We all think to some degree we can do it all and better than anyone else, but it will lead to burn out. But having all your processes systemised will make things more efficient, reduce stress and help you get back your weekends.

You want a well-oiled machine. A practice that can runwithout you needing to answer every question or solve every problem. It is possible!

So, what can you do?

1. Map out your processes
2. Create documented procedures
3. Train your staff to complete the tasks

Now, you can get out there yourself and with your team documenting everything and automating where possible. But where do you start?

If you are unsure or feel you don’t have the time to do it all yourselves, you could ask for help and use a proven system.

Practice Flow is a Done-With-You Practice Efficiency Overhaul for Allied Health Owners Who Are Drowning in Staff Questions, Constant Fires, and Sluggish Cashflow. It helps you reclaim time; boost cash flow & stop the chaos—with support that grows with you.

Your team will be able to do what needs to be done and feel more confident and capable in doing it.

Find out more today!Click link for more details from our friends at Beyond the Maze
https://go.beyondthemaze.com.au/home-7104

The post Feeling like the bottleneck in your Allied Health practice? appeared first on Higher Purpose Accounting.

So how can you determine if you have the right team in your NDIS, Allied Health or not-for-profit business?

Well, here’s some thoughts:

First you need to evaluate your team.

So, look at:

Skills and Qualifications:
Do your staff have the necessary skills and certifications. Check their work and contact the bodies that issued their certifications

Cultural Fit:
Do your team members align with your organisation’s values and mission. What do your staff value and do these align with the business?

Performance and Feedback:
Regularly review performance and gather feedback from clients and peers.  Have a performance review framework that checks in at least quarterly with staff.  Use a survey and calls to clients to understand what your clients think about your business.

Next, we look at what we need to do.

Here are 3 tips to resolve staffing issues:

Training and Development:
Invest in ongoing professional development to keep your team updated with the industry standards.

Effective Communication:
Open communication by having regular meetings and providing feedback to address issues early.

Recruitment Strategy:
Revise your recruitment process to attract the right talent with clear job descriptions and thorough interviews.

AccordinHaving the right team working with you ensures a cohesive, skilled, and motivated team dedicated to providing exceptional care to your clients.

If you need help with asking the right questions and assessing a candidate's suitability, I am available to support you with this important task.

Just reach out below https://bit.ly/HPAACall!

#NDISProviders #RecruitmentTips #BusinessSuccess #Higherpurposeaccounting

The post Having the right team working with you appeared first on Higher Purpose Accounting.

1. Invoice Each Day
It may seem that it is more efficient to invoice weekly, fortnightly or even monthly.  But remember once the service or product is provided you are entitled to be paid and cash flow will suffer the longer you take to get paid.

4. Paydown Debt
Debt can be helpful at times to help grow the business by financing assets or short-term needs.  This will benefit the business in the longer term.  But having debt like credit cards and overdrafts that don’t get paid off promptly or at all, are a recipe for disaster.  In the longer-term as the business becomes reliant on them for operations rather than growing the business.

6. Review and Systemise Your Processes
Every business is dynamic so what worked today may not be suitable for tomorrow.  Regularly reviewing your business and creating systems for repetitive tasks/processes is a must.  Otherwise, you run the risk of operating inefficiently and are unable to respond quickly to changes in your situation.

If you want more strategies, download My 7 Top Strategies to Improve Your Business Cash Flow in 7 Days. These strategies will help you get some structure around knowing and managing your cash flows in your business. And will save you time and give you peace of mind as well.

To download a copy and start implementing yourself, click this link:
https://www.higherpurposeaccounting.com.au/7Strats7Days

The post My Strategies to Improve Your Business Cash Flow appeared first on Higher Purpose Accounting.

Provide your feedback in this survey and be part of the movement in helping business thrive in the NDIS.

The survey will take about 4 minutes of your time to complete depending on your responses. Your time to complete this is greatly appreciated with a chance to receive a $100 gift card.

Privacy
Please be assured your response is secure and the information provided will only be used to develop services critical to helping NDIS Providers improve their service delivery and administration.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CMW3XMX

The post Key Challenges for NDIS Providers appeared first on Higher Purpose Accounting.

And this is the right time to master your bookkeeping skills so that you can optimise your finances earlier on.

Bookkeeping may seem difficult initially, but remember that it contributes to your business health. So devote specific time every week for the task. Here are some of the most common issues that you may face when managing bookkeeping.

Accounts Receivable and Collections

What process do you follow from generating invoices through to collecting the payments?  This process can be quite complex, and so often leads to further problems. Having invoices created and sent regularly, and preferably when the goods or services are provided will ensure that everything is recorded and will enable cash flow comes in regularly.

As well, you need a process to follow up outstanding invoices on a regular basis.  Too many businesses do not do this and find them self in financial difficulty as a result.  Better still, implement an automated process that will send out email reminders automatically and you will find most customers will pay fairly quickly, leaving you to call only those who still don’t respond.  It will save you hours each month.

By doing this, funds will be there for you to pay your expenses, meet your business financial obligations and to help grow your business.

Cash Flow

Cash flow problems can start when you combine business and personal finances. Many small business owners use the same account for both, resulting in a tangled mess that is too hard to clean up.  Drawings are made as needed for personal expenses and are then not available when required for expense payments and for meeting government obligations like tax.

By separating your business and personal accounts from the very first day, you’ll be saving yourself from plenty of trouble down the road.

Paperwork

Tracking receipts and storing them properly is one of the biggest problems that you may face as a business owner.  Make sure you compile them in an organised way and store them somewhere safe as many accounting aspects rely on tracking expenses accurately.

A good accounting software can help you with this task. As far as storage is concerned, you can do it offline but doing it over the cloud is more preferable because of easy access and greater security.  Take a photo or scan any paper invoices or receipts received and upload them to the transaction in your accounting ledger or save on a cloud storage facility like Google Drive or Dropbox.

Payroll

Managing payroll is a complex process, and if you make mistakes, you can be penalised by government.  Payroll management isn’t only about salaries, but also includes taxes, superannuation, bonuses, benefits, and other areas.  Find yourself a specialist in payroll to assist you in meeting your obligations.

Closing your Accounts

Ideally, you should close your accounts every month so that important figures and financial metrics can be obtained.  By delaying this you won’t be able to report timely information, gain useful insights and make effective decisions.  You also run the risk of recording transactions in a prior period where you have already reported externally, particularly to government agencies.  Closing your accounts every single month will avert this. Sounds complex? Then seek the advice of a professional accountant.

Visit our website www.higherpurposeaccounting.com.au for more information.

The post The Most Common Bookkeeping Challenges Faced by Small Businesses appeared first on Higher Purpose Accounting.

History shows many business owners delay working with professional accountants as much as they can.  They don’t see the value of investing in an accountant, only thinking of it as an expense.  But the monetary saving costs them many hours of their time and eventually thousands and thousands.

So, are you now convinced that you should work with an accountant? If your answer is still no, let us walk you through some situations in which professional accounting advice can be valuable.

Writing your business plan

Are you in the process of developing your business plan?  Bring in an accountant on board and they’ll help you improve the plan. Accountants can use advanced software to predict the financial position of your business a couple of years down the road and also prepare various reports that give you valuable insights, allowing you to make key decisions.

Hiring accountants earlier on lets you utilise their financial knowledge and experience right from the start, helping you save time and money. You will also learn some critical things as well!

When determining the legal structure of your business

Every business has a different legal structure depending on various factors. The most common types include limited liability partnerships, limited liability corporations, sole proprietor and so on.  An accountant can explain each type in detail, along with associated legal implications so that you can select the one that best fits your needs.

Helping with finances

Business management appears too complex during the start-up phase. If you feel that you, spending too much or losing control over your finances, then reach out to an accountant and they’ll help you optimise them. They’ll evaluate your current situation, identifying areas where you’re overspending or can generate revenue and put a system in place for you to achieve it.

Accountants keep tabs on key metrics like debtor days, cash flow timings, inventory turnover, gross profit margin and return on assets, and identify revenue and expense drivers, providing you a good picture of your business performance. Moreover, they use advanced accounting software and add-ons that automate many tasks at your end and help you improve collaboration within your team.  If the software is in the cloud, you enjoy greater accessibility and security.

Focusing on your business

Running your own businesses means handling many different operations that fall under different areas. When you start spending too much time on these critical issues, you lose track or your basic purpose while also wasting your resources, as you cannot be expected to be an expert in all these areas.

But when you outsource operations like financial accounting and financial management, you get peace of mind and more time on your hands to deal with the bigger and more important issues in your business.

So, hand over your accounting tasks to an award-winning business like Higher Purpose Accounting. We’ll quickly set up a proper system for your business and take of other steps crucial to business stability and growth.

The post When Should Small Businesses Turn to Accountants for Help? appeared first on Higher Purpose Accounting.

Apps

So many helpful accounting apps are already available on the Android and iOS play store and there are many in the pipeline.  These apps will instantly notify you and give you valuable insights and alerts and are often being bundled with intuitive dashboards giving you a complete picture in just one glance.  You have instant access to your key financial indicators and other important data right there on your mobile smartphones.

Conversational Platforms

Accounting firms are expected to make use of conversational platforms and chat bots to answer their client queries, offering them valuable advice and provide them all the support that they need.  Developers are finding new ways to make these platforms more effective for businesses and their clients.

Automation

Accounting will soon be driven by Artificial Intelligence AI, which may well, completely transform the daily routine of an accountant in the future.  Repetitive tasks are already being automated, with more fully integrated accounting systems being launched, and new solutions developed that take into account the effect of regulations and compliance on business.   Consequently, a shift will be made from transaction processing by accountant and book keepers to more advisory roles like financial analysis and forward planning.

Cryptocurrencies and Blockchains

Cryptocurrency and the underlying technologies are expected to have significant effects on the accounting industry.  Currently, challenges do exist so it is predicted cryptocurrencies will not become mainstream any time soon.   But things are a little different for distributed ledgers and block chains. A distributed ledger is like a cooperative database, storing data for multiple computers together and in turn, promoting sharing and trust.  Block chains are a continuously growing list of records, called blocks, linked and secured using cryptography and is inherently resistant to modification of the data.  Many financial institutions in Australia are already developing solutions that will utilise these technologies, looking to launch them as commercial products over the next few years.

Data Security

Outsourced accounting has benefits for business, small and big. But when outsourcing, it is vital to understand the effects outsourcing may have on data.  Access, storage, data security should be considered, and questions around these each of these aspects, are expected to become need to be addressed.  When choosing an accounting firm, checking their privacy policies is essential.

E-Invoicing

As the name implies, e-invoicing delivers invoices electronically from the cloud-based accounting system. This is rapidly becoming a standard around the globe, with invoices being automatically generated for recurring items and when milestones are reached, greatly improving efficiency within a business.

Higher Purpose Accounting can help you in setting up your accounting system and related processes and with managing your finances.  Visit our website or give us a call on 0434 349 704 for more information.

The post Accounting Trends for Current Times appeared first on Higher Purpose Accounting.

Open a separate bank account

Once your business is registered, earning income and paying expenses, you need a place where you can record and manage these. Open a separate bank account for the purpose so that distinct records are maintained. Don’t forget that this will make your life so much easier when it’s tax time, for GST accounting and for tracking and setting aside monies for staff related expenses.

You can initially start with a basic account, and then later on, move to an interest earning savings account.  Needless to say, do some shopping around here and compare offers from various banks. Go with the one that is more affordable whilst meeting your needs.

Keep a track of your expenses

From day one you need to keep good records of your expenses and spend wisely in the areas which will set the foundation for the future. You may be generating income but if you are spending money fasting than you are earning, you will come into trouble in the future with cash flow.

Establish a proper system to organise your receipts and maintain your records making sure that you are safely storing expense records for your tax deductions and for for later referral.  These days you can scan and store documents within your accounting software.

Set up a bookkeeping system

Bookkeeping is the process of recording daily transactions, categorising them and then reconciling the records with bank statements.  Choose appropriate accounting software, and decide if you want to recruit someone for the job or outsource the task.

Generally, it is best to hand over all your bookkeeping to a third party so that you can focus on your core business.  It is a false economy to try to do it yourself!

Establish a payroll system

You hire one person at the start, then two, and eventually a team. And some of them may be part time employees as well.  Consider whether your staff should be independent contractors or employees. The amount of work to be carried out and the type will help you decide here - remember if you only need one or two people part-time, it will be less compliance to have them as contractors who can invoice you as each project is completed.  That said, check with your tax account that you are meeting the compliance requirements for a contractor or an employee and organise someone to process payroll if this is the road you take.

Decide how you want to be paid

Are your sales rolling in? Great! Decide acceptable payment options. If you’d be willing to accept credit and debit cards, you’ll have to set up a merchant account or sign up with a payment processor. Also, consider automated debtor collection if you raise invoices and accept payment by EFT.

Determine tax obligations

Tax obligations widely vary depending upon your type of business structure.  Income tax, GST, FBT, PAYG may apply - talk to an accountant or a tax expert, and they’ll guide you through what is required for each type.

Re-evaluate your methods

Re-evaluate your accounting procedures and systems every now and then. If you are using the right methods and appropriate solutions, you are saving time and increasing efficiency.  Also ask for some advice from an accountant bookkeeper or business owners in your industry to determine how you are going and what you could improve.

Higher Purpose Accounting can help you in setting up your system and managing your finances. Visit our website or give us a call on 0434 349 704 for more information.

The post Small Business Accounting: Starting Up appeared first on Higher Purpose Accounting.

Understand working capital

Do you truly understand your working capital? Working capital is your current assets minus your current liabilities and includes cash, inventory, accounts receivable and payable, payroll, loans/credit and unpaid taxes.

Now, have you decided the amount that you consider to be required? Before you do anything else, make sure that you have the answers to following questions:

• What should be your minimum inventory level?
• When do you invoice customers, how regularly and how long does it take for them to pay you?
• How much do your customers owe you? Or do you owe them any products or services for advanced payments made?
• How long does order preparation or service delivery take place, right from when you pay your suppliers to getting payments from your clients?

Have enough cash on hand

The next step is to ascertain that you have cash on hand to meet your basic expenses.  Do you have some kind of buffer in the form of a term deposit, an overdraft, revolving credit facility or even personal funds?  Having enough cash to cover 6 months operating expenses is a good buffer to call upon when unexpected times come and you need access to additional cash.  Remember, when you do this you’ll need to identify where you could generate extra sales easily and look to delay non-discretionary expenditure.

 Plan for the future

At least for this year anyway.  Predict your incoming and outgoing cash flows for the next few months. Ascertain that you have or would have enough funds through this time to keep your business running. If you can’t forecast sales, then plan your outgoing cash flows first. Now figure out the amount of income that you need for your outgoings.  That’s the target that you should have in mind.   Next year you will have more data and experience so you should be able to plan for a longer time frame.

And then plan for the month

Great, you have a yearly plan. Now let’s work on a month by month plan.  Do you have enough cash to meet all your expenses by the 20^th of this month?  Create a plan for every month from now onward, and if you’ll ever have to face a shortage, you’ll know sooner rather than later and make the necessary adjustments before issues arise that negatively affect your business.  Excel is great for this or you could use the function available in many of the cloud based accounting systems.

Review your existing systems

Analyse your existing finance and other administrative systems which are not great for many of the small businesses that we have come across. When do you invoice and do you do this regularly? How soon do you get your receivables? How do you collect – direct debit or monthly account and is follow-up automated?  What reports do you use to know what you owe to suppliers and what your customers owe to you?

Ensure your customers can pay you easily

How many payment options do you accept? Allow customers to pay you through any means that they find convenient. Accept credit cards, PayPal, EFTPOS and see if payments can be automated. Fees you incur having these are small compared to time spent chasing up outstanding amounts.

Bring in an expert from outside

The best tip that we can give you is to use professional accounting, advisory and bookkeeping services, experts who will reduce unnecessary expenses, save you time, automate your systems and optimise your finances.

If you would like to know more about any of the items mentioned in this article, please use the Higher Purpose Accounting Contact Form at:

http://www.higherpurposeaccounting.com.au/

The post Small Business: Are You Managing Your Cash Flows Effectively? appeared first on Higher Purpose Accounting.