Casual Administrative Assistant

Banking On It Bookkeeping is hiring.

Administrative Assistant required for casual work.

Must be reliable and able to maintain confidentiality at all times.

Ideal candidate has strong written and oral communication skills, attention to detail, problem solving abilities and organizational skills. Must be well versed in Google Workspace and digital document management. This position would be suitable for an individual looking to add a few weekly work hours to their life without conflicting with the ability to parent children in school.

Exact days and hours would change depending on workload and the abilities of the employee - more hours in the future could be a consideration, depending on the employee. Rate of pay $20-$22 per hour depending upon experience and abilities. (negotiable)

Duties to include:

• Downloading, digitally filing, printing and organizing financial documents using Google Workspace and other digital filing platforms (process training provided, proficiency in Google Workspace preferred qualification)

• Sorting paperwork for processing by the bookkeeper (training provided)

• Tidying office, dusting & vacuuming

• Organizing office space, ordering office supplies upon occassion

• Data entry

• Other duties may be added depending on the employee’s abilities, learning curve and wants for progression within the position

• MUST be reliable and be able to maintain strict confidentiality.

To Apply:

Email your resume and cover letter (or even better, an ePortfolio) to aaron@bankingonit.ca.

Spring into Action: Revise and Renew Your Business Finances for a Fresh Start!

Spring has officially sprung, and with it comes a sense of renewal and rejuvenation. As the sun begins to shine brighter and the days get longer, it's the perfect time to take a fresh look at your business's financials.

At our bookkeeping business, we believe that the start of spring is the ideal opportunity to give your financials a thorough cleaning, just like you would with your home. Just as you might spring clean your closet or declutter your living space, it's important to tidy up your financial records and make sure everything is in order.

Spring is also the perfect time to review your business goals and adjust your financial strategies accordingly. Maybe you're looking to expand your services, or perhaps you're planning to invest in new equipment. Whatever your goals may be, taking a close look at your financials can help ensure you're on track to achieve them.

And let's not forget the beauty of the springtime sun! As the weather warms up, it's the perfect time to take your bookkeeping tasks outside and enjoy the fresh air. Whether you're organizing your receipts on a park bench or reviewing your financial statements at a café, getting some vitamin D can be a great way to boost your productivity and mood.

So, as the spring season gets underway, I encourage you to embrace the spirit of renewal and give your financials the attention they deserve.

The Rogers outage caused havoc - check your business payments

Bookkeepers across Canada have noticed that payments made during the Rogers disruption may not have been processed or have been returned to accounts.

If you had any important payments made or scheduled for that time - say, Source Deductions, please monitor your business bank accounts to make sure that those payments went through and also haven’t been credited back.

This has happened to customers of a variety of banks and accounts and CRA was effected by the disruption so make sure to check regardless of which bank or Credit Union you use.

Monday, August 1st 2022 - BC Day is the next statutory holiday in BC

The next stat holiday here in BC is on Monday, August 1st.

Friday, July 1st, 2022 Canada Day is the next statutory holiday

Just a friendly reminder to employees and employers alike that Friday, July 1st, 2022 is the next statutory holiday in British Columbia.

Here is a link to the website for your reference to the upcoming statutory holidays for the remainder of 2022 as well as for 2023.

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/employment-business/employment-standards-advice/employment-standards/statutory-holidays

Are you registered for GST? An important factor you need to pay attention to.

Small business owners know all too well that you are almost always burning the candle at both ends trying to manage everything for your business.

Sometimes I think my customers think I’m just trying to add a kink in their day when I’m nagging them for proper paperwork. However, I’m just doing my job to try and CYA (cover your @ss) in the event CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) opts to do an audit of your books.

CRA does audits for a number of different reasons. It can be that suddenly your income has gone way down or you are claiming back a high number of ITCS (input tax credits) for your GST isn’t normal. They could be auditing another business that you sell to or purchase from and your business name pops up. They also have a system of random compliance audits. They may audit your payroll account, your GST account, your income tax filing or possibly all of them.

For those that don’t know, here’s how GST works. A GST registrant must charge GST on their taxable sales - the tax applies to most things (but not all, and it’s your responsibility as a registrant to know what you should and should not be charging it on). The GST charged is done so on behalf of CRA. That money belongs to the government, not the business. However, the business is allowed to track the GST that they pay out on their ALLOWABLE business expenses they incur in the process of earning that income. The difference is then remitted to CRA.

They are very specific with regard to what is necessary to be able to provide to support those ITC’s you claim on your return. If you cannot provide that information, they will disallow those credits. They will also charge interest on them, if you’ve claimed them and it may cause them to delve deeper into your books when they find non-compliance. This isn’t just limited to claiming ITC"s on your GST returns, either. This information is also required to substantiate your expense claims and is necessary for your customers to claim what they need to on their end.

Something else that needs to be clarified is that CRA wants to see invoices - not just receipts. What’s the difference? An invoice shows the details of the sale while a receipt shows how that invoice was paid. Many business owners confuse a receipt as an expense invoice - especially for restaurant meals - and frankly, it’s not good enough. You MUST ask for a detailed invoice of your purchase. In the case of the aforementioned meals receipts, you should also note the person you met for the meal and the nature of the business discussed in order to justify it as a business expense. Just because you have a business doesn’t automatically make your meals out a justified meal expense - it has to be for a specific business purpose. ie. a partners meeting, meeting with your bookkeeper or accountant to specifically discuss business or a protentional customer or supplier - those types of things.

So what are the requirements needed on a proper invoice for audit purposes? Well, the details are available at this link: Records you need to support your claim

Here is a snippet from the link mentioned as to what is required on both your own sales invoices and those you receive from your suppliers.

Changes coming to the BC Sick/Illness Leave recently implemented

Once again, government released a new requirement without properly consulting professionals that deal with this every day. This has resulted in confusing legislation that hurts small businesses even more than the initial requirement to eat five paid sick/illness days with less than two months’ notice.

Don’t get me wrong, I do not begrudge employee’s having the ability to stay home when they are unwell without the worry of losing pay. I’ve certainly dragged myself to work in rough circumstances because every dollar on my paycheque counts. Although, as a self-employed individual, I’m still out in the cold on this one.

However, small businesses are sucking wind. The pandemic has dragged and, while some businesses have been busier than they’ve ever been, many have taken on ever mounting debt and are struggling to find the employees they need to keep their businesses going. Inflation is hitting the roof, the housing market is nothing less than crazy and the ever changing rules, restrictions and required spending for covid measures has already hit businesses really, really hard.

The wage subsidies have been tricky, confusing and the rules were ever changing and evolving and on top of that, really shafted family owned businesses where family members were putting in long, long hours just trying to keep their doors open when no one else wanted to work. You know what would have made these programs really reach the people who needed it and have those people able to access them? If they had consulted with payroll professionals, accountants and bookkeepers to help devise a clean, simple and easy to understand application process. Many who needed these funds did not apply because it was too confusing and too time consuming to apply.

Then the BC government comes along to off-load five days of paid sick leave across the board onto the backs of employers. I’ve heard it from people over and over - well if you can’t afford the costs you shouldn’t be in business. It’s really hard to plan for the costs when they are constantly evolving and being downloaded when not expected.

All levels of government need to do better when implementing these programs and the first step is to actually involve the people who do this work on a day to day basis in devising these rules and systems so that they are easy to understand and implement.

As far as the changes to the five day paid illness leave? Keep in mind that this won’t be in effect until this legislation is passed and it sure would have saved me a lot of spreadsheet work if they’d just done this in the first place but I certainly welcome the changes. Link to the government press release below.

Province simplifying, strengthening paid sick leave

Fall brings big changes and new beginnings

This is a bittersweet announcement to make.

After more than seven years, the fabulous Jessica Hitt is moving on to a new and amazing opportunity.

I’m very proud of Jessica and the amazing professional she has become. She has learned much and devoted herself deeply to her trade and my business.

It has been an honour to be her employer, her co-worker and now, simply, her friend.

Jessica’s new beginning also means a full circle transition for myself and my business. I started out as a solo bookkeeper way back in 2003 and now, in 2021, I find myself back to the same. It has been a wild ride and it has been humbling to have many local (and some out of town) businesses use my services over the years.

If you see Jessica out and about, please congratulate her and wish her well. I have zero doubt in her future success in her new position and am so happy and excited for her. She moves on with my blessing and support, albeit a few tears, as well.

If you are looking for part-time admin work, reach out. While my plan is to continue on as a solo bookkeeper into the future, some help with administration could be in the cards.

Onwards and upwards!

Source Deductions are due TODAY

Family Day is a provincially recognized statutory holiday in BC but it is not recognized as a Federal stat holiday.

Here is a link to federally recognized statutory holidays: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/public-holidays.html

This means that your payroll source deductions for January 2021 are due TODAY if you are a monthly filer.

Please make sure to get your payments in on time to avoid any interest or penalties.

Using your iPhone, iPad or iPod as a document scanner

As we find ourselves in unprecedented times, I thought I'd try and send out tips and tricks to help us all with embracing technology that's available to us.  

If you have an iPhone, iPad or iPod, you can actually use your device as a scanner.  Some of you like to take pictures of paperwork and send them to us but documents are much better to work with in PDF format rather than a photo format.

Here is how to use your ios device (ie. iPhone, iPad or iPod) as a PDF document scanner:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210336 

Stay safe & health everyone!!