I can't believe we are already just about at the end of March. Where has the year gone? And what a difference to this time last year!
Of course, the end of March is also the end of another quarter. For those of you on quarterly BAS, now is the time to make sure all your
information is up to date, and if you are one of my clients, to ensure you have provided me with all your information.
Once received I will be able to go through everything and prepare your BAS for lodgement. Remember, whilst it doesn't have to be lodged (and
paid) by the 26 May, I don't want to be still chasing information on the 20th May! So prompt action would be much appreciated.
For those of you with staff this also means that Superannuation must be paid through a Superannuation Clearing House so the money
is received by the respective Superannuation Funds by 28th April 2021.
If this is something I look after for you, keep an eye out for your email with payment or Xero Super Authorisation instructions in early
April.
It is also time for the final JobKeeper declarations for those on JobKeeper. This must be lodged with the ATO prior to 14th April. Again, if
you are one of my clients, keep an eye on your emails in the first week of the month for your authorities.
Finally, JobMaker. If you believe you are eligible for JobMaker, the first claim period closes on 30th April. This is for eligibleemployers
who have engaged additional staff that have met very specific criteriabetween
07 October 2020 and 06 January 20201. For information on JobMaker, please visit the ATO site for more details
You may remember last month, I advised I am now only taking on new clients which work with Xero. One of the reasons I have decided to
specialise with this particular software, is because of the number of apps which integrate with it.
Over the next few months, I will go through some of those apps so you can see how much it can improve workflows and improve the data quality
in your business.
Please note, I am not affiliated with any of the apps mentioned - I get no remuneration should you decide to use them.
Xero owned Apps
I will start this series by looking at some of the apps which are owned by Xero and are available at no or low cost to the user.
Xero Expenses
This is available as a paid add-on with your Xero subscription. It's a great tool if you have staff where you have to regularly reimburse
them for expenses. A staff member can simply take a photo of the receipt in the Xero Expenses phone app, type in what it's for, then the
approving officer can approve the expense for reimbursement.
Xero Projects
Like Expenses, Projects is a paid add-on with your Xero subscription. This tool can be used to manage jobs or projects within Xero. It
allows you to prepare quotes and estimates on jobs, and will allow you to track both time and costs associated with the job in order to view
profitability.
It's not a complete project management solution, so won't suit everybody. For example, it probably won't cut it for tradies with multiple
small jobs. However, it is a step up from managing projects via spreadsheet and works well for those in the professional services industries
or for creatives.
Hubdoc
Xero acquired Hubdoc in 2018 and have included it as a free addition to their standard and business subscriptions and would have to be one
of my favourite apps. If you're already a client, you'll know why!
By using Hubdoc, a client can simply take a picture of a receipt or bill bill using the phone app or email the bill to a subscription
specific email address to be uploaded into Hubdoc where the magic happens. Hubdoc is a data extraction tool which aids in the coding of
bills and receipts prior to being pushed through to Xero.
It then stores the bill within Hubdoc itself and also pushed a copy of the bill to Xero. No more having to keep paper bills / receipts. The
ATO will accept digitised copies in the event of an audit and having them attached to the transaction makes it super easy to find.
As you can see, these are just 3 apps to help small business that are already available in the Xero ecosystem. Xero has recently announced
their acquisition of a European company called Planday. It promises great things for staff management and includes payroll compliance with
direct links to awards and staff rosters which will link directly to Xero payroll. There is currently no timeline on when this will be
available for the Australian market, but I will keep you posted.
Get in touch if you want to know more
about these or any other app you may have seen which might assist your business.
Well that's all for this month. Happy Easter and I hope you get to eat all your chocolates 😉
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