How much does it cost to hire an accountant for a small business?

Even in your average small business (1-3 employees, less than $500k turnover) there will be a broad range of options for accounting and finance including getting specialise setup, tax structuring advice, finance systems and processes together with the everyday bookkeeping and accounting functions.

Is an accountant needed for a small business?

An accountant can offer comprehensive startup and ongoing small business advice, while making sure tax compliance is prepared and filed with the relevant authorities on time.

What is the role of an accountant in a small business?

Being a business owner can be a tough job, and it’s good to have a trusted advisor to lean on in times of complexity or uncertainty. An accountant will be able to help you navigate your business through these times, and help keep compliant with relevant tax authorities.

Xero is an integrated accounting platform that can complete all small business invoicing, receipts, bank transactions and reporting for the IRD. Being cloud based means your advisers can have access to your information in real time.

Is Xero Accounting any good?

Xero is a great tool for small businesses as it gives you real time access to the financial data of your business - information we couldn’t imagine being in business without.

Using Evernote for Receipts

There are two reasons to keep receipts:

It's good business practice
It's the rules

Keeping Receipts is Good Business Practice

From a business perspective keeping copies of receipts means you have better control of your business, can make better decisions and lowers your accounting costs (remember time spent finding receipts is a cost as well).

The Rules

Inland Revenue says all companies must keep records of all income, expenses, assets and liabilities for seven years after the end of the tax year they relate to. These can be in electronic format so long as they're legible and complete.

Links: IRD Record Keeping Guide & Record Keeping Checklist

What is Evernote?

Evernote is a cloud storage system for notes, files, pictures. We've been happy users for a few years and haven't had any troubles. There are a range of plans available, with the entry level providing easy access to free storage in the cloud.

Evernote Benefits

Optical Character Recognition ("OCR") and Searchability

When uploading pictures or scanning paper, Evernote will read the contents of the document so you can search for it at a later date.

iOS & Android apps

Having recently switched phones we can say that each of the apps work really well. Having these on your phone means you can snap receipts on the go. You can also email documents straight to Evernote using a unique email address.

Integrations & Shareablility

Once set up correctly, Evernote can link notes, pictures or pdfs produced to other online software. You can also share individual notebooks others wont need to bother you via email.

Setting up Evernote:

Sign up for an Evernote account and download the smartphone app
Setup a new notebook for your scanned accounting documents
Find the email address for that notebook and save it to your contacts (for emailing in)
Share the new notebook and start saving receipts there

Why stop there?

Evernote is a great option for keeping receipts and invoices, but it also works great for contracts, agreements & statements. Evernote is great for anything that you might want to easily find in the future.