Winter Newsletter
Welcome to Yield’s winter edition e-newsletter. We do hope everyone is going well and rugging up against the cold. The winter has been unseasonably dry for our region and although it has become cold and we have had some frontal activity we havent had the rains that get our creeks flowing and our dams filling. We very much hope for good falls over the next few months to set up the vital water supplies for the coming season, as we know that strong results in the agricultural sector is a massive driver for the success and vitality of the whole district.
The end of the financial year was very special to us all here at Yield as it marked our one year anniversary. We are very proud of what has been achieved and truly believe that we have laid a great foundation for providing services to our clients with a point of difference unique and special in the accounting industry. We look forward to continuing our development and refining our service models for the benefit of our existing and prospective clients.
We hope you enjoy our winter edition e-newsletter – our newsletters aim to be entertaining and informative and there really is key information included below which may well effect the operation of your business.
Staff News
Here at Yield we are delighted to announce that after a hard grind both Anna Ditri and Tyson Baker have completed their accounting degrees after passing their last round of exams. This is a terrific effort and a clearly a great deal of work and dedication has gone into their achievement. As country students both have endured the disadvantage of studying remotely from university which gives its own challenges and requires great discipline in managing study as well as their fairly intense workload at Yield. Excellent effort and very well done Anna and Tyson.
Lee-Anne is currently on well deserved long service leave and is on a caravanning trip around Australia with her family. We wish Lee well on her trip and hope she is enjoying some warmer weather. Lee-Anne will return in October to resume servicing clients in the outstanding fashion everyone is accustomed to.
Perfect timing for Xero
We are having terrific response from our clients who have converted to the Xero cloud based accounting system. Clients report that they are enjoying the interactive relationship with Yield which results in any accounting issues being dealt with in real time resulting in up to date reporting to assist in making critical business decisions. Our staff are gaining exceptional expertise in the program and are ready to assist if you wish to make the conversion to the Xero platform. The timing could not be better to start up using 1 July 2017 as the starting point. Stand by for further training session dates which will be released shortly and contact us or visit the attached link to see what the program can offer.
Data Security
It is well documented that Yield has been and is continuing to move towards cloud based data management solutions. We are well on our way to being 100% cloud based and would like to confirm our reasoning for taking this path and to outline the measures we have put in place to maintain security of our clients precious data.
Clearly there are opposing views on whether having critical data stored on the cloud is more or less secure than stored on servers and localised hard drives, we believe the cloud is a safer and better option because;
- Expertise – software companies such as Xero and Microsoft have specialists teams dedicated to protecting data rather than clients personally protecting their data from
predatory behaviour - Reduced reliance on capital – If a computer or device fails, breaks or is stolen then your merely log in from another device to access your data
- Improve Changeability – By using the cloud you can take up new technology quickly and easily
- Improve client interaction – Using cloud services clients and staff can work together on the same data file
- Two Factor Authentication – This additional layer of security which is present on our cloud applications requires entry of an application generated 6
digit number on an independent device (such as an Iphone) that refreshes every 30 seconds.
Yield Group in Manjimup have recently changed over to the NBN and are now enjoying the much faster internet speeds the NBN provides. In conjunction with this process Yield have put in place two critical data protection strategies
- Enterprise Grade Firewalls – within the offices our enterprise level firewall protection offers “real-time intelligence on the threat landscape”. This protection allows Yield to continue to have protected wifi in the office for the purpose of running our well received training events with much more security plus protects against the potential virus risks associated with internet browsing and bugs attached to rouge emails
- Application Password Protection – as a result of wishing for our staff to be mobile and to be able to work externally from the office there is an additional risk from sources outside of our office walls. We are about to launch an application that allows management to monitor and control the traffic through our cloud based applications.
Whilst Yield will do everything in its power to protect your data it will never be foolproof and vigilance and being aware of data traffic that just doesn’t look right is part of the best defence.
For example there is a hoax email coming through which purports to be from ASIC asking clients to renew business names. If you are not expecting this email please be in touch with ASIC for confirmation. These criminals are becoming very clever and the emails they send with nasties attached are almost identical to the real emails.
Tax man looking at deductions
Whilst Yield is working hard on developing systems and procedures to efficiently support clients, we are also keeping up to date with new legislation and trending from the ATO. Yield’s compliance role is as a conduit between our clients and the Australian Taxation Office by making the best available claims for our clients within the law. Our reputation with the ATO is critical and on that basis we are compelled to make claims for individuals and business within the scope of the law. There is no point making claims that are outside the law that will tarnish our reputaion with the ATO and result in penalties and a financial burden to clients. Attached below is a link as reported by the ABC of a speech by the Commissioner of Taxation about the audit activity of the ATO.
Geographe Camping and Tackle World – Client Profile
Nigel Hoffman and Janine Hammond own and operate Geographe Camping & Tackle World in Busselton. The former Manjimup residents of 3 years relocated back to Busselton in August 2003 following the purchase of a camping store, Busselton Army Surplus. They immediately changed the name to Geographe Camping & Outdoor and have gone through many transformations over the years.
In December 2004 they relocated the store to a larger 450sqm building being their current location located at 5 Bussell Hwy Busselton. More recently in May 2016 they joined the biggest fishing tackle buying group in Australia and are now known as Geographe Camping & Tackle World. Being part of Tackle World has given them bigger buying power and exclusive product. Nigel and Janine continue to focus on selling fishing, camping, footwear and clothing with a focus on quality product and excellent customer service.
Nigel said in relation to his accounting systems “We made the transition to cloud based accounting a few years ago and have never looked back. Its simple and saves so much time to focus on other things and we have Steve to thank for that. This has prompted us to move to a cloud based POS and Inventory system as well as a cloud based rostering system. Our goals are to continue to grow our business and build our website sales.”
So if you want to keep up to date on what is happening at Geographe Camping & Tackle World go to geographecamping.com.au and sign up for email newsletter for information, specials and new products. Don’t forget to like them on facebook and instagram. Send through your fishing pictures. You could be in the running for the monthly $50 voucher.
Changes to Reporting Obligations
1. The changes to the BAS reporting for business with turnover of under $10 million will change in that less information will need to be reported. Under simpler BAS only Total sales, GST on Sales and GST on Purchase needs to be reported. Please see the attached link for further information or contact our office contact
2. A reminder to Employers: Don’t forget that the tax tables changed on 1 July 2017.
Make sure you’re withholding the right amount of tax from your employees – check the new rates or use the tax withheld calculator at the following link;
3. Taxable Payments Annual Report for the building and constructions industry due 28th August – note that if you have reporting obligations, notification and reporting to the ATO will be done though traditional paper methods. Nil reporting can be done electronically per the below link.
Taxable Payments Nil to Report
Bank Robbery
Two accountants are in a bank, when armed robbers burst in. While several of the robbers take the money from the tellers, others line the customers, including the accountants, up against awall,and proceed to take their wallets, watches, etc. While this is going on accountant number one jams something in accountant number two’s hand. Without looking down, accountant number two whispers, “What is this?” to which accountant number one replies, “it’s that $50 I owe you.”
Surely not …..