Don’t Spend Money You Don’t Have To
In the early days, your main goal is to conserve cash. Fancy systems, outsourced bookkeeping, or elaborate structures can come later. For now, stick to the bare minimum you need to stay compliant and keep things simple. As your business grows, you can layer in more support — and at that point, it will actually save you time and headaches.
Company Structure and Shareholding
If you’ve registered a company through ASIC, you’ve already ticked off the first big step. One decision worth considering early on, however, is how you hold your shares. Many founders start by holding shares in their own names. While perfectly fine to begin with, this may limit tax flexibility down the road. See our article about holding your shares in a Trust.
ASIC Obligations
Every company registered with ASIC has to complete an annual review. This means confirming your company details, paying a fee (around $300–$400), and letting ASIC know of any changes. That’s it. As long as ASIC can reach you via a registered address and you pay the annual fee, you’re compliant.
Accountants also typically offer an ASIC monitoring service to keep an eye on this if you’re particularly worried about avoiding those nasty ASIC fines.
Company Tax Returns
Just like individuals, companies need to lodge a tax return once a year. If you’ve only just set up your business, you won’t need to lodge until the end of the current financial year (30 June). Better yet, you usually have until the following May to actually file with the ATO if you do this via an accountant..
In the first year, this return will likely be very simple, especially if you have little or no revenue. Still, it’s an important compliance step not to miss.
Setting Up a Bank Account and Bookkeeping
One of the most common mistakes new founders make is mixing personal and business money. From day one, set up a separate company bank account. When you fund the business, treat that cash as a director loan to the company. Later, if the company has spare funds, you can pay yourself back without it counting as taxable income.
Pair this with a cloud accounting platform like Xero. Link your bank account, and track all expenses in one place. At the start, you can do the bookkeeping yourself to save costs, but make sure you stay disciplined.
GST and BAS Lodgements
If you’ve registered for GST, you’ll need to lodge a Business Activity Statement (BAS) each quarter. This reports the GST you’ve collected from customers and the GST you’ve paid on expenses. Even if you’re not earning much yet, it’s worth doing — you’ll usually get a refund on the GST you’ve paid out.
Xero makes this simple, but you can also engage an accountant to lodge on your behalf if it becomes too time-consuming.
Final Thoughts
When you’re just starting out, the essentials of accounting and compliance are actually pretty simple:
- Keep your costs down.
- Set up a clean structure with a company bank account
- Likely do your own bookkeeping initially
Stay on top of ASIC each year, and the ATO each quarter (for GST) and the annual tax return
Most importantly, focus your energy on building your product, attracting customers, and proving your idea. Compliance is something to be aware of, but there to support your journey, not slow it down.
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Starting a new company is exciting — don’t let accounting and compliance trip you up. Standard Ledger helps founders keep things simple, compliant and cash-smart from day one. Get in touch with us today to set your startup on the right path.
