7 Tips To Get You Organised For The New Year
1. Get organised
Seems like a pretty obvious thing to do, but you’d be surprised how quickly the Christmas and summer holidays will roll around and be over, and you’ll have forgotten to keep your receipts and paperwork together. The more organised you can be at this time, the easier it will be by mid-year. Think about this time of year as being your mid-financial year kick start.
2. Don’t miss your December and January deadlines
Many businesses will close around the 21st of December year, and some even earlier. Don’t forget deadlines, such as activity statements and tax returns. Have a chat with your bookkeeper or tax accountant before Christmas for any required assistance.
3. Payroll and leave allowances
Policies for claiming annual leave over the holiday office closures are different depending on your type of business. Employers need to make this information clear to employees for a smooth transition into the New Year.
4. Public holiday entitlements
Public holiday leave entitlements remain the same as they would at any other time of the year. Employers should ensure that they are up to date with Fair Work Australia provisions and pay rates for public holidays.
5. Keep your work and personal finances separate
A good tip to be efficient is to keep work and personal finances separate. Having a work-life balance is just as important with your lifestyle as it is with your financial life. Just as you would have two separate budgets for your business and personal life, you also need to have your bookkeeping needs separated as well. This will help with any confusion, and lots of work reduced come tax time.
6. Use bookkeeping software
Trying to do all the bookkeeping by hand or with DIY spreadsheets can be difficult to maintain throughout the year and often gaps appear. Using software will make the whole process easier and more efficient to keep on track of things in the future.
7. Planning ahead
Planning ahead of time and projecting the next year and beyond is key to keeping your business profitable year on year. Creating a budget will help you manage your cash flow and doing monthly audits ahead of time can also help stay in check. Try and account for major expenses and emergencies that may come up and allow for additional taxes you may have to pay in the future.
Planning For 2021
For many of us, bookkeeping isn’t exactly the thing we want to be investing our time into. However, 2020 has been an unprecedented year for many businesses, so you may be experiencing some unexpected bookkeeping issues that you haven’t encountered in previous years. If you found yourself strapped for time, not understanding some of the new tax reforms or claimable deductions for your business, it might be worth considering the assistance of bookkeeping services for the next year ahead.
At Carbon, we can offer assistance in bookkeeping including services in day-to-day transactions, income and outgoings, producing financial reports, processing payments, conducting banking activities and reconciling reports and third-party records. We can also offer services in taxation, accounting, financial planning, CFO services, finance and lending and business insurance.
