Business Start Ups and Sales
When starting or buying a business or franchise, the wrong advice can be very costly. Getting it right the first time is incredibly important. Preparing for a sale of your business can be equally important as decisions made prior to a sale as opposed to decisions made after the sale can have very different tax outcomes. When selling your business we make sure we apply any Small Business Concessions applicable to you which can minimise Capital Gains Tax.
Our team can assist you with a Business Evaluation so that you know right from the start what to expect when considering buying a business or taking over an existing business. When establishing a business, we have all the tools that can assist you to establish and grow your business right from the start. With ourBusiness Start Up package, we can give you the right Business Advice to enable your business to take flight. Then with our Business coaching, you’ll be able to make informed decisions about the future of your new Business.
There are numerous issues to consider and we endeavour to make sure all our business clients are structured correctly for taxation purposes taking into account financial and legal considerations. The right tax advice is fundamentally crucial. We can also assist you with your own Business Plan, Budget and Cashflow Forecasts, once again, all incredibly important.
So to summarise the processes that we can assist you with whilst establishing your new Business or buying a business, we’ve put together the following point. You should consider obtaining advice on your….
- Business Structure
- Finance Requirements
- Software Selection and Training
- Employer Obligations
- General Tax Advice
- Bookkeeping Training
- Business Plan
- Business Evaluation
- Registrations
- Cashflow Forecasts
- Budgets
- Compliance
One of the most important decisions you need to make when starting a business is the choice of accounting software and suitable book-keeping training.
Your business software often ranges in price, features, support and training requirements. So, it’s easy to become confused with so many options. Here are some guidelines:
- Don’t buy business software beyond your business needs. If you don’t need a fully integrated general ledger system, then avoid these types of programs, especially if the next point applies to you.
- If you don’t understand double entry accounting (i.e debits, credits and journal entries) then avoid the more complicated general ledger accounting software programs. If you need to use such a program then it’s likely you’ll need to undergo training to learn both the software program as well as some basic accounting and book-keeping skills. However, if we’ve identified that you have a suitable level of book-keeping expertise, we can provide you with training on an accounting package of your choice.
It’s useful if your business software is compatible with our general ledger system to allow easy transfer of electronic data. This can save time, money and assist with meeting lodgement deadlines.
In Australia the three most popular accounting packages are
- MYOB
- Quickbooks, and
- Cashflow Manager.
Let’s talk about Cashflow Manager first as this is the most basic and often most suitable program for the majority of small business owners.
Cashflow Manager looks and operates just like a manual cashbook and requires no real understanding of accounting debits and credits. It’s unique column format, similar to a spreadsheet, allows you to simply allocate your income and expenses to the appropriate column which makes it very easy to use. There is also a bank reconciliation facility which when completed, ensures that all bank account transactions are tracked and entered into the software correctly. It also produces an easy to read Income and Expenses report which allows you to see at a glance how your business is travelling financially. The GST report is also particularly useful for preparing your Business Activity Statements, of course when the business is GST Registered.
The program also has an ‘Invoice Manager’ module that lets you generate Tax Invoices, track your debtors and produce statements. The Cashflow Manager ‘Gold’ package also includes tracking supplier invoices, and inventory. Further the gold package includes the ‘Wages Manager’ payroll module to assist with your Payroll Obligations. Wages Manager assists with the processing of pays, printing payslips, preparation of year end PAYG Payment Summaries and track staff entitlements during the year.
However, if your business specifically needs a full general ledger solution – MYOB and QuickBooks are very popular too. These programs do all the things that Cash Flow Manager do and after some basic software training can also produce all the basic reports that are essential for your business.
The MYOB and Quickbooks packages also have additional features including multi-user licences, time billing for professionals, job costing, lay-by control and can produce over 100 analytical graphs and reports. Because of the relative complexity of producing these additional features, you may need to undergo training to understand and use these software programs. Most TAFE’s provide structured training courses that run for between 14 and 20 hours.
We urge you to contact us regarding your choice of accounting software because the wrong package can lead to a ‘computerised shoebox’ records that can be more difficult to process than the traditional shoebox full of receipts!
Selling your Business
As mentioned previously, we also play an integral role with our clients who are in the process of selling their business. There is a range of issues to consider includingCapital Gains Tax and Small Business tax Concessions. We aim to be pro-active and thus ensuring the correct outcomes are always achieved.
Winding up a business can also be tricky. Our team ensures that all lodgements and compliance issues are taken care of upon the cessation of an entity. This is an essential part of our service as it’s important that there are no skeletons left in the closest, as they may emerge years later and could create havoc!