Frequently Asked Questions
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What is a bookkeeper in 2013?.
HOW CAN THAT BE
When you are asked what you do? Typically we answer “A Bookkeeper”. We need to then explain what that means before you are categorised into whatever that person thinks it means: We spend our time working on advising, setting up and managing integrated business systems
Our view of what is happening at the moment is that due to the cloud, due to the advancement of technology:
The ATO and Treasury and other sectors of government are now first seeing and recognising that bookkeepers are a significant player in assisting business to be well run. Treasury and the SBR project team have caught on that Bookkeepers and BAS Agents are the ones actually preparing and lodging many, many BAS’s.
The better software companies are recognising that, in Australia, it is the Bookkeepers who are working very closely with business, more frequently with business and who are at the forefront of what technology a business implements. It is the bookkeeper who should lead the charge on changes to software to do with accounting/bookkeeping/compliance/record keeping as it is the bookkeeper working with it “more than once a year”!
Technology is bringing us better solutions and better ways to do business. Technology is changing what we do, it is not removing it.
The implementation of GST in 2000 brought bookkeepers to light and significance....someone needed to make sure the business was collecting GST when it should and getting every cent of it back...typically the bookkeeper. Someone needed to work closely with the business to change their business processes and comply with the new requirements, typically the bookkeeper.
In Australia we have two kindred professions: Accountants and Bookkeepers. Their roles overlap and many accountants do Bookkeeping and many bookkeepers do accounting. (As an aside neither word is protected: anyone can call themselves either an accountant or a bookkeeper)
Bookkeeping duties include:
Alternatively, how did they record the sale/take that cash for what (Point of sale systems. Registers, the till). Receiving, banking and recording that money.
What is the business process for making money and how should it be recorded?
Bookkeepers are responsible for:
Bookkeeping isn’t just historical processing.
Bookkeeping is “integrated business systems management”
Noting that bookkeeping remains subject to what the business requires.
(Adapted from the opening comments by Matthew Addison at ICB conference 2013)
ICB is about, AND for, all bookkeepers and BAS Agents
We are an association of Australian Bookkeepers looking to assist each other in doing our job better.
Our aim is to support and help bookkeepers of all levels be better and more professional!
(Employed, self employed, contract or do it yourself: ICB is here to help)
Our Resources section is provided to assist bookkeepers in all aspects of their work. You will find Bookkeeping Tools, Business Information, BAS Agent Information, Marketing and more. As we are always adding to and amending the ICB Resources section, you will always find something of interest and, do not hesitate in letting us know if there is anything you would like to see added.
The ICB will accredit your competenceWe work with bookkeepers by setting standards and professional codes of conduct, we assist bookkeepers be better by providing resources, systems, checklists, guidance notes, links to advanced knowledge, pathways to appropriate education.
Support bookkeepersNetwork meetings, email news, industry information, bookkeeper telephone and email query support.
www.icb.org.au A resource for bookkeepers: links, information, systems, checklists, tools, help.
The ICB is NOT a Training Organisation. We are not competing with training providers. The ICB will accredit relevant training organisations who provide courses relevant to bookkeepers. We will direct bookkeepers to the trainers who provide the courses relevant to the education that you require.
ICB recognises and will directly accredit approved training courses, together with experience gained where appropriate. We are working with a number of training providers to ensure appropriate courses exist and are accessible.
AccountantsBookkeepers play a key role in getting information to accountants. ICB's aim is to improve that relationship, the communication and the effectiveness of the communication interchange. We provide guidance notes on interactions between accountants and bookkeepers.
BusinessesWe help businesses have a more effective accounting and business process. ICB bookkeepers are about doing what they do well and letting you know before they are out of their depth. Our aim is for businesses to do their books effectively and correctly, using bookkeeping expertise and working with the businesses other advisors.
Government, TPB, ATOThe ICB represents bookkeepers in government and specifically ATO forums to ensure bookkeepers have their view heard.
The ICB plays a key role in communication of reality to bookkeepers and providing feedback of the 'bookkeeper's reality' to government.
Not all bookkeepers need a big stick and high level formal education. The ICB is about helping ALL bookkeepers. We will accredit, work with, support, resource and represent the bookkeepers who seek registration as a BAS Agent and we will accredit, work with, support, resource and represent every other bookkeeper in doing their bookkeeping in the best, most efficient and most rewarding manner.
Business / Education supporters:
HQ: Level 27, 525 Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000T: 1300 85 61 81 E: info@icb.org.au