Anyone who has a bookkeeping business or is thinking about starting their own bookkeeping business in Australia needs to be aware of the changes to legislation to have registered BAS Agents who are then eligible to provide Business Activity Statement (BAS) services for a fee.

The legislation is in the final stages and once it has been passed it will mean any bookkeeper wanting to provide BAS services for a fee, must be registered as a BAS agent or working under the supervision of a tax or bas agent. Small business owners expect BAS services as part of the bookkeeping service, which is why this new legislation is causing concern for some bookkeepers.

To comply with the legislation changes and become a registered BAS agent, a bookkeeper who has 1400 hours experience and a minimum qualification of a certificate IV Financial Services (Accounting) or a certificate IV Financial Services (Bookkeeping) can apply for registration.

For a bookkeeper in public practice, this is not a very high level of experience required to become registered. I also feel the added requirements of registration will improve the industry and make it more regulated to ensure a more professional standard of service to clients.

If you are a bookkeeper who does not meet the education requirements, do not be worried. To gain BAS agent registration, you can investigate the other avenues available. The National Institute of Accountants and many educational providers can offer a recognition of prior learning facility if you have a bookkeeping business, but do not possess formal qualifications.

Recognition of prior Learning (RPL) is the process where by you submit examples of you work to meet the specific outcomes of a course. If you can prove with the examples that you have sufficient knowledge of the subject matter and meet the course outcomes, you can be awarded the qualification.

The RPL process means many bookkeepers in public practice with BAS and bookkeeping experience can apply for recognition of prior learning for the entire Certificate IV Financial Services (Accounting) or (Bookkeeping). If you can meet the course requirements you can gain the qualification without needing to undertake any study.

If you have your own bookkeeping business and do not have the relevant qualifications, utilizing this process can give you the qualification you need to become a registered BAS agent, which will ultimately assist you in running, growing or starting a bookkeeping business.

Technorati Tags: BAS Agent registration, bookkeeping business, how to start a bookkeeping business, start a bookkeeping business

Tags: BAS Agent registration, bookkeeping business, how to start a bookkeeping business, start a bookkeeping business

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 at 8:43 pm and is filed under Small Business Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.