Superstar Bookkeeper

30 June 2021 is fast approaching!
Tax Planning is more important this year than ever!

I'll be offering some tax planning tips in the next few week.

What do you want to know?

80 days to 30 June 2021!

Who's ready?

Absolutely! This is a good listen that reinforces my belief that accountants and bookkeepers really need to work together to get the best outcomes for everyone.

Kelly Berger this is exactly what we’ve been taking about!

‎Accountants Daily Insider: Why accountants and bookkeepers will join forces in 2021 on Apple Podcasts ‎Show Accountants Daily Insider, Ep Why accountants and bookkeepers will join forces in 2021 - 4 Feb 2021

Something to keep an eye on!

The potential broadening of allowable deductions for training and education could benefit both individuals and businesses.

Education, training deduction claims to widen under proposed change Taxpayers might soon be able to claim deductions for education and training outside their chosen careers, as the government mulls changes to the current tax system.

Looking forward to taking part in on Friday! A great event.

We are really looking forward to having Allyson Pannier as a guest speaker at this year's Accountants Big Day Out event!

Helping accountants and bookkeepers work smarter, not harder is what Ally Advisory is all about.

By providing online training solutions to boost efficiency and drive results, Ally Advisory helps accounting firms find the time they need to deliver better, more advisory based services to their clients.

Join us for this special and insightful accounting industry online event – on Friday the 30th of October, from 9AM till 4:30PM AEDT via Zoom – and let us help you navigate through the impact of COVID-19 and the economic crisis.

Register now to secure your spot! https://bit.ly/3hJAAm9

100% of all proceeds will be donated to the charity of your choice :)

Proudly brought to you by Best Practice.

Do you have unanswered questions about business structures?

I want to answer them for you.

Business structuring can be tricky.

Too often, I see business owners who were told they needed to put a certain structure in place and didn’t understand the consequences.

These consequences can be administration, tax, flexibility as well as them just not understanding how the structure operates.

How can you run a business if you don't understand how it's structure works?

I’m a HUGE believer in clients understanding the structures they operate in and how they work.

I'm also a HUGE believer in bookkeepers understanding these structures so they can answer the basic questions clients have and prepare and reconcile the accounts in a way that is appropriate for that structure.

That's right, all structures have slightly different requirements.

And some structures can be confusing (hello trusts!).

I’ve heard from a lot of bookkeepers that they don’t REALLY understand how some structures work.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing some considerations and tips to help you understand some of the key elements of common structures.

I want to know that unanswered questions you have about Structures.

Send me an email or post a comment 👇 and I'll include as many as I can in the coming weeks.

Recently, I’ve been posting about the behaviours and attributes that are essential to being a Superstar Bookkeeper.

One of the key behaviours that is often overlooked or under-rated is being constructive and collaborative. What I mean by this is working together with the accountant to get the best outcome for the client.

There are two key parts to this one for me,
1. It’s about the client. Not you or the accountant. And sadly, this sometimes gets forgotten and people (and often egos) aren’t constructive in the way they deal with each other. It’s not a competition. It’s about working as a team to get the best outcome for the client. Then, everyone wins.

2. Working with an accountant or bookkeeper that really wants to get the best result for the client is SO enjoyable. The client’s finance team includes everyone. When it feels like a team and operates like one, that's when we get the best results.

Working with constructive, helpful and collaborative people means everyone wins and there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to enjoy work more.

We spend so many hours at work. It's important that we spend them with people we like working with, doing something that we love.

If you’d like to find out more about how to be collaborative and constructive as part of the finance process check out our Superstar Bookkeeper course. It’s full of practical examples and tips to help you boost your skills and work together with your client’s finance team.

Here’s to enjoying what we do. Everyday.

Are you a Superstar Bookkeeper?

As part of my Superstar Bookkeeper course I have outlined a list of behaviours that I think are the basics of being a Superstar Bookkeeper.

It was SO hard to narrow down this list and I have a few others that were so close to making it on.

My list (and highly appropriate acronym) includes:
A – Accurate
C – Communicate
C – Constructive
R – Responsible
U – Understand
E – Manage Expectations

Now this is a two-way street. As bookkeepers you should expect these behaviours from accountants you work with also.

What do you think of the list?
What else do you think should be included on there?

Here we go again!

We don't have the legislation or all the details yet but here is what we do know!

treasury.gov.au

Communication is so easy.

But if that’s the case, why don’t we always take the time to communicate.

One of my biggest frustrations is when I call a bookkeeper to ask a question on something that seems pretty obscure or difficult and they rattle off the answer immediately.

Now, I may have just spent an hour trying to work it out and looking for supporting documents and they clearly had dealt with it in detail when completing the accounts and remember the issue.

Why not communicate that information to the accountant, either via email, attached document or notes in the file?

It would have saved the client time and money and that is a key goal of what we’re doing here.

And then I realised that it was MY FAULT.

I had put-off calling the bookkeeper to have a pre-accounts chat but the to-do had fallen off my list.

Then when the job arrived on my desk (inbox) I jumped right in.

Why wasn’t calling the bookkeeper and talking to them about what I needed to do the job efficiently my priority?

Sometimes communication is hard and sometimes, to be honest, I am not in a mood to talk to people.

So I have decided to schedule time each week, in the morning when I am most “up for a chat” to make the calls I need to.

Communication is important. And I know that I’m more likely to make the call at 9.30am than I am at 3.30pm.

Communication is vital for our jobs. Find out what works for you and schedule it in (if you’re like me if it’s not scheduled it doesn’t get done)!

What communication tools and tricks work for you?

Do you self-review your work?

I hope I’m telling you something you already know and that is a core value of you and your business but probably the MOST important thing for bookkeepers is ACCURACY.

As an accountant I rely on the accuracy of the data provided by my client’s bookkeepers to create an efficient process an manage my time and cost to the client.

The best way I have found to ensure the accuracy of the work I complete is to do a self-review.

Things change and get updated as we complete our processes but by taking time at the end of the month, quarter and year to review your own work saves everyone time (and time is money).

Allocate a bit of time at the end of each period to check that:
• Your balance sheet accounts reconcile
• Your profit & loss account reconciliations are complete (e.g. wages and super)
• Your workpapers are correct and complete
• All supporting documentation is attached
• All additional information is included and noted

You might be surprised at what you pick up and the value that this small amount of time can add.

Share any self-review tips below. I’d love to hear them.