Many clients tell us they don’t have an accounting background so it’s difficult for them to check work done by their accountant/bookkeeper. This article provides business owners with a list of 10 things to tick off with their trusted advisor.
1. Payment summaries: Check that your bookkeeper/accountant has conducted a reconciliation between total salary & PAYG with holding in your payment summary report to be sent to the ATO and total W1 & W2 reported on BASs during the financial year.
2. BAS: Ask your bookkeeper to run an annual BAS report as of 30.6 and compare with BASs lodged to the ATO. Any discrepancy will need to have a good explanation from your trusted advisor.
3. Bank: Look at the bank reconciliation report as 30.6 and physically compare it with your bank closing balance as of 30.6. Even $1 dollar discrepancy would need a further check.
4. Aged receivable & payable report as 30.6: Review this report to ensure that it makes sense to you. Does the report show any debtor that you think has paid already and still is showing up in this report?
5. Asset & equipment: Review your asset and equipment movement in the Balance Sheet between this year and last year. Have you purchased any asset that is not included in your Balance Sheet this year?
6. Balance on GST payable account: Does this account show the balance of your last BAS quarter? Or does it show a huge amount indicating you owe the Tax Office more than $100k? If you have no cash-flow problem then why would that be?
7. Balance on super payable account: Does this show the balance of your last quarter super only? Anything more than that would be questionable.
8. Balance on loan/lease account: Check with your loan/lease statement as of 30.6 to ensure it is reconciled.
9. Leave balance: Print out your payroll leave balance in dollar value and compare it your your leave provisional liability in Balance Sheet. If Mr Tim Benson has two months LSL balance while your balance sheet shows Nil provision for LSL, you have a big question to ask.
10. Are there any transactions posted to your account like: General Expense, Miscellaneous Expenses, Sundry Expense, Unallocated Expense, Drawing? This is a good indicator of lazy data entry.
At Tailored Accounts, we teach our clients to conduct a review of our work using these check points as we believe that clients will pick up thing that we don’t pick up… their financial figures make more sense to them than to us. If you are interested learning more about how to diagnose your books/account status, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Harry Hoang is Tailored Accounts Executive Director
Glebe Park Apartment, Ground Floor – 186/15 Coranderrk St, Canberra
T: 02 6169 5196 | M: 0434 196 607
E: [email protected] | www.tailoredaccounts.com.au
