Small Business Owners - Who does your "books"?

[anney]

Hi,
DH started a small business about 8 months ago. He is hopeless at any kind of paperwork. I am hopeless at anything with $ sign in front of it. It always takes me a whole year to get my tax stuff organised and sent off to the accountant.
Anyways someone has to keep track of all the stuff for DH's business so at present I keep a spreadsheet with all his expenditure (he is good at keeping receipts) and will send that off to the accountant for them to get it organised and do the BAS.
I work 4 days a week doing something I like so I am not really interested in learning what I need to know to get the BAS done.
Just wondering what other people do with a small business?

[starangelk]

Hi Anney, I am an accountant and TBH, getting your accountant to do your BAS isn't the most cost efficient way to do things. I recommend finding a good bookkeeper that will keep your DH's business records in some sort of computerised program (usually Quickbooks or MYOB.) This means that you won't even have to prepare the spreadsheet - just keep the original tax invoices and send them to the bookkeeper with the bank statement. Often, if the bookkeeper is any good, this will also mean that your accounting fees are reduced at the end of year because they have less work to do. Just one thing, I really recommend checking out the bookkeeper first - unfortunately there are lots of ordinary ones out there and sometimes things can end up more of a mess and you end up paying more overall. Look for someone who is a registered "BAS Service Provider." This is a new term but now bookkeepers are required to be registered BAS Service Providers in order to lodge your BAS. Some bookkeepers are getting around it by preparing the BAS and then you signing it as if you lodged it. If whoever you find is a BAS Service Provider, then they have gone to the trouble of getting the accreditation (through ATO) and therefore are likely to be good.

Hope this helps

[Snacks]

Wow, I can't add more info to the above - what a helpful response.
I was going to suggest a computer program too. DH uses MYOB and the accountants trained him to prepare the BAS.