Advisory services assist diversification

Offering advisory services to SMEs by Bookkeepers and Accountants assists in the diversification of the firm’s activities so as to give some protection from the challenges predicted by the Tax Commissioner 18 months ago.

For a Bookkeeper currently offering traditional bookkeeping services, the diversification into Advisory Services might relate to having a greater awareness of activities that SMEs could consider if they were alerted to the opportunity. This could relate to:

The process of establishing ‘Charge out Rates for Tradies’ based on productivity percentage expectations for team member categories, working hours, training and special leave allowance, mark-up on external purchases for clients and the decision as to whether the markup on external purchases will be retained as a ‘super profit’ or used to subsidise the ‘Charge out Rates’.

An understanding that the ‘R&D Tax Rebate’ is only able to be claimed by a company that has undertaken legitimate R&D activities, with a total cost exceeding $20,000 in the financial year, and that detailed records of ‘prior art searches’, the experimental work conducted and  the time spent on the projects has to be maintained.

Being able to explain to a client the opportunities for a private company to raise capital without undertaking an Initial Public Offer, to raise up to $2M from 20 investors under section 708 of the Corporations Act. Or having an awareness that a young company with turnover under $200,000 and expenditure of less than $1M in the previous 12 months are able to go through a series of questions that could enable the company to self-assess under the Early-Stage Innovation Company Status. Or successfully apply to the ATO for the Early-Stage Innovation Company status under the ‘Principles Tests’, thus making the company attractive to prospective investors who will be eligible for an income tax rebate calculated at 20% of their investment up to $200,000 for a sophisticated investor and $10,000 for a retail investor, and if they hold the allocated shares for more than 12 months and less than 10 years, they avoid having to pay capital gains tax when they sell those shares.

This is the first stage of ‘Advisory Services’ to SMEs that can be delivered by Bookkeepers/Accountants having an awareness that these opportunities exist and being confident to discuss those opportunities, because they are backed up by Product Packages developed by ESS BIZTOOLS.

The ESS BIZTOOLS’ BUSINESS ADVISORY SERVICES STARTER PACKAGE updates for 2024 are being launched today at 11am AEST. You’re invited to register, FREE of charge: CLICK HERE.