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

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is on the move to crack down on landlords that incorrectly claim or omit items for investment properties on their tax return. The ATO found nearly 9 out 10 landlords making various mistakes such as submitting incorrect claimed expenses and rental income.

Assistant tax commissioner Tim Loh said the Tax Office was targeting areas where people often made mistakes on their returns such as leaving out rental income and overclaiming expenses. “We encourage rental property owners and their registered tax agents to take extra care this tax time and review their records before lodging their return,” Loh said.

Not having the eligible expenses digitally stored and correctly categorised in one place is a big hassle when it comes to tax time.

Senior Accountant Anthony Fernando from Xantias financial management says that he sees this all the time while he assists many clients with their tax returns. “Clients are time poor and need to collate all their expenses for claims. They also need to be aware of what expenses are claimable as per ATO’s standards. A good tax accountant can guide you through.” 

It takes a lot of time and effort to pay bills relating to investment properties and keep on top of records for expenses. Maintaining proper records is important to calculate and substantiate your deductions.

An Australian technology company called Gobbill has been helping property and business owners over the last 5 years. The system automatically does the data entry of bills, check for any fraud/scams, pays the bill before the due date and allocates the bill to correct property (or entity) after the initial setup. This helps property investors to avoid errors, save them a lot of time throughout the year and remove the hassle of finding eligible claims at tax time.

Gobbill is a solution used by many Australian property investors to organise and automate all their bill payments, then store in one place the relevant expense claims. It removes the hassle of finding all the expenses when it comes to tax time. Our clients just export a file for their accountant which also contains all the information required including the associated property/entity for the bill.

Contact Gobbill to find out more about paying and tracking investment property expenses https://gobbill.com/contact/  or email [email protected]

Contact Xantias to find out more about financial management https://www.xantias.com.au/contact/  or email afernando@xantias.com.au

#taxtime #eofy #accounting #propertyinvestment #tax

Sources:
1) Sydney Morning Herald, April 2023 – Landlords asked to explain $1.3 billion tax shortfall in new ATO blitz: https://www.smh.com.au/money/planning-and-budgeting/landlords-asked-to-explain-1-3-billion-tax-shortfall-in-new-ato-blitz-20230414-p5d0fp.html  

2) Australian Financial Review, April 2023 – How ATO crackdown is targeting your investment property:   https://www.afr.com/wealth/personal-finance/how-ato-crackdown-is-targeting-your-investment-property-20230419-p5d1nt

3) The Australian Taxation Office: https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Investments-and-assets/Residential-rental-properties/rental-expenses-to-claim/

4) The Australian Taxation Office: https://www.ato.gov.au/general/interest-and-penalties/penalties/statements-and-positions-that-are-not-reasonably-arguable/

5) The Guardian, April 2023 – Australian Taxation Office to force banks to hand over landlord data in investment property crackdown: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/apr/12/australian-tax-office-force-banks-hand-over-landlord-data-investment-property-crackdown

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

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

New feature update as of 6 January 2020

We are listening to clients’ feedback and implementing features almost every business day.  You can imagine there would be plenty of small and large changes being made daily.

Here are a few key ones:

• Click through to bill details from the Bill Calendar. Client requested to be able to click through from the calendar to the bill details.

Additional options to override the payment date – A client asked to have more control over when specific Billers are paid, and this new feature is now available on our Premium and Business Plans.

Benefits:

• Set payment time frames for individual billers – ‘pay x business days before due date’ or ‘pay x calendar days after issue date’
• Set and forget, once you select the payment time frame it will automatically apply to any future bills received for that biller
• Better supplier relationships, give suppliers more certainty about exactly when they will be paid, particularly those who manage a tight cash flow

Other recent features prior to 6 January 2020 ———–

Pay ASAP is a preference switch to enable the payment of invoices as soon as possible (ASAP) when a bill arrives in Gobbill. This feature was requested by one of our bookkeeper clients to clear invoices and bills as soon as they are received instead of paying before the due date or paying late.

[BETA] Payroll Sweep and Pay is the ability to clear payroll payments for any client and any Australian bank account through Gobbill. Instead of having to manage multiple Internet Banking login access authorities, logins and passwords, our accounting and bookkeeping partners can access one point trigger payroll approval and to clear payroll payments. Performing it through Gobbill doesn’t affect your clients’ Internet Banking daily limited which can alleviate a big issue on certain days when many payments have to be made on the same day.

[BETA] Bill and Payroll approval flows is the ability for small business users as well as accountants and bookkeepers to trigger approvals for bills/invoices and payroll. Authorizers can simply respond via email to approve without the need for logins or apps.

New dashboard designed for bookkeepers and accountants to manage their clients’ bills/invoices within Gobbill. Working with AAT members and our Partners, we’ve listened and developed a new dashboard to help support the work activities of bookkeepers and accountants. The dashboard helps to collate and group all clients’ accounts payable invoices and manage the timing and cashflow of payments. It is currently being trialed by a beta group.

NDIS dashboard for Plan Managers and households with NDIS self-managed participants. NDIS Plan Managers and Self-Managed Participants are able to see their invoices relating to NDIS all in one area. Their Gobbill account can support the whole bookkeeping practice (portfolio of clients) or whole-of-household with all bills and invoices. We see Gobbill as a whole-of-household solution for bills (including NDIS invoices) making life admin easier for those who are participating in the NDIS. A new dashboard is available to users on the Premium and Business Plans. Just ask [email protected] to activate it for you. There’s no extra charge or fees because it is all part of your existing Plan.

Bank statements can be uploaded directly for account verification and setup. A request from a Partner, you can now link a new bank account in Gobbill and upload bank statements for verification immediately. This is in addition to emailing  your bank statement to your own @gobbill.com email address.

Gobbill can now pay over 40,000 Australian billers and uses robots to fetch bills stored online. Some billers will send a notification that a bill is ready online. Instead of clicking on the link, forward the notification to Gobbill to do it for you. Gobbill currently has robots which will safely and securely fetch from online sources bills/invoices from their associated portals. E.g. City West Water, Sydney Water, Energy Australia, AGL Energy, Xero invoices and more..Robot automation saves you time and also helps to prevent you from clicking on malware or being directed to a fake website.

Gobbill is now able to accept multiple invoice/bill attachments and multiple types of documents in an email. Previously, Gobbill required each invoice to be on its separate email.

Documents awaiting processing by Gobbill due to fraud check or text recognition are displayed as in Gobbill as “Pending documents”.

Bill payment cutoff time is now midnight instead of 6pm. This is the cut off time for bills to be included in the next business day’s payment processing. If  a bill is sent into Gobbill and accepted before midnight, it will be included in the payment processing the next business day or scheduled before the due date depending on the circumstances and preferences.

The disability sector has been shaken up since the introduction and continual roll-out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), Australia’s first national scheme to support people with permanent and significant disability. The purpose of the NDIS is to allocate funding to participants so that they have more control and choice over where they direct their spending.

There are around 4.3 million Australians who have a disability. Currently, there are 277,000 NDIS participants and the number is expected to double next year as the scheme rollout continues. The 2019-20 Federal Budget estimated that $23 billion in annual payments will be processed through the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).

This has created a myriad of challenges and opportunities – one of which is to assist NDIS participants to manage their claiming and payment of their services related to NDIS funded support activities. Find out more how Gobbill supports self-managed participants and plan managers in managing budgets, invoices and payments.

Read more at  Accounting Technician – The Official Publication Issue July / August 2019 

Finding clever ways to accomplish more in a time-pressed business day can be the difference between getting through that endless list of tasks, or not.

Using Gobbill to automate payments is one way.

Gobbill interviews travel expert Susie Sheldrick who works in tourism about her tips and tricks to make travelling a breeze.

You travel all the time for work. How do you manage being away so often and keeping up with friends at home? Do you just use your mobile to keep in contact?

Social media makes it easier. I have friends around the country as well as the world, so it is super easy to stay in contact on social media, especially if most people are on the one platform. Smart phones help as well. All the info I need is stored or accessible through my phone. I love how it is all cloud based these days as well, so if something happens to my phone I can log onto another device and get what I need.

What’s the best way you make the most of your time while travelling?

Do some research but keep plans flexible. It is good to know what the main things are you want to see and do. But the best experiences are always the ones that happen spontaneously that no amount of research and planning can facilitate.

I like to have an idea of where I am visiting, what the local food is, what attractions I want to see and any local quirks to be aware of like siestas…then ask a local, get exploring and let the adventure unfold.

If I am travelling for work I try to make the most of the contacts I have for work. Most people love talking about their city, favourite foods and places. You get the insider tips and it also helps develop that relationship.

What can’t you travel without?

Ohh. Good question. I am literally writing this on my phone mid flight so I suppose a smart phone these days… but I do remember the days of travelling without one so a better answer would be scarf (which I am wearing because I always find flights chilly!)

Scarfs are too versatile not to bring. I’ve used them in all types of destinations. I always have a light cloth one handy that is a decent size so that it can be used for everything. They can also pack up small and light so they are never an inconvenience. Over the years I have used a scarf as:

• Clothing
• Blanket especially if there is aircon
• Makeshift carry thing
• Towel
• Picnic rug
• Pillow
• Pillow case (regrettable hostel)
• Eye mask
• Head covering for sacred places

I also always pack swimmers. It might be a little optimistic, a swimsuit. You never know when a pair of swimmers will come in handy.

Can you give our users some travel advice?

Don’t underestimate how far a smile and a bit of kindness can go. It transcends language and can get you far in a lot of places.

How do you manage other currencies overseas? Use a travel card?

I use a credit card with no international transaction or conversion fees for most things, then I just withdraw from my regular eftpos card when I need cash. I found currency cards don’t convert the cash at a good enough rate to be worth the hassle, especially if you aren’t using a major currency ie heading to a country that uses a currency that you can’t convert to directly like Norwegian Krones. And avoid currency exhange as much as possible. Most airports have an atm you can withdraw cash from as soon as you land.

It helps to do some research about the money norms in the location you are visiting. Not everywhere is as credit card friendly as Australia, even places that you would expect. I got caught out in Paris one time thinking all cabs accepted cards.

How do you keep up with bills back home while you’re travelling?

Gobbill!

Also a little bit pf planning. Not too many bills come out of the blue or a surprising amount, so it is possible to plan and budget.

Anything else you want to include?

Travel often!

If you’re working to a tight budget, you could save hundreds or even thousands by changing your everyday household service providers. With rising electricity prices, now more than ever it’s time to make sure you’re getting the best deal possible. Is that 10% off an an actual saving or are there hidden costs? Does the price include uneccessary extras? Do the research and you could be rewarded.

Mr. David Baybrooke spoke to Gobbill about how he avoided high electricity prices simply by shopping around. “I switched electricity providers and saved $178 per quarter,” he stated. “I changed from Origin to AGL. A substantial saving there!”

“Shopping around for the best prices is an absolute must I think. On a reduced income, I find price comparison essential!”

Advice for Gobbill users?

“Online research,” says David. “Always looking for great deals! I’ve been looking at Big Switch and I’ve also been helped by a comparison service to find the best rates. Lots of effort put in.”

If you have shopped around and saved Share it with us here: [email protected]

Want to learn more?

Read our blog on how to get the most from your billers here.

What’s new?

Each month our team adds a range of new features to make Gobbill even better! Take a look at our new features below.

• [New] Gobbill will automatically store your digital receipts with bills paid by Gobbill*. You can also forward bill receipts to your account to be matched with the original bills. It’s all in one place. To view the receipt, simply navigate to the ‘Paid Bills’ screen and select the view receipt icon.

*Where possible with billers send email receipts.

Other recent features:

• Individualise Gobbill to suit your needs, with increased flexibility when viewing your bills via the new list function. Try this out by pressing the ‘select view’ button.
• Need to pay a bill earlier than the due date? Now you can by scheduling your payment dates. To do this simply click on the calendar icon at the bottom of your bill and select your preferred method of payment.
• Make tax time easy with Gobbill. To view your bills in a spreadsheet, simply log in, visit the ‘All Bills’ tab and export a csv file.
• See what billers are linked to your payment methods by navigating to the ‘Biller Accounts’ tab and selecting the ‘Show/Hide bills’.
• See all the bills for a certain biller by navigating to the ‘Biller Accounts’ tab and selecting the ‘Show/Hide bills’ tab.
• Set Gobbill up to work for you and change your payment method nickname. To do this simply visit the ‘Payment Methods’ tab, select the ‘Edit Payment Method’ icon and update your payment nickname at the bottom of the pop-up screen.
• Gain valuable insights into your spending habits with the Gobbill Report function. To access this feature click ‘Reports’ from the homepage and select your preferred report layout. Currently two layout options are available – ‘Cash Accounting Tax Preparation’ and ‘Accural Accounting Tax Preparation’. You can also download this data into a Summary Report.
• Paying a bill in segments? Users now have the option to process instalment bills through Gobbill, including council rates and more. To do this forward your segmented bill to Gobbill and each instalment will be paid automatically.