small businesses, they are your go-to tax experts, but it is not all about tax. Your accountant is also knowledgeable and experienced in helping you with your business, whether it be assisting in working out your minimum charge-out rates so that you are profitable, ideas to become more efficient, breakeven analysis, and strategies for growth.
So, let’s take a look at seven things your accountant does for your business and what they want you to know!
Seven Things Your Accountant Wants You To Know…
One: Bills, bills, bills!
Business owners can run their business extremely well, have great sales, be really busy and think they are going great, but still get into trouble paying the bills at the end of the month.
Owners need to ensure that they are aware of the financial side of the business and that it is in good shape as well.
We have seen many good businesses fail due to poor financial awareness and controls. Great sales are not always a good indicator of good cash inflows. It is no use selling services or products if you are not being paid for them. Good debtor control is an essential part of being a good business and having a good cash flow.
If this is an area that you, as a business owner, are not good at, your accountant can help! Whether it is from your accountant internally or by providing tools or resources for you, together you will find a solution.
Two: Superannuation
Keeping on top of bill payments and creditors is extremely important for any business, however, one of the most neglected payments is employee’s superannuation payments and particularly the business owner’s own superannuation.
It is law that superannuation is paid by the due date.
The due date for super payments is 28 days after the end of each quarter:
- June quarter (28 July);
- September quarter (28 October);
- December quarter (28 January); and
- March quarter (28 April).
Your employee’s superannuation contribution is deemed to be paid when it is received by their super fund, not the date that it leaves your bank account. Depending on how you make these payments, the processing time can differ so you should check with your software provider or clearing house to ensure payments are made by the due date.
On 2 May 2023, the Australian Government announced that from 1 July 2026 superannuation payments will be required to be paid at the same time that the employer is paying the salary and wages. If you are having trouble meeting your lodgement/payment deadlines for your employee’s super obligations, contact your accountant to help with a solution.
Three: Bank Accounts
Secondary bank accounts can be a good tool to put money away for monthly or quarterly payments, such as BAS and superannuation payments.
A good starting point would be transferring 9% of your gross sales, the weekly/fortnightly PAYG withholding amount and currently 11.5% of your gross salaries each week into a separate bank account.
Four: Business Growth Tools
- Are you wanting to grow your business?
- Do you fully understand the cost of the products or services you offer?
- Do you have the necessary tools to identify opportunities and potential problems and then implement strategies to take advantage of these?
Your accountant can help! Your accountant may have ideas that you have not thought of to help you make your business grow now and well into the future.
Five: Business Structure
Is your current business structure best placed for your business?
Have you had significant growth, or are we winding down or looking at succession planning where your business would now be better placed in a different structure for tax purposes, asset protection or passing the reins over to children or external buyers?
Your accountant can work with you to find the best structure depending on your circumstances and implement a plan to transition to this structure.
Six: Tax Planning
Annual Tax Planning is an important tool to help you identify possibilities to lower your tax bill at year-end, know in advance your estimated tax position for your business and yourself personally, understand the cash flow impact of your tax obligations, and prepare for when your tax bill is issued.
Seven: Here To Help
Your accountant wants you to know that they are here to help you with your business.
The wealth of knowledge, experience and resources gathered over many years working in the industry that you can tap into for your business can drive success now and for your business’s future!
Canny Accounting + Our Expert Business Advice
Canny Accounting has been in business for over 60 years and although the founder Stan Canny has passed on, his legacy for helping our clients has been instilled in the business and current team.
Canny Accounting’s directors, managers, accountants and bookkeepers have a breadth of knowledge and experience across a large range of industries and can certainly help your business with any difficulties or challenges that you may face.
It may be as simple as not having the time to process your weekly payroll or allocating your bank transactions, to changing your business structure. In all of these cases, there is someone at Canny Group who is placed to help you with your issue.
If your query is related to Financial Advice to Legal matters, we have divisions within Canny Group that can help you as well, so that we can all work together to get you and you’re business the best outcome.
Get in touch to see how a Canny Accountant can help your business thrive!
