"Keeping up with the times and technology" Artcile by Tina Zawila

At Sothertons Gladstone, we love Xero!  Xero is beautiful online accounting software for small-medium businesses.  Whilst we have been using it with selected clients for the past 18 months, we are finding that many more of our clients are becoming interested in this software, and new clients are walking through the door looking for a Certified Xero Advisor.

Xero assists business owners with all of their business record-keeping tasks including GST and payroll.  It is “in the cloud” which essentially means it’s online and can be accessed on any device (with an internet connection), from anywhere in the world. 

One of the newer features of Xero is the ability to save documents into your accounting software.  For example, you can scan a copy of your business telephone bill and save it as an attachment to that transaction in Xero.  You could even take a photo on your smart phone of that EFTPOS receipt for that small purchase you just made, and upload it into Xero to make sure you don’t miss any of your deductions.

Some of our clients are embracing this new technology and often ask “Do I need to keep the paper copy?”  The ATO website now confirms that you can store and keep paper records electronically, and you don’t have to keep original paper records once they have been imaged onto an electronic storage medium.  The ATO will accept the imaging of business paper records, provided the electronic copies are:

·         A true and clear reproduction of the original paper records

·         Kept for five years

·         Capable of being retrieved and read by the ATO at all times.

This is great news for small business owners struggling with mountains of paperwork to be stored somewhere just in case the ATO ever comes knocking. 

If you are looking to simplify your business accounting and record-keeping, talk to the professional team at Sothertons today on 4972 1300 we would be happy to show you how easy it can be!