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Firm News

Christmas Break

The team at Hockley Giblin & Co would like to take this opportunity to thank you for a productive and progressive year in both business development and relationship building.

 

As the end of the year is fast approaching us, we find ourselves reflecting on the past year and those who have helped to shape our business.

We have had a great year helping our clients reach their personal and business goals and we hope that 2019 has been just as memorable for you, your colleagues and loved ones, as it has been for us!

We look forward to working and growing with you and your businesses in the years to come.

 

We would also like to take this opportunity to let you know that our office will be closed from Thursday the 19th December until Monday the 6th January.

 

Whilst our office will not be attended, Brad & Rick will be checking their emails every other day.

 

Merry Christmas & Happy new year!

 

Warm regards,

Rick, Brad, Cassandra & Dileeni.

Categories
Business General Financial Information

Separating personal and business expenses

There are some things in life that go together well and others that definitely do not.

Business and personal finances are in the category of items that should not be mixed!

Although it may seem like a headache to keep them separate—who wants to manage all those bank accounts?—your life will be greatly simplified once you separate your personal and your business finances, especially your expenses.

Paperwork and taxes will be easier to manage and you’ll have a better idea of how much money you spend on your business. Here are some tips to keep your personal and your business expenses separate:

Understand the difference between personal and business expenses

Most times, the line between personal and business expenses is clear. Any expense that is directly linked to your business earning an income is a business expense. If you buy something to be used for your business, it’s a deductible business expense. If you buy something to use privately, that’s a personal expense.

If something is mixed between business and personal, such as a laptop that you use partially for business and partially for personal use, you can only claim a deduction for the amount that you use for business. So if you use the laptop for business 75 percent of the time and for personal use 25 percent of the time, you can only deduct 75 percent of the laptop.

Whether you use something entirely or partially for business, you need to have a record of the purchase.

Open a business credit card and/or bank account

Having a business credit card and/or bank account provides you with an easy way to not only keep your private and business expenses apart, it also gives you an easy way to track your expenses. When you use the same accounts for business and personal use, everything is mixed on the same statement and it can be difficult to determine—or remember—which transactions were related to your business and which were for your private life.

With business accounts you know that every transaction is related to your business and should therefore be deductible. You don’t have to search through every statement at tax time to highlight the deductible expenses because every transaction is business related.

You can also easily check your statements to see how much money your business is spending. That’s incredibly difficult to do if your business and personal transactions are all linked to one account.

Where possible, buy separate business items

Depending on how small your business is, you may not be able to keep all items separate, but buying devices that are used for both business and personal use gets complicated. In an ideal world, you have a separate computer for home and work, a separate work and personal cell phone and even separate vehicles.

Having duplicate items for work and personal use makes it much easier to track expenses. Rather than determining how much of your cell phone bill you can deduct for business, you know that your business phone is 100 percent deductible. Same with your computer and your vehicle. It costs more—especially the separate vehicle—but it keeps your personal life separate from your business life.

Final thoughts

It can be tempting to try to write everything off as a business expense but don’t fall into that trap. Open separate accounts, buy duplicate items where you can and keep receipts of your business expenses.

If you’re unsure, talk to us to find out which activities count as a tax deduction and which do not. We can answer your questions and can even help you come up with a system to track your expenses.

Categories
Business

Avoid These 4 Costly Accounting Mistakes

Owning your own business:

  • PRO – You love the flexibility and feeling in control!
  • CON –  Bookkeeping is bringing you down…

You understand that effective financial management is key to business success. But lack of knowledge, frustration, and even avoidance can add up to accounting mistakes that derail future growth.

Protect your business, and reduce your stress, by avoiding these 4 costly accounting errors:

 

1. Mixing personal and professional finances

From day one, business owners should have a separate bank account in which to deposit their income and pay their business expenses.

It’s also crucial to designate a business-only credit card. Come tax time, separate statements will make submitting claimable expenses quick and easy, while reducing the risk of a painful audit.

2. Letting accounts receivable slide

It’s frighteningly easy to lose track of which customers have paid you and which clients are late. Implement a strict policy and schedule for tracking accounts receivable and pursuing unpaid invoices.

  • ask customers to pay at the point of purchase or no more than 30 days later;
  • contact clients to confirm they have received your invoice and to agree on a payment date;
  • follow up immediately when payment dates are missed; and
  • keep accurate, up-to-date records of each client’s payment history.

Investing in a cloud-based accounting solution can make Accounts Receivable a breeze by automating your monthly invoicing – and contacting late payers with a reminder email.

3. Not using tech to track your expenses

Tired of chasing down missing receipts and struggling to justify claims come tax time? There’s an app for that! Choose from numerous options, such as Receipt Bank, Squirrel Street or Expensify.

Many of these apps generate expense reports that are easy to share, or sync automatically with accounting software.
Neglecting to strategise for long-term growth

Effective accounting means managing day-to-day finances while making provisions for future growth. Software and cloud-based solutions offer easy ways to track your financials, but they also generate reports and provide analytic tools SME owners can use for future forecasting.

Familiarise yourself with the reports your software can generate to track long-term trends, identify and mitigate risk, and discover new ways to increase profitability. Talk to us about which reports and metrics are most important for your particular business and how to utilise them.

4. Final tip: Don’t go it alone

Small business owners are rarely trained accountants. Don’t try to manage your company’s finances all by yourself.

Collaborate with a trusted professional, invest in quality IT solutions, and spend some time familiarising yourself with relevant tools and trends.

You’ll feel empowered, which is step one to forging a more love-filled relationship with small business accounting!

Categories
Accounting Taxation

Linking the ATO to your myGov – Quick Info

Here at Hockley Giblin & Co, we don’t recommend that you link your myGov account to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)

Here’s why:

Linking the ATO to your myGov account could result in the following consequences:

  • It will be entirely up to you to keep up to date with ATO correspondence
  • You will become solely responsible for notifying us (your accountant) if you have any ATO concerns
  • You must check your myGov account regularly for any ATO communication
  • If you forget to check your account and miss an overdue debt penalty, they will hold you 100% accountable – and in some cases, even threaten legal action.

We’ve already seen a few cases of some clients experiencing this problem; receiving accelerated ATO fines and pending legal action due to not checking their myGov account properly.

If you’re still not sure what you need to do, give us a call on (02) 8814 5677.

 

OUR RECOMMENDATIONS

1. If you don’t have a myGov account:

Great! You don’t need one (at this stage, anyway).

 

2. If you do already have a myGov account or are planning to set one up:

DO NOT LINK THE “ATO” AS A SERVICE

 

3. If you have a myGov account and still want to link the ATO as a Service

  • You must check your account “Inbox” very regularly to action any urgent correspondence
  • It may also be worth changing your myGov account settings so that any “Inbox Notifications” are sent to your mobile as a text – not to your email. 
  • The Downside: We may not be able to advise or fix ATO related concerns, unpaid fines or penalties that come through to your myGov account.

The solution is simple – Leave the ATO to us.

This way, we can continue to receive, control and take care of your ATO correspondence; notifying you immediately for anything urgent.

We make sure that everything related to your Tax compliance is taken care of and simple.  We want to make Tax as stress-free as possible – without our clients having to worry about concerns like this.

 

Categories
Business

Save or Spend? Smart money tips for business owners

Business, Owner

Small business owners know how important it is to save money. They know that one day that dollar could come in handy, especially during slower times.

Saving money is definitely important, but there are also things small business owners can – and should – spend their money on today. It might seem counterproductive to spend money when you want to put it in the bank – and make no mistake, saving and investing are also vital – but sometimes spending your money can wind up helping your business immensely, protecting it from slower times.

What are 3 things smart business owners spend their money on? Employees; Marketing; Administrative tasks.

Why? Read on…

1. Their employees

Your business is nothing without your employees and happy employees are more productive, motivated and loyal. Smart business owners know that it’s worth spending a little extra money to ensure you have the best employees on your staff and to reward them for their hard work.

When you can, spend money on your employees. Offer bonuses or gifts for meeting their goals or exceptional service, provide better-than-average benefits plans, give them opportunities for training, or increase their salaries.

Happy employees not only give more to your business they reduce the turnover rate, saving you the cost and headache of finding and training new workers. Plus, your clients and customers like seeing consistency in your staff, so they’ll appreciate that you keep your workers happy.

2. Their marketing

Many business owners think marketing is about finding clients today, but a good marketing strategy looks to the future. Just because your business is busy today doesn’t mean it will be tomorrow and if you only focus on your marketing when things are slow, your downturns will last longer than they should. Unfortunately, too many business owners only gear up their marketing efforts when business slows down.

By then it’s too late.

No matter how busy you are today, marketing should be one of your financial priorities. You need to market yourself today to ensure customers tomorrow, next week, and next month. Spend your money on a proven marketing strategy that draws customers in and you might be able to avoid future downturns or at least stop them from lasting as long.

3. Their administrative tasks

There’s a lot to running a business that can be outsourced. Yes, outsourcing costs you money. But it also saves you valuable time and energy. It may also prevent needless headaches.

There are many service providers out there that offer valuable assistance, freeing up your time for the things you love to do, and are more skilled at. You can outsource your payroll, invoicing, bookkeeping, accounting, legal advice and marketing. You can even hire an administrative assistant to help you with day-to-day business tasks.

These outsourced service providers are specialists in their field and can provide you with the services you need, when you need them. If you’re not an expert in those fields – especially legal and accounting – outsourcing those tasks can also prevent costly errors.

Your time is valuable. Spending money so someone else can take care of the mundane tasks you dislike is worth the expense.

Final thoughts

Smart business owners know there’s a time and a place to spend money. Spending your money in smart ways saves you time and energy. It can even save you money in the long run by reducing turnover and preventing expensive mistakes.

Consider whether you could help your business, and yourself,  by spending money on your employees, marketing, or administrative tasks.

Categories
General Financial Information

How to choose a financial planner

No matter how much money you currently have in the bank, it’s a good idea to consult with a financial planner sooner than later. There’s no better way to start mapping out strategies for investing – and saving – so you can meet your short and long term financial goals.

Financial planners are there to help you save time and money as you prepare to buy a house or commercial property, invest in a business, or plan for retirement. Ultimately, by relying on their expertise you’ll make better financial decisions that will grow your wealth and increase your security.

These tips can help you find the best financial planner to meet your unique needs.

Get clear on your goals

Before you start searching for a financial advisor, examine your goals. Keep in mind that most of us aren’t focused on just one objective (which can make the planning process feel overwhelming before you even start – another good reason to seek the advice of a professional).

Many financial institutions offer free online planning tools – a great way to start narrowing down your goals and calculating how much money you need to achieve them.

Some goals to add to your list might be:

  • a big event (e.g. a wedding or travel)
  • a down payment on a home
  • your child’s university fund
  • retirement

Get all those goals – big and small, short and long term – down on paper. They’ll help you start the conversation with a financial planner whose expertise aligns with your objectives.

Check qualifications

There’s no shortage of financial planners out there to choose from – but not every planner is licensed, or has the right credentials, training, or experience to meet your needs.

With your goals in mind, start researching financial planners in your area who hold relevant professional designations and appropriate licenses.

Ask your friends and family for referrals – ideally people you trust who are in the same stage of life as you are.

These 10 questions are good to ask financial planners, they cover the basics and will help you get a feel for whether or not a planner may be a good match.

Inquire about payment structure

The best model if you’re just starting out with financial planning is a fee-based advisor (i.e. someone who charges by the hour, a flat fee, or percentage of the assets under management) rather than a commission-based advisor – especially if your planning needs aren’t particularly complex.

Make sure the person you’re hiring to help you make key financial decisions isn’t nudging you toward options that benefit themselves, first and foremost.

A few final tips

If you scanned the interview questions linked to earlier in this article, you’re already familiar with fiduciaries – still, the point is so crucial it bears repeating.

Because a fiduciary is legally required to act in their clients’ best interest at all times, and are thereby accountable to the highest standards of their profession, it’s recommended you only consider working with financial planners who can claim this designation.

Last but not least, don’t be shy about asking for references from a planner’s clients and other professional colleagues – accountants, insurance agents, or lawyers – so you can get a full picture of the person you choose to handle your most important financial decisions.