You Have an Unconventional Style Business
A series of short stories.
As bookkeepers, business owners rely us on for advice with managing financial accounts. It’s become readily apparent that many businesses are unconventional. Numerous businesses require a chart of accounts to record money in and out, and if they employ staff then also require an award (or a few) for pay rates.
While no two businesses are the same, there are also differences in industries.
No matter what type of business a client operates, simple or complex, sole-trader, micro or small, Nifty Bookkeeping has the knowledge, expertise and experience to maintain the bookkeeping in a professional manner.
Research & Development
A Research and Development company came to Nifty Bookkeeping requiring advice on how they should set up their chart of accounts and for guidance on how to manage their business.
Research and Development companies rely on government funding and private investment, which requires a return on investment. To achieve this, they often sell a consulting service or a product that has been developed.
There’s a lot of money spent on promotion and wages during this process, with one of the largest costs being materials purchased. The profit and loss will often show a loss due to this, which can be disconcerting in the beginning.
Good management of finding investors and accounts payable is paramount.
Registered Training Office
The owners of a Registered Training Office (RTO) contacted us and required our help to sort out their invoicing and identify where their income was coming from. In this industry, there’s also Quality Assurance Legislation they need to comply with, where attention to detail is paramount. In relation to this, the running of Job Codes is imperative.
Yearly auditing, a constant check on income percentages and budget management is a normal part of running an RTO.
Medical Industry
The legislation for GST has some exclusions when it comes to the charging of GST. In most cases, there’s a GST charge for a service provided, except when it comes to the medical industry.
In this industry, the main source of income is consulting patients, which generally has no GST charged. But if you provide medical services as a lecturer or as a supervisor you are required to charge GST.
Being aware of the different streams of income is very important to ensure our clients meet their GST obligations.
Tradies Starting Out
A young man contacted Nifty Bookkeeping as he was rather embarrassed about how tiny his business was and wasn’t sure if we could help him. He was an employee and was hoping to build a business to a point where he could eventually leave employment and work for himself. We assured him that we could help and guide him along the way.
To help him achieve his goal, we would catch up over the phone each quarter to discuss how his search for work was going and offer him business advice. He had questions about advertising and getting a website, how he could invoice, and what could he claim. Unfortunately, he’d received some poor advice from other budding small business owners, which he spoke to us about and we steered him in the right direction.
In the beginning, he wasn’t earning enough to be registered for GST, but we still maintained his books quarterly so we could discuss his plans and how he was going. Once his income reached the GST limit, he registered for GST, this meant that we had to begin reporting quarterly.
We could tell that his business was growing. After about 3 years and working long hours, he decided to contract to his old employer and work harder on his own business.
Going from strength to strength eventually, he was able to work for himself, with an employee and is always vigilant with keeping his bookwork up to date.
eCommerce
Nifty Bookkeeping received a phone call from a client who imports all of his products from overseas and sells them, as he was concerned about the GST and how it was to be reported.
Our bookkeeper asked him for the customs documentation, and were able to calculate the GST claimable, which works differently when you import from overseas.
We are a leading bookkeeping business that business owners come to for GST advice. After many years in business we’ve identified it’s not unusual, in the beginning, for clients to be confused about the GST with overseas trading and importing. With the legislation constantly changing to keep up with the fast-moving digital world, we’re not surprised this is common. But we constantly research and keep up-to-date with these changes.
If we don’t know the answer on the spot for clients, we know who to ask to get the correct answers.