{"id":672,"date":"2021-12-14T01:28:37","date_gmt":"2021-12-14T01:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.agilisbooks.com.au\/?p=672"},"modified":"2021-12-14T01:28:37","modified_gmt":"2021-12-14T01:28:37","slug":"bookkeeping-tips-to-keep-in-mind-this-holiday-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/?p=672","title":{"rendered":"Bookkeeping Tips to Keep in Mind This Holiday Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><span style=\"color: #99cc00;\">December is here, which means the holiday season is upon us as employees and clients take time off from work to celebrate and recoup. However, if you are a small business owner, it can be a season of financial struggle as expenditure goes up, and productivity declines. <\/span><\/h1>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<h1><span style=\"color: #99cc00;\">Here, Agilis Books have 5 bookkeeping tips for you to consider coming into this holiday season, to keep you on top of your game.<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-675 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/B-DEC-Blog-300x200.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"580\" height=\"386\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #99cc00;\"><b>1. Cash Flow Planning\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Staff leave needs to be covered in addition to your normal fixed overheads like rent, creditors, and tax compliance. The budget and forecasting process ensures you know your numbers and are prepared. If you are shutting down, you won&#8217;t be driving revenue during this period and sales may take time to get started again in the new year, which is why we recommend investing in cash flow planning \u2013 you need to know what is coming in and going out of your business.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A good way to keep track of this, is to keep your receipts. An efficient way to keep all your receipts in one centralized location is <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.xero.com\/au\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Xero<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 they have an <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.xero.com\/au\/accounting-software\/all-features\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">online filling system<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which allows you to store, manage and share receipts and any other documents, contracts or bills safely. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #99cc00;\"><b>2. Finalize Late Payments and Tie-up Work in Progress Jobs if Possible\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is important to plan and complete jobs or services that can be invoiced and paid before Christmas (remember if you don\u2019t invoice and get paid before Christmas, you may not see the money until mid to late January).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Xero, they have a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.xero.com\/au\/accounting-software\/all-features\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">contact management feature<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which allows you to view a client&#8217;s payment history, and see if they have any outstanding invoices and bills that need to be paid.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">\n<p><b><\/b><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #99cc00;\"><b>3. Track Business Expenses\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is important to track all your business expenses \u2013 from payroll, insurance, rent, utilities, etc., to help forecast your business expenditure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Xero, you can track your bills, report payroll details, capture costs and claim expenses, file bills, and see future cash flow projections \u2013 centralizing all your expense details.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b><span style=\"color: #99cc00;\">4. Be Aware of Christmas Celebration Tax Deductions<\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is beneficial to be aware of the rules and regulations surrounding fringe benefits tax (FBT) and Christmas parties \u2013 FBT may apply to entertainment benefits provided to employees, and if an event or gift is considered to be entertainment then you cannot claim a business deduction or GST.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ato.gov.au\/general\/fringe-benefits-tax-(fbt)\/in-detail\/fbt-and-christmas-parties\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Click here to read the ATO\u2019s article on Fringe Benefits Tax and Christmas Parties.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">\n<b><\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #99cc00;\"><b>5. Utilize Accounting Tools<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We\u2019ve used Xero as a prime software example that can prove extremely beneficial in simplifying and centralizing everyday business tasks for small businesses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cloud-based accounting tools have been an absolute game changer for business finance, and with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.xero.com\/au\/accounting-software\/all-features\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">features available in Xero<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> such as invoicing, bank reconciliation, bill paying and tracking, GST returns, payroll, payment acceptance, reporting and project tracking (to name a few) \u2013 comprehensively safely storing all of your business financial records has never been easier and more efficient. You can also share documents with your accountant and bookkeeper through the app.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b>Talk to Agilis Books if you are struggling with your bookkeeping this holiday season\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you are having trouble staying on top of your bookkeeping and tracking your finances as the holiday season quickly approaches, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/contact\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">contact Agilis Books<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> today!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We can help you utilize the Xero app store and find the best solution for your accounting needs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><\/p>\n<p><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b>Part of this blog was originally published by BOMA, but Agilis Books have added additional information for the benefit of our readers.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>December is here, which means the holiday season is upon us as employees and clients take time off from work to celebrate and recoup. However, if you are a small business owner, it can be a season of financial struggle as expenditure goes up, and productivity declines. Here, Agilis Books have 5 bookkeeping tips for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,5,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookkeeping","category-financial","category-small-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}