SapphireOne achieved Full Certification Single Touch Payroll (STP) and Standard Business Reporting (SBR2) on 1st May 2018

 

SapphireOne achieved Full Certification Single Touch Payroll (STP) and Standard Business Reporting (SBR2) on 1st May 2018
Based on the information provided SapphireOne has been assessed and given Full Operational Framework Approval for SapphireOne who are consuming BAS (PLS) and STP low risk API (payevent services) with the following terms and conditions.

API consumption conditions  

Conditions

  1. Full Approval granted SapphireOne for BAS services (PLS) and  STP low risk API (payevent services)
  2. SapphireOne have ISO certification with software stored and managed by the client, in accordance with our requirements MFA is not a requirement as the as they are  Desktop application provider storing no data onsite.

Production Verification Testing (PVT)

You must successfully complete the required PVT scenarios with your Account Manager for each PLS API required.

Changes to your situation

The ATO must be notified via your Account Manager of any changes to your business or product environment, in relation to the information you supplied in your questionnaire.

Monitoring 

Monitoring is considered a joint responsibility between the ATO and the DSP.

The ATO conducts monitoring at the network, application and transaction layers; if anomalies or areas of concern are identified, we may re-assess your whitelisting suitability. The ATO will generally contact you or your representative unless exceptional circumstances apply.

Where you identify a breach through your own monitoring controls you must notify the ATO immediately via your Account Manager to ensure appropriate action can be taken.

Please respond with your agreement, understanding and acceptance of the conditions contained within this email.

SapphireOne achieved Full Certification Single Touch Payroll (STP) and Standard Business Reporting (SBR2) on 1st May 2018

 

Business Accounting Tips for successful Small Business to Mid-size Start-ups

Business Accounting Tips for successful Small Business to Mid-size businesses

With the availability of resources and technology, entrepreneurs today are finding it easy to realize their ‘start-up’ dreams. Governments and funding companies also welcome the entrepreneurs who have a unique idea and a definite plan backing that idea. Every city wants to become a ‘start-up’ hub these days, it is the ‘Golden Age’ of company.

Business Accounting tips is an important component that contributes to the success of an association, many of which failed because they didn’t manage their accounts properly. With the easy availability of resources, corporation tend to ignore the accounts in the initial stages, this could become a burden to manage the company’s financial health in the later stages. For your business to succeed from small scale to mid-size businee, you need to keep your financial records organized and updated. Following these accounting tips will help you in successfully managing your Small Business or Mid-size Startup.

Business Accounting Tips

  1. Accrual Business Accounting or Cash Accounting
    Using Accrual accounting you can track your transactions real-time and can estimate the present financial health of the company. Using Cash accounting, ATO reporting will be updated only after sending or receiving the payments, inventory etc. Use the help of a financial professional on which method to be adopted and which system better supports your business goals.
  2. Paper or Digital
    Digital accounting has taken over the age-old account books and records. Companies are encouraged to go digital thereby saving paper and the environment. Follow the reviews of the available vendors before buying the software if you are going digital.
  3. Documentation
    Whether you choose paper or digital transactions, you need to maintain your documents in good order, this can be done by using a reliable Document Management System. It helps to manage all your digital documents which you can retrieve whenever required. Documents of financial performance, profit and loss statements, budgeting etc. are of critical importance to the success of the organisation.
  4. Inventory Management
    Manage your inventory using location and bay management, record daily production, adjust stock levels. Invoicing is an easy affair now using SapphireOne accounting software.
  5. Cut Unnecessary Expenses
    Reduce unnecessary expenses related to training, paper, maintenance and unnecessary audits using an effective and user-friendly SapphireOne accounting software.
  6. Integration
    Integration of business accounting tips with CRM software will help in the smooth flow of business.

For a sneak peek at the full capabilities ERPCRMAccounting SoftwareHuman ResourcesPayrollAssets and Document Management,  check out SapphireOne and request a live demo, it is everything you’ll ever need to make your company management a success.

SBR2 Requirements in Australia for Accounting Software

SBR2 Requirements in Australia for Accounting Software

In Australia, over the past year, the Accounting and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software market has seen seismic changes as new players arrive on the scene and the market consolidates. In addition, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) has been updating to a new standard called Standard Business Reporting 2 (SBR2) and switching to a new lodgement system for tax reports. Therefore, the choice of selecting software for all businesses is becoming increasingly important, especially in the minds of those responsible for choosing an accounting software.

If you are in Australia, you have to make sure the Accounting software you buy complies with the new ATO requirements regarding SBR2

 New compliance requirement for Accounting Software

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has asked vendors of accounting and financial management software to create a gateway to enable direct submission of Standard Business Reporting (SBR). The system will use the same SBR system, only now it will be upgraded to SBR2. The ATO states that this is a further move to automate and streamline the tax system and both businesses and the State Government will benefit from lower costs and time efficiency savings.

The ATO wants software vendors to enable direct SBR lodgement. SBR is a standardised approach to online and digital tax records which was first introduced by the Australian government in 2010. The intention was to simplify business obligations when reporting to the ATO. SBR is currently built into business and accounting software. This next step is to automate delivery direct to the ATO from the software itself and has already been partially implemented by many vendors in Australia.

Streamlining the SBR lodgement process

Currently businesses can lodge reports via the GovReports website, called Electronic Lodgement Service (ELS). The aim of the ATO is to remove this in-between stage and lodge SBR directly from the business software to the ATO. This is called Practitioner Lodgement Service (PLS) and offers significant enhancements over the ELS system. Customers will continue to use the AUSkey security system which enables businesses and individuals a secure connection to a whole variety of Australian government departments.

PLS is a ‘two-way street’ rather than the ‘one-way’ ELS. Entries made into accounting software will be checked in real time with existing ATO records and errors or inconsistencies highlighted so corrections can be made.

The theory is that increasing the quality of submissions like this should reduce the workload of both tax practitioners and the ATO, therefore leading to a quicker service and faster tax return. Many software vendors have already incorporated PLS into their software, with more to follow in a series of updates.

Single Touch Payroll is one of the stand out features of the new SBR system. Under this feature, employers will be able to report salary, Pay As You Go (PAYG) withholding and other information directly to the ATO at the same time as they pay their employees. All of this will be done directly from their payroll software. This will benefit businesses in Australia by making the payroll system clearer, quicker, faster and easier.

SBR2 will combat against cybercrime

2017 has seen a surge in cybercrime worldwide. This is being widely attributed to the theft of material from the US National Security Agency (NSA) last year. Two attacks in particular have rort havoc in Europe with the second, ‘Petya’ emanating from an accounting software firm in the Ukraine. Experts have linked the Petya virus directly with an NSA tool called ‘Eternal Blue’.

A security company CrowdStrike proclaimed that both the Australian government and businesses are under constant attack from cybercriminals. This is in part since the country is allied with the U.S. and the major hacking networks do appear to target ‘the West’. They even came up with comic book style characters representing the key cybercrime players, Fancy Bear, Deep Panda and Charming Kitten, Russia, China and Iran respectively.

It should be noted that CrowdStrike has a vested interest in shouting about this proliferation in cybercrime, holding as it does contracts with both the Australian Government and businesses in the country. The company recently raised US$ 100 million in a round of investment, valuing  it at around US$ 1 billion. It is difficult to ignore the evidence that attacks are on the increase and are becoming increasingly sophisticated.

The ATO, software vendors and Australian businesses themselves clearly face an ongoing battle with cybercrime during a difficult transition period. A recent survey reports that 29% of tax practitioners are already using PLS. The new PLS service will be expanded and phased in through a series of deadlines over the remainder of 2017 and into 2018, with ELS phased out by the 1st April 2018. As such, businesses will be obligated to use SBR2 enabled software and need to have confidence both in the vendor and the ATO. This will eventually mitigate the risk in regards to fraud or some cybercrime. 

Buyer’s Guide to Accounting Software

Therefore to meet the compliance requirements, businesses should consider a new point in how to choose the best accounting software :

Will your Accounting Software be SBR2 enabled in 2018, so that they can lodge their business activity statement (BAS) and other forms directly to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)?

SapphireOne News :

SapphireOne is now incorporating the new ATO requirements regarding SBR2. We are expecting to go live with these before the end of 2017.