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Building a Startup business from the ground up 

Accounting for Startups and New Businesses

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Setting up your own business is exciting, but can also be challenging if you're not prepared

If you're thinking of starting up your own business, our accounting for startups package builds a strong foundation that is important so you don't get caught up with ATO compliance and long hours at work. Cashflow is an essential component as is one of the biggest reasons why 90% of small businesses fail in the first 5 years due to lack of business planning when starting up.

We Can Help You With This:

Let Oyster Hub tax accountants show you step by step how to start a successful business from the ground up where we will advise you on what business structure suits your needs, how to manage BAS, GST & Tax lodgements, how to maintain your payroll for employees and how to use cloud accounting software that will automate your paperwork & shoebox receipts and all other accounting for startups requirements. 

We can do this for you by:

Start-up Business Setup Advice

ASIC, ABN, TFN, GST, PAYG Registrations

FREE startup cloud accounting software

Training on staff payroll & bookkeeping 

Startup Cashflow & Asset finance 

Setup your Social Media & Digital Marketing

Steps to get your Small Business off the ground

Setting up your own business is exciting, but can also be challenging if you are not prepared.  This guide will take you through each step of starting a business and help you understand what lies in your journey ahead.

Prepare for business

A key to a successful business is preparation. Making sure you're prepared can save you precious time, money and resources.

Prepare for business

Owning a business can involve a lifestyle change as well as large financial commitment. We've included key areas to allow you to prepare for business:

  • Get yourself ready to take on the responsibilities of business ownership
  • Ensure it's a business not a hobby
  • Choose between Employees and Contractors
  • Seek Expert Advice and Save Money, Time and Resources

Register your business

To make it official, you’ll need to register. This makes sure your business gets taxed at the right rate, avoids penalties and protects your brand and ideas. As we are experienced in accounting for startups we can help register your business with the right business structure.

Register your business

A business name a.k.a trading name, is simply a name or title under which a person, or other legal entity, trades.

Your business name not only identifies you to your customers and allows you to differentiate yourself from your competitors and enables your customers to make an emotional connection to your business brand. For many businesses, the name is often the most valuable asset.

  • Register a business name
  • Register an ABN
  • Register a company
  • Register licence and permits
  • Consider a website name

Protect your business

You invest too much time and money in your business to lose it. Protect your investment by planning ahead.  Make it bulletproof from all aspects to ensure its security is upheld.

How to protect your business

Having the right insurance will help protect your business and minimise its exposure to risk. This may include insuring your business, income, commercial risks and many other risks.

Before you choose an insurance policy, you'll need to evaluate your insurance needs. You can do this by looking at each type of insurance and work out if it’s something that your business needs. Some insurers also offer insurance package policies specially tailored to cover different business types.

  • Insure your business
  • Protect your ideas
  • Have the right funding
  • Bulletproof your business
  • Respond in an emergency
  • Plan a smooth exit

Domain Name

Registering your domain name provides you with the identification string that defines a realm of autonomy, authority and control within the internet.

Domain Name

When looking for the right domain name to go with for your business there are numerous elements to look into before choosing.  We've put together 10 tips for choosing the perfect domain name:

  1. Make it easy to type
  2. Keep it short
  3. Use keywords
  4. Target your area
  5. Avoid numbers and hyphens
  6. Be memorable
  7. Research it
  8. Use appropriate extensions
  9. Protect and build your brand
  10. Act Fast

Know the law

Compliance with the law is essential to run a business and failure to do so can lead to an abundance of future problems.

Prepare yourself for business

One of the first things you need to know when you're starting out is what laws apply to your new business. You need to ensure your business is upholding compliance requirements.

You may wish to consult a legal professional for advice on what you must comply with, such as licences and registrations, contracts and leases.

Keep on top of these laws below to ensure your business stays legal:

  • Which Laws apply to you
  • Understand fair trading
  • Understand contracts
  • Look up industry laws
  • Contact a legal professional
  • Know your rights
  • Know your responsibilities
  • Be compliant

Set up operations

Give yourself a head start by setting up your business operations now. Having all this out of the way will also give you more time to focus on the core components of your business that will drive profits.

Set up operations

Recruitment refers to the process of hiring employees. As your business grows you will need to employ additional staff with new or different skills, or possibly employ people for the first time.

Making the right choice and ensuring you meet your obligations to your employees can ensure your business continues to succeed. If you're unable to train existing staff, it may be possible to acquire the skills you need by hiring new staff. Hiring a new employee for your business is a big decision, so it's important to do it right.

  • Employ people
  • Understand marketing
  • Choose your suppliers
  • Importing or exporting
  • Train employees
  • Establish customer service  

Plan for Success

Success is a planned event and failure to plan will lead to an inevitable decline.  This encompasses analysis of all business components to lead your business down the correct route.

Prepare yourself for business

To start and run a successful business you need to know all about your potential and existing customers and the marketplace you operate in.

  • Research your market
  • Research your industry
  • Develop a business plan
  • Develop a marketing plan
  • Develop an export plan
  • Develop a growth plan
  • Budget your time 
  • Budget you finances

Plan for every event your business will face and reap the results in the near future.

Prepare for tax

Getting on top of your taxes now can make things easier in the long run. It can help you avoid penalties and make sure your business is taxed at the correct rate and not a cent more.

Key Decisions You Need Make

Ensuring you're registered for the correct taxes is an essential step to starting your business.

The taxes you must register for depend on the type of business you're starting. Some tax registrations apply to all businesses and others may be compulsory. 

Follow the guide below to find out which tax registrations you need.

  • Which taxes to register
  • Keep correct records
  • Meet your employer obligation
  • Run Payroll Software
  • Prepare to lodge tax
  • Find tax help

Prepare your finances

To make money you first need to start of by taking control to optimise your current financial predicament. Speaking to a financial advisor and preparing your finances can go a long way to helping growth.

Prepare your finances

If you operate as a sole trader you aren’t legally required to have a separate bank account for your business, you can use your personal account.

However, for easy tracking of business transactions, you may consider opening a separate account for your business.

If your business operates as a partnership, company or trust then you must have a separate business bank account for tax purposes. Failing to do so may lead to penalties imposed by the ATO.

  • Organise your finance
  • Price goods or services
  • Find grant and assistance
  • Apply for finance
  • Don't take out loans that are too big
  • Speak to a financial advisor

Book a Startup Business Brainstorming session

Startup Business Advice

$250
  • 1 Hour business brainstorming meeting face to face or via Zoom video conference calls
  • Business structures suitable to you (sole trader, partnership, company or trust)
  • What does the structure mean for your family and/or other income streams?
  • Finance options available to start-up
  • Determining whether GST is applicable and how the system works
  • Advice on best practice record keeping using cloud accounting & bookkeeping automation
  • Advice on your TAX, BAS & ATO reporting requirements
  • Provide you with business plan worksheet for (cash flow projection and SWOT analysis)
  • Give 30days FREE QuickBooks Online access to start with your online bookkeeping, payroll processing and records management.
  • FREE 2 hours webinar on Quickbooks Online for beginners.
Get Started

Startup Business FAQ

From Marketing, Compliance. Growth Startegy 

The business structure you choose is very important in determining your level of success as it has a direct effect on things such as:

  • Your level of control
  • The amount of tax you need to pay
  • Regulatory obligations
  • Health and safety requirements in the workplace
  • The level of personal liability you will incur
  • Number of employees you procure

There are four structures on which you can build your business in Australia:

  • Sole trader: This is when you register someone (usually, yourself) as the sole owner of the business. That means you’re responsible for all legal aspects of running the business, but you’re entitled to hire people to work for you.
  • Company: This is a commercial business or entity that has a separate legal existence to its shareholders.
  • Partnership: A Partnership is when more than one person and/or entities run a business together, but not in the form of a company.
  • Trust: A Trust is an entity that is in possession of property, income, or any other assets for the benefit of a third party.

You must decide on the structure of your business before you register it, as each structure entails different steps to do so, however as your business grows you are able to alter the business structure.

You can’t legally start a business in Australia without you owning an ABN. This 11-digit number unique only to your business and acts as a government identifier for the business.

Once you’ve got an ABN, you’ll be able to:

  • Register your business name
  • Identify your business to other entities for things like ordering goods and services or sending invoices
  • Claim taxes such as Goods and Services Tax (GST)
  • Avail of credits for things like energy grants

It’s best to decide on your business name before you go about creating assets like your website URL, logo or any other designs. Otherwise, you’ll need to change everything in the event that your business name changes. If you do create a business logo, it’s worth considering if you need to patent it to protect yourself from copyright infringement.

You can only complete this step after you’ve secured your business name and ABN as it’s only possible to get a .com.au address if you’re a registered Australian business. The domain name you pick should be related to your business in some way and make it easy for prospective customers to find and recognize, which will help optimise your businesses results.

While you might have the perfect domain to go with a killer business name, you’ll still need to check that someone else hasn’t taken it already. Luckily, there are plenty of sites out there that can help you with that --> just for you we've provided one of them to give you a head start.

If you’re like the majority of new startups, cash flow will be your primary concern. You can have the best business plan in the world, but if you don’t have the money to keep the lights on while you’re getting your feet on the ground there is no point of your plan existing. With this, it’s important to know what resources are available to make the initial growth period a lot easier.

While there aren’t many government grants to help you start your business, there are plenty of options that are specific to each state. 

Cloud-Based Software's are the new wave in technology for many businesses and in turn will be the right starting point for your business to leverage.  Cloud-Based technologies will enable you to automate the fundamental processes in your business and give you more time and money to invest into the things that will grow your business.

 

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