Hey guys, new to posting to the Ozbargain forums and thought I'd ask if other business owners out there did their own bookkeeping/accounting.
Bit of background: own a small business in hospitality and am currently doing my own bookkeeping via MYOB.
IAS, BAS, GST, tax returns via accountant.
Curious to know what others do for their own businesses
Making you as independent as possible is always ideal. I'd have a bookkeeper get you setup. Give it a try and have them review each quarter for the first couple of BAS's. If you're doing ok then continue on. If you struggle or not doing it properly then don't continue on to save some $$ as I guarantee your accountant will charge you (at their rate) to fix it up.
I do it myself. No need to pay someone huge amounts of money unless you have some complicated arrangements or tax avoidance schemes
Also with accountants the buck stops with you anyways. Ato holds you responsible even if accountant made the error.
If you are eligible to do a simple bas there is no need to pay anyone. Just invest in some good accounting software (I use Xero) and it will practically do it all for
You.
As an accountant I saw a lot of people who I wondered why they paid us, even told them so a lot of the time, because they kept very good records. It was often the ones who kept crap records that kept saying they'd go it alone, bit of a dunning-kruger thing. The first couple of times you'll hate yourself but once you get used to it it'll be just spitting it all out in a few minutes each qtr.
It's not that hard, in a nutshell GST you claim what you paid and pay them what you collected (and the ATO website will clarify the times that doesn't apply), payroll you pay what you withheld from your employees, if you're recording all that properly then you're already doing all the work for your accountant and they're just lodging forms for you. Have a look at your previous returns, if there's a lot of adjusting going on then you'd need to figure out why first before going it alone.
Tax return would be the only one I'd hesitate on, there's a few benefits to going through a tax agent there (longer filing deadline, help with sorting out corp vs personal tax, a lot more deductions to take into account and things to look at like depreciation, dividends, deductibility questions, etc). One of those things where you need to look at how you value your time. If you pay $3k to do a return (I've been out of the tax game a long time, no idea what it actually costs these days) but it takes you a week and half to do it yourself and you're worried you made mistakes then the accountant is very much worth while.
I think it should depend on how complex the business is, and how tax savvy you are.
We have a professional services business, where the actual 'business' is quite straightforward. So I do all the bookkeeping, PAYG, BAS, etc myself. At the end of the financial year I put the paperwork together for the tax accountant to overview and submit.
If you can do all that, you should be able to report it yourself. I'm guessing it's $1000+ for the accountant for 10 min job?
Yes I could lodge it myself too. It's more for formality sake for company. To be fair the accountant is aware and lodges our company and personal tax for under $900.
If you spend more time doing your books than running your own business then it is time to hire an accountant. Doesn't need to be a full time one, there's plenty of casual/hourly options available.
Agree it’s just a matter of keeping records/ right software. I do my own bookkeeping using Google Sheets but I have a fairly simple business. Forward it all to accountant for tax return. I could probably do this myself but I think ATO takes a closer look at DIY lodgements.
Thanks for the input guys, I might just go with a bookkeeper at this point because I feel like my strengths lie elsewhere in the business. Very interesting to hear your thoughts.
You would be foolish to do it yourself, not only is it a tax deductible cost, you are getting the best person for the job to do it for you and maximizing your potential returns.
Unless your business is in accounting yourself or you know exactly what you are doing and do not need to worry about complications then i would get a good accountant.
They end up paying for themselves in the long run, and if anything goes wrong there is some culpability there that is not your own.