Small Business Tax Calendar Remembering your tax obligations on top of running your business can be difficult. To help you, the Tax Office has developed an easy-to-use computer tool that will help you plan and manage your tax obligations and give you timely reminders. Your small business tax calendar automatically builds a 12-month schedule tailored to your business lodgment and payment needs. You can: personalise your calendar in approximately 10 minutes when you answer specific questions about your business record personal notes and reminders make updates at any time if you change your business structure or reporting obligations print a one-page summary of your tax obligations and due dates for the year for you to use as a yearly planner receive a reminder through Microsoft Outlook or from your computer system when a lodgment or payment is due. If you run more than one business, you can set up a unique tax calendar for each business. If you run a bookkeeping service, you can set up a unique tax calendar for each of your clients. To download the calendar tool please click here. To find out more about key lodgement dates please visit the ATO Website.

MINIMISING ACCOUNTING COSTS.

Our aim is to create a professional happy and friendly working relationship which gives us the opportunity to provide you with the best possible service at a reasonable cost.

Firstly it may help if you understood the process which is undertaken by the team here at Chan & Naylor to complete your job. Some common questions that you have asked are these:

How do Accountants Charge?
All Accountants charge by time. The longer it takes to prepare your Return, the dearer it's going to be. Some businesses sell hamburgers, Real Estate Agents get paid commissions, and ACCOUNTANTS SELL TIME. The more presentable you submit your accounts, the quicker we get it done, and the more cost effective it is. We only have 7.5 hours per day to sell and we would not be in business if we gave our product away.

Can you give me a quote for a job?
Just like its impossible to quote a building job over the phone without looking at the plans or value jewellery over the phone, it's not possible to know how long any accounting work might take.

Two sets of books for the same business can take twice as long for one set as for the other depending on how the books are presented. Please work with your Client Manager to try to minimise the time, hence the cost. Ask your Client Manager for a more efficient way of presenting your books to us. The more you do the less it will cost. Make sure everything is there. Should the Client Manager pick up and put down your work waiting for missing information the more it will cost and the longer it will take.

Why is my bill so much more this year than last year?
Basically three reasons

a. There is a lot more work this year. Example: could be an extra lease or turnover / activity has gone up, extra things you required us to do. Capital gains tax calculation, sale or purchase of a business, or purchase a new investment property.

b. Increase in our charge out rates as our labour costs are going up every year.

c. Due to missing information. If info is missing your Client Manager will leave the job, pick up a new job and won't come back until the current job is complete. The more often a job is put down & picked up the more time is added to the job. It is in our interest to complete the job quickly so we can get onto completing the next job. We earn the same amount of money and have a lot more happy clients.

The MYOB / Quickbooks salesman said that the software should reduce my accounting costs, but it's actually doubled? (in some cases tripled)
Basically garbage in, garbage out. It takes much longer to sort out garbage. The most frustrating thing (and every Accountant says the same thing) is when a client gives you a years computer printouts (after spending hours getting it to this stage) and we have to spend hours and hours sorting out the mess.

Efficient computerisation of your accounts depends solely on the operator. If the operator is good then it would definitely reduce time. However if the operator is not good then it takes a lot more time and we need to use a more qualified (higher cost) Client Manager to try and sort out the mess. The quality of the operator depends on the level of training he / she has undertaken. Usually the cheaper the software package, the higher the training required. Skimping on training means higher accountancy fees required to correct the mess. If the operator is not good then it's much more cost effective to use a simple manual cashbook system (or simply supply cheque butts & bank statements).

We can use a more junior staff member to process it at a lower charge out rate saving you money. Please speak to your Client Manager about the right software package for your business. Don't take advice from a software salesman. Your Client Manager is the best person to assess your accounting software requirements.

You're my accountant, why is my Client Manager preparing my tax return?
It's more economical to you. It's silly to use a surgeon to stitch a minor cut when a G.P can do it at a much lower cost. The surgeon cannot do it any better than a G.P. It's an over kill to have a surgeon do it. THE PARTNERS OF CHAN & NAYLOR HAVE THEIR OWN PERSONAL TAX RETURNS PREPARED BY OUR TEAM.

Don't forget the Client Managers are doing this daily and when you do something daily one becomes very quick and efficient at the task.

All of our team have University Degrees or are in the process of attaining one, and some are CPA's and Chartered Accountants. They undergo over 60 hours per annum of CPE (Continuous Professional Education).

There has been some confusion recently about the role of your Client Manager. He / she will handle your day to day needs including preparation of Income Tax Returns. They may or may not have the experience to answer investment, strategic, structural, tax planning questions. That is NOT their role. The partners of the offices look after answers to those questions. You may like to direct your questions in the first instance to your Client Manager. If they are unsure of the answer they will either find out or the partner will call you back with the answer.

However if you are unhappy with your new or old Client Manager please, by all means, notify David / Eddie and we will move you to another person. It's difficult to match people perfectly and we can get it wrong sometimes. So speak out if you are unhappy with anything at all and we will try to correct it.

If you are unsure of an answer given to you by a Client Manager please do not hesitate to confirm the answer with the Partners directly.

When will the Partners look at my tax return?
The Client Manager processes all the accounts and produces a draft set of accounts. He / she will go to the Partner, who will then discuss the Tax Planning. It's this tax planning session that could save you thousands in tax.

The partner spends quality time and the Client Manager spends quantity time. The Client Manager then finalises the accounts according to the Partners instructions.

Sometimes the client is called in to discuss various problems or look at options. This process is similar to the surgeon and the nurse or the mid-wife and the Obstetrician. These processes are designed to minimise the costs to the client / patient.

I asked you to run your eye over this document and you send me a bill?
Don't forget our business is to sell time. If the task takes less than 5 minutes (like a phone call) then it's done for free. More than 5 minutes it's charged (including phone calls). We only have 7.5 hours per day to sell. If we give it away for free we would not be in business and unable to serve you when you need us.

Whenever we request an answer to a question from our tax solicitors they send us a bill. Once again, this is based on the time spent (at $350 / hour). It's not unusual to get a bill for $87.50 for a 15 minute phone conversation. This is standard practice. We understand that if we want their time we have to pay for it. 

How are your fees compared to other accountants?
We are about 30% better value than city firms and about 10% better value or similar to other Suburban Firms of similar size.

How do we know this?
Three reasons:

1. We compare our rate with other Accountants every six months, and we are 10% less than the average Suburban practice.

2. We have grown by 30% - 50% every year. Most Accountancy Practices only grow by about 0% - 10% p.a.  We do not advertise and all growth is through word of mouth. A business needs three things to grow:

a. Reasonably priced services
b. Good service / product
c. Honesty

3. Whenever we complete a New Client's work it is usually 10% - 50% better value than the previous Accountant, 80% of the time. If the client came from a city firm we are consistently 30% - 50% better value.

The only ones that are cheaper are the one person operators working from home. However what you get is simply a bookkeeping service and he/she will be unable to provide strategic solutions to particular problems. He/she will not have the resources to keep at the cutting edge of tax changes. What you save in a few dollars of Accountant fees could cost you thousands in lost tax benefits.

Like most other businesses, to be in business you must make profit, the average net profit of Accountancy firms is around 20%. Therefore if the client receives an account for $1,000, the net profit on the job after wage costs, rent, insurance etc. is $200.00.

Why has it taken so long?
In the peak period it will take longer.

Missing information will delay the job.

In the PEAK PERIOD between August and March the turn around time may stretch out to 3 - 4 months or more, as every one wants their work done in this period. Every Accountant in Australia is in the same boat. So please be patient in this period.

In the OFF-PEAK PERIOD between April and July turn around time drops back to a few weeks.

Just like there are peak and off peak periods for holiday accommodation every Accountant is in the same boat. So be prepared for delay in the peak period between August and March. Remember how hard it is to get accommodation during school holidays.