Accounting

In the dynamic landscape of technology, the accounting profession has undergone significant transformations over the years. At Empire Accountants, we believe we must recognise the imperative need to evolve with emerging technologies. From its paper-based origins to the current era of cloud-based software, the need for Accountants to constantly adapt to this change is now more important than ever.

As the years pass by, it’s become more and more common for banks, mortgage lenders, and even rental agencies to request accountant’s letters. 

Understanding your tax residency status is of utmost importance when it comes to meeting your Australian tax obligations.

Are you on the hunt for the best accountant in Brisbane for your established or small business? 

We are about to enter that time of year that we work with many clients to get a handle on their tax position for the financial year that will come to an end this June.

The area of tax law that addresses the tax impact of providing benefits is the Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) regime.

We’ve all heard the terms “tax offset” and “tax deductions.”  While many use these terms interchangeably, the reality is that they have two different meanings. As such, they have varying impacts on your tax result when it comes to completing your return! It’s true that both tax offsets and tax deductions can help you reduce […]

When asked about their gross profit margin (GPM), most business owners have some idea of how many products or services they need to sell in order to come out ahead. However, very few can share definite numbers to describe how much they need to make to break even and how much they need to make […]

What do I Need to Know to Safely Withdraw Money From My Own Company? As a company director, it may seem like an open privilege to use your company’s card for personal expenses. After all, it is your company, right? While many new business owners take on this mindset, they fail to realize that they […]

As you progress through this journey called ‘entrepreneurship’, you will find that each stage of the business comes with different challenges and concerns. At the start-up phase, you were simply trying to get your minimum viable product to market. During the growth phase, you competed for market acceptance and gaining market share. With maturity, the […]

Important Announcement New rules have been introduced with effect from 1 November 2021 with regards to verifying your identity to act as a director in Australia. You need a director identification number (director ID) if you’re a director of a company, registered Australian body, registered foreign company or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporation. What […]

You can write-off SAY WHAT?! Now Last year the government changed the instant asset write-off about as many times as one changes their underwear so you wouldn’t be remiss for not knowing what the current instant asset write-off rules are. In amongst the changes, they also added some new language and terms in the mix […]

We have entered the time of year that we work with many clients to get a handle on their tax position for the 2022 financial year. Commonly referred to as tax planning, these strategy sessions allow us to estimate your tax position to help you make decisions, that could minimise your tax outcome before June […]

When do you take time to work on your business instead of in your business? Most days we are caught up in running our small business and organising life in general. Goals we set get pushed from one week to another and before we know it, another year has passed. This is where Empire can […]

If you’re a small business owner we’re sure you’ve heard of the instant asset write-off increase that the Government announced as part of their first stimulus response package to COVID-19. If you haven’t… You may know that before COVID-19 the government had introduced an instant asset write-off incentive where business who turn over less than […]

Updated: 15 June 2021 Due to COVID-19, many employees are still able to do their job working from home. The ATO has recognised that employees may incur additional expenses and as such have introduced a new method of claiming deductions at tax time. If you have been working from home at any time during the […]

The Coalition have announced that they will be providing an assistance package worth billions of dollars targeted at stimulating the economy and fending off a recession in relation to the global pandemic, Coronavirus. Here’s what we know! > The instant asset write-off will immediately increase to $150,000 > Small and medium businesses can get up […]

If you’re about to replace your mobile phone this Christmas and have two-step authentication on it for your Xero file, it’s important to know that there are a couple of steps that need to be followed before you change devices. You can’t just download the authenticator app on your new phone and start using Xero […]

We’ve talked about the importance of having a cash-flow forecast for your business a LOT at Empire Accountants, and our reasoning is generally because it predicts the ebb and flow of cash in your business – Which sounds pretty important and straight forward right!? BUT it wasn’t until I was perched on our office beanbag […]

“Brilliant thinking is rare, but courage is in shorter supply than genius” ~ Peter Thiel. But you know what? You’ve already become one in a million; you’ve already mustered the courage to start your own business because you know that skill, that product or idea will make a difference. A difference to you, to your […]

The Problem with only one entity Now the problem with only having one entity in your business group is that you may be missing out on hitting one or more of the key considerations in my last article (see here if you missed it). Tax Minimisation With sole company in the business structure, yes it […]

What is Single Touch Payroll? Single Touch Payroll is the new way that small businesses report their employees’ tax and super information to the ATO. At present, businesses with less than 20 employees report this information to the ATO once a year. However, from the 1st of July 2019 all businesses will be required to […]

Bookkeeping; the strong beating heart of not only your business but the whole accounting industry! As accountants, we are solid advocates for keeping air tight financial records as it allows us to provide accurate and helpful advice that assists small business owners in understanding their numbers and identifying areas of opportunity. That being said, we […]

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Are you always chasing your tail with the tax man? Behind on your taxation obligations? If lodging your business returns, paying the ATO and Super isn’t made a priority in your business, it’s easy to fall behind. The problem here, put simply, is that your business needs to be compliant with the ATO to continue […]

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There are only a couple of weeks left until the Christmas Holidays arrive. The Holiday season brings with it the busiest time of the year. For the small business owner, this means increased professional demand, less time with the family and more time at the office. As small business owners have limited time but certainly […]

Now the ATO may be claiming that their online lodgement program myTax is the best thing they’ve discovered since fire. But I’m here to set the record straight! Needless to say, the ATO’s primary function is to collect tax; not to help you save yours. So is it any wonder that they promote their own […]

June 30 is fast approaching and it’s time to start looking at your business finances to ensure that you are prepared for the end of the financial year aka Taxxxx tiiiiimmeeee! By ‘being prepared’ we mean that thing we like to call Tax Planning, which essentially is reviewing your business numbers for the year and […]

It’s time we put it out there. We do actually know that we are generally not on the top 100 list of people you want to get stuck at a party talking too. That’s right… it’s out there… whilst we think we are pretty dang cool & fun, we know that Accountants are up there […]

Is it time for you to get a business budget? Budgeting might sound irrelevant to you if your business is performing reasonably well financially, you are making payments when needed, up to date with BAS and hitting all your obligations. However, we’re here to tell you that getting a business budget for the New Year […]

The QLD Government has established a new round of funding providing small business owners access to professional advice and support. You can receive matched funding up to $5000 (ex GST) to engage us for up to 3 months to help establish or develop your business. Are you eligible? have a business name registered within the […]

So what’s your Profit Margin..? Do you know… Should you know…? The straight answer is YES. You definitely should, most importantly so you know how much you need to sell to hit your goals. Knowing whether you’re making money is important right? We think so! So here’s all you need to know on your profit […]

When planning your next business promotion or sales tactic, discounting may be an easy campaign to implement. It doesn’t take much thought, offers your client perceived value and may allow you to drum up some new business quickly if you are in a slum. While discounting is commonplace, it actually isn’t really doing your business […]

The advancements in technology coupled with our ever strengthening infrastructure has given us something like never before; the cloud environment. With this comes unprecedented levels of innovation and the business landscape has changed more than it has in the last 5 years than it has in the last 20. Of particular note, our complex society […]

Paying tax is about as high on a lot of our priority lists as routine dental checks and doing our washing. We know it needs to be done, however, we like to put it off until we’re nearly clothesless and full of cavities… Pairing this with trying to keep up with new rules and regulations […]

A common problem within small business is cash-flow. Whether you’re in the trade industry, professional services industry, manufacturing or transport, it doesn’t matter what you do, there is a good chance your business could run into issues with cash-flow at some stage in its lifetime. A lot of the time you could be doing everything […]

‘It’s nearly end of the financial year again and I’m not where I said I wanted to be’… Does this sound familiar? It’s easy to say we want to reach a certain goal or hit a certain target in our business, it’s another thing to plan it, implement it and stay accountable. Staying where it’s […]

What makes a great accountant? Empire Accountants – Now Servicing the Gold Coast Recently, we’ve had 3 new clients come to us that all share a common problem. They have been fined and penalised by the ATO for late lodgement of BAS returns, due to their previous accountant not completing and lodging their BAS on […]

Spending $1000’s on getting your own Client Relationship Management (CRM) software developed isn’t generally necessary for small business needs and there are so many different platforms available today that finding a CRM suitable for your business should be fairly simple… right? We have found that this isn’t always the case, and maybe it is because […]

Partners, COI’s, alliances, business bud’s, fellow crazy people… Whatever you want to call them, one thing is for sure, having friends in business is crucial for growth and development. 5 Reasons why business alliances are so important 1.Referrals There isn’t a cheaper, better qualified lead than a referral from a trusted friend or partner. A study […]

For those of you that haven’t met the newest addition to the team yet, we thought we would create a little introduction for you to get to know him better! Leonard became the newest member of The Empire team in July, right before we moved to our new premises. Leonard is an EXCELLENT accountant that probably […]

As technology keeps developing and more and more people move to cloud based software in their business, more choices are available for CRM, quoting, accounting and workflow management systems. Meaning we as business owners are left to make the choices of what will work most effectively for our business. Now unfortunately when it comes to these […]

Want to grow your business this new financial year?  

What are the reasons you are in business? Is it to work for yourself, have more freedom (HA!) or because you love what you do and know you’re the best at it? Whatever your reason may be, at the end of the day to continue doing what you love doing or being your own boss […]

Marketing is not solely promoting a product or service, creatively communicating your brand or looking after your customers. It is a mixture of everything your business stands for and how it operates, and a big part of that is your numbers. Knowing your business numbers such as turnover, profit margin and average dollar sale are […]

But what do the numbers ACTUALLY mean? An Accountants greatest tool in their toolbox is the numbers. Our profession is based on compiling transactions, by following a set of rules, which gives us a report that tells us a very important story. Our schooling is based on understanding this concept and then applying it to […]

Accountants aren’t usually considered the most colourful of folk. The wallflower of the finance world, it’s easy to think we’re all number crunchers and spreadsheet lovers who let their hair down but once a year, sometime past June; who spend too much time face-to-face with your money and your paper work and not enough face-to-face […]

Starting a business? Let’s talk Cash flow. One of the most important tools when starting out in business is a cash flow forecast. Staying close to your business numbers especially in the early days is vital. So what is a cash flow forecast? Generally speaking, a cash flow forecast is a financial tool that predicts […]