Getting the most our of your accountant (Radio Version)(Eps9)

Most business owners only see their accountant at tax time — and it’s costing them clarity, confidence, and profit. In this episode, Kay and Crystal break down what your accountant should be helping you with, how often you should meet, and the key numbers every business owner must track to stay in control.

We share real stories (including the million‑dollar business that didn’t know if it was making money), the difference between bookkeepers and accountants, how AI is changing reporting, and why clean, up‑to‑date books are non‑negotiable.

You’ll learn:

• What accountants actually do — and what they don’t
• How often you should meet with yours
• The three numbers every business owner must know
• Why your business structure matters
• How to ask better questions so you get better advice

If you’ve ever walked out of an accountant meeting thinking, “I still don’t get it,” this episode will change that.

shows at the beginning of each episode for 15 seconds

Connect with us:
Crystal Petzer - https://businessgrowthcoach.com.au/
Kay Godfrey - https://upupandaway.net.au/

Radio Northern Beaches 88.7 or 90.3 FM - https://www.rnb.org.au/
Email us - radio@businessgrowthcoach.com.au

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61590811295505
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/small_business_sorted/

If this episode hits home, share it with a business owner who needs to hear it.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Well, welcome back. You are with Kay and Crystal, Small Business Sorted, and we've got a great topic today.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Kay, what are we talking about? We're going to be talking about getting the most out of your accountant.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

Ooh, it's pretty timely, isn't it, with the uh end of month, end of financial year coming off, the EOF as EOFus, as you say.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Yeah, so that's going to be quite exciting. So there's quite a few things that we will be covering in this and what people want out of their accountants, what people what accountants can offer. Both Kay and I are not accountants, but we will be doing our best to try and answer some of the questions that we've seen asked around with different customers. So let's have a think about our opening story. What is that, Kay?

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Okay, well, um, I recently spoke to a business owner who was turning over more than a million dollars a year. I know, nice, nice amount, but couldn't tell us if they were actually making money. Oh. So that was the million was their sales figure. Their accountant was look lodging tax returns every year, but no one was helping them understand their numbers. So a tax was being done, they were likely paying tax, but they had no understanding of how those numbers came together. So within one meeting they discovered with us, they discovered what they discovered which jobs were profitable and which ones weren't. So they learned a lot more about how much profit they were making, what their gross margin was.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Um profit.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

And how they were making that money through which customers and sales and stuff, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Yes, and um a lot of accountants and not knocking accountants at all, or tax accountants, I should probably say. Um tend they concentrate on the tax return and not on the um profitability of the business. And um I think a lot of the reason for that may also be their understanding of what you are asking them to do as a business owner. Yeah. I think you have to actually ask them in a lot of respects for that information before they voluntarily give it to you. So what you should be looking at is the contract or the agreement that you have with your accountants. With your accountant. What what does it say? What does it say they'll do?

SPEAKER_01 2:48

And I think too, that's a really good point. And I think too in Australia, we call a accountant an account a tax accountant just an accountant, but often not all accountants are tax accountants, obviously. However, um the accountants that that when we talk in business, we're always talking about tax accountants. And I think the the the accountants copper a little bit of this as well, that they're helping businesses and everything, but I think often people's misunderstanding of what accountants can do for them as well. So, and maybe that's a conversation that they don't have with their accountant when they're first set up, and it's really always to get the tax done initially, isn't it? And then from there.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Yeah, I've got a question to the audience. Are you paying your accountant thousands of dollars and only seeing them at tax time? I think the answer uh for a lot of business owners is yes. And then when are you seeing your accountant? After the end of the year, probably. Just when your tax return is due.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

So therefore, to be honest, they will have your financial information ready, but it's historical, which doesn't help you moving forward.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

I could tell you what I do. I used to do that back in the day when we used to have the the servos. We had an accountant that but those were the days we used to have the big ledger books, and then when we got the first versions of Maya, you remember the floppy disks? But honestly, we used to send our staff at the end of the month to him. He would take a month to get back. We would be looking at our at our profitability almost a month, two months old. Yeah. And then it was really hard to know how we were going and what we were doing. Uh and I know when we um got the trade business, then I thought I want to do this differently. And then, of course, zero and everything came, which made it much easier for you to track your own profitability. But I also with the accountant, I just said, I just I need to speak to somebody a little more often because I I really just wanted to run things by. So I think what I've got now is I've worked out how to work out the profitability. I've got my reports, I've learned how to read my own PL, I've learned how to read my cash flow, and I've also, excuse me. And then I've also asked um with with our accountant right now, I've asked her that I want a pre-tax meeting. So we normally catch up in around January, February, have a look at what the first six months were. Great idea. Kind of predict what we're gonna do, what are the plans, and then we meet again in um just before like in May, beginning of June, end of May, and then we kind of go, okay, this is it, this is more what it's gonna be. And then when she does my tax returns, probably in that March or February the following year, um, we or December, we would catch up and go through what that looked like and what she needs from me. But I don't I use my accountant for slightly different things, but I feel like that a lot of business owners out there would ask, would want their accountant to give them more regular feedback. And that's my feeling.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Whether you how much you understand your own numbers as well. Yes. Um, and if your accountant actually does the bookkeeping in-house for you as well.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Yeah, well, some accountants do your bookkeeping and everything as well, don't you?

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Yes, yes. Um something that has to be said with all of this, your bookkeeping has to be up to date. I'm sorry, I'm a bookkeeper. I will half on about this every other time. Whatever. Um, but there's no point in our going to see your accountant if your bookkeeping's not up to date. He what's he gonna look at? Nothing. What's he gonna do? What's he gonna look at? It's it's a hopeless case.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

It must cost them a lot of money to fix those sort of errors and issues up, right? Don't you reckon? Yes. It must just drive them mad. Yes. Um I I absolutely agree. The only way you know with your profitability and everything that you're doing is that your books have to be, your books being your accounts in zero and everything, everything has to be up to date and it has to be accurate. Like that's that's your number one rule in business, isn't it? I think accurate figures, accurate PLs give you that opportunity to um have an overview as to how you're and you can make better decisions knowing what your figures are. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

So, Crystal, could your accountant be helping you to make more profit?

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Oh, that's a really good question. I I feel like when I used to not understand the PLs as well and not understand what all my figures were coming from, I was expecting my accountant to be a lot more helpful on that. And being in business now for what nearly 40 odd years with different businesses, I feel like in the early days they did, but that was because we had little ledges and everything. You kind of but nowadays I feel like it's much easier to to see it yourself in zero, so you can do that. But yes, I think a lot of people would what would like that from their accountants.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Yeah, I think the answer is they could, but I don't know if many of them do. It'd be interesting to hear from your accountants out there because we're just talking from our experience, which is obviously limited, and our clients. Um, yeah, we'd love to hear from you if you disagree with us or if you have any comments. So, yes, your accountant could. Um you'd obviously have to meet with them more often. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Um I um I had a I've got a theory, right? I was at XeroCon in uh Brisbane, not last year, the year before, I think it was. Or was it last year? I can't remember now. Um and they talked about it was so good. And they they come out, you know, in the show and they talk about the future of accounting and bookkeeping and what the future looks like. And they were saying that with a lot of the AI coming in, that that accountants and bookkeepers, bookkeepers are gonna become it's gonna be a lot harder for them with all the or you still need accurate clean books, but AI can do a little bit of what they can do, you know, in the future. And um, but they were saying that with accountants that a lot of the businesses are gonna be wanting to trust them with getting better reporting to them. Because a lot of that stuff can be done now with the with a bit of AI and the reporting that you can get out of it will be amazing. And I think they would want the this is what they were predicting that that a lot of businesses would want the accountants to be able to give them suitable reports that they could understand.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Thinking about AI, there are it's amazing what is available now through Xero or through through QuickBooks as well. Um, as I've mentioned before, SIFT reporting. And um SIFT reads the figures from Xero and then actually gives you a commentary. Your sales have gone down by this amount and in the last few months, you know, your expenses are too high, you need to do this, you need to do that, and it actually gives you the reports that to be honest, previously uh your bookkeeper might be giving you, or even your accountant. But like you say, Crystal, it takes someone who knows, it takes a professional to look at those numbers and actually maybe make decisions based on them. Yeah. And you were talking before about um planning uh for the future. I think that's where maybe the accountant comes in more than the bookkeeper. Yeah. Giving sort of advice on profitability cash flow going forward. I think that's more an accountant's. I think so.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

I mean, there are some incredible bookkeepers out there that could give you that as well, right? So cash flow isn't that tricky, really, to get a report nowadays. But but I do love that, and I believe there's JAX now in zero, that is AI. It's almost a genetic AI, in the way that it can you can ask it questions and it will help you with using your figures and give you some really good answers as well. So I feel like the accountant's role um has to be complementary with this new stuff that's coming through. Yes. And so helping you to, I mean, you're gonna get some pretty good feedback out of the Jackson, you know, even using Claude and stuff like that, I guess. But you would need to understand what you're looking at to be able to make the right decisions. Yeah. And I always remembered um listening to uh who was that guy, a Texan guy out in America. He he used to talk about finances and uh like a a bit of a business coach guy, but he he loved figures. He was a real figures man. And he always said, like, if you if you driving a plane, you've got all your dials and your thing, and that helps keep the plane in the air. He said, your books and everything are no different and your figures, you need to know your figures in your business like a plane's dials so that you can keep your business in the air, type of thing, and making a profit. Otherwise, you know, you're working so hard and you don't know what your figures are, you don't know what you're doing, you're not understanding any of the reporting, or you don't have accurate reporting.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

How the hell do you know what you're doing? Um, you d you don't. So what are the three numbers every business owner should be tracking? Now, sales is one of them, but not the most most not the most important one.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

No, it's not. It depends what kind of business you have, I guess, would be what you would track. So if you were a trade business, I guess your gross profit margin after you've paid your boys and your staff and your materials, knowing what the industry's gross profit margin is, are you even close to the industry one? That'll give you a good idea whether your pricing's right.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

Well, your accountant would probably help you better. I know you can get the information now from uh Chat GPT or whatever, but those are sort of possibly the conversations that you could be having with your accountant.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

They'd have access to all of that through the ATO, don't they?

SPEAKER_00 13:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

And I think another good set of figures, so so three you said, so obviously revenue, uh revenue sales, gross profit, and I feel like your ratios of your gross profit versus your net profit versus your, you know, like what they are of sales, your net profit definitely, but and I think you need to also know your ratios. So is your net profit 20% of your sales, right? So that would be a goal to have to make that, you know, and is it consistent and your gross profit for your industry? Yeah, are you if it's 70% or 90% or 60% or 40%, are you in that band?

SPEAKER_00 13:48

I think that's the main thing. How are you tracking against other businesses in the same industry? Because that percentage varies considerably depending on what business you are in. Yeah. But yeah, those figures definitely provide a good indication as to where your business is.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

It's a bit like marketing too, right? You've got to know your your return on investment there and how many leads you get to how many you convert. It's the same with quoting. You know, how many quotes are you doing a day, how many quotes are you doing a week, how many quotes are getting converted, how many jobs do you need a month, you know, there's all these little things you need, but I feel like your top line one for your thing. And then I think knowing what's confusing for business owners, like for when you're talking about what figures do you need to know. I feel like when you're looking at your PLs with your accountants, and they may not always explain this as well, but a lot of your equipment and your vehicles and your drawings are sitting on the balance sheet. And that really needs to come into, you know, you go at the end of the year, you go, why am I paying so much tax?

SPEAKER_02 14:59

I made, you know, I made no profit, and then but it's all on the balance sheet, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:03

So it's sort of, I think that that's an area that that's um people need to know as well.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

Yes, it affects your cash flow. All those all those entries. You don't see them on your profit and loss, but you'll see them on you on your it'll affect your cash flow because it's cash going out. Um I'm going to ask a bit of a controversial question. Uh-oh. What's the difference between a bookkeeper and an accountant? Shall I answer the question? Go for it, Game. We were talking about it before, weren't we? I think the lines are in in this day and age, um the yeah, it's it's evolving. The bookkeepers' roles are evolving, the accountants' roles are evolving. Um in this day and age, your bookkeeper's definitely responsible for recording your figures in zero QuickBooks or whatever software you use. Um but nowadays they're much more responsible for looking at your numbers, advising you on your numbers, um, providing you feedback, um, looking in more detail as to whether your jobs that are profitable that you are uh doing.

SPEAKER_03 16:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:14

Um an accountant definitely does your tax if they've qualified to do that. That's something a bookkeeper cannot cannot do, your tax return. Yeah. Um it's actually the only thing that the bookkeeper can't do. Yeah, right. They can actually do everything up to the point that um your tax return is done. So if you want to, you can get your bookkeeper to provide you the numbers, talk to you about the numbers. Again, it really depends what you're paying them for.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

And also if the bookkeeper is um is is qualified, uh it is understands the different industries and that there's differences between bookkeepers as well, isn't there?

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Yes, there are.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

And by the way, you're listening to Kay and Crystal on Small Business Sorted. Yes, yes. But I going back to that bookkeeper versus accountant, uh, the way we run the trade business that we own, um I, and then the coaching business that I own, I do all the bookkeeping right up to I even do my own Basses, right? So I don't need my accountant to do that part of it. All I really need from my accountant is to give me advice on what I could do better, how to pay less tax, number one. Absolutely. So more about minimizing my tax. Have I got my business structure right, which we'll talk about a little later? But I think um all I want her to help me with is, you know, how much tax am I going to pay? What's my best strategy for minimising it? Um, how's it looking from her side of things, you know, and making sure it look it all looks accurate. And that's, you know, all I really need. And then of course we've got a self-managed super fund, which I need advice on on that as well. Yes. So she's not a financial, obviously, planner, but she can help me with the you know tax and keeping me compliant with the ATO.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

Yes, and you were talking about business structures. That's something that as a bookkeeper I know very little about. I don't think that's a bookkeeper's structure. Some bookkeepers I think do, but they'll specialise in that. Right. Um, but if you want to change your structure or even be advised whether you should change your structure from maybe a sole trader to a company or from a company to a trust or a partnership, then I think the accountant is perfect.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

You'd have to ask that. And then there's a time in your business too, isn't there, where you need to move from being a sole trader. Because being a sole trader is just a really funny way to run a business, I feel. Like it's great when you start, but I think as soon as you get to like $70,000, $80,000, you need to move over, or even $100,000 maybe. But or when you start getting starved, get yourself into a company, you pay less tax, um, you can then separate your wages.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

The risk is less. Yeah, you're risking. Soul traders have so much risk that they carry. I don't think about it. Don't think about it. Yes, you'll have insurances to um sort of mitigate those risks, but not you're actually liable for everything. For everything. So that's one of the good reasons to go to be covered PTY Limited.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

And also you're paying less tax um through and then of course you can then move from a company if you feel into I know it was all the rage about 20 odd years ago, to move your business into a trust account.

SPEAKER_03 19:31

Right.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

And um, so I think sometimes that's still quite popular with businesses, and um, but that's definitely an you know, you need an expert to advise you on that.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

I'm not sure how the current budget has affected that, sorry. Either. What a dog's breakfast that's doing it. We won't we won't we won't we're not going there, guys. We're not going there. But you can call you can write in to radio at businessgrowthcoach.com.au if you have any opinions on that.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

Exactly. But can I just say one thing what what really annoys me more than anything about the government when they do the branches of that rant? Um is that why the hell do we always have to have they put something forward, then they backflip on it, then it goes past the Greens, and the Greens make a bloody dog's breakfast of it, then it comes back all tattered and torn and not very effective, and then we've got to deal with it. Yeah. And I just feel like why you know it just seems such a waste of time and money and energy, and the whole thing comes back like a quarter of what it should have been, or whatever, right or wrong, whether it was bad or good or whatever. But it always comes back not quite like that, isn't it? You know, anyway, rant over.

SPEAKER_00 20:41

Um something that I'm gonna say, something. I'm I'm gonna have a rant now. Oh you? Um I find it odd. Not odd. A a business owner can do their own baths. Yeah. But they will most of business owners have absolutely no idea how to do it. Well, how to do it, what they're doing, but they can do it and they can nominate somebody else to do it for them in their business. But a bookkeeper has or or even a tax accountant has to have special qualifications to be able to do that. They have to be a BAS agent, and they have to do, I think it's about 1400 hours of supervised um work before they get their license. To me, there's something not quite right there that a business owner who knows nothing can do it themselves, can also allocate someone else to do it for them in their business who would also know very little.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

It could be a staff member.

SPEAKER_00 21:40

Yep. But a bookkeeper has been above. Yeah. Has to have. But that's just my little um so you as a business owner you can do your own BAS if you wanted to. That's a good question, though, isn't it? Well, I think a lot of people probably don't know they can, but now zero and QuickBooks allow make it a lot easier.

SPEAKER_01 21:59

Again, another thing that's it's kind of like um imagine what some of those BASS must look like when the business owner's done it and they don't their books aren't even great.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

Like you'd be either paying too much GST or you could be paying too less.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

I think it's it's probably one of those things that they're accounted. At the end of the year will fix. Review and fix. Yeah. Something else I'll say is as a bookkeeper, I used to find it actually really lovely when the accountant communicated, not frequently, but certainly at the end of the year, uh, well with me, because they will look at the books and they may make some adjustments. And it's important that the bookkeeper is aware of them. Yeah, so what did you get? Like an email or what did they do to know? They used to it was yeah, we didn't talk on the phone, but we'd e they would email me a list of the adjustments that they've have made or that they wanted made. Because in some respects it's nice for the bookkeeper to make the entries rather than the accountant just make them and the bookkeeper more often than not falls over them when they see them. But no, they used to send me the entries. I used to ask for them, they used to send me them. And if they had questions, you know, or information they needed extra, or even at the end of the year, the information they did need um that they maybe didn't have, in advance they'd send a list of we need this, this, this, and this, which was just really nice. Yeah, it's great. So yeah, communication.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

Communication. And I feel like uh bookkeepers and accountants could are really like they could be really for your business if they do talk excuse me, if they do talk to each other and I'll and communicate well, what a bonus for your business, right? Yeah. I really feel that. Yep. With uh Kay and Crystal Small Business Sorted, an accountant is such an important person in your business, um, even though they just, you know, they're helping you with your tax, they can advise you on your business structure, they can help you whether you need an SMF, they can help you with so many um, you know, things to help guide you through your business and everything. But I feel like maybe as a business owner, I know I didn't know this, but it's like, what questions do I ask my accountant? You know, like I may not always understand it. Sometimes it used to be blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. They'll talk balance sheet and then my eyes just glaze over. I thought, I don't even know what that is. Um, I do now, but at that time I didn't. But I feel like um, you know, if you want to ask the right questions, what what do you think we should be asking our accountants?

SPEAKER_00 24:28

I'm gonna start as well with thinking about what contra your contract with your accountant and what what you've got included in there, what you're asking them to do, first of all. Oh yeah. Not just tax. Sometimes there's no contract. Uh there should be. There should be you should have I yeah, you should have some. Well, how do you know what maybe that's the first question we should be asking?

SPEAKER_03 24:52

I'm last, I'm lost, I'm last, I'm last.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

Um, something else. When your tax return I don't have a contract. When do you attack Crystal? I don't know. I don't know. Well, when you've been with someone for a time. How do you know?

SPEAKER_02 25:12

Yeah, anyway. I think my expectations you've changed from year to year. So my poor accountant, she adapts and and changes with me, but I The problem is you might end up with a surprise of how much you have to pay them.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

Yeah, that's true. If you haven't got but plus sometimes the accountant will just do the tax return and not do your financials. So I don't have to do your financials for you. Tell me what's the difference? It's your profit your profit and loss, your balance sheet, the financials that back up your tax return. So some of them just do the tax return and do not you have to pay for. Well, they they I don't know how they actually prepare the tax return. They would have financial data, but they don't produce the actual financial details, the profit and loss, the balance sheet that goes behind that. Don't ask me how we might have to get someone in.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

So you do see them, but they may they're not they're not explained.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

They don't give you a financial report that you can understand. No, I suppose if one of them.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

No, it's it's for the it's the ATO report.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

Yeah, which is nobody can understand that. No.

SPEAKER_01 26:19

And sometimes it's adjusted, right? So you know, to take different things into account.

SPEAKER_00 26:27

To give you that together with your tax return. But obviously, you're gonna be asking them for those financials, and then you need to know what your profit margin is. Yep. Um, and how is your cash flow doing it?

SPEAKER_01 26:40

Can we just go back to profit margin? So these are the questions we've got to ask our accounts, right? So we're gonna have our contract. Yes, please. All right, number one, ask your contract, know what's in your contract so that you know. And then what other questions? So if we can just make it really simple, like for for a person like myself. So we have so you ask them for their contract, you know they're gonna do your tax return, right? They might be doing your Basses during the year to say. They could be doing your bookkeeping. Yes, they could. Um, but if they're only doing your tax return and everything, the the the second question I would ask is could when do you see them? So I feel like there's a a timing of we spoke about right at the beginning of the show. So you should see them at least three times a year, I think as a minimum. So one to work out how your previous year went, like in, you know, maybe July, August, you could work that out. You need to see them in around March or April before your tax so that you can work out what ta what you've got to do with your money.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

Bearing in mind that tax returns are actually due on the 31st of October. But if you do it through an accountant or a tax agent, it's the end of May. That's an extension that's granted if you have an accountant. If you don't, it's due on the 31st of October. Right. Um that's it depends as well whether a lot of people lodge them. They get often get lodged, in my opinion, late. Yes. Not i.e. before or before the 31st of May, but to me that's late. Well, you kind of get your you there's so many rich bastards you've got all this money you've got to pay, and you go, what was this for?

SPEAKER_02 28:19

That was like that was for last year. So I go, oh god.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

That's why nobody cares if it's done or not, because they know they're gonna have to pay money and they don't they would delay paying the money. But um personally I'd like to get it out of the way.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

Yeah, I think so. I I don't mind getting it done like by December, and then the next year is open to you. So so you really need a minimum of three visits with your accountant, if not more. I I think a monthly one is ideal where they go through everything with you, but but of course you've got to pay for that. But I feel like, yep, you've got to understand like January, February, get in there, know what your first six months are, start sort of looking at what that year is gonna look like, finalise your other tax if you've got it, but that should be done sort of more around before December, um, and work out what the what your I guess your instalments are gonna be, like if you've earned too much money or you need to pay more tax. And then I guess like a mid-year sort of catch up where you could just sort of go through your figures and understand exactly what that looks like and maybe make some decisions around your business in the way of measuring your you know what your gross profit margins are versus what the industry does and get some industry standards into your business through your accountant as well.

SPEAKER_00 29:34

Yeah, so what you're saying is a quarterly review, an annual planning meeting, which is good. And something else that comes to mind is before any major business decisions. Oh, I like that. Yes. I know how many people jump in and do things, yeah, and then have a taxi. Buying another business, buying another vehicle. Yeah, whatever it is. Talk to your accountant. Buying big tools. Yes. Yes. Buying the premises. Before making major decisions, talk to them. Yeah, for sure. And I'd say your accountant rather than the colour.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

And then you've also got the um um CGT too, don't you? That that um you've got to be aware of as well. Um I feel like so that's a question, definitely. So when can I see you and lock that in and book that in once a year? Yep. Um your accountant probably does reach out to you and say, hey, we should get together, but I think why don't you be proactive instead of waiting for your accountant to be proactive?

SPEAKER_00 30:30

You know what you need I hate to say it. I've got a client who um suddenly decided he wanted to buy a um house or apartment. Oh yeah. So he needed his figures. Well, yes, he's got his figures in zero, but they wanted his tax returns. Oh, yeah, of course. Oh tax returns haven't been done for the last two years, but he has an accountant. Yeah, exactly. So make sure make sure your tax returns are done. I I know it's something you often don't feel that you as a business owner has to chase the accountant for, but it happens. Accountants are very, very busy, very, very busy, which is another reason for the lack of uh for the tax returns being done just before the 31st of May, because understandably they can't do them all at the same time. However, they can get backed up and um Or you could get forgotten.

SPEAKER_01 31:34

Yeah. Potentially you could get forgotten. But that's hopefully not the No, that I doubt it, that's the norm at all. But I think you're right. So that that whole um be proactive um be proactive. And I think you know, take it's your business, it's your control. You you should be in charge of it, not your accountant being in charge of it as well. And you probably I think having a good relationship with your accountant, have a think about do you have a really good relationship with your accountant? If you don't, then maybe try to find an accountant where you do have. I feel like it's like having a good relationship with a bookkeeper is so important. Yeah, and I feel like if you have a good relationship with your accountant, you just can get so much more out of it for your business, for your own personal growth as well, don't you reckon?

SPEAKER_00 32:19

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 32:19

Yep, for sure. Absolutely. So we've got a few things there. What else is there, Kate?

SPEAKER_00 32:25

Um they can help you decide what you need to focus on over the next 12 months as well when you have the meetings. But um I'd like to say what or ask what most what do most business owners get wrong? What do they get? It's it's sort of the flip side of what we've just talked about, but um such as only con contacting your accountant at tax time.

SPEAKER_02 32:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:53

Um looking at tax instead of profit.

SPEAKER_02 32:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 32:58

A lot of people, a lot of people. Some people do that.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

What so so you focus more on the tax, so you you don't do more sales, you don't do this because you feel like you're gonna be paying more tax.

SPEAKER_00 33:12

Sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 33:13

I have heard that. And I have I have had clients that do that. And I go, just say that again. Like I said, are you holding your growth back and your profits back because you don't want to pay more tax? But it isn't paying if you have to pay tax, that means you're doing well.

SPEAKER_00 33:27

It's a good thing. I keep telling people it's a good thing. Yeah. I mean you have to pay tax. And the other something you should also be doing throughout the year if you can, if you think you're gonna have to pay tax, put some money aside for it. I do. Yeah. Um most people don't. Yeah. But so that's why when it comes to paying it.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

Yeah, you have that squirrel account, right? Where you can um put that in, but like that, uh, what's it, profit first or whatever. Um I would the uh the one thing can I say just but that some people get wrong, is what risks do you see in my business? I feel like an accountant can be a really good person to help them find.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

No. Um, yeah, it's definitely a a sit-down.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

Yeah, with your count. And just they can go through the risk. They could say, well, your cash flow is a big problem, you know, or you're taking too much drawings out of the business and that's affecting your cash flow, or you might have a lot of outstanding monies. That's a huge risk to your business. They can be your second set of eyes on your on your business that they can really help you. They might even suggest you getting staffed. They might say, you know, you need to invest some of this profit into a buying a warehouse or buying an office, or, you know, we need to, or or doing shares, or we need to get that money working for you a bit better. I feel like there's some very good accountants out there and some very proactive accountants too to help you maximize your profit, you know, and and keep that money coming in. And some of them give you some really good advice there as well.

SPEAKER_00 34:59

Yeah, so um your accountants should definitely be more than a tax return processor. Yes. They should be helping you understand your business and make better decisions. Absolutely. So, what is the one question you're going to ask your accountant this quarter? Crystal, okay? I don't I do my own tax. Sorry, guys. Whoops. Sorry to disappoint everybody. I do my own tax. I'm a sole trader. Uh so I really don't fit into the mold here. No, you don't. Uh I did I used to have an accountant. Um, I used to be part of the first class accounts franchise. Oh yeah. And there was one or two uh franchisees who were also tax um advisors or accountants. Yeah. And um I had uh Michael Saunders was his name, and uh we had a good relationship because we were in the same franchise. So um he used to do my tax return for me, which was and obviously he had access to my Xero, um, which is something else we haven't really mentioned that it's a good idea for your accountant to have access to your Xero or QuickBooks account. Oh, I think that's the right thing. Because they can go well, no, no, most I would say Really? No, I'm going to guess here or bet 50% or more don't don't. What do you mean don't? No, they don't have access to the client's Xero account. So how do they do the returns? They ask the bookkeeper for figures.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

Oh, the reports send you send the report through to them.

unknown 36:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:33

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:35

What? Yeah, I know. So that means if you don't have a bookkeeper and they don't and they don't log in, and so how do you how do you fix up your accounts to make sure they look good? How does you how do you get your zero to be accurate every time? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:49

I I have one I know of one person who the accountant does everything based on the bank statements. And I totally disagree with that. They put the information into their own system. Whatever it was, they put the information your fallback position, isn't it? Uh yeah, I don't how accountants do the I don't know. That's pretty old fashioned. Well it's more than old-fashioned. But um I we shouldn't be talking the norm here. I don't really know what the norm is. I just know that in most a lot of cases my um with my clients, the bookkeep the accountants did not have access to the zero account. They would often ask me for figures, reports, profit and loss balance sheet, because really all they really have to have is profit and loss balance sheet, uh receivables and payables, what you owe and what you what who owes you.

SPEAKER_01 37:46

But then how does it how did the journaling and and fixing up the different accounts so that you start off the new year with a clean?

SPEAKER_00 37:53

I think in I think those figures then go into another system.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

Yeah, right, okay.

SPEAKER_00 37:57

Um some tax software.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

Do you know what? I think we should get an accountant in here and we interview it.

SPEAKER_00 38:03

You know, I'm beginning to think myself that is definitely because we are we need to get our facts right here too. Yes, we may be um talking apart.

SPEAKER_01 38:15

I I think we've got most of it right, but we don't know what they do in their offices. So I feel like we don't appreciate it. And I feel like that's um that's something we probably need to take into consideration. We often go, I don't know, I paid all this money and I never hear from them. Um but it's you know, there's there's lots behind the scenes and it's a bit like your bookkeeping and I guess even the coaching, people don't always understand what happens or more not so much me, but you. They don't always understand how much you do because they don't know what you're doing, right? And they don't understand it. And they don't understand it. So it's it's a lot, and I I can't tell you how important it is for a business to have a good accountant, a good bookkeeper, a clean set of books to be able to look at those numbers to make the best decisions for you.

SPEAKER_03 38:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:00

Um, for you and your business and your life, right? It's like if you've got gobbledygook to look at, you're gonna get gobbledygook back, right? And you can't make good decisions on that. It's all you'd just be sort of ad hocing it along, wouldn't you? Yes. It's not it's not healthy, is it? Um alrighty, so questions to ask again, just to round that up. Um and for and we'll definitely get an accountant in here to interview. Um, we'll bring that in in the next month or so. Um, but yes, definitely questions to ask your accountant. Can I see your contract? Can I book three meetings with you a year? I want to have a great relationship. How much are you gonna charge me? Yeah, how much are you gonna charge me? Um, look, I I feel like most accountants it's pretty fair, especially if you can get a uh a sort of quarterly catch-up as well, depending whether you want bookkeeping or your BAS done as well. It's a few thousand dollars though, isn't it, Crystal? Yeah, I pay, to be honest, for for I get three meetings a year. She doesn't do my BAS, um, she just does the end-of-year trip. That to be fair, there's three uh two companies, our personal returns and our SMSF. And um, yeah, you know, you've got to pay in excess between five and ten thousand for that.

SPEAKER_00 40:12

Because I forgot about the personal. We haven't talked about what's going on. No, well it's not really in our scope. But not only do you have your company tax return, but you've got your personal tax returns too. Yes, you've got to get them to do that as well, right?

SPEAKER_01 40:24

Or you don't have to, you can do them, but it's better for your accountant to do that all in the one hit. And then that's the way you could sort of if you if you're making a lot of profit, you know, what do you do with that profit? I feel like that's where you need some um guidance in that as well. Um so, you know, how is my cash flow is another question to ask for your your book, your your accountant as well. Um, you know, there's different ways of tracking your cash flow, but I feel like that's you can ask them as to, you know, what's been the most profitable part of your business, um, especially if you've got different services or different products that you're selling, they might have access to be able to see that. What should I do?

SPEAKER_02 41:01

Planning for tax.

SPEAKER_01 41:03

What about planning for tax? You need a plan for tax, like we've spoken about so many times. Uh, what risks do you see in your business? I feel like account is going to be super useful for that. Um, and what should I focus on in the next 12 months? You already should know as a business owner what you're focusing on. Yeah. But from a tax perspective, um, or what they see as a risk or future tax issues coming up your way, these are the questions that you should be asking. What do you reckon? What are you what's your closing takeout today, Claire?

SPEAKER_00 41:32

Um My closing takeout is that you should be communicating frequently. At least three times a year with your uh tax accountant. And you need to have a good relationship with them. I feel that's everything. Communication is everything, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 41:51

That's my key takeout. All right, Kay. So um I think we should give the um the listeners a takeout for this, you know. What do you think? What's some actions?

SPEAKER_00 42:02

We need to sum up the actions that the audience need to implement this financial year.

SPEAKER_01 42:06

Oh, this financial year. Oh, the you mean the new one coming from the first of July.

SPEAKER_00 42:10

Yeah, the one coming from the first of July. Well, you can't go backwards, can you? No, you can't go backwards. So it's implementation in this year. All right, so what would be your favourite action that you could actually take? This week, pick up the phone and book a meeting with your accountant. Yes. Not to do your tax though, but to talk about your business. Ask them one simple question. If this was your business, what's the one thing you'd tell me to focus on over the next three months? Oh, that's a good question.

SPEAKER_02 42:34

Yeah, and that's very interesting to hear what the accountant says for that, don't you reckon?

SPEAKER_00 42:39

I would love people to maybe, maybe people can um send us an email and let us know. That would be great.

SPEAKER_01 42:46

I think so too. I'd be really interested to find out. I mean, there's plenty of things that you could focus on, right? You probably have a few things you think you should be focusing on, but they might actually have a really good one. So um that would be good. Um my action would be remember your accountant isn't just there to help you save tax, they should be helping you make better business decisions. And if that's not happening, it might be time to ask questions.

SPEAKER_00 43:11

Or to find an accountant who will.

SPEAKER_01 43:13

Oh God. So what questions could you ask your accountant if that's not happening? If they're not helping you make better decisions. Maybe you could say um one of the questions could be, hey, um what are the risks in my business? Yeah, what are the risks in my business? Or what could similar to the one that you said, you know, what's the one thing to help me focus? They you could say to them, you know, they you know, how what what better business decisions could I be making? Um and then that if they can't talk to you about that, then maybe you do have the wrong accountant. If they can't, yeah. But maybe ask them, you know, like you never know what that could be. Um the next question, okay, what would that be for you?

SPEAKER_00 44:01

Well, the next action. We've said this a few times, but don't wait until the end of the financial year to talk to your accountant. Yeah. The best advice comes before you make the decision, not after. Yeah. A 30-minute conversation today could save you time, money, and stress.

SPEAKER_01 44:15

Stress, exactly. So you know what I do, and I think I mentioned this before. I ring up, I always ring up and book twice a year in with the accountant, and I set it right at the early time of the year, and I just say, can I have it in October? And then I want another one in April. So then April kind of we we look, we do a look back and then we do a forward look, and then we do in April, we know that we've only got two or three months left, and then we know like these are the things you should be implementing or making the changes, or how much extra super do you pay in your contribution super? Um, or you know Do you think it makes a difference if you're accounted? Buy a trailer. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 44:55

If your accountant is local.

SPEAKER_01 44:58

No, I don't think that matters.

SPEAKER_00 45:00

Just something that came to me. Do they is it better to go and sit in front of them face to face?

SPEAKER_01 45:05

Maybe. I guess if you're a face-to-face person.

SPEAKER_00 45:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:09

But I think a a a good Zoom call and you have your questions ready and they do could work really well. But I don't think if you've got six people on a Zoom, that's good. I think you know, if there's just the two of you, that could be great.

SPEAKER_00 45:22

Preparation on both sides. Preparation. Preparation. Yeah. So um another um important thing to think about is your business has a team behind it. Your staff, your customers, and your advisors. Yeah, and your suppliers. Or your accountant is an active member of your team, not someone you only hear from once a year. I think that's a theme coming through these final um actions. Yes. Is not once a year, more frequently. Communication.

SPEAKER_01 45:53

And and book it in, you know. I feel like that's really important for you to do. So um book it in. But I like those actions, Kay.

SPEAKER_00 46:00

Yes, I think so.