Business scenarios, Strategies, Cashflow Reporting, Setting Budgets and Understanding Return on Investment

Course Contents Outline

The Advanced Bookkeeping Administration Course follows the scenario and case study featured in our GST, Reporting and BAS Course by expanding on the sample company scenario for an extra quarter for BAS and Reporting purposes.

In this course you’ll learn how to import the bank transactions (rather than enter them manually that we teach in the Daily Transactions “Essentials” Training Course) and manage the many and varied transactions that our typical entrepreneur, Jerry, enters into, for instance:

• getting a commercial building loan
• buying a commercial property
• completing a real estate agents’ course (because he’s changing business direction and running several enterprises at the same time).

Course Completion Time: 8 Hours

 

Controlling spend using budgets

You’ll explore the typical overspending that some new entrepreneurs go through and understand how these transactions affect the cashflow of a business.

You’ll learn about the financing, operational and investment aspects of a cashflow statement and about alternative strategies that a business can take regarding its spending and credit risk management.

You’ll go through other Credit Management reports like Aged Receivables and understand the tools available to small businesses for:

1. reigning in their accounts receivable
2. getting money into their bank accounts quicker
3. using their accounting software to help perform better marketing and operational management by budgeting and understanding their Return On Investment.

 

Accounting for real-world changes for start ups

These are some of the topics included:You’ll explore some business opportunities that reveal how corporate employees can become small business owners and consultants in their local area with the use of cloud accounting software.

• Changing a business name
• Subscribing to HiPages (HomeImprovementPages.com.au) and using it as a lead source for trades
• Real estate agents’ course and setting up a real estate agency
• How to earn money selling software training courses – including creating quotes, invoice and receiving payments
• Advertising on LinkedIn to find a real estate agent employee
• Setting up a professional WordPress website
• Exploring strategies to win regular work
• Using car trailers as an advertising medium
• Borrowing cost for Cubbyhole
• How to make a loan and purchase transaction for Cubbyhole commercial warehouse
• Deposit and loan for commercial property purchase
• Making changes to inventory
• Creating invoices for sales and marketing contract work
• Importing bank statements to save on data entry
• Creating bank rules
• Matching transactions for bank statements from a bank file
• Create transactions for BAS refund
• Accounting for motor vehicle depreciation
• Accounting for commercial premises depreciation
• PAYG & superannuation
• Cash flow statements
• Setting budgets
• Return on investment (ROI) analysis

 

This course is currently only available in Xero Cloud Accounting

Back to Short Courses in Xero, QuickBooks & MYOB AccountRight and MYOB Essentials

Troubleshooting Transactions, Tricky Coding, Bank Feeds and Bank Reconciliation

A bank reconciliation is performed once all of the day-to-day transactions have been entered into your software (unless your doing what is called Rescue Work or Catchup Work). The purpose of this bank reconciliation is to ensure that your software data matches the information in the real world (ie. your bank account).

It is at this stage that you will enter:

• Direct debits that come out of your account automatically
• Interest charges or payments
• Capital purchases and payments
• Merchant and bank charges

You’ll also find duplicates or omissions, and will need to correct the data that you have previously entered. You may also find amounts that are a couple of cents or dollars out because they’ve been entered incorrectly — that’s frustrating.

Technically the bank reconciliation stage is also where most strict accountants, bookkeepers or accounts managers will demand to see evidence of your purchases in the form of a receipt or tax invoice.

Course Completion Time: 3 Hours

Training Workbook Scenario

In the Bank Reconciliation and Journal Entry scenario we profile a small business owner just starting out. This business owner lends the company money for cashflow, buys a car that needs to be depreciated, spends money on advertising and marketing to build awareness, makes some small sales and pays themselves a wage on an ad hoc basis depending on their bank balance. (Note: paying yourself from day one is vitally important — you would be paid as an employee for any work you do!)

The purpose of this workbook is to take students through common entries that occur on a one-off basis and that are not normally part of the quoting, invoicing and payment entries that occur in the Xero Daily Transactions Course.

Bank Reconciliation — Loan Account

Loans from the business to owners and directors requires it’s own compliance checks, but in this section of the course we’ll include the transactions and code you need to enter to keep a record of funds loaned to the business, including:

• creating a loan account,
• transferring loan funds,
• transaction details and accounts payable,
• setting up accounts payable,
• linked accounts and
• editing or deleting a transaction entry.

Bank Reconciliation — Entering Transactions

This course contains a bank statement where you’ll need to enter and code the transactions then run a bank reconciliation to discover that there are omissions and errors that you’ll need to fix – you’ll get to see what this looks like and then edit and enter the correct transactions and complete the reconciliation.

• Creating customer cards, 
• creating inventory items, 
• entering a sale and payment, 
• spending money, 
• receiving money from a client 
• reconciling your cheque account to your bank statement.

Bank Reconciliation – International Credit Card Payments

Often the service in overseas countries is cheaper or better or there simply isn’t an available comparative product in Australia so we pay for overseas services. When we do this we don’t pay GST and we incur credit card charges. You’ll learn how to manage

• journal entries,
• GST and tax coding and
• reconciling.

Handling Basic Payroll Transactions

If you are a small business you may pay yourself, your partners or even casual workers adhoc amounts each week or month. These transactions need to capture the right codes and also be included in your bank reconciliations. As long the correct amount of tax is paid and the employers’ obligations are met then the business owner is doing everything right. We’ll show you how some small companies manage these transactions.

Purchasing Assets – Company Vehicle

There will be times when larger equipment is purchased and it’s paid for from your operating cash flow. In this situation the asset isn’t written off as an immediate expense but depreciated every year for a certain number of years. You’ll learn how to code this type of transaction correctly.

See all Short Courses on Bank Reconciliation using Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks, Sage and Reckon One

See training courses for Accounting and Office Administration Jobs

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Quarterly BAS based on Monthly Bank Statements

Our GST, Reporting & BAS Training Course builds on the Bank Reconciliation Course. It explores a full quarter worth of transactions using a case study which features a budding entrepreneur.

This case study shows you how to code many different transactions that often make GST and BAS reporting tricky for those new to bookkeeping; including:

• purchases which are GST-free,
• those which have partial GST, or are
• international payments.

Course Completion Time: 3 Hours

Varying GST Transactions

This training course includes capital (asset) purchases, such a buildings, vehicles, fixture and fittings are entered and how they are different from the “operating” expenses of running and maintaining a vehicle should be treated. You’ll also learn about:

• expenses like entertainment;
• when FBT applies, and an
• introduction to Payroll where you’ll explore how various aspects of wages are treated in the BAS for closely held employees

BAS Report and PAYG Introduction

After correctly coding all of these transactions, we set up the Financial Settings of a Business with regard to the GST registration (Cash vs Accrual and quarterly vs monthly).

You run a BAS report, which is combined with our specially-designed “Ad Hoc Payroll” Excel spreadsheet case study calculations in order to work out the final liabilities.

For Micro & Small Businesses you can use other tools like Excel Spreadsheets to perform calculations of obligations like PAYG and then enter the transaction into your accounting software.

As you progress through this course you’ll see the results of the business owners ‘change of strategy’ and focus for the business. You’ll see what these results look like at the end of the quarter, as well as month-by-month comparisons of Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet reports.

Decisions Based on Financial Reports

At the end of the course you’ll explore how the business owner can use the information in the reports to change the direction of the business, as well as how he will be able to configure their software to obtain even better reports at the end of the next quarterly reporting period.

Apart from performing all of a businesses compliance requirements, decision making is one of the biggest reasons for business to maintain detailed records and use computerised accounting software.

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ELEMENT	PERFORMANCE CRITERIA
Elements describe the essential outcomes.	Performance criteria describe the performance needed to demonstrate achievement of the element.
1. Establish payroll requirements	1.1 Apply knowledge of relevant legislation in relation to employment standards, and other legislative requirements in regards to payments 1.2 Seek instruction from authorised parties in relation to relevant state and modern awards regarding details to be set up within payroll system for individual employees 1.3 Establish payroll set-up for salary packaging 1.4 Assess scope of payroll services BAS agent can provide and identify need for independent expert advice providers
2. Record payroll data	2.1 Ensure payroll system includes complete and accurate employee data 2.2 Review payroll data and clarify discrepancies with designated persons 2.3 Enter employee pay period details, deductions and allowances in payroll system in accordance with source data 2.4 Calculate payment due to individual employees to reflect standard pay and variations in accordance with employee source data
3. Prepare and process payroll	3.1 Conduct payroll preparation within designated timelines in accordance with organisational policy and procedures 3.2 Calculate, record and reconcile employee in accordance with legislative requirements 3.3 Reconcile total payments for pay period, and review and correct irregularities or refer them to designated persons for resolution 3.4 Obtain authorisation of payroll and individual pay advice in accordance with organisational requirements 3.5 Make arrangements for payments in accordance with organisational and legislative requirements 3.6 Produce, review and store payroll records in accordance with organisational policy and security procedures
4. Handle payroll enquiries	4.1 Respond to payroll enquiries in accordance with organisational and legislative requirements 4.2 Provide information in accordance with organisational and legislative requirements 4.3 Refer enquiries outside area of responsibility or knowledge to designated persons for resolution 4.4 Provide additional information or complete follow-up action within designated timelines in accordance with organisational policy and procedures
5. Maintain payroll	5.1 Maintain all information and record keeping relating to payroll function in accordance with relevant legislation and regulations 5.2 Produce and reconcile month-end and year-end checklists to ensure compliance with relevant legislative and management deadlines 5.3 Update records and systems in line with salary reviews and other changes in employment status 5.4 Establish back-up and disaster recovery systems 5.5 Generate and distribute payroll reports in line with organisational policy 5.6 Extract and apply business activity statement (BAS) and instalment activity statement (IAS) data in accordance with relevant legislation and regulations

This information is taken from the Official Government Training website: training.gov.au

Back to Cert IV in Bookkeeping Training Course Page

Completion of this subject provides you with a Statement of Attainment, but if you don’t need a Nationally Recognised Certificate and just want to learn how to perform Payroll Administration tasks to find work, progress in your career or manage your own small business then check out the Payroll Courses in Xero Accounting, MYOB AccountRight, MYOB Essentials & QuickBooks Online.

We’d like to help you find work or customers for your own bookkeeping business

When you enrol into our MYOB Training Course and choose the Lifetime option and Certificate you can create a profile in our MYOB Bookkeeper Directory at no cost.

We’ve introduced a number of initiatives that students told us are important to them and one of the biggest has been to help then earn money. Some want to find work as an employee others want to find clients for their own small home based businesses.

How does Bookkeeper Directory Work?

The Bookkeeper Directory is designed to help bookkeepers find employers and employers find bookkeepers. It’s a matching service that is simple to use and is a proven way of connecting two people who need each other.

Create a Profile

The first step is that you create a bookkeeping profile (you can do this once you have completed our online MYOB, Xero & QuickBooks Training Course and received your Certificate).

Simply fill in the form to create your bookkeeper profile outlining your bookkeeping skills, experience and preferred working conditions.

We will then syndicate (distribute) this information via a number of different online websites and channels, as well as via our Partner companies to make your information known.

Working with Small Business

We work closely with small businesses which have provided us with a position profile of their requirements, including the ideal skill set and experience level of the candidates they are looking for, as well as the conditions and pay they want to offer (including part-time/casual work) and match applicants as appropriate.

Our Students; Our ‘Talent Pool’

These bookkeeping position profiles are submitted among our students, or talent pool, and we then seek applications for everyone who would like to apply for the position. We make sure that all members understand the standards of work required and also provide training on how to perform to our code of conduct.

You are in good company

Most students who complete our MYOB, Xero & QuickBooks Training Courses are either looking for work as an employee, or want to start their own business.

Some of our students are:

• Mums returning to the workforce
• Corporate accountants who want to work more flexible hours and be closer to home
• People looking to find reliable work,
• People who want to find work close to home

At a recent career expo we attended we were amazed to discover that potential MYOB bookkeepers were evenly scattered around Sydney. We’ve also discovered that the desired work patterns of our students vary. For instance, some are looking for:

• Full-time work
• Permanent part-time work
• Casual work

What are Companies Looking For?

Small businesses are the biggest employers in Australia and they come in all shapes and sizes. Some are business start ups who need someone to manage the financials while they get on with the business they’re passionate about. Some companies are established but still small and flexible, while others are going through their growth stages.

Bookkeeping is a requirement for every company. The data entry for Day-to-Day Transactions, Bank Reconciliation, Payroll and Reporting is required by every business to satisfy their obligations to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). Small businesses need bookkeeping to be compliant!

Data Entry and Coding

Data entry for Day-to-Day Transactions is one of the most time-consuming tasks for small business, yet everything else is dependent upon it. An important aspect of data entry is ensuring that all of the transactions are allocated to the correct category (or account in the chart of accounts) — you don’t want to mix up revenue with an inter-company transfer, for example. We’ve discovered that most business have the same, or very similar, transactions each month so once a pattern is established this type of work is quite repetitive but most entry level bookkeepers can do it.

End-of-Period Reconciliation and Reporting

This type of work involves ensuring the computerised data matches the bank statements and can be submitted for end of month or end of quarter reporting. This work can often involve discovering errors in the data entry like dates or amounts. This stage is also important to enable a small business to lodge their Business Activity Statements (BAS).

Our Bookkeeping Training Course Content is regularly updated

When you are an EzyLearn student your course access includes updated and newly created content during your membership period. This means that you’ll never need to pay for another MYOB course.

EzyLearn’s online Bookkeeping training courses comes with the assurance of a 30-Day money-back guarantee.

You’re Supported in Search of Bookkeeping Work

Support is an important aspect of doing anything new and we have a team of people who are not only dedicated to your online training experience with EzyLearn but want to help you find bookkeeping work.

We have a dedicated Bookkeeping Directory Coordinator who will help match you to the most appropriate employer.

When you opt to register for directory membership you’ll become part of a community of people from all over Australia (and even internationally) who have similar goals.

Together we can provide well priced bookkeeping services and training using Australia’s most popular accounting software – MYOB, Xero & QuickBooks – to thousands of small businesses around the country.

Bookkeeping Induction

Even when we operated our Sydney training centres in Dee Why, Gordon and Parramatta our MYOB courses were taught using real life scenarios to give students experience in using the MYOB software with examples from existing businesses. The training workbooks (which currenctly number 10) enable you to work through practical step-by-step examples using the actual software (we provide you with a source for a free download).

Our Bookkeeping short courses include training material that takes you through an bookkeeping induction for:

• Setting up a business,
• Operating a products and serviced based business that buys products and then sells them to customers with added services, and
• Serviced based businesses like a bookeeping business, remote contractor or website developer
• The process of employing and paying someone and reporting on the Super and other tax obligations for that person
• End of period reporting like BAS, End of Month and End of Year.
• Process of buying an asset and depreciating that asset over it’s useful life

Did you know…

Lot’s of our students are actually business owners who need help with their bookkeeping but don’t want to pay exorbitant fees for a bookkeeper. satisfaction.

Come on a personal development journey and find ways to help local businesses with their bookkeeping while getting regular work close to home.

Sincerely,

Steve Slisar
(Managing Director)

Test your skills in how to use QuickBooks, MYOB and Xero for common bookkeeping tasks performed in most office admin and accounting assistant jobs.

This is ideal for job seekers and those returning to the workforce after several years out of the industry.

Get FREE training from our Bookkeeping Course for Beginners and get Certification to perform

• daily data entry transaction tasks,
• end of month bank reconciliations,
• financial reporting and
• payroll.