Small business owners wear a lot of hats – they are managers, marketers, salesmen, customer liaison officers, human resource managers, workers, bookkeepers and more!
It can be overwhelming at times so smart business owners try to manage these by working smarter. While we cannot tell you how to run your business, if you are using Xero accounting software, there are smarter ways to run your business when it comes to bookkeeping and record keeping, here are 5 of them.
There are a lot of myths around Utes and FBT, some of which may be spreading by “mates” at the bar, or during a smoko. Not all the myths are true, let’s look at some of them here:
No. It is important to note that a vehicle that does not satisfy the definition of a ‘car’ such as a ute is not automatically exempt from FBT.
Think your good old spreadsheet or notepad is good enough to keep track of employees’ wages? Think again!
On 12 February 2019, the Parliament has passed the laws requiring all businesses use single touch payroll from 1 July 2019.
This means that from 1 July 2019 onwards, all businesses that employ staff, whether it is 1 or 100, are required to register for single touch payroll to keep track of their employee wages, PAYG Withholding and superannuation obligations.
With Christmas fast approaching, a lot of business owners are starting to think (or already thinking!) about how they are going to celebrate Christmas with their employees and clients.
While it is a festive season where you normally spend a little more in treating your employees, their families and clients with good food, wine and some activities, enjoying the time and having some fun, business owners may unknowingly provide Fringe Benefits where it may end up costing you more.
In life we play different roles which gives us different names. You can be a parent at home, a child of your parents, a customer at the shops, or, if you run a business, a business owner. But do you know the correct name to call yourself when you run a business?
Very often we get business owners ringing saying they are the director of their company, when in fact they may not even own a company to start with. Understanding what structure your business is in is very important to avoid confusion down the track. Below is a brief description of each business structure and how you can call yourself when speaking to your suppliers or customers.
If you run your business as a sole trader, you will have an ABN for yourself, and your business is run under this ABN. You do not hold a separate entity and therefore cannot call yourself a company director.
In this case, you can call yourself a business owner, or a sole trader.
A partnership involves two or more people (up to 20, with some exceptions) going into business together with a view to making a profit.
If you are running a business under a partnership with others, then (to put it simply) you are the business owner of the partnership.
A company is a separate legal entity that consists of directors and shareholders. A company director is someone who makes decisions on behalf of the company, whereas shareholders hold shares for the company and is eligible to receive any dividends declared by the company.
If you run your business under a company, and you are the director of the company, then you can legally call yourself a director when speaking to your suppliers or customers.
A trust is a structure where a trustee carries out the business on behalf of the trust’s members (or beneficiaries). A trust is not a separate legal entity. You can have individuals or companies acting as trustee(s) of your trust, and individuals, companies or trusts to be a beneficiary of your trust.
If you run your business through a trust, you are the business owner of your business.
Wrapping up…
Only directors of a company can legally call themselves a director, if you run your business in any other format, you can call yourself a business owner.
If you are confused about what structure your business is in, we suggest going through your business documents eg bank statements for your business bank account which will contain the details of the account holder. Otherwise, if we run your books and prepare your tax return, give us a call.
