Published April 7, 2013 | 
The ATO has announced that a new function is now available in the BAS, Tax and Business Portals: File Transfer. This is a major improvement to the portals’ functionality and will be welcomed by Tax and BAS Agents across Australia.
Published April 5, 2013 | It’s common knowledge now that if you are using cloud accounting software, you have access to bank feeds i.e. your bank transactions are pulled into your accounting file from your bank institution on a daily basis via the magic of the “cloud”. This means that you have up to the minute updates of exactly what’s happening in your business accounts. This is a great thing – no doubt. It also means the amount of time you would otherwise spend on tedious data entry is considerably reduced – what’s not to like? Undoubtedly bank feeds have been a real boon for business owners and bookkeepers alike but lately, due to some recent events in our BAS Agent practice, I have started to wonder if we actually can or should trust bank feeds. Let me tell you what happened……
Published April 2, 2013 | At the moment I’m regularly losing sleep over something that happens quite a bit in our practice. It’s something that really worries me to the point that I almost wasn’t going to write this post because I know that some will frown upon us when they read it. Anyway here goes nothing, here’s the problem:
Published April 2, 2013 | So far this year, I’ve attended 3 all-day bookkeeping conferences/seminars (and it’s only April!). I’ve attended each one hoping to come away with more knowledge, more skills and more business insights. While I certainly did pick up a few tidbits here and there, in general, I came home feeling like I had really just wasted my time. Don’t get me wrong, the organisers of these events do a wonderful job; putting events like these together is no easy feat by any means and as such, I have great respect for them! However, I’m starting to think that my time would be better spent attending one-day technical training seminars in which I could improve upon the skills and knowledge I already have as a BAS Agent. Conferences have their place that is certain, but at the end of the day, are they really benefiting us as BAS Agents and accounting professionals? Are we really actually learning anything useful at conferences? I for one will be looking for specific technical training in the near future in lieu of attending conferences next year. It would be great if some of the bookkeeping associations would provide this sort of training to us rather than putting all of their resources into one annual conference. Just my two cents worth!
What do you think? Are conferences beneficial to you as an accounting professional? Do you think you need more technical education as a BAS Agent?
Posted in BAS Agent's Blog, Bookkeeping, For BAS Agents, Other Stuff | 
Bookkeeping, Conferences, CPE, education, knowledge, learning, skills, Training | 
6 Comments
Published March 16, 2013 | Here at e-BAS Accounts we do everything via systems and checklists. When we process a client’s BAS we use our “BAS Preparation Checklist”. Using the checklist ensures that we never miss a thing! Today we are sharing the checklist with you – it’s free to download! Enjoy!
Posted in BAS Agent's Blog, Bookkeeping, For BAS Agents, GST & BAS | BAS, BAS Preparation Checklist, Checklists, Free Downloads, GST | Leave a comment
Published February 3, 2013 | This is part 3 in our blog series about source documents. In parts 1 and 2 we explained what source documents are, why they’re important and also how our clients deal with them. Today we will look at how the legislation which guides us as BAS Agents impacts on the way we work with source documents.
Published January 20, 2013 | Last week we looked at source documents, what they are and why they’re important. This week we look at how our clients work with source documents, how they deliver them to us and the various issues that can arise from time to time.
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Posted in BAS Agent's Blog, Bookkeeping, For BAS Agents, Other Stuff | ATO, Australia Post, Clients, Dropbox, Source Documents | 2 Comments
Published January 13, 2013 | Bookkeepers and accountants who are processing your accounts may ask you to present “source documents” to verify the information in your accounting file. What are source documents and why are they important?
Posted in BAS Agent's Blog, Bookkeeping, For BAS Agents | ATO, Audit, Paper Trail, Record-Keeping, Source Documents | 2 Comments
Published October 28, 2012 | On 26th October 2012, I attended the first BAS Agents’ Update Webinar via the ATO. Several topics were covered. I will list the topics here and provide some of the specific information presented about each one.
Published October 14, 2012 | The ATO has released dates for a special webinar for BAS Agents. This webinar program runs from Monday, 22 October to Wednesday, 31 October 2012. You need to book now so you don’t miss out!
Posted in ATO Topics, BAS Agent's Blog, For BAS Agents | ATO, BAS Agent, Online Learning, Webinars | Leave a comment