Get rid of bookkeeping and BAS Hassles forever

The problem

As many of our clients will be aware, we have been encouraging the use of simple bookkeeping solutions to keep the time, effort and cost involved in complying with tax obligations to a minimum.

We’re finding that most clients who use packages such as Quicken/QuickBooks or MYOB really do not use them properly. They’re just not very user friendly for someone with no bookkeeping experience. Some clients use a simpler package called Cashflow Manager, which enables bank statements to be downloaded directly into the software. Cashflow Manager is a lot simpler and more user friendly than the other 2 packages, but we’re still seeing clients who have bought it, received training and then either don’t use it or use it incorrectly.

This experience has led us to conclude that most of our clients just do not want to deal with financial record keeping and BAS preparation. With busy professional and personal lives, this makes perfect sense. A doctor or dentist’s time is much better spent either seeing patients or spending time with family.

The solution

We strongly recommend that most, if not all, of our clients commence using Banklink. Banklink works like this: You sign a form to subscribe to Banklink. This enables McMasters’ to get a download of your business bank accounts via Banklink. We then use this data to prepare your BAS for you. Banklink is intelligent software that remembers recurring transactions. Your only involvement in the process will be to answer any queries we send you each quarter while preparing your BAS.

Advantages of Using Banklink

• Hassle free: McMasters’ do your bookkeeping and BAS for you.
• Lower ATO audit risk: your Accountant does your books, which provides a level of assurance to an ATO business record keeping auditor that financial records and BAS forms are accurate.
• Enhanced Financial Planning: issues affecting your tax liability and financial well being will be identified earlier at the time we prepare the BAS rather than waiting till after year end, when it’s too late.
• No need to hire a bookkeeper: your books will be done by McMasters’ so you don’t have to hire an external bookkeeper.
• Simpler tax returns: The year end tax return preparation process will be quicker and simpler as we’ll effectively be doing your tax each quarter.

What does Banklink cost?

• Banklink is free for our clients. McMasters’ is charged a small fee by Banklink based on the number of transactions. We will absorb this fee as we believe efficiency gains will far outweigh the cost.
• We will charge a time-based fee for preparing the BAS. While every case is different, we anticipate the fee will not exceed $300 per BAS.
• The fee for the year end tax return will reduce substantially as the bulk of the work will have already been completed.

Using Banklink effectively

All business transactions, and only business transactions, should be recorded in:
• A business bank account.
• A business loan, if applicable.
• A business credit card.
Provided all, or nearly all, business transactions are recorded in this way, Banklink will work very efficiently as we will capture all relevant business transactions and import them into Banklink.