What do bookkeepers do?
The simple answer is: “All the financial record keeping you don’t have the time or expertise to do properly”.
A good bookkeeper will be a registered BAS Agent and a huge asset to your business because they have the knowledge and experience on how to accurately manage your business’s financial records.
They can also provide insight into potential financial issues in the business
The key roles of a good BAS Agent will include:
- Data Entry: Your bookkeeper will manage all your financial transactions by entering them into the system regularly and accurately, allocating them to the correct accounts in your accounting software, and producing weekly or monthly reports that provide useful information on your business performance.
- Expense Tracking: All of your business expenses need to be recorded and reconciled to any purchase orders and receipts of delivery to ensure you are getting what you paid for. Your bookkeeper will carry out this role as well as enter any petty cash and credit card purchases into your accounting system. They can also monitor who is spending what and identify any potential excess expenditure.
- Invoicing and Receipts: A key cash flow driver of every small business is collecting money from customers. A good bookkeeper will ensure invoices are sent promptly, follow up on late payments and manage all cash coming into the business. This role can often be the make or break of a small business.
- Payroll: If you employ staff, payroll can become a large task. Paying your staff can involve checking timesheets, allocating any commission payable, calculating payroll tax and superannuation, and keeping accurate employee records including their bank account details. Of course, then the payroll needs to be processed through both the accounting system and the bank account. Having a bookkeeper will save you an enormous amount of time if your payroll is done weekly or fortnightly.
- Banking: Most accounting software packages now link directly to business bank accounts. Your bookkeeper can download banking information directly into your accounting system and allocate payments and receipts into the system. Reconciling the bank transactions to your accounting system is important because you need to make sure all transactions are accounted for and nothing gets missed.
- Compliance: Your bookkeeper should be a registered BAS agent, which means that they can prepare your BAS in line with the ATO requirements. They will also be able to prepare any payroll tax and superannuation records and payments. If you have any business loans or other areas that require regular reports they will be able to do this as well.
- Financial Reporting: Finally, your bookkeeper will provide regular financial reports: profit and loss, balance sheet, budgets and cash flow forecasts that will give you all the information you need to improve the financial performance of your business. They will be able to guide you on what areas need improving, and those that are performing well that can be taken to the next level.
A good bookkeeper is an asset, and you should view any cost associated with your bookkeeper as an investment in your business.
