Applications for the Business Support Fund – Expansion will be extended until 14 September 2020
The applicable amounts are as follows:
Check this link
https://www.business.vic.gov.au/support-for-your-business/grants-and-assistance/business-support-package/business-support-fund
PAYROLL – Don’t miss the Fair Work Ombudsman update!
Employers are required to give new employees a Fair Work Information Statement when they commence work.
The High Court of Australia handed down a decision on 13th August 2020 about the method of accruing and taking paid personal/carer’s leave under the National Employment standards. They found that the entitlement to 10 days of personal leave can be as 1/26 of an employee’s ordinary hours of work in a year.
This decision by the High Court overturned a decision made by the Full Federal Court in August 2019.
As a result of the High Court’s decision, Fair Work has issued an updated Fair Work Information Statement for employees.
Find a copy of the updated statement on the Fair Work Ombudsman website or the Useful Info page of Swag Bookkeeping website.
On 13 August 2020, the High Court handed down a decision about the method of accruing and taking paid personal/carer’s leave under the National Employment Standards. The High Court has found that the entitlement to 10 days of personal/carer’s leave is calculated based on an employee’s hours of work, not days. 10 days of personal leave can be calculated as 1/26 of an employee’s ordinary hours of work in a year.
The High Court’s decision overturns a decision made by the Full Federal Court in August 2019. We’ve updated the Fair Work Information Statement as a result.
Employers are required to give this to new employees when they start work.
If you are doing your own bookkeeping, there’s a great sense of satisfaction when you get the green tick – job done!
But beware. That tick is to say you recorded an account for every imported transaction – the tick does not check that what was recorded is right. It can be tricky, and for lots of reasons.
GST – it’s a tax. Tax in Australia is complicated.
Challenge: Try recording the correct amount of GST in your car registration payment
Sometimes there is a glitch in the system and the software imports duplicated transactions or misses some altogether.
Challenge: Compare the bank or credit card balance in Xero against the statement from the bank
If you transfer money between several accounts, chances are some of the transfers will be duplicated.
Challenge: Check the credit card and bank reconciliations produced.
If alarm bells are going off for you, it might be time to reach out to a professional to provide a bit of oversight.
JobKeeper and government grants means our bookkeeping has never been more important or up to date. But if you are only bookkeeping for compliance in your business, you are missing out on the real value of that work. Your numbers are not doing the heavy lifting that they could be.
One of the easiest ways to unlock the value in your figures is to customise your Profit & Loss statement. A simple realignment of the expenses can instantly provide insights that the standard format does not.
Isolating and grouping similar expenses can identify and summarise the costs involved in providing your goods or services, the collective costs of employing your team, renting premises, advertising and marketing your business and general overheads.
What measures would be valuable to your understanding of your business performance?
Identifying the overheads of your business can provide a very clear understanding of what is the very minimum amount you must earn just to keep your doors open – your break even point.
Measuring profit margins could provide more relevant feedback than sales income alone.
Looking at results as percentages might be more meaningful than absolute values.
If managing cashflow is a challenge, month to month comparisons of income and expenses can paint a picture of trends and the financial implications of seasonality and provide alerts to when some of our larger business expenses fall due.
The bookkeeping that you do for JobKeeper and government grants and BAS provides the basis for all these measures.
WORKSAFE RATEABLE REMUNERATION
Try saying that 10 times quickly!
As employers, we pay our workers compensation based on our estimate of employee remuneration for the year.
At the end of the financial year, Worksafe ask us to lodge a Worksafe Rateable Remuneration declaration which provides the actual remuneration figures for the year. The amount of workers compensation that should have been payable is then calculated on these confirmed amounts.
If your annual remuneration is more than your estimate, you will be invoiced the difference to pay.
If your annual remuneration is less than your estimate, you will receive a credit on your account. You can ask for this to be refunded.
You are meant to update your remuneration estimate with Worksafe if the annual amount is set to increase by 20% or more from your original estimate.
Similarly, you can also reduce your remuneration estimate if you know there will be a significant difference for the year from your original estimate.
Understand how your remuneration is calculated, what’s included and what’s exempted.
https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/remuneration-inclusions-and-exclusions
Mongolia is a vast country. It is bordered by China and Russia but has its own unique culture. The population is low. A high proportion of the population is still nomadic and follow the traditions that see them return each year to the same summer and winter steppes with their gers for housing, their livestock and traditions.
Naadam is an annual traditional festival in Mongolia. The festival is also locally termed “eriin gurvan naadam” “the three games of men” which seems a bit at odds with our experience where women and girls participated in horse racing, archery and knuckles. Wrestling was the exclusive domain of men.
We were excited to attend a rural Naadam, where we were free to wander between events and to absorb the local colour of traditional costumes, horse riding, and local fare. It was a great family day, hot and dusty, the competition was intense, and as is common in Mongolia, we were made very welcome.
The follow up to this day was the grand Naadam celebrations back in Ulaanbaatar, commencing in Sükhbaatar Square where the Nine White Banners, reportedly made from the tail hair of thousands of stallions from all over the country, are escorted by mounted soldiers from Government House to the stadium. The square was filled, many families in traditional dress, other sporting matching outfits amongst family members, the holiday spirit and excitement evident. Good viewing spots were in demand.
The Opening Ceremony was amazing, colourful, action-packed, so much going on that it was impossible to absorb it all! For the full show, use this link
Travelling the great sweeping valleys or steppes of Mongolia, we visited the Genghis Khan monument, remote monasteries and museums, hiked up to and around a volcanic crater, rode camels and horses, stayed in gers, spent an afternoon with a local family who milked horses for a living, tasting their home-made cheese and clotted cream over cups of hot milk tea, and followed Takhi wild horses in the Hustai National Park.
We found the Mongolian language pretty much incomprehensible, but the hospitality of the locals and the care and knowledge of our wonderful guides spoke volumes.
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What is Rescue Work?
We all know the demands bookkeeping can make on our time, our patience and even our knowledge. But let it slide, put it in the too hard basket, go into denial and it can all too easily slip into such a state that you, the business owner, simply don’t have the time or energy to deal with it alone. One of the challenges of being a successful business owner is deciding when to delegate work to people who specialize in that area.
Rescue work is the bookwork that needs to be sorted as a priority. This work often becomes a priority because the business owner has got behind with their compliance obligations. Their accountant and/or the Tax Office are likely to be a bit of a catalyst for getting things back up to date. They will also be concerned about the integrity of the information recorded in the accounts.
Similarly, it can become apparent to business owners and their professional advisers that there are problems within the accounts that are not readily solved without specialist knowledge and experience. The online accounting packages are easy to use but not quite so easy to get right without a sound understanding of the bookkeeping process.
Typical problems around the integrity of the accounts include:
• The bank balances don’t match the actual bank statements even though all the bank transactions have been accounted for or marked off.
• There are several unreconciled items even though all the bank transactions have been accounted for or marked off.
• The inventory expected from the figures in the accounting package might not match the actual inventory on hand.
• Invoices that have been paid may still be showing as unpaid.
• Leave taken by staff may not have been recorded at the time.
• Leave may not have been accrued properly for staff.
• The Balance Sheet might show liabilities such as Wages or Super Payable when everything is really paid up.
Rescue work is promptly tackling bookkeeping and record-keeping issues with efficient, professional solutions that also provide clarity and peace of mind. An experienced bookkeeper can remove the confusion and uncertainty that surrounds such matters and provide the business owner with a satisfying sense of control and confidence.
If any of these scenarios are ringing alarm bells for you, please feel free to contact us at SWAG Bookkeeping for business solutions tailored to your needs.
Go Back to Recent News
While searching for information we felt you would find useful, I ran across a PC Magazine article that tested online survey companies. Checking over their findings, I decided to share with you SurveyMonkey because it is a good natural product for all company levels.
Surveys are used to support almost any aspect of a business that intersects with an audience. It can gather findings for digital marketing campaigns, customer service, helpdesk, employee satisfaction and event feedback. There is a free level for you to start off with and see if it is something your company can use, later changing to a plan that will work best.
You can create a survey from scratch or use their one of their many templates, then send off via email, text or social media. It allows you to filter, compare and analyse the survey results as they arrive in real-time. The data is then displayed in charts and tables to help you better understand and what it means for your company.
You can find out more about them by clicking here.
Utila is one of the Bay Islands of Honduras, in the Caribbean, north of the mainland. It’s known for its coral reefs and many dive sites. The Oceanic Research Center studies Whale Sharks found in the surrounding waters. The Iguana Research and Breeding Station is dedicated to preserving the endangered spiny-tailed Utila iguana. Utila town (East Harbour) is known for its nightlife
Utila is one of the islands we sail to in our boat each year. It has a young vibe because it attracts people interested in getting their dive master certification. It is a fairly small island which makes it easy for us to check in and out of Honduras.
We are able to get supplies and fuel easily then we relax. Our passages are usually a day or so that cause us to be pretty exhausted afterwards. Utila has a nice laid back atmosphere that we enjoy after such a passage.
Transportation is by golf carts, motor bikes or walking. I enjoy walking to get supplies so Utila is great.
We like to sit back and watch the locals play in the water, the young come for a life time adventures and couples on romantic get away.
If you ever find yourself going to Utila, you must check out the Jade Seahorse. It is a must see hotel/restaurant. Jade Seahorse Click Here