Personal Development
August 29, 2008 by Kylie Short · 2 Comments
As you all know by now, one of my objectives in business is to continually undergo training and personal development. Well, this is just a quick note to say that I’ll be unavailable Monday and Tuesday 1-2 September as I have AAPB coming here to assess my skills in bookkeeping. This is particularly important for me as under the new regulations about to be passed by the Australian Government, if I wish to continue to provide bookkeeping services, I’ll need to pass a minimum level of competency in order to gain my BAS (Business Activity Statement) Service Provider accreditation and number.
Wish me luck!
Getting ready for the end of financial year
July 8, 2008 by Kylie Short · 1 Comment
It happens all the time so don’t feel alone. Yet again another financial year has come and hit you smack bang over the head and you vaguely remember promising your accountant to hire a bookkeeper but with everything on your plate you kind of forgot. Your bookkeeping consists of that pile over there of…. stuff… and kids toys. Well maybe not the kids toys and you promised yourself to do it right this year but it didn’t happen.
All I’m going to do is give you the evil bookkeeper stare.
Getting ready for the end of financial year isn’t supposed to be a big deal. If you create a system for dealing with it regularly, bookkeeping becomes less of a chore.
The short answer (no pun intended of course) here is to outsource your bookkeeping to a qualified bookkeeper but if you are still at the stage of wanting to do it all yourself you crazy kid you, then here are some tips:
- Buy some bookkeeping software! My favourite is QuickBooks but buy something easy to use and have it set up by a professional.
- Do your bookkeeping regularly. I do mine on a Monday morning and except for end of month invoicing, I can tell you at any given time my financial position, what I am owed and what I owe to others.
- Set up your filing system at the beginning of the financial year. Figure out a way to look after your receipts. Here in Australia you need to keep your records for at least five years. After that, feel free to line the kitty litter with it but until then, FILE it so you can find things easily.
- Did I say do your bookkeeping regularly?
End of financial year doesn’t have to be painful. Now is the perfect time to sort it out and give your accountant one less ulcer/client to worry about.
You might even save some money too in the process…
Recording PayPal merchant fees in your bookkeeping software
February 4, 2008 by Kylie Short · 3 Comments
Hands up if you are an online business that accepts payment through PayPal or your Internet merchant account. Do you know how to enter PayPal transactions and their fees into your bookkeeping software?
If you are using QuickBooks or MYOB the process is very similar. Firstly, you need to decide how to treat your PayPal merchant account. You need to decide if you are going to treat it as another bank account and reconcile it each month or if you are going to create journal entries to record the transactions?
My personal preference is to create another bank account and then reconcile it each and every month (you can stop groaning now). But as any user of PayPal will tell you, they take their cut of the payment straight away and so while you have money in your PayPal account, its not for the full amount. How do we reflect this in our books because the PayPal fees are a business expense??
Entering PayPal transactions is a two step process when you need to firstly create a separate bank account for your merchant account. When you record your payment in your bookkeeping software, make sure you do the following:
MYOB Accounting Australia
- Click on Sales.
- Click on Receive Payments.
- Make sure you click on Group with undeposited funds at the top of the window.
- Allocate the payment to the correct invoice and click record.
- Now click on Banking.
- Click on Prepare Bank Deposit.
- Click on Deposit Adjustment and enter the details of PayPal’s fee. Make sure you allocate the Tax code of N-T FRE (for the Aussies).
- Record the adjustment. You should see it beneath the deposit paid by your customer/client.
- Tick both transactions and note that the total deposit amount has been reduced by the PayPal fee amount.
- Click record and reconcile the account as usual!
QuickBooks Premier Australia
- Click on the Customer Navigator.
- Click on Receive Payments.
- Enter the details of the payment and ensure you Group with other deposits at the bottom.
- Click save and close.
- Click on Deposit.
- In the Make Deposits window you will see the details of your customer’s PayPal payment. Underneath this payment enter the name (or account number) of the account you are using to track your merchant fees in the From Account. In the Amount column, enter the PayPal fee as a negative figure. The Deposit subtotal should be the net amount from your PayPal statement.
- Click Save and Close.
- Reconcile your PayPal account as per usual.
Now tidy up those PayPal transactions… no excuse… off you go!
Pleased to announce…
January 17, 2008 by Kylie Short · 3 Comments
That Tilda Virtual Services is now a Quicken Professional Partner - Bookkeeper for Australia. As a result I’ve been playing and learning more about using Quickbooks Premier of which I’ll do a review a little later on.
For now, let me share with you how excited I am about this software. I’m really EXCITED!!!!!
I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking “Kylie is such a big nerd” and you know what? You’re right! I am! Anything that makes my life easier as a bookkeeper is a bonus. Anything that makes my life easier as a business owner is a bonus. I still believe that in order to use bookkeeping software correctly, you need to know accounting/bookkeeping principles because a two day course doth not make you a bookkeeper I’m afraid. But that is a post for another day.
For now, let me say how pleased I am to be able to extend our bookkeeping services to cover QuickBooks for Australia. So to help me learn more about this particular software package, throw a question at me. The best way to learn (in my humble opinion) is to try, have a go and if all else fails, research or ask someone.
Networking a small office
September 12, 2007 by Kylie Short · Leave a Comment
Issue:
Client had been using QuickBooks for over seven years on 3 laptops and one PC, which involved a painful method of backing up to a USB drive and restoring onto each computer. He was unable to share resources and had individual printers connected to each laptop and PC. The Client was still using dialup for email and Internet access which was not shared so each laptop and the PC would download the email individually.
Goals:
- To network all technology within the office
- To purchase a router and arrange for ADSL to be connected to the office on behalf of the client
- To update QuickBooks to the current version of Premier to allow multiple users to use the one datafile
- Train each user on how to use QuickBooks
- Write procedures in consultation with the client and employees
Solution:
We decided to try and use the existing technology as much as possible. This involved creating a peer to peer network with the main PC acting as the server. We started by arranging for a local IT specialist to come in onsite, assess the existing technology and to create the network in a timely manner.
We researched the different ADSL packages available to the client and put forward our recommendations. Once a plan had been decided upon and ordered, the IT specialist was booked to come back, install the router and test the connection.
QuickBooks Premier was ordered and installed on each laptop and the PC. We then set about upgrading the datafile which was 7 years old. In discussing the file with the client, it became apparent that they had not reconciled the bank statement to QuickBooks during that time. The client decided to start a new datafile in the new financial year to start completing the bank reconciliations and therefore ensure his financial data was correct and able to be used for management decisions. This involved creating a training package for the owner on the various functions within QuickBooks which he had not used previously.
Technology Used:
QuickBooks Premier 2007/2008, ADSL, ADSL Router, Basic networking gear.