Frequently Asked Questions

Below are answers to several questions that you may ask about Accounts Online. Where we have offered optional answers, please select the one that applies most to your business.

Yes. Accounts Online provides you with the tools and empowers you to do your day-to-day bookkeeping in an easy and efficient manner. We show you how to record your data in a format that is easy to understand by your accountant and enables them to do what they are expert at providing you with expert tax and financial advice, year-end financial statements and audits. Accounts Online is a compliment to you and your accountant. We now have many accountants working in association with Accounts Online and recommending our service to their clients!

Accounts Online is most likely to cost you a lot less than the current costs of doing your accounts! It will save you large amounts on time and in some cases may save you paying someone to do your accounts. There is no upfront purchase price and all you pay for is a small monthly fee based on the amount of transactions going through your bank accounts. This means that we provide you with a very economical solution no matter how large or small your business is. You only pay for what you use. In many cases Accounts Online will cost you less than a can of Coke per day. There is a small initial investment required for training. This is charged on an hourly basis. Never forget time is money and you need to place a market value on the time it takes you now to prepare your accounts.

Everyone is daunted by the prospect of transferring from an existing accounting system or setting up for the first time. With Accounts Online you do not need to hesitate. We can normally have you fully operational in around 4 hours and with our full range of support services you can quickly resolve any issues that may arise over time. In fact after only a few weeks you will probably not need us at all!

Accounts Online is now installed and functioning in over 300 different industry groups right throughout NZ. These range form large corporate businesses through to the small home based part-time businesses. Other industries include sports clubs, insurance companies, food service companies, service stations, builders and the list goes on. Even govenment agencies are not excluded. Our client base is growing every day and if we are not currently operating in your industry you can be sure that we will soon be!

We can show you how to impress your bank manager with professional looking budgets. As you know your accountant prepares excellent financial statements which often shows your business in the worst possible light so that you minimum amount of income tax. However, this result is not always the most endearing to a prospective buyer of your business. We can show how to maximize that potential.

Accounts Online is proud of its support history. We understand that many businesses truly value a friendly helping hand when it comes to their accounts. We provide full initial training and set up of accounts with a fully trained consultant. We operate a FREE email and fax inquiry service to answer any of your queries. Because of our experience we can assist you to examine ways to take short cuts but NEVER at the expense of integrity. We also provide FREE upgrades and FREE phone support.

Accounts Online comes with a full suite of automatic reports. You can easily generate all reports immediately and they are easy to understand and interpret. The reports will give you an instant picture of how your business is doing and will highlight areas that need your attention. This will mean that you can spend more time managing your business and less time managing your accounts.

Doing GST has never been easier. With Accounts Online and the click of a button you will generate your GST report, with all field populated automatically and in exactly the same format as the IRD requires. All you need to do is print it off and post it with the top copy of your return. It just couldn’t be any easier!

Yes, you most certainly can and it is way easier than having to key all your creditors into a creditors system before finalising the GST return. We may even be able to make life simpler for you if you are on an invoice basis. Talk to us.

We can show you a variety of ways to bring into account outstanding debtors, creditors and stock if you want to. Of course at every year end your accountant must make these adjustments but during the course of the year make sure you need to make these adjustments before you do.

Not a problem, we will explain how you can prepare a cash journal to accounts for this expenditure.

We can easily explain how to account for such transactions and correctly account for GST.

Quite simply all cost components relating to the importation of goods can be correctly accounted for and the correct amount of GST claimed.

Accounts Online does not charge for software upgrades, although occasionally we will run seminars and charge a nominal fee to cover the cost of such events to inform clients of the upgrades.

Yes it’s sooooooo easy. One of our trained consultants will train you how to do this on a one on one basis. Experience has taught us that many of our clients prefer that initial hand on the shoulder assistance. But after that there is no holding them back.

You’ll need to let us know as soon as possible before this happens. We’ll simply send new documentation for your new bank which you need to return to us ASAP. This will mean that you old account details will remain in your system and the new account details will start and automatically merge for accounting and GST purposes. If any transactions should get missed during this transition period we can tell you how to enter them manually.

Absolutely not, we are simply the facilitators to make it happen. We provide you with the tools to access your own bank statement transactions.

Absolutely, the information is sent directly from your bank, so there is no room for error.

The relationship between you and your bank does not change. You will still receive your printed statement from your bank as usual.

Yes. Once there is one transaction downloaded the historical transactions can be imported in .csv (comma separated version) format. With Bartercard transactions this has to be done manually.

This depends on the integrity of the information you provide to your accountant. It will also be helpful if your codes are the same as your accountants. Therefore, we know many clients who as a result of this service now receive higher added value services for their accounting fees in the form of tax compliance and business improvement services.

We, Accounts Online, provide all support. Simply call us if you have any questions.

Yes, up to 250 divisions can be set up and reported on. Graphs can also be run on each division.

There is no limit however there is a small cost associated with every additional bank account.

You download the information from a special secured mail box that we will set up for you to access your bank statement transactions. The system is very similar to accessing your emails.

Most clients will download their data once per month, but some clients like to download it weekly. Weekly data is usually available every Tuesday. This allows all the banks throughout NZ and Australia to provide their data before you are given access to download.

Accounts Online improves the quality and timeliness of your accounting reports.

Accounts Online eliminates unwanted paper, you no longer have to search for missing bank statements.

Accounts Online helps you to be more efficient:
– transactions can be sorted easily into cheque number order
– repetitive bank statements can be automatically coded
– data is complete and accurate
– punching of bank statements is no longer required
– meaningful management reports are instantaneous
Accounts Online allows you to provide your business with meaningful monthly management reports as well as other useful information.

Accounts Online frees up your time allowing you to concentrate on more important things like running your business.

As GST reporting is simply a by-product of coding your bank statements, why not then the expertise of your accountant to take care of higher level tax issues for you.

What reports are available from the software?

Coding Report.
GST Return and detailed GST reports.
Bank Reconciliation Report.
Cash Flow Reports, any period, actual, budget and variance, previous year comparison.
Profitability Reports, any period, actual, budget and variance, previous year comparison.
Balance Sheets and Exception Reports.
Graphic reports on sales, expenses, trading results and cash balances.
Spending by Payee Reports.
Simple Budget Reports.

The transaction data is supplied in encrypted form and cannot be accessed by anyone other that the intended recipient. This is considerably more secure than sending bank statements by post!

Over 4,200 accountants in Australia and New Zealand use this software to process more than 300,000 bank accounts just like yours. As a result of Accounts Online service and training a growing numbers of businesses are now gaining access to this valuable business tool.

  1. You need to sign a special authority form to allow your bank(s) to release your data to you electronically.
  2. We process this documentation for you and set up your file for installation onto your system.
  3. We provide you with comprehensive training which generally takes place within 5-8 weeks of commencing the service. This allows time for the banks to process the documentation and to accumulate some real live data from your accounts to train you on.

Financial Institutions on the Accounts Online Service

BankLink receives transactional information from the following institutions:
Banks

  • ANZ *†
  • ASB Bank *†
  • ASB Visa Business
  • BankDirect
  • Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) *†
  • Bank of New Zealand Credit Cards †

Business VISA
Personal VISA and MasterCard
Personal American Express

  • GlobalPlus Credit Cards †

VISA
MasterCard
American Express

  • HSBC †
  • Kiwibank
  • Macquarie New Zealand †
  • National Bank *†
  • National Bank Credit Cards †
  • PGG Wrightson Finance
  • Rabobank *
  • SBS Bank §
  • TSB Bank †
  • Westpac *†
  • Westpac BusinessPlus Gold MasterCard

Building Societies

  • CBS Canterbury (including Ashburton Loan Society)
  • NBS (Nelson Building Society) *†§
  • Wairarapa Building Society †§

Rural Suppliers

  • Allied Farmers – rural supplies, livestock and wool #
  • ATS (Ashburton Trading Society)
  • CRT – rural supplies §
  • Farmlands – rural supplies §
  • Fonterra – milk supplies and RD1 rural supplies combined #
  • Fruitfed Supplies – rural supplies #
  • King Country Farmers #
  • PGG Wrightson – rural supplies and livestock #
  • RD1 – rural supplies #
  • Taranaki Farmers #

Other Financial Organisations

  • AMP Home Loans
  • Bartercard
  • Diners Club New Zealand
  • New Zealand Home Loans
  • BarterZone
  • Sovereign – Go Home Loans

* offer analysis coded cheque and deposit books
† can supply weekly data
§ can supply historical data
# data can be supplied with statement date or re-dated to payment date
For historical data, you must enter the start date when completing the Third Party Authority Form. Historical data can only be delivered on the initial download.

See page 13 of section 5 (Explaining BankLink) for information on analysis coding.

Any other frequently asked questions?

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