Tips! - did you know that ...

Safety Programs

You are required to have a Safety Representative if you have more than 5 employees. This representative is responsible to take concerns of his or her fellow employees to management and follow up. As an employer it is your responsibility to ensure a safe working environment for your employees - regardless of your type of business.

GST

Did you know that if you have annual sales of less than $30,000, and you are a GST registrant you have the option of de-registering providing you meet specific criteria prior to applying to de-register your number.

Accruals

Any accruals set up in your year end files, must be taken within a specific amount of time. Otherwise this anticipated expense can be disallowed thereby reducing your expenses as filed with your tax return.

Invoice Numbers

If there are invoice numbers missing, Revenue Canada takes the average of all the invoices and then applies this average to each missing invoice. Make sure quotations you give are labeled as such rather than as an invoice.

Backup and Restore

Be sure to backup your data regularly.  You should also restore your data to another location to make sure that your backed up files are accessible.  A backup is of no use if it can't be accessed.  Remember that you may have spreadsheets and other information that are just as valuable as your accounting data.  Offsite backup services offer peace of mind for a reasonable price. 

Bank Statement Dates

If your bank statement does not have a month end cut off, it is easy to change.  Just contact your bank and ask them to change the end date to the last day of the month.  This will make your reconciliations easy and allow for a clean year end cut-off.

Tax Filing Reporting Periods

If you are a quarterly remitter for taxes, be sure to have the last quarter fall on your year end.  This too will ensure a clean cut-off and reconciliation for year end.  For example, if you are a corporation and your year end is November, you want your 4th quarter GST return to report for the months of September, October and November.  This is an option you have when you first open your accounts whether they are PST or GST.  If you already have the accounts open, it is not difficult to change the reporting periods to fall in line.

On-line Banking

On-line banking is here to stay and it is a wonderful convenience.  However, you should print off all payment transactions and confirmations and affix them to the item that was paid.  We are not 100% paperless.

Thermal Imaging

Thermal imaging receipts do not last.  The print will fade.  Ideally we should copy all receipts, however very few people do that.  If you have a thermal image receipt that is important, you should copy it and attach the original to the copy, that way you will always have the information on what was purchased.

GST Registrations

If you are paying for an item and the vendor's GST number is not on the receipt, you are in your legal right to ask for the GST number.  If you are in doubt about the registration number you can call Revenue Canada.  While they cannot give you details about the registrant they can confirm if the number is valid.  It is the law that all sales that attract GST must have the number on the receipt.

Maintain Daily Records

The best way to maintain daily records is to establish a filing system that works best for you and your organization.  Alphabetic and numeric are the most common and this is usually determined by the method in which you track your jobs, clients and vendors.  If you are retail, you will want an effective way to track your cash over and short.  Data input does not have to be daily, but if you maintain an orderly filing system until data is input you will be less likely to miss information.

Handle and review cheques carefully

With the automation of the banking system, the burden is on the business or account owner to ensure the security of your cheques.  Most of us have had cheques clear the bank that have not been signed.  Make sure your cheques are securely stored and the access is limited.  Do not leave signed cheques out.  A monthly bank reconciliation will ensure that only the cheques you have authorized have cleared the bank.  If you suspect any suspicious activity contact your bank immediately.

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