[EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a guest post written by Timothy Ng, a personal finance writer.]

When you go into business on your own, you do so to market a product or sell a skill and chances are that skill has little to do with accounting.

As a small business owner you are passionate about your dream, your product, your service and your customers and as a result, keeping your accounts in order can come in very close to the bottom of your priorities.

While it is easy to contract your accounts work out to a virtual assistant or an offsite bookkeeper, as a responsible small business owner – and to ensure you are a successful one – you still need to understand the basics of your business accounts and systems. Read more…

If you think this photo is confusing, then wait until you read about Trusts ...

In the last few tutorials in this series, we’ve taken a look at two of the four main business structures in Australia – the Sole Trader business structure, and the Partnership business structure. Now it’s time to look at another business structure – the Trust. The main benefit of operating a Trust is that it gives you flexibility in how income is distributed.  Read more…

In the last tutorial in this series, we looked at one of the four main business structures in Australia – the Sole Trader structure. Now it’s time to look at another business structure – the Partnership.  Read more…

In my last tutorial in this series, we looked at one of the first steps in starting a business – ensuring that you have the right licences. Now it’s time for the next major step – choosing a “business structure”.

A “business structure” refers to the way your business is structured legally. And – just like licencing – it’s ABSOLUTELY crucial that you choose a business structure and actually register it.

It’s amazing how many people either don’t get this right, or skip this step completely. Don’t be one of them. Getting this wrong could destroy your business, and it could destroy YOU. Read more…