Your Accountant: The Mentor You Didn’t Know You Needed
Have you ever thought of your accountant as a mentor?
A business mentor can provide guidance and support, so you make the right decisions and stay focused on the end goal as a business owner. They can also help you move forward in your career by providing advice and feedback on the steps to take to reach success.
Why your accountant is the ideal mentor
Having someone who understands your business journey is incredibly important. You might see an accountant as someone who files your tax returns. But, in fact, we’re experienced business owners with access to a significant network of other business professionals.
An accountant can be the mentor you didn’t know you needed. No one knows your business better than us, so we’re perfectly placed to offer advice, guide your business journey and help you push your skills and capabilities as a business owner.
As a mentor, an accountant will:
Expand your knowledge as an entrepreneur – as business owners, we have the knowledge and experience to help you move your business forward. And we can work with you to expand your leadership skills, business thinking, and entrepreneurial ideas.
Be a shoulder to lean on – we’ll offer 1-2-1 mentoring sessions where we can listen to your unique worries and concerns as a business owner. Having someone on the same page to listen and empathise is vital for your business and mental health.
Guide the important elements of your business – we’ll help you manage and improve your business strategy, planning, and decision-making skills. We’ll also provide the management information systems you need to guide your finances and planning.
Keep your finances on track – we’ll show you how to maximise profits, reduce costs, and make better financial decisions. We’ll also help you plan your own personal wealth and tax strategies so that you can achieve your own entrepreneurial goals and lifestyle.
Introduce you to a broader business network – we work with hundreds of other business owners across various industries. This means we can link you up with other entrepreneurs and founders so you can connect with a network of like-minded individuals. This can be vital when brainstorming and benchmarking or if you need to talk to someone who understands the specific pain points you’re experiencing.
Having someone to guide your business journey can be invaluable. A business owner must grow and evolve along with their business. Regular mentoring catch-ups are ideal for progress, offloading your concerns, and looking for new inspiration.
If you want to grow as an entrepreneur, please come and talk to us about our mentoring services and how we can guide your business future.
Although tax returns for individuals are not due just yet, the financial year’s end is near. Get ahead now by preparing all the documents required for your tax return so you can get your tax done quickly and get any refund due to you in your bank!
Income
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) automatically receives information from your employers about the salary and wages that you have been paid for the financial year.
You need to also declare all income (even if it’s just a small amount) from other sources on your tax return. You’ll also need documents such as statements, invoices, and reports to show all earnings.
Wages, salaries, allowances, or bonuses from all employers.
Pensions, annuities, or other government payments.
Investment income, including interest earned and dividends received.
Business and hobby income, if you have a side business as well as a job.
Foreign income.
Crowdfunding income.
Sharing economy income such as Uber or Airbnb.
Income from overseas sources.
Income such as hobbies, prize money, compensation, or insurance payments may be tax-free but check with us.
Work-Related Expenses
Employees are entitled to claim work-related expenses as a tax deduction. To claim a deduction, you must have spent the money out of your own funds and not have been reimbursed by your employer. The expenses must relate to your earnings as an employee. Ensure you have invoices and receipts as proof of payment for work-related expenses.
Expenses you may be able to claim
Vehicle and travel expenses – use a travel diary to record details of trips taken for your employment.
Clothing, laundry, and dry-cleaning expenses – occupation-specific clothing, uniforms, and protective gear can be claimed.
Self-education expenses – some education expenses that relate to your current employment are claimable.
Tools and equipment – if you buy gear to help you in your job, this may be claimable. Small tools of the trade, protective items, professional references, and laptops are some examples of equipment you may be able to claim.
Superannuation contributions you have made are separate from your employer’s contributions.
Occupation and industry-specific requirements – check the ATO fact sheets for your industry.
Working from home – new rules apply this year, making claiming expenses for working from home more accessible. Check the ATO information for details.
Register now for us to prepare for your tax return, and we’ll make tax time easy for you – and get any refund that is be due to you.
Trying to get a perfect work/life balance can be a cause of stress in itself. If you are feeling the strain of building your business and maintaining your life, the good news is that stress and a productive existence can go hand in hand. Be mindful and you can find the balance that’s best for you.
How much stress is good for you?
The Yerkes-Dodson law shows that an individual’s performance increases with stress (arousal) until cortisol levels get too high. Then performance decreases again just as sharply. The secret is to stop your stress levels from sending you down the other side of the bell curve. How much is too much varies for everyone, but understanding and managing your stress levels allows you to use them for good.
How to manage your stress
Take Control – Feeling in control can decrease stress from harmful levels by presenting the stress causes as surmountable challenges. Get a handle on your project, tasks, or day by breaking them down into achievable goals and choosing what to prioritise.
Get positive – Your perception of your stress is important. Rather than leading to panic and inertia, calmly recognise the first quickening of your heart rate as something powerful, making you more alert and capable.
Connect – Social support reduces stress, so good relationships within a team and the wider office environment make everyone more resilient to stress.
Exercise – A good workout reduces bad stress and is good for the brain, heart, and lungs.
Sleep – Poor sleep is bad for stress levels and health, so be disciplined about getting a good night’s rest. Being exhausted will increase susceptibility to further stress and damage productivity.
If work stress is getting too much, talk to us.
We can help manage systems, technology, payroll, or other financial and administrative management. We can help with your business worries so you can get back on track.
When you run a small business, the amount of work can ebb and flow. Unexpectedly busy periods can create too much work and stress for a small team or one-person business. But if a surge is seasonal or unreliable, you don’t necessarily want to commit to taking on another employee. One solution is to use outsourcing to give you some flexibility during busy periods.
What could you outsource?
Several types of jobs can be ideal for outsourcing:
Tasks you dread, usually procrastinate, or that cause you massive stress
Tasks where you or your business have low expertise
Those tasks which don’t require the contractor or freelancer to access your systems or deal with your clients.
For example, outsourcing your social media management could work well if you aren’t managing your digital marketing. Or it might be branding, HR, or customer service. And if you need help with your payroll or accounts, we’re only a phone call away.
If you can take stressful tasks off your plate or reduce your workload at peak times, you can increase your revenue and productivity without overcommitting to payroll.
Who could do the work for you?
We’re here to support you with your accounting and payroll requirements. You could consider a local or an offshore provider for other types of work. Plenty of platforms and organisations will help you, but do shop around as the quality varies enormously.
The advantages of a local provider are that they’ll be in the same time zone, with no language barrier, and operating under the same regulations. International providers, on the other hand, can be considerably cheaper.
Need help getting started?
Are you considering outsourcing and wondering how much to spend or where to start? Or do you need help with accounts and payroll? Get in touch. We’d love to help.
When your business needs new plant or equipment, what’s the best choice – buy or lease? The answer will depend on your circumstances, but the following considerations can help you weigh the options.
The advantages of buying
Buying gives you certainty and ownership at a higher upfront price but a lower total cost. Owning an item of plant or equipment gives you unrestricted use for the item’s lifetime. You can alter it to suit your business and sell it if you need to free up some cash. The total cost is paid upfront, so you have no ongoing payments, and there may be opportunities for tax depreciation.
Ownership can be a particularly good choice when equipment lasts for a long time and maintains its value. Overall, the total price of ownership is usually lower than the total cost of leasing the item.
The advantages of leasing
Leasing tends to give you more flexibility at a higher cost. It spreads out the cost of an expensive item – you don’t need to save or borrow the purchase price; instead, you make regular payments. You can return a leased item if it’s not working out or upgrade to a better model as your business grows.
If the equipment or plant quickly becomes obsolete, you’re likely to upgrade, or you’re not totally sure it is right for your business, leasing could be ideal. While leasing is generally more expensive across the item’s lifetime, it also frees up your money to invest in other areas of the business.
Running the numbers can help you find the right decision
The decision to invest in new plants or equipment can be tricky, but we can help. We can tally up the upfront and ongoing costs and weigh these against the economic benefits you might get from the new equipment. We consider your cash flow, the cost of borrowing, and sales projections so that you can make an informed choice.
We all know that positive cashflow is the beating heart of any successful business. And with so many external pressures on your cash right now, it’s important to have one eye on the future. Cashflow forecasting is an increasingly important tool for any finance team. You can make well-informed financial decisions with a better view of your future cashflow position.
But how does cashflow forecasting work? And how does it help you maintain a positive cashflow position throughout the year?
What does a cashflow forecast tell you?
The cashflow process is all about balancing your income (cash inflows) against your expenditure (cash outflows). This is called a ‘positive cashflow position’, if your cash inflows exceed your cash outflows. In other words, you have cash left over, even once you’ve covered your costs and paid your bills – cash that can then be reinvested in the business.
Forecasting apps like Float, Fathom, and Futrli use historic cash data to project your cash position forward in time. This helps you see where your cash may be in future periods.
Running detailed cashflow forecasts means you can:
Understand your future operational cashflow – helping you spot any cashflow holes, seasonal dips, or predicted months of high expenditure before they become an issue.
Plan your costs and expenditure effectively – allowing you to stick to your planned budgets, manage your expenses and plan for any steep price increases.
Avoid the cashflow issues before they happen – using your forecasts to look ahead, plan and get tighter control over your cashflow management.
Talk to us about setting up cashflow forecasts
Staying in a positive cashflow position is challenging in the current economic situation.
When supplier prices and operational costs fluctuate, and revenues are hard to predict, it is difficult to juggle your inflows against your outflows.
We’ll help you get a tighter grip on your cashflow. Setting up detailed forecasts enables you to understand your financial story and puts you back in complete control of your cashflow.
