Accounting Q&A

When you eat in McDonalds Restaurant in Melbourne or in Shanghai, you have the expectation that the Big Mac will taste the same.  In the same way, if you're using a franchise such as H&R Block, you can expect the same level of standard whether you use them in Melbourne or Perth or Hong Kong.  Small accounting firm that is local to one city or a few cities in a country can have a higher level of standards than H&R Block but the key is that you don't know the standard until you engage them whereas if you're already using H&R Block in one city and you open a new business in another city, you can expect the same level of service you're currently getting.  

Hi Mary Grace, it depends who you use. I know of accountants who charge per task as they have a set price such as tax returns or BAS. Others charge hourly for trust set up. They all vary.

As a guide, hourly I would allow $80 - $120, and for something like a tax return $200 - $350.

If you're sole trading or freelancing without employee, you don't have to use accounting software.   You can consider using Excel spreadsheet for your accounting record.  Unless you have a lot of inventory, most of the things you are going to record are purchase orders and invoices and Excel can do all that easily.  You can record your expenses as well.  Any accountant can work with Excel spreadsheet, convert it to financial statements and work out your tax.

As long as you take all the necessary security measures with your logins and who has access to your data, generally the advantages far outweight any disadvantages.

If you and your accountant only require access, and you have low transaction activity then a traditional non cloud accounting system can be more than fine for basic needs.

An accountant with a CPA would have years of experience under their belt to get to where they are. You can bet that they won’t be fresh eyed graduates or junior accountants. To be a CPA, an accountant would need to complete the CPA program, have professional working experience for a number of years and maintain their qualification every year.
 
There’s another well-respected certification called Chartered Accountant or CA. Generally, both will be good at growing or turning around businesses and handling complex cases.
 
Naturally, their cost will range in the hundreds per hour. You should expect upwards of $200 per hour if you are consulting. Make sure you understand whether your business needs an accountant with a CPA or CA and who best to hire and engage with. 

Stay in one, and get the expertise of having all. You can manage to solve the questions by looking at the question and trying to think how your software can do it for you.

As a sole trader, I cannot recommend Rounded enough. Simple to use, intuitive layout, and near-round the clock support. Quite reasonably priced, too.

Fast asnwering of what you need is to keep working and increase the cashflow to get bigger limits