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Monthly Archives

March 2020

It is disappointing to see some software providers price gouging

By BGL Update, CAS 360, Homepage, Simple Fund 360No Comments

I was contacted today by a client who advised me one of their software providers saw the current crisis as an opportunity to price gouge. The firm had been using this other software for a while and was certainly not wrapped with the software or the service but had stuck it out for a while. We all know what that is like. The fear of changing is worse than the fear of staying!

But then this software provider decided to increase the price of their software right in the middle of these difficult times. What chutzpah!

I am appalled – and so was the client.

At BGL, we want to help clients (and potential clients) not to screw them over.

So, we are offering our desktop clients, cloud clients and new clients a buy now, don’t pay until 1 July 2020 investment opportunity.

SO

If you are a current CAS 360 client, increase your number of companies today and you will not pay for the new companies until 1 July 2020.

If you are a current Simple Fund 360 client, increase your number of funds today and you will not pay for the new funds until 1 July 2020 (this included bank data and share data services).

If you are a CAS Desktop client, migrate your companies to CAS 360 today and you will not pay anything until 1 July 2020.

If you are a Simple Fund Desktop client, migrate your funds to Simple Fund 360 today and you will not pay anything until 1 July 2020.

If you are a not a BGL client, talk to us about moving to CAS 360 and / or Simple Fund 360. Sign up today and you will not pay anything until 1 July 2020.

And to all our clients

Thank you for your support over the past few weeks.

We have 150 team members working from home all doing their very best to service you through these difficult times.

Support your local businesses

By BGL Update, Homepage, IndustryNo Comments

Those who know me know I am passionate about small business.

And this is the time we ALL need to be passionate about small businesses.

So I want each and every one of you to support your local businesses.

I have always supported my local coffee shops, restaurants, greengrocers, bakery, butcher, supermarkets, chemist, etc, etc. But now is the time these businesses REALLY need your help and support.

So please buy local whenever you can. Support your local businesses.

Order takeaway every day or so – and don’t use the delivery services – go and pick up the food so these businesses don’t need to pay 30-35% of your order to a delivery company.

Shop at your local supermarket.

Buy coffee.

Do everything you can to help your local community thrive.

We will come out of this. It will not be too long (I hope).

Don’t listen to the CNNs – the Crisis News Networks (like 2, 7, 9 and 10) and all those clowns from the overseas media. They are in the spin business – not the news business. They forgot what sensible reporting was a long time.

Don’t read all the crap on social media (you can read mine –  I hope you do not think it is  crap).

I know BGL clients are hurting. And I know my client’s clients’ are hurting. Let’s do all we can to support them.

And if you are working from home, check in with your team and your extended family. And be safe.

But most of all BE POSITIVE. BE UPBEAT. Positivity is infectious! Be positively infectious on the people in your lives.

 

BGL update as a result of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

By BGL Update, Homepage, In the MediaNo Comments

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is becoming a difficult challenge for many Australian businesses.

At BGL, we’re closely monitoring the impact of the virus and following the Australian government recommendations to support our people, customers and community during this difficult time. We encourage you to check out our update, stay connected and put in place a strategy to get you, your team and your clients through this difficult time.

BGL People – Working from Home

Commencing Tuesday, 24 March 2020, all BGL team members will be working from home.
Our systems enable us to continue to deliver the highest level of support and service to you. Your ability to continue to use your BGL products and access the online help and resources will not change.

BGL Software Support

We would like to encourage you to:

  • Log your support queries through your BGL software. This is available in both our cloud and desktop solutions.
  • Make use of Live Chat in CAS 360 and Simple Fund 360.
  • Email your support queries to us at [email protected].

BGL Incoming/Outgoing Calls

Incoming calls – Our phone lines are still open for general enquiries and will be answered by our administration team.
Outgoing calls – If you are expecting a call from a BGL team member, please be aware that all calls from BGL will display as a “Private Number”.

Software Updates regarding the Economic Response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19)

The Simple Fund 360 team has been working through the recent Coronavirus Economic Response Package. We are conscious that you may be receiving queries from trustees wishing to review their pension payments and also firms looking to implement possible strategies before the TBAR Lodgement dates. We have therefore broken the changes down into two stages. With Stage 1 and Stage 2 now complete.

For more information, visit: https://sf360.zendesk.com/hc/en-au/articles/360040874312

Investment Opportunity

After receiving many calls about migration to cloud-based apps and understanding this is a tough time for all businesses, BGL is offering an investment opportunity to get you up and running – Buy now, pay nothing until 1 July 2020 (offer available to new clients, desktop clients migrating and cloud clients upgrading subscriptions).  Click here to find out more >>>

Classroom Training

All BGL product training will now be held online indefinitely. So, you can learn from the comfort of your home office! The content provided in our virtual classes will be exactly the same as our classroom training – only the delivery format will change to be via Zoom.

Here is our online training schedule for March – April:

Week 1

  • 31/03 – CAS 360 Essentials – 1pm – 5pm AEDT
  • 01/04 – SF360 Level 1 – 1pm – 4pm AEDT
  • 02/04 – SF360 Level 2 – 1pm – 4pm AEDT
  • 03/04 – SF360 Level 3 – 1pm – 4pm AEDT

Week 2

  • 21/04 – CAS 360 Essentials – 1pm – 5pm AEST
  • 22/04 – SF360 Level 1 – 1pm – 4pm AEST
  • 23/04 – SF360 Level 2 – 1pm – 4pm AEST
  • 24/04 – SF360 Level 3 – 1pm – 4pm AEST

Course Fees: $150.00 + GST per person, per course

For more information, visit: www.bglcorp.com/hub/training

We will continue to work within government guidelines and recommendations, placing the well-being of the BGL team at the core of our actions. We are also committed to you as our clients and we will do all we can to support you during this difficult time.

Feel free to contact your Account Manager on 1300 654 401 if you have any concerns or queries.

“Just DO IT! CAS 360 practically does everything for you”

By Case Study, HomepageNo Comments

We recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Scott Murray, Partner at Accounting Firm Tester Porter Services, to talk about the challenges he has faced and overcome in his endeavours to help clients.

Since joining Tester Porter in 1996, Scott has implemented many new tech systems to keep the firm up to date and in some cases ahead of other firms. After migrating his team to Xero Practice Manager, Scott looked to BGL’s CAS 360 to simplify the annual review process and automate some of the steps with their corporate secretarial services.

“We had recently migrated to Xero Practice Manager and were hoping to integrate the client database and remove the need to maintain 2 client databases, which did happen with the integration with CAS 360 & XPM”.

It wasn’t long before Scott and his team started to see the benefits of CAS 360.

How have you specifically benefited from CAS 360?

“The process of preparing documents and tracking documents with ASIC (and the clients ASIC fees) is easy in CAS 360. It takes less time to do more work”.

What are the results you have experienced since you started using CAS 360?

“We are spending less time processing ASIC documents since implementing CAS360. Plus, with the XPM integration, all the company information (client database) to complete documents is automatically merged so you are not typing the same information over and over. Client details are integrated from XPM so very rarely is there doubling up of the same client”.

What specific feature (s) do you enjoy most about CAS 360?

“Multi-company documents – for producing the required documents for multiple changes within a company and the Automated Reminders for Annual Review fees, debtor reminder (email or SMS)”.

How is the integration between CAS 360 and XPM helping you?

“We’re more efficient – definitely saving time so we can focus on other activities”

What are the key takeaways of using CAS 360 for your business?

“CAS 360 is easy and efficient. Details of companies and company contacts all set up within CAS 360 make it easy to produce documents, lodge documents with ASIC, follow up payment of Annual Review fees and so on”.

If your best friend was on the fence about trying CAS 360, what would you tell them?

“Just DO IT! CAS 360 practically does everything for you”.

About Tester Porter Services

Tester Porter Services has been providing accounting, tax and compliance services for over 100 years from its base in Young, New South Wales. Its clients include primary producers, small businesses, investors, professional sports people and superannuation funds. Visit their website to learn more – www.testerporter.com.au

Simple Fund 360 New Features Release!

By BGL Update, Homepage, Simple Fund 360No Comments

BGL is proud to announce another exciting update to its cloud-based Simple Fund 360 solution! This time releasing a seamless two-way DBN integration with Smarter SMSF, a new Advisor Fact Find and more improvements to Simple Fund 360’s investment reporting for planners and advisers.

What’s new?!

DBN integration with Smarter SMSF

Simple Fund 360 clients can now save heaps of time by utilising their fund and member information to generate Death Benefit Nominations that meet the requirements of the Smarter SMSF Deed.

Clients can generate either a binding (including non-lapsing) or non-binding death benefit nomination (DBN) for a self-managed super fund member. Importantly, the DBN has been developed in accordance with the requirements of Schedules 1 and 2 of the Smarter SMSF Deed. Learn More >>>

New Advisor Extract Fact Finder

The SMSF Fact Finder report is now available in the Reports screen to help Simple Fund 360 clients share relevant SMSF member and investment information with their financial advisor. Learn More >>>

Investment Performance – Simple Dietz Report

We have improved Simple Fund 360 investment reporting for planners and investment advisers by adding a new Simple Dietz Method to the reports screen. The Dietz method provides a more weighted measure when calculating the return on a portfolio than a simple return method.

The Simple Dietz method measures investment performance during a period, incorporating cash inflows and outflows. Learn More >>>

New Data Feeds

With daily data feeds becoming vital to keep pace in the SMSF processing, we have added 3 new feeds:

  1. Evans and Partners daily feeds automatically importing cash and investment transactions.
  2. Financial Decisions contract notes, and
  3. Intas Financial Services contract notes.

The new contact notes have been added to the Share Data Pack.

Accounting Workpapers

We know how important it is to have efficient processing around workpaper production and we continue to focus our efforts on reducing the time taken to perform this process.

This release sees the introduction of New Warnings/Observations, utilising the data contained in the Simple Fund 360 general ledger to inform the user of any potential irregularities such as negative balances for further review.

We have also ticked-off the number 1 client wish list request – to order the workpaper attachments into the Control/ Sub account order.

To learn about all the new features, attend our FREE webinar!

New Features Webinar
10 Mar at 11:30 AEDT.
Register Now >>>