Bookkeeping and tax reporting are some of the most commonly neglected tasks for the majority of small businesses. As small business owners have so much on their plate, the books can be set aside as owners focus on sales, staff, suppliers and a million other things.

After a while, however, being behind on your bookkeeping and tax reporting will cause issues. We have previously helped customers who have faced difficulties with informed decision making due to out of date reports, inability to apply for personal or business loans, inability to follow up unpaid invoices, difficulty setting pricing for products and services and of course the elephant in the room – the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

Prodigy Bookkeeping has experience with clearing backlogs and we have a few tips to get you back on track. We have assisted countless businesses catch up, meet deadlines set by the Australian Tax Office(ATO) and more importantly kept our customers up to date into the future.

Getting back in line quickly and efficiently is the key.

HERE ARE SOME TIPS:

 

1) FIGURE OUT WHERE YOU LAST LEFT OFF

Have a look at your last bank reconciliation date for your account. This will provide your bookkeeper with a solid foundation to start working.

 

2) BANK STATEMENTS

Print or have sent out all statements for all accounts for all periods you are behind. File them neatly and chronologically.

 

3) BILLS AND RECIEPTS

Find all your receipts and sort them into date order and batch them together so they line up with your reporting periods (e.g. Quarter One 2015). This will enable your bookkeeper to work in easily manageable segments of time.  

4) SALES AND INVOICES

All your sales for the period of time that you are behind should be organised. If you have regular customers, batch those customer invoices together. If you have a larger customer base it may be worth batching the invoices together in line with reporting periods. In the past, we have found thousands of dollars of unpaid invoices for our customers.

 

5) COMMUNICATION

Consult with your bookkeeper, accountant and the ATO. Being proactive will help immensely with grace periods and reduction in fees and fines.

Don’t wait. If you have a backlog, get started now! If you need the help of a bookkeeper please feel free to call and get in touch. We have helped many people in your position previously.