Supported Independent Living (“SIL”) under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (“NDIS”) supports participants to live independently in shared accommodation homes. These homes are designed to enable supports to be easily delivered for daily living and household tasks. While the NDIS will cover support costs, it does not cover everyday living costs which everyone is expected to incur. Examples are food, grocery items, utilities, entertainment, and internet which may be shared with other participants in the home and managed by the SIL operator. 

Participants and SIL operators managing shared costs can find themselves in all sorts of situations which may present a financial risk. It creates risks such as support workers having access to participants’ bank accounts and/or physically handling cash. The SIL operator who employs the support worker is responsible for having proper financial processes and controls in place.  

It also creates headaches and more work to chase payments when they are missed or short paid.

SIL operators using Gobbill technology say it is like set-and-forget when it comes to automatic collection of funds into their bank account. It saves their business time on reconciliation, improves cashflow and increases transparency in the financial management processes.

How Gobbill can assist?

Gobbill is an Australian built solution which helps SIL operators to manage and automate the collection of funds from participants by debiting their bank accounts when payments are due. This is set-up once when the participant signs up with the operator. Participants do not have to give the support worker their credit card, internet bank access or cash to pay for everyday expenses anymore. 

It is a simple 3-step process:

1.           Setup your participants in Gobbill with their bank accounts to direct debit.

2.           Send your invoices into <your_participant>@gobbill.com account.

3.           The amount is debited and deposited into your account by the due date.

With Gobbill taking care of the collections and bill payments, this allows SIL operators to save significant administration time and improve their cashflow while reducing the risk of financial abuse.

Email [email protected] or contact us at Gobbill.

Business Outlook for FY24 – Challenging times ahead for businesses

Many Australian businesses especially SMEs businesses are struggling with cashflow due to higher inflation and interest rates. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has raised the official interest rate known as cash rate to 4.1% in June 2023 to tackle the high inflation level of 7% (March 2023). “In short term, this actually put on more pressure on consumers and SMEs alike.” says Mr Rajic, Founder of Small Business Loans Australia.

CreditorWatch Chief Executive, Patrick Coglan says “The new financial year 2024 is looking tough for businesses with insolvencies at a 10-year high and trading conditions further weakening”. Further from Trading Economics statistics, the bankruptcies in Australia have increase to 387 companies in May 2023 as compared to 308 companies in April 2023. Signs from commercial property index remains weak at -6 for Q1 2023 as reported by NAB – Commercial Property Survey (Q1 2023) specially affecting the retail (-32) and office (-16) properties still in negative zone.

Household consumption growth is expected to remain sluggish through this year as inflation and higher interest rates weigh on real disposable income. “It is unlikely be a cut to the cash rate until both goods and service inflation is on a sustained downward trend and the unemployment rate is roughly at 4.5%” (vs April 2023 at 3.7%), accordingly Ms Anneke Thompson – Chief Economist of CreditorWatch.

Alarm bells should be ringing for business owners to focus on cashflow management as it is crucial for businesses to survive in these economic conditions. The most practical approach for businesses to be in a healthy financial position is to:

1) Optimise its cashflow with steady inflow – collections via:

1. Timely billing of invoices to clients – minimise delay in collection
2. Early payment incentives to clients – encourage prompt settlements
3. Expanding payment options – allow flexibility to encourage prompt settlements

2) Filing of tax returns – ensure any funds owed are returned to the businesses promptly

3) Payment to suppliers on time or to negotiate for favourable payment terms (i.e. longer payment terms or early payment discounts)

The efforts above will be better managed by an automated platform to automate collections from clients when it’s due, streamline the follow-ups process and paying invoices on time to suppliers.

Gobbill is a solution used by many businesses to organise and automate their collections from clients and payments to suppliers.

Accounts Receivable automation: Business owners can easily forward their invoices into Gobbill for the system to debit their clients’ bank account before the due date. A client direct debit authority will need to be in place. It eliminates money handling, money transfers or even having to chase for payments.

Accounts Payable automation: For payments of invoices, the system automatically does the data entry of invoice (no need to type anything it), checks for any fraud/scams, pays just before the due date and allocates it to correct expense account. This reduces significant administration and reconciliation time. The invoices are then stored in one place which removes the hassle of finding all the expenses/ invoices when it comes to tax time. Our clients can synchronise the data into Xero or just export a file for their accountant which also contains all the information required including the associated clients/entity for the bill.

Contact us to find out more about Gobbill – automated collections and bills payment platform or email [email protected]

Sources:
1) Accountants Daily – Businesses told to brace for ‘challenging’ FY2024
https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/business/18651-businesses-told-to-brace-for-challenging-fy-2024

2) Augusta – Margaret River Mail – Australian businesses are struggling with cash flow due to inflation and high interest rates

https://www.margaretrivermail.com.au/story/7924793/study-highlights-inflation-pain-for-australian-businesses/

3) Commercial Real Estate – The commercial property outlook for 2023

https://www.commercialrealestate.com.au/news/the-commercial-property-outlook-for-2023-1188460/

4) Trading Economics – Australia Bankruptcies

https://tradingeconomics.com/australia/bankruptcies

5) Reserve Bank of Australia – Economic Outlook (May 2023)

https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/smp/2023/may/economic-outlook.html

A former business manager of Melbourne High School has been jailed after stealing more than $430,000 from her employer to feed an out-of-control gambling addiction.

Frances Walshe’s first theft in early 2012 went unnoticed by the school because of a poor financial governance model that gave the 65-year-old unchecked access to its bank accounts.

Over the following decade, Walshe made a further 263 illegal transactions, stealing $432,546 from the school’s coffers to feed an out-of-control gambling addiction.

Schools, clubs, not-for-profits and other organisations can’t rely on trusting one person who has banking access. For less than $50 per month, a subscription to Gobbill automates accounts payable saving time and costs. It reduces the need to access Internet Banking for making payments, and eliminates or reduces the risk of internal and external fraud.

Shendon Ewans – Gobbill CEO and a Melbourne High School ‘Old Boy’ says that this type of crime could have been prevented. For such a school where funds are so important and fundraising can be very difficult at times, it is disappointing for the school’s management to not have the proper check and balances.

Find out how Gobbill can protect your organisation – school, club or private business.

Contact Gobbill https://gobbill.com/contact/

Read more from ABC News: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-06/melbourne-high-school-frances-walshe-business-manager-jailed/102057716

Photo of Dr. Paul O’Keefe, Practice Owner of Premier Health Partners

Paul is a small business owner who has overseen the growth of his clinic from humble beginnings to what is now a fully multi-disciplinary medical clinic, combining osteopathy with general practice, physiotherapy, myotherapy, clinical psychology, dietetics and remedial/sports massage.

As his practice grew, Paul was spending more time and energy on managing his accounts payable. Instead of closing up for the day and spending time with his family, he would be sorting out admin. Paul heard about Gobbill from one of his patients. Since signing up and using it for a while, here’s what he has to say:

“Gobbill takes the stress out of bill payments for my business. Once the account is setup everything is totally automated. I just email bills to my Gobbill account and I know they’ll be digitised and paid on time and that Gobbill will check for any duplicate or fraudulent bills. Every few weeks I log in and sync bills to Xero, and that’s my whole accounts payable process done as simple as that.

Gobbill has saved me heaps of time and makes bill payment so easy. It’s a part of my business I don’t even think about anymore, you just set and forget it and know everything is being done right. I would recommend Gobbill to other business owners out there looking for a solution to their accounts payable process.”

By automating the accounts payable aspect of his business using Gobbill, Paul has been able to save time and effort on admin which he has estimated to be around $30,000 per annum. It helps him to manage his cashflow with maximum control and minimal effort.

Many business owners using Gobbill have saved up to 70% of their time spent and around $30,000 per annum on managing their accounts. These include medical health clinics, osteo/physio clinics, dental clinics and more.

Find out more about how Gobbill can help your business, contact Tonisha at [email protected] or visit gobbill.com

Having trouble hiring staff?  Covid impacting your workforce?

Gobbill Australia was able to save one of its clients 80 hours (one half-time employee) of administration monthly for a $100 per month online subscription. The client is currently saving $35,000 each year.

Imagine what we could do for you.

“Organizations must act to retain their current employees and to attract people” McKinsey & Co Dec 2021

Many business owners are struggling to find staff from customer service to administration roles. If this is you, examine activities that you can automate using Gobbill. Attracting and retaining talent is important but who wants to do the work an automation robot is able to.

Gobbill is a secure online system which removes manual steps and automates checking, bookkeeping and payment activities. 

You can save up to 70% of your time in admin and paying bills with a subscription starting at $48 per month.
For one of our clients, they removed 80 hours per month of administration work using Gobbill. This saved the business $35,000 annually in wages not including overhead costs.

Thousands of Australians trust Gobbill to automate their admin and manage millions in payments each year. Established in 2015, Gobbill is owned, built and operated in Australia for small business owners. There are no offshore development or processing services involved.

Visit gobbill.com to sign up today or learn more.

Contact [email protected] if you need a consultant to review where you can save time.

References:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/24/australias-workforce-shortage-never-a-better-time-to-be-applying-for-a-job-experts-say
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-organization-blog/the-great-attrition-facing-the-labor-shortage-conundrum

Direct debit can be a great way to organise your finances, but what are the risks? Make sure that you understand the pros and cons of direct debit before making a commitment to payments that may have hidden strings attached. 

Don’t set and forget 

Keep yourself informed of the direct debits associated with your bank account. Signing up for a trial can seem like a great way to access a free product, but if a biller only accepts direct debit ensure to cancel your subscription before the trial period has ended. Alternatively, if you are a customer who prefers the convenience of a ‘rolling’ policy (a policy that is automatically extended each year), review these payments regularly to confirm that you still require the services. Customers are often hit with charges for products they no longer use without notification from their provider. 

Giving control to a third party can be risky 

As direct debit payments allocate billing control to the biller and give your bank account details to a third party, it is vital that your service provider is a trustworthy organisation. Customers are not required to provide approval for payment, even if a bill is out of line with prior spending.   

Monitor your bill payments 

Using direct debits as a method of bill payment does not mean that customers can avoid monitoring bill amounts. To remove the potential of being overcharged, it is important to be vigilant about what is taken from your account. Monitor withdrawals from your biller and ensure that bill amounts are in line with your spending habits.  

Cancelling can be a process 

Depending on the biller and direct debit system, cancelling a direct debit can be a difficult process. When your direct debit is set up, ensure that you retain authority to end the debit unilaterally. Many banks are unwilling to stop direct debit at a customers request, meaning that a business may take several or more months of payments before the process is stopped. To cancel, customers will often be required to write a letter to the bank and merchant to stop the debits. Before setting up a direct debit read the Terms and Conditions and educate yourself on how to cancel in case you no longer require the service or product. Or alternatively, set up an alternative way to pay. 

Paying bills with a credit card has benefits 

Direct debit payments do not give users the opportunity to access rewards. For those looking to maximise their bill payment benefits, pay bills on a credit card where possible to gain cash and travel rewards. If your biller charges an inconvenience fee for credit card payments, this is the circumstance to look into a debit card or direct debit option. For billers that do not charge extra for the use of a credit card, do the research on what card will be most useful for which bill – do you want to use a card to increase points? Money flow? Choose what credit card gives you the best benefits for your preferences and go.  

Careful of the extra fees 

Utilising direct debit as a payment service can reduce the possibility of being charged late fees and get you pay-on-time discounts. However, if your bank account does not contain enough funds to cover the bill total, you may get charged a fee by both the financial institution and the biller. To manage this issue, it is important for users to either link direct debits to their primary bank account or set reminders to transfer funds before bill due dates.  

An alternative bill payment service like Gobbill can assist in avoiding the potential shortfalls associated with direct debit payments. The new online service issues payment reminders before a bill due date, gives users increased flexibility to pay bills using a credit or debit card, allows users to maintain control over bill payments and automates the bill payment process.

Contact Gobbill to find out more or Sign UP today for FREE

Sep 19, 2021 

Small businesses make up 96% of the 2.4m businesses actively trading in the Australian economy. These businesses have less than 20 staff, employ 44% of the workforce and generates 35% in GDP. Small Businesses are the backbone of the Australian economy. 

The financial year 2021 saw an increased number of new businesses by 3.8% in terms of net growth (source: ABS Aug 2021). This is great news especially in certain growth sectors such as ‘Construction’, ‘Professional, Scientific and Technical services’, and ‘Health Care and Social Assistance’.  

However, since the NSW and VIC extended lockdowns, recent data from Xero and Gobbill is showing a slowdown in the ‘time to payment’ between Jun to Aug 2021. Small business income has also dropped by 12.5%, payment defaults have risen in last month for the first time since May 2020, while bank loan deferrals increased six-fold according to CreditorWatch. 

Gobbill is a secure bill payment automation company for Australian small businesses. During these uncertain times, the company has found its clients are more in control of their payments using Gobbill instead of bills being automatically debited (direct debited). It’s a nasty surprise if you are not expecting the amount or timing of a debit against your bank account. Small business owners can deferred bill payments using Gobbill with a few clicks. Checkout https://gobbill.com for more details.

There are winners and losers from this pandemic but the lockdowns only exacerbate the divide between those that have to close their businesses and those that can still trade. 

The outlook leading up to this Christmas is bleak for small businesses that cannot or have restricted trading imposed on them.

Melbourne, Australia 19th December, 2018 – Bill payment automation company Gobbill today announced that it has signed a collaboration agreement with the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) Australia. Gobbill and the AAT will work together to help support bookkeepers and accounting technicians with cutting edge technology. “The spike in online fraud combined with the convenience of new automation technologies are the two key factors why many people need Gobbill” said Shendon Ewans, CEO and co-founder of Gobbill. “Our collaboration with the AAT spans many initiatives but crucially bring awareness to the Australian industry of what is occurring and how they can address some of the issues.”

According to ACCC’s ScamWatch, false billing alone has increased by seven-fold in the last three years to $5m this year and an average loss of $30,000 loss per business. The extent of the problem is under reported and doesn’t include ransomware attacks and business email compromise.

“The rise and rise of scam threats to small business are now part of every-day reality and AAT welcomes any technology protecting secure business process. Gobbill’s unique payment automation and authentication technology solution is a great step in the right direction in terms of protecting business to business transactions” said Rochelle Park, CEO of AAT. “Our partnership with Gobbill aims to raise awareness in the industry of what criminals are doing in online environments and provide real solutions for bookkeepers supporting small business.

The AAT is the longest standing association for bookkeepers in the country, committed to developing high standards and professionalism of its members. Gobbill automates bill payments using artificial intelligence for small businesses and households. The company is sponsored by Microsoft and a partner of the Australian Government’s cyber safety initiative. It has completed a big year of developing partnerships, integrating with payments infrastructure and accounting software; and recently completed its early stage capital raising.

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About Gobbill
Gobbill is a digital finance assistant that automates bill payments using artificial intelligence for small businesses and households. Users are protected from online scams, avoid late fees, maximise discounts and protect their credit rating scores. Small businesses have the additional benefit of digitising invoices, scheduling payments and synchronising data with their accounting software.
Founded in 2015, Gobbill can pay bills issued from any Australian provider including utilities, telecommunications, council rates, insurance and more. The company is sponsored by Microsoft, a partner of the Australian Government’s cyber safety initiative, AI partner of Silverpond and member of Stone & Chalk. Gobbill is an Authorised Representative (1261196) of Australian Financial Services Licence Holder (448066).
For further information, see gobbill.com or contact the team at: [email protected]

About the Association of Accounting Technicians
The Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) Australia is the longest standing association for bookkeepers in the country. AAT boast a proud tradition of supporting bookkeepers and accounting technicians and are constitutionally supported by the three main accounting bodies in Australia, the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA), Chartered Accountants in Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ) and CPA Australia. AAT Australia was one of the first professional associations recognised by the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) as a BAS Agent association under the Tax Agent Services Regulations 2009 (TASR), being admitted on the 5th May 2010.
Our close partnership with the accounting associations, in particular the Institute of Public Accountants, means that AAT Australia’s members have unique opportunities around networking with accountants and tax agents to create productive referral networks that support Australian businesses.
AAT Australia membership provides a commitment to high standards and professionalism and provides members with important status and recognition about their skills and experience.
AAT Australia’s commitment to excellence includes ongoing business development support for practitioners and new entrants to the industry, with close ties to accounting software companies and other important third party solutions.
For further information, see aat.org.au or contact the membership team on 1800 000 961.

Radio program Talking Technology’s  Trever Long and Nick Bennett interviews Gobbill’s CEO about bill payments and making it easier to switch banks and service providers.

Listen to the recording.

Talking Lifestyle is a commercial radio station in Sydney, Australia owned by Macquarie Radio Network. It currently broadcasts from studios in Greenwich, New South Wales in Sydney’s North Shore. Former call sign 2UE 954 covering Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane & Perth.

Bessie Hassan | Money Expert at finder.com.au

Bills can make up a big portion of your total monthly expenses, so finding ways to cut them down can save you lots of money in the long run. Monitoring your expenditure and finding ways to spend less can make a huge difference.

According to new research from finder.com.au, 42% of Aussies are too lazy to question their provider about an unexpectedly expensive bill, which suggests that we need to get more active when it comes to saving money on our bills.

If you’re ready to make a conscious effort, read through our simple tips for saving money on your household bills.

Find a better deal

The first thing you can do to cut down on costs, especially after receiving a massive bill, is compare the prices of similar products. You may be able to find another provider that can offer you the same features for a lower price.

If you do find something better but you’d rather not switch, you can call your current provider and ask them to offer you a better deal (and if you’ve been a loyal customer you can use this as leverage in your negotiations). Providers don’t want you to leave for a competitor and will often be willing to make some changes in order to keep you. If they can’t, then it may be time to move on.

 Only pay for what you actually need

If you haven’t been keeping track of what bills you’re paying and how much each of them cost, it’s time to go through your bank statements and figure it out. You can then create a draft budget that should give you a better idea of where your funds are going and whether you’re paying too much for features or services that you don’t use.

A lot of the time, you’ll find that you’re paying for things you don’t need. For instance, you might not need 10GB of data or 100 minutes of international calls a month. By switching to a different plan, you could save yourself over $100 a year. You also might find that you’re paying for services such as Netflix or Spotify that you can cut out altogether.

Once you’ve figured out where you can cut costs, your budget should be looking a lot better.

 Pay your bills on time

Remembering when your bills are due isn’t always easy, so it’s a good idea to have a system in place to help you do so. You could do something as simple as setting reminders on your phone for when your bills are due. You could also set up a direct debit via online banking so that your bills are automatically paid at the right time each month. Just make sure that you’ll always have enough in your account to pay your bills every time. If you don’t pay your bills on time, it could negatively impact your credit score.

You could also try setting up automatic payments with Gobbill. This tool allows you to have more control over your bill payments without having to worry about remembering to pay them on time.

 Set up bill smoothing

Bill smoothing can be extremely useful for those large bills that only come round a few times a year. Electricity providers will generally allow you to set up bill smoothing so that you can pay in smaller increments.

In cases where bill smoothing isn’t available, you can setup your own makeshift system. For example, if your quarterly electricity bill is $2,100, you could set aside $700 a month or $350 fortnight to prepare.

Be savvy with your water and electricity usage

Doing little things around the house to save on water and electricity can definitely help to reduce the cost of your bills. Usually, the largest portion of your electricity bill is for heating and cooling, so try putting on another jumper or a pair of pants before resorting to switching on the heater.

For water usage, make sure you turn off the tap while brushing your teeth and try taking shorter showers.

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Making a conscious effort to reduce your household expenses and to think about how much you are spending is the best way to save on your bills. By making a small effort now, you can reap the financial benefits well into the future.