How to Get Government and Finance Assistance For Your Business in Australia: http://EzineArticles.com/4597265

Tips to Improve Your Cashflow: http://EzineArticles.com/4597192

Romeo Caporaso – Business Accountant and Tax Agent of Tax Accounting Adelaide

Call us Now on 0883374460

We make sure your tax return does not look the same the rest of your life and the numbers grow into where you want to be.

We make it easier to start right if you are new to business.

We show you how to make accounting easy to keep up to date and to  use accounting to improve your business.

Coach you to get to your business and financial goals faster and solve problems other than Tax and GST returns.

Call now for an appointment at our office on 08 8337 4460 Our office and contact details click here

Click here to enter INDIVIDUALS site if you are not a business

Call us Now on 0883374460

Comments or questions are welcome.

*(denotes required field)

Name:*

E-Mail Address:*

Subject:*

Message:*

CAPTCHA Code:*

Powered by Fast Secure Contact Form

 Tax agent, Accounting Services and Business Accountant Adelaide Play Now | Play in Popup | Direct Link

 Bookkeeping chainsaw man Play Now | Play in Popup | Direct Link

 The Romeo Caporaso Difference Play Now | Play in Popup | Direct Link

 Small Business Accountant and Tax Agent Adelaide Play Now | Play in Popup | Direct Link

 We help small business in Adelaide make more time and profits Play Now | Play in Popup | Direct Link

Are you thinking of growing your Australian business further but haven’t got working capital and are thinking about government assistance to help you get there. Well here is some information to help you get there.

Some of your options are:
seek government assistance such as grants or free information
seek a government grants agency who specializes in obtaining assistance from government agencies
seek banking finance

Government assistance
There a couple of good websites which are really good starting point
www.grantslink.gov.au
this outlines many runs and refers links to relevant information
do some searches for keywords each relate to your business
www.business.gov.au
is a great source of information. This also provides the links directly to local , state and federal government assistance programs.

For business startups there is generally no financial assistance, however there is free business advice. Such as the small business support line 1 800 777 275 or business enterprise community www.becaustralia.org.au or call 130-036-3551.

For businesses the startups stage are beginning to develop a good website is www.enterpriseconnect.gov.au . This is a free government service provides a business review to all businesses with a turnover above $2 million. They provide concrete suggestions on how to improve your business.

So generally speaking, for initial startups there is government assistance in the form of information. But for established businesses further advice and specialized advice and grants may be possible.

Grants are a mostly used to encourage research and development projects. But they may be for many different purposes and varying amounts.

The federal government has recently introduced the small business online program. The idea of this program is for small businesses to develop web stop web presence and online business. You may be able to get a specialist web developer at low-cost or no-cost. Contact your local BEC for information on their course.

To check government websites is a useful source of information or to your business consultant or accountant for specific information.

Government assistance agencies

Companies looking for a successful business which would generate long-term tax paid and employees, exports and growth.

It is important to demonstrate good management skills in the business in any grant application.

You must provide all information required in the application process, you only get one opportunity to make a good impression so it’s best to get it right first time. Also many of these grants may be closing so you need to get in while it remains open.

You need to be realistic in the amount you apply for, then maybe caps on the amount to apply for. Make sure you request the full amount to make the project work do not understate your requirement.

Try to be proactive in requesting government assistance programs, quite often people need this to when they are in financial difficulty. This may be too late.

Approaching your bank

your banker can be a valuable free tool, in exchange for services such as transaction products. They may be able to provide assistance in business decisions and question your planning.

If a bank cannot provide financing it will generally provide you advice on why you are unable to receive finance at this stage and may give you advice as to how to rebuild or develop to obtain finance in the near future.

Banks will tend to look favorably upon a strong application which includes security, business planning, financial projections, experience and management expertise.

Some simple short-term financing arrangements include overdrafts and business credit cards.

Longer-term finance over 5 to 10 years includes loans.

It is important to guard your business adequate working capital server it does not suffer lack of liquidity while growing down the track.

Banks normally only take on quality applications so do try finance brokers if unsuccessful with banks, I can introduce your to a good finance broker .

Call Romeo if you need any assistance approaching government for assistance or if you need finance to grow your business.

I often have new business clients which are not sure what to do when cash flow is tight. So I have put together some ideas to help out.

Increase sales
Always seek additional sales by mentioning and inviting all people you meet through your life to your services or products. It is free but professional.
Get away from the mainstream operations and spend time on marketing and selling your business. Often this is a major problem in many small businesses
Have business systems to capture client details so to make efficient future direct marketing, such as a web site or point-of-sale equipment.
Ask for referrals and testimonials which can help attract for the business. Wherever possible have an incentive scheme to encourage and track such referrals.

Improved gross margins
Look at individual product and service lines with a view to reviewing profitability margins on their performance. Often businesses do not actually know how profitable different lines are. If this is the case, establish better accounting systems to provide such information.
Conduct annual price reviews. Many people businesses simply avoid or afraid to increase prices. However this may be necessary when direct or overhead costs have been rising in order for you to maintain profitability.
Occasionally conduct reviews of major supplies which are used directly in the manufacture of production of your products and services, and compare them to competitors pricing’s. This will hopefully assure you your supplier is providing you competitive pricing or an opportunity to bargain down their pricing or achieve better pricing elsewhere. Keep in mind other factors in the procurement process including service, quality and reliability before changing long-term suppliers.

Improve overhead expense margins
Review your overhead expenses and wherever possible seek to eliminate over expenditure. Some main areas include banking fees, motor vehicle fees, interest charges, phone and mobile expenditures and stationery supplies. Some of these can be purchased elsewhere and at more competitive costs.
Are all subscriptions and expenses still appropriate? Are all expenses being authorized within a purchase ordering system and within purchase officer’s delegation?
Is there sufficient budget process for all overhead expenses? This is a great way to control spending and control your overhead expense margin.

Improved turnover of debtors
Review debtor terms to see if they are too generous. Can they be reduced to current or future customers to improve your trading cycle?
Is there an established procedure to collect debtor payments? For example are they being telephoned within 2 days of lateness, then an arrears letter and then followed by further legal action. The longer you allow debtors to be late, the greater the risk of non-payment. Bad debts can be an avoidable and necessary hurtful business.
It is vital debtors are screened in a credit application process which includes identity and credit limit. It is also important to maintain the debtor within such limit to avoid exposure to bad debt

Slow turnover of creditors
Pay creditors on the date they are due, so to stretch out your creditor payments.
Apply for credit accounts with certain suppliers to gain longer payment time
Ask for repayment arrangements with suppliers, in times of difficult cash flow. This may seem unrealistic, however your suppliers will appreciate notice in advance you experiencing some difficulty paying this month payment, and with notice and a proper explanation the supplier is much more likely to remain happy and content with a repayment arrangement, rather than an uncertain late payment

Improved turnover inventory
Seek to maintain optimum levels of stock which maximize your use of price and storage.
Focus more on high moving inventory lines and clear any slow-moving stock even if it’s not at a profit
Encourage customers to make large orders in advance or standing orders so that inventory can be managed in advanced with certain sales pending.

Control expenditure
Look at expenditure on capital which will improve productivity and ultimately improve cash flow.
Have a capital expenditure budget so that you limit the cash drain on your business. Review possible capital expenditures and only spend those which appear to have the greatest return.
Establish a good business banking relationship, to receive some free advice from your financier on alternative methods to finance capital projects which may maintain better Working capital within your business structure.

If you are experiencing some cash flow difficulties and would like to speak to an expert on improving your position, don’t wait till it’s too late and call Romeo on 0416 023 719.

The general laws of building wealth are to have a savings plan, receive good advice from relevant people, to let your wealth compound and to see through a task.

The 8 key lessons

Have a financial plan. Dream of what you want to achieve. Without a plan you will not succeed. I additionally recommend you have an idea of when and how you will achieve this goal. You should regularly and daily affirm this goal to yourself.

Be determined to succeed devote your time and study. Educate yourself on the areas you need to develop

Seek professional competent advice by experts in that area. Overcome failures or setbacks and try again. Failures will often stop you short when you are just about to achieve, so persist after all failures

Ask successful people, how? Usually they will be the first to tell you. Be around the successful people and ask them for the wisdom of age and experience. When people see you succeed opportunities arise.

Let your savings profits compound. Let your investments stay, you longer they are arrested the more compounding would bring images.

Learn to acquire and keep money; review the success of your investments. Make sure they suit your goals and objectives for your current circumstances.

Make investments work for you. The big word is compound. For instance, saving $7000 per year for 10 years will accumulate $100,000, all thanks to compounding . Enjoy life, live within your income and remember spending money improves your money energy.

Romeo Caporaso
Australian Tax and Business Accountant
http://taxaccountingadelaide.com/

For more information regarding selling your business, contact Tina Marino at heimgroupinc.com and read more at http://www.businessbrokerwisdom.com

I often have new business clients which are not sure what information to give me as their accountant or bookkeeper in order to prepare Australian Accounting and Tax returns, or Financial statements. So I have put together a brief explanation of a simple method of getting it all together. If you use this simple method you will not only look professional to your accountants but save them time (by doing some of the legwork and having all of the relevant information available) getting you a cheaper accounting invoice by saving accounting time and you money.

This is a process primarily for businesses which, do not have an internal accounts or bookkeeper person and simply provide information to accountants to prepare returns.

I want to stress that all good businesses know how well they are doing. In fact many businesses fail because of a lack of current financial information. It is vital you know your current financial position and profit or loss statement ideally monthly or at least quarterly if the business is well established with comfortable cash flow. If you are a business who only reviews their financial position annually, I strongly recommend you consider obtaining more regular financial information. This is so you have relevant information to manage your business and profitability. This can easily be done by engaging in a bookkeeper or accountant who can also come to your office. However if you wish to prepare information for the accountant and bring it to their office here is a quick process for you to complete.

The starting point of accounting is that it is based on recording all transactions from bank statements of all relevant bank accounts including cheque accounts, investments ,credit cards and loans. For this reason, businesses should aim to track all business transactions through one of their bank accounts and hence have little or no cash transactions. If you have cash transactions you may need to provide additional information.

Step one
The first simple step is to collate all your bank statements of all business accounts, credit cards and loans for the period you need to report on. Some examples to illustrate the periods involved for a tax return 2010 you’ll need to gather statements from 1st of July 2009 to 30th of June 2010, or for a BAS return March 2010 you will need to gather statements from 1 January 2010 to 31 March 2010. You should receive all statements from your bank, if any are lost or misplaced your need to reorder from your bank incurring normally a bank fee. Sort this out before you provide the accountant your information.

Step two
Once you have collated all bank statements review all individual lines and code them with relevant information (write a relevant description of them if not obvious from the bank statement line entry). For example all credit entries all money going into your accounts, you should indicate if they are income or sometimes they are owner contributions. With all money expended (money out) from accounts, you should also be describing relevant details especially cheque numbers and EFT transfers. Remember any additional information may be useful to your accountant such as asset detail so they can process specific taxation rules. If you are GST registered, you should also indicate whether the transaction involved GST or was GST free. The more you code the more you make your financial reports accurate and speed up things for your accountants processing which will lead to cheaper fees.

Step three
If you have coded all bank statements as for step two and have made sure all relevant bank statements have been collated. You may provide this to the accountant so that the financial report can be prepared. However, as tax law requires substantiation of your transactions and keeping these records, I would also suggest, attaching all relevant invoices relating to transactions on each bank statement. There may be a few transactions which do not have invoices such as bank charges and direct debit all regular charges loan payments etc. You may have other ways of filing invoices which are also acceptable.

This has been a quick outline of how to provide information to your accountant to prepare your financial or taxation reports. It is advisable eventually for a business to take the next step and to complete it’s bookkeeping internally which may result in even greater savings. I recommend this is done with the combination off internal resources, suitable accounting software and professional accounting involvement to control and develop the financial information further. If you are currently considering this development in your business, please call Romeo on 0416023719 who can discuss installing an accounting software and training you to do some of the work. Often this will streamline some of your other administration tasks such as payroll, quoting and invoicing customers, knowing which debtor accounts are due or to facilitate a purchase ordering system, and to better track payables or cash flow.

However, if you know book work is not an optimal use of your time and do not have internal resources, please do use a professional registered BAS agent, TAX agent or accountant. But, perhaps consider updating your financial information on a more regular basis. I also had a recent experience with a client who did not wish to prepare their accounts themselves, but is available when I am coding their transactions; they were also able to see how the financial report is put together giving them a better understanding of the financial information. I also recommend that you do query, and get involved with the information provided to you at a summarized level so that you are sure that it is correct.

Overall, the key to book work is to do it regularly to stay on top of it and to complete while many transactions are fresh in your memory. Having up-to-date financial reports will give you a greater sense of pride in knowing how your business is tracking. By having current financial information you are in the much more informed position to make better business management as against having only annual and lagged financial information from your accountant.

For more information on your bookkeeping or BAS service requirements please call Romeo for an appointment to discuss further. Please feel free to pass this article on to any friend, colleague or business owner which may find this information useful or have them call me.

By Romeo Caporaso
Tax Agent, BAS Returns and Financial Reports

What to prepare for your taxes

 

What to Prepare for local meeting or virtual meeting (scan the documents and send to me). I will acknowledge receipt, respond with any other further information required and arrange a virtual way of meeting you soon.

This is a long list and some of the items may not apply to you. If they do not apply ignore that item.

__________________________________________________

You should prepare:

Individual Tax Return:
Group certificates/PAYG Payment summaries
ETP Group certificates/Payment summaries
Pensions & ComSuper Group certificates/Payment summaries
Social Security & Centrelink Group certificates/Payment summaries
Any interest earned
Dividend statements
Private Health Insurance statement & details
Rental income & expense details
Capital Gain/Loss details e.g.. Share & property sales/purchases
Trust Distribution tax statements
Partnership income & expense details
Business income & expense details
Foreign income
Any Other income details
Travel expenses e.g.. Airline/bus tickets related to work travel
Motor Vehicle expenses e.g.. kms traveled and engine size, log book if applicable
Dry-cleaning or laundry costs associated with protective clothing/uniforms
Replacement of protective clothing/uniforms
Self-Education costs
Union dues
Other work related expenses including home office, computers, mobiles etc.
Donations
Investment expenses including borrowing costs, interest on loans, FID & investment advice fees
Accounting fees & travel expenses associated with preparation of your tax return
Medical expenses (if more than $1500)
Medicare Levy exemption details
Income Protection insurance
Family Tax payments, Part A &/or B
Number of dependents and their dates of birth
Spouse’s income details

__________________________________________________

Business Tax Returns:
(including Trust, Companies, Partnership & Sole Traders)

Manual records:
Bank/Credit Card statements for full year
Cheque books for full year
PAYG Payment summary statement
Copies of Group Certificates/PAYG Payment Summaries
Any Dividend statements or Trust Distribution tax statements
Details of any cash income or expenses
Debtors & Creditors
Stock on hand
Petty Cash details
Copies of BAS/IAS statements for financial year

Computerised records:
Backup of software
Bank Reconciliation with bank statement for 30 June
PAYG Payment summary statement
Copies of Group Certificates/PAYG Payment Summaries
Stock on hand
Any Petty Cash/cash transactions not entered into software
Copies of BAS/IAS statements for financial year

Fringe Benefits Tax Return:
Opening odometer reading at 1 April
Closing odometer reading at 31 March
Log book (if one has been kept)
Motor Vehicle expenses incurred (if log book is available):
-Fuel
-Maintenance/Repairs
-Insurance
-Registration
-Tyres
-Car washes
-Interest/Loan/Lease repayments

Please indicate whether the expenses provided are shown as GST inclusive or exclusive
Entertainment paid, including details of number of people attending (broken up into employees, associates, clients and directors), type of function and whether or not the expense was incurred interstate
Non-commercial loans (interest charged at less than 7.05%)
Debt waivers
Employee expense payments
Housing/accommodation/board provided
Living Away From Home allowances paid
Airline transport (airlines & travel agents only)
Property provided
Car Parking (when a commercial car parking station is located within 1km and charges more than $6.43 per day)
Any employee contributions received
FBT Instalments paid

BAS
Manual records:
Tax invoices for each expense incurred.
Total receipts for period, detail of how much GST was collected for each receipt
Include all income i.e. interest, rent etc.
Salary and wages paid for period
PAYG with tax withheld for period
Bank statements for period

Providing a summary of income and expenses for the period will keep your accounting fees to a minimum. You should show the GST inclusive amount and the GST relating to each transaction as per tax invoice.

Computerised records (e.g. MYOB)
Bank reconciliation printout
Bank statement @ last day of period
PAYG with tax withheld from wages for period
Advise if no tax invoice is held for expenses
GST detail report for period
Backup of MYOB file

__________________________________________________

IAS
PAYG withholding voluntary tax payments (if applicable)
salary and PAYG withholding tax deductions
PAYG installments

Details of all business & investment income for period e.g. dividends, interest, rental, distributions.
Supporting documents

__________________________________________________

Superannuation Funds
Bank statements for complete year
Dividend statements
Managed Trust distribution statements
Unit trust distributions
Cheques books
Details of each contribution into fund
Buy/sell contracts
Details of new investments
Expenses incurred by trustee on behalf of super fund
Rollover fund statements
ETP Group Certificates