Pay peanuts, get monkeys – and there’s certainly more than a fair share of bookkeepers who don’t know what they are doing, even though they may have collected an impressive portfolio of certificates.

Just had a call from Jo-anne – wanting help with her Quickbooks file. Everything was going well until she learned that she’d have to pay for the expertise and training that she was seeking.

She then made some lame excuse about why she didn’t want us to help her, rather than telling us that she was looking for a cheap bookkeeper on the Gold Coast.

Maybe she’ll call us in three months time to fix up the mess that her books are in after finding herself a cheap Gold Coast bookkeeper.

That’s exactly what happened with Heather – three months ago she contacted us for help with her Quickbooks, but decided to go with a cheap Gold Coast bookkeeper instead.

The outcome is that not only did she throw her money away on a cheap bookkeeper, but her books are in an even worse state than they were three months ago.

That’s what you get when you are looking for a cheap Gold Coast bookkeeper

With all the rain we’ve had in the last week once again parts of the Gold Coast are flooded, and roads blocked . There’s a client that’s been forced to close their business because the access road to their premises is flooded.

Even after the Government have poured $millions down the drain in flood enquiries, committess and warnings, there’s folks that still keep doing what they would do without the floodes – driving through impassable roads that are blocked, breaking down and REALLY blocking those roads!

Some people are slow learners, or don’t care, or are more focused on their own little world to heed warnings from others.

Sinking Under Paperwork?

We’ve got bookkeeping clients like that.

We’ve been providing bookkeeping services to some Gold Coast clients for years.

We’ve shown them short cuts, methods to save on time and bookkeeping fees.

We’ve helped them to streamline the bookkeeping for their Gold Coast businesses, yet they STILL don’t heed the warnings.

It’s a great question, but what does it really tell you? Knowing what rates a Gold Coast bookkeeping service charges does not tell you what quality of bookkeeping you can expect, how long the work will take, and how much it will cost to have the bookkeeping done for your Gold Coast business.

“Yes, it does, my last bookkeeper used to take four hours a week!”

How do you know that your bookkeeper had four hours worth of work each week? We come into a business and review the bookkeeping system, have a look at the volume of transactions, and we can give you a better estimate of the fees for Gold Coast bookkeeping.

You can find bookkeepers that charge $20 per hour, and “drag the chain” because they’re not charging very much – so they can make out that there’s a day’s work and take home around $160.

They may not really have a full understanding of what’s required as a bookkeeper, and operating on “Learner plates” at your expense.

We come across many bookkeepers who think that they should charge low rates because they are just starting out – how do you feel know that you realise that they are using your business to get practice to develop their own Gold Coast bookkeeping business.

Then there are other Gold Coast bookkeepers that are charging like solicitors – so much for a phone call, an email and fax – they charge travel time, and extras here, there and everywhere – so an being told hourly rate still doesn’t tell you how much your bookkeeping is going to cost.

We’ve been bookkeeping since the last century, when people were using hand written general ledgers doing double-entry bookkeeping -hence the term “bookkeeping”

We’ve seen the advent of pocket calculators, ticker-tape adding machines, personal computers, and accounting software packages.

Before you chase another bookkeeper while shopping around for bookkeeping rates, contact us and we’ll give you an estimate of your bookkeeping fees weekly, fortnightly, monthly or quarterly.

This way you’ll have a better understanding of Gold Coast bookkeeping rates.

If you’ve heard about the accounting software then you may be thinking that all you need is to upload the software to your computer and suddenly you’ll have a bookkeeping system.

Life is not always that simple, meaning that home based businesses may struggle to keep upto date with your MYOB bookkeeping. Our team of mobile bookkeepers can service businesses in and around Broadbeach, Broadbeach Waters, and surrounding suburbs. Call us today for help

As Gold Coast bookkeepers, we ask the question: “How Much Are You Saving?”

In the current economic climate on the Gold Coast, the idea of having any month left at the end of the money can seem a distant memory to some small business owners

One way that your Gold Coast business can make a profit is by a very simple principle – spend more money than you make, and save some of what’s left over, which can be easier said than done. Financial gurus may suggest that businesses should have savings in the bank equivalent to between six and nine months of income.

There’s many sub contractors working in the building industry that were enjoying the benefit of higher incomes durig the Gold Coast property boom, and probably wished that they had put some of those funds away “for a rainy day”.

When you start to think that a business that is grossing $250,000 per month should have savings of over $1.5 million dollars, the idea can seem like a fantasy.

There’s businesses on the Gold Coast that have no savings plan in place, so when the unexpected happens, you are unprepared. A basic bookkeeping principle of our Port Gold Coast bookkeepers is to save just 10 % of your income.

You may find the first month a little uncomfortable in tightening your spending, but soon you’ll begin to get used to the idea of your Port Hedland business putting money away each month.

The first place for the small business owner to even begin a prudent savings program for long-term success is by revising your budgets and cashflow forecasts. Make a decision to include a 10% account in the bookkeeping of your Gold Coast business.

Building savings allows you to plan for future growth in your business and have ready the investment capital necessary to launch those plans. Having a source of back-up income can often carry a business through a rough time.

When market fluctuations, such as the dramatic increase in power and water prices, start to affect your business, you may need to dip into your savings to keep operations running smoothly until the difficulties pass.

Savings can also support seasonal businesses with the ability to purchase inventory and cover payroll until the flush of new cash arrives. Try to remember that you didn’t build your business overnight and you cannot build a savings account instantly either.

Review your bookkeeping each month and see where you can trim expenses and transfer the savings to a separate account. This will also help to keep you on track with cash flow and other financial issues.

While it can be quite alarming to see your cash flowing outward with seemingly no end in sight, it’s better to see it happening and put corrective measures into place, rather than discovering your losses five or six months too late.

If you’re having trouble with your bookkeeping to save for your Gold Coast business, contact us today and we’ll help you move forward.

When the economy tightens up, which it has so much on the Gold Coast, there’s even more reason to keep a close watch on your bookkeeping. You do not want to be paying bills twice, or missing payments and being hit with late payment fees.

Now is not the time to have your customers using you as a bank overdraft facility. It seems the larger companies automatically assume that you do not need to be paid for 30 or even 60 or 90 or even 120 days.

Delayed payment of invoices can cripple your cash flow, and send businesses south.

It’s time to get a health check on the bookkeeping of your Gold Coast business, contact us today for details

When faced with such a monumental task ahead of them, many inexperienced bookkeepers have NO IDEA how to start helping clients get out of the pickle that they’ve fallen into.

Fear not – we have the solutions for you

Step One
Ensure that your bookwork is upto date and in a simple format

(If you don’t have bookkeeper for your Gold Coast business, then contact our Gold Coast Bookkeeping Service)

Step Two
Contact your accountant or tax agent and book a time to see them before the end of the financial year

Step Three
Discuss the available options to reduce your tax obligations, which can vary dependant on how your business and personal finances are structured

PS
Whether you use Quickbooks or MYOB, whether you have a pc or an Apple Mac, our Gold Coast bookkeepers can help you

There’s more to Easter than chocolate, eggs, and other “commercial opportunities” that the retailers would have us believe. With the Business Activity Statements due next week, there’s always a last minute rush by business owners to catch up.

Doubtless there’ll be a few Gold Coast business owners sneaking some “family time” hiding away in their home office trying to catch up on a backlog of bookeeping for your Gold Coast business. Do you turn the phone off over the holiday weekend, or try and field a few calls in the hope of gaining some new business opportunities?

In reality, the only reason you’d lose a MYOB data file is if your computer crashed, your hard drive failed, or for some strange reason you managd to delete ALL the data from your computer

What transpired was a simple situation where a client contacted our Gold Coast bookkeepers and bookkeeping service. After a few minutes on the telephone we were able to identify the problem, and quickly find a solution.

Smetimes it’s just a case of knowing your way around the software and being familair with bookkeeping