Francois Marais

Sage Accounting or Sage Cloud Business Accounting as it is now known has many benefits. (Have to check the latest name for Sage Accounting because it has now recently twice changed its name, probably as they position themselves for the international markets?)

One of the benefits of Sage Accounting vs Xero Accounting is the cost because Sage is a South African product.

This blog is inspired by a visit to a friend who owns a pub and restaurant in the Overberg in Betty’s Bay near Kleinmond. Like for many small businesses yesterday was the last day to submit your Vat return and pay your Vat for the March-April 2019 period. Failure to pay Vat on time results in a 10% penalty which is expensive because penalties and interest paid to SARS is not tax deductible.

What’s even more costly is having a SARS Vat audit and being found out for making calculation errors. Besides mentioned standard penalties SARS can even impose higher penalties. Having a SARS auditor or two in your offices can seriously disrupt normal business practises.

When providing accounting or bookkeeping services to my clients in the Helderberg and Overberg I always have to explain requirements to comply with Vat legislation such as being in possession of a valid tax invoice before claiming input VAT.

Having an up to date computerised accounting system such as what can be achieved by using Sage Business Accounting will greatly enhance your chances of complying with accurate record keeping of your business for tax compliance purposes. (The Companies act also requires of all business to keep record of daily income and expenses.)

Most small businesses still work a lot with cash income and cash expenses. While this can lead to accounting errors, can attract criminals to your premises or worse your person with small businesses the owner is usually involved in the day to day operations of the business, the cash often being in his direct possession. (In larger businesses like Bouhandel in Kleinmond the cash would be in the possession of a manager. The month of May saw the local manager of Bouhandel in Kleinmond appear in court for the theft of cash from the business after a night of partying and drinking.)

While the business owner might know where his assets are and understand the business and know when to supply his accountant in time with a list of cash expenses which carries Vat when you do not have an accurate computerised accounting system like available trough Sage Accounting you will never be able to go on holiday resting assured that the admin of your business and it’s cash assets are properly accounted for.

Using a computerised cloud accounting system presents the benefits that the business owner can be far away sailing over the seas and still be able to log in and see what is happening in his business. If an accounting firm is responsible for  the VAT and PAYE returns they can be given electronic access to your accounting records. When working with a manual system you will often find that the list is drawn up manually by the owner and then typed by a secretary before being send of to the accountants. This results in time wastage.

Another possible negative is by leaving things to month end with your manual system is that you expect your accountant, who is swamped with work on busy days like month end for Vat returns or the 7^th for PAYE returns, to in time submit your return and sometimes to process payment on your behalf. This does not leave much room for negotiating cheaper rates when it comes to your monthly accounting services in the Helderberg or Overberg or anywhere in South Africa for that matter.

The way to go is to rather get super user friendly software like Sage Business Accounting and to invest time in mastering the software by getting on site Sage Training and to daily process your transactions and thereby avoiding the last minute rush to get your information to your accountant.