ABC: Accountants

ABC: Accountants & Bookkeepers Collaborating

@AccountAspects

Leigh Cummings, Director and Owner, Account Aspects

Leigh is a registered BAS agent and the owner of Account Aspects based in Newcastle. Established for 15 years, Leigh has been passionate about empowering business owners with their numbers to making strategic business decisions for growth. Working collaboratively with accountants and other business professionals, her clients’ results are improved and the overall goals achievable.

On the surface, it could appear that accountants and bookkeepers should be in competition. The reality is that to support the success of small business, collaboration between accountants and bookkeepers is vital...

People go into business

because they have an idea they passionately believe in, be that a product or a service, that solves a problem or fills a gap in the market. It doesn’t take long for them to realise that following a business plan and sticking to a budget while simultaneously working to fulfil their vision is hard work. There just aren’t enough hours in the day.

When help is needed to market a business or to develop a new product, help is sought and often the tasks outsourced to experts. Similarly, when business owners are overwhelmed by the setup structure and the ongoing financial requirements budgeted for their business, they seek advice from professionals. Those professionals are the accountants and the bookkeepers. Or is it the bookkeepers and the accountants?

Accountants and bookkeepers are often mistaken for having the same skillsets and serving the same purpose. Those in the industry know they each play very different, yet key roles in supporting the success of small business.

Bookkeepers work with business owners to manage their dayto-day transactions including GST obligations. They start by supporting business owners to improve their knowledge through training, accurately process data, complete payroll including superannuation, and do BAS preparation. It is true that no matter what software you use, bookkeepers can perform the same core financial functions using any software. The bookkeeper’s role has evolved and is challenged by the client’s need for instant results. The smart software to complete the financial tasks, advise clients and meet deadlines is Xero.

Accountants work with business owners to oversee business results and tax requirements. This may start with setting up business structures, strategically planning to minimise tax liabilities, auditing data to comply with regulations and completing tax return lodgements. Accountants important functions rely on accurate data and consistent coding that is assessed instantly producing reports analysing data and providing insights to their clients. The most efficient way to obtain this information is from Xero where data has been entered by an experienced bookkeeper. Gerakiteys from @ideationatwork tells them, her clients and anyone willing to listen (she’s a consultant): “Account Aspects take the stress out of my paperwork. They help me understand the importance of my budgets and meeting my obligations which improves my business and therefore my life.” Christina talks with the same passion about her accountant.

Christina is passionate about helping her clients develop growth strategies through change and creative thinking and is a natural at it. Speak about payroll obligations, GST requirements or taxation matters and it is like speaking a foreign language to her. Having Xero professionals as part of her management team breaking down her requirements allows her to concentrate on building her business. The appreciation Christina resonates results from regular communication between Christina, Account Aspects and her accountant.

Xero sits at the core of the business owner, bookkeeper and accountant relationship. Xero has been built in the cloud as a user-friendly platform, always evolving to meet the needs of the business owner and their advisors. Having

unlimited users, real-time data and being accessible anywhere and anytime, Xero is the enabler for collaboration. The result for the client is the ability to make informed and measured decisions about their business, their future direction and investment.

The tasks undertaken for clients and bookkeepers. This doesn’t have to mean they need to be in competition. Both can advise clients, although the advice given often relates to different parts of a client’s business. Using easily accessible data available through Xero, mutual respect is formed through regular communication, understanding the roles and responsibilities they play for their clients. Effective finance teams (the accountant and the bookkeeper), work together in partnership and align themselves with their clients’ goals, setting realistic targets to support growth. Crucial to the survival of small business is simply supporting a client’s awareness of their financial position at the touch of a keyboard. This is easily achieved when the finance team is collaborating and working towards best possible solutions for their clients.

When Xero came into the market it was a game changer. People were naturally resistant to change, although Xero was a software solution that couldn’t be ignored. Accountants and bookkeepers were craving flexibility and more effective ways to help their clients. Xero was the answer the modern proactive firm was looking for. With its accessibility and direct communication through bank feeds, it offered real-time data insights giving clients an up to date snapshot of their financial situation. No other accounting software could compete and had to adapt their approach or risk losing their market can crossover between accountants

share.

Xero is a software that is easy to use, although the foundations of accounting must be adhered to. Business owners are great at what they are passionate about, although often this does not extend to accounting abilities. Using Xero, the bookkeepers and accountants have more opportunities to work together in partnership. We have all picked up a client that has been using Xero solo and have gotten their file into a mess or far behind in their obligations. The bookkeeper’s expertise in forensically interpreting and untangling unusable data is invaluable to the accountants. Once this has been rectified, the bookkeeper ensures all income and expenses are entered accurately by analysing Profit and Loss to past data and budgets, alerting business owners to missing transactions.

Reviews of the client’s balance sheet highlights any anomalies with their ATO and payroll obligations, loan payments assigned and any changes that have occurred. This relationship enables the accountant to work with reliable data to complete tax returns, advise their clients and negotiate with the ATO on the client’s behalf while meeting deadlines.

The key to growing a successful business is having the right team on board. Successful entrepreneurs and business owners create teams from the outset that are experts in their fields. The business owner is rarely a financial expert or a marketing expert. They are expert in the deliverable of the core business but rely on a collaborative approach from the rest of their team to reach targets and create successful outcomes.

Stop wasting time chasing invoices. Use Xero’s invoice reminders.

When you’ve outgrown it, drop us a line.

App Partner of the Year 2016