During a conversation with a colleague regarding some financial reporting for a client, the following phrase was coined… ‘Every number must mean something otherwise what is the point?’ I have been thinking about that phrase ever since and it has made me reflect on how we do things here at Straight Line Accounting Solutions, and not only here, but as an industry too. On too many occasions we hear that Accountants and Bookkeepers are just ‘Tax & BAS Return Factories’, whereby t

A budget... What is it and why should every business owner have one and more importantly live by it when it comes to making business decisions? We all know a budget is a tool that enables a business owner to compare financial reality with financial theory, or in other words, actual figures against budgeted figures. This comparison tells us few things such as, how is overall actual performance tracking to budgeted performance, are the budgeted figures realistic indicated by

After some recent discussions with potential clients, the one thing they have all in common is that they are experiencing major cash flow problems. Another thing they have in common is that the business owners are somewhat unsure as to how this has happened. In all cases there has been some contraction in business activity and profits are somewhat smaller than they were twelve or eighteen months ago. What we have observed in our experience with both current and prospective cl

A few months ago one of our clients had the misfortune of incurring a 25% penalty on their monthly Payroll Tax obligation. In line with our client’s excellent lodgement history (as we lodge the returns online), the return was lodged well before the due date. Unfortunately due to some unforseen illness within the clients business, the payment only reached the OSR a mere two days late… On the same date as the payment was received, an Assessment Notice was sent out stating that