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Does a business need a bookkeeper and an accountant?

As your business grows and evolves, so will your accounting requirements. So which comes first – an accountant or a bookkeeper? And what’s the difference between their roles? If you’re unsure, read on …

New Businesses

For a new business, it’s important to have a good accountant who will explain your business structure options. It’s important to get this right from the start because once your business grows, it becomes difficult, and potentially costly, to change the structure.

Business structure options include:

  • Sole trader
  • Partnership
  • Company
  • Family Trust

Your accountant will help you apply with ASIC for the business registration and with the ATO for the Australian Business Number (ABN). They are essential for any new business. Your accountant will also assist you with any other business compliance essentials you require.

Established Businesses

Once your business becomes more established and starts to grow, your accounts will become more complex and time consuming. You might even have wages and super guarantee payments to make which have complicated compliance requirements.

With your business requiring more and more of your time and potentially financial expertise you may not have, you will need to enlist the services of a bookkeeper.

A good bookkeeper will take care of all the day-to-day management of your accounts. This will give you more time to focus your energy on those aspects of your business you do best, like lining up a great new client.

Your bookkeeper should also provide you with important information on the financial health of your business, like how much (if any) of the money sitting in your bank account is profit. Knowing your numbers is essential as it helps you plan for growth and gives you the knowledge you need to determine whether you can afford to hire new staff or purchase new equipment.

Need an accountant or bookkeeper you can trust?

If you are a new business, Numeric Eight Tax can help you with compliance to make sure you and your business have a great start.

For established businesses, Numeric Eight Bookkeeping will streamline your accounts and help your monthly numbers make sense.

For help and advice, call the Numeric Eight team on (02) 9437 1785 or emailinfo@numericeight.com.au