Australia is often referred to as a nation of small businesses. And with our population growth on a continual incline, business activity is blossoming across the country’s suburbs, where tradies, professionals and shopkeepers are serving a range of new and expanding communities.
Last year, the tax threshold for small businesses was expanded from $2 million to $10 million and the Australian economy added 27,000 new micro businesses between 2014 and 2016 — an average of just over 1,000 businesses per month. In the sectors of construction, professional services, arts and recreation, financial services, accommodation and food, micro businesses grew by between 7 and 8 percent alone.
There has never been more competition and more pressure on business owners to keep their operations running seamlessly and their finances in order. Cue Australia’s bookkeeping community.
Bookkeepers are more than just accurate record keepers. They’re deeply involved with the businesses they serve, seeing them more regularly than accountants do and serving dozens of different businesses at any given time. They’re not only responsible for running their own businesses, they also make sure their clients’ businesses are running smoothly.
Fortunately, rapid developments in smartphones, mobile devices and cloud-based applications mean that bookkeepers are able to do just that: track and manage their own operations, while having more time to engage with their clients, even when they’re very busy.
John Birse started the Jim’s Bookkeeping franchise 17 years ago and in recent times has turned to Square to onboard new clients and help his existing clients streamline their business processes.
“I’ve found that my clients using Square are getting paid faster. This makes my job easier and lets them use that cash flow to improve other parts of their business,” says John. “The digital tools are also a really great way to attract new clients. When you show them how to make their payment processes more efficient and they see how to manage more of their business in one place, it’s a no-brainer.”
If you’re a bookkeepers, here are three ways Square can help you better service your clients:
1. Improves cashflow by getting them paid faster
Square has a range of digital features to help your clients get paid faster. Square Virtual Terminal allows a business to enter a customer’s credit card details conveniently and securely from a web browser when a customer isn’t available for face-to-face payment.
Square Invoices is another helpful tool that allows business owners to send as many invoices as they need for free, right from their point-of-sale app or web browser. Business owners can issue an invoice on the spot, provide their customers a safe and secure way to make payment online as soon as they receive it, all while the business owner can track the invoice progress from delivery, to viewed, and then settled.
2. Increases accuracy with accounting software integrations
Integrations between Square and Australia’s most popular online accounting solutions — such as QuickBooks Online and Xero — means Square transactions flow automatically into your clients’ accounting reports. This not only improves accuracy but also reduces the need for manual data entry.
Customer details can also be exported from your accounting program and imported into the Square app. It’s a great time-saver when you’re helping businesses get their data together for business and tax reporting.
3. Greater visibility across business operations
Square Employee Management allows your customers to set different levels of access for various users to all the areas of their point-of-sale systems. This means your clients can give you access to their reporting Dashboard so that you can extract data quickly and easily. This can help you assess a number of their business processes including comparative sales reports, their busiest times of the day and week and the sales completed by other employees as well as customer frequency and feedback.
Are you an Australian bookkeeper wanting to learn more about Square? Visit our website, or contact our local team 1800 760 137.
