Australian FinTech

Published by Australian Fintech on 11 October 2022
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BGL Corporate Solutions, Australia’s leading provider of self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF), investment portfolio and company compliance management software, have announced they are to be part of a Global Victoria technology trade mission to Asia’s most exciting big data, analytics and artificial intelligence event Big Data & AI World, Singapore.

“We were honoured to be invited by Global Victoria, the Victorian Government’s trade facilitation agency, to join this trade mission and attend the Big Data & AI World event in Singapore,” said Ron Lesh, BGL’s Managing Director. “Being selected to exhibit at the Global Victoria pavilion with 15 other illustrious Victorian companies offering cutting-edge technological solutions is a remarkable achievement for BGL.”

The award-winning Big Data & AI World event in Singapore, held on 12-13 October 2022, convenes and connects data and AI innovators, technologists and business leaders to help make data-driven decisions and intelligently shape their businesses.

“This event is a fantastic opportunity for BGL to showcase our latest product in development, Smart Docs 360,” continued Lesh. “BGL’s Chief Operating Officer, Daniel Tramontana, and Head of Development, James Luo, will be at the Global Victoria Pavilion S10 to demonstrate this incredible technology in person.”

Smart Docs 360, currently in closed beta, is an all-in-one, artificial intelligence (AI) powered cloud software solution that helps businesses unlock their full potential by transforming their unstructured data into smart digital data.

“We initially developed BGL Smart Docs to be part of our existing compliance offerings,” said Lesh. “As a module in Simple Fund 360 and Simple Invest 360, BGL Smart Docs reads PDF or image files, extracts the information and converts it into useful digital data using artificial intelligence. Document types include invoices, bank statements, dividend or distribution statements, broker buy and sell notes and many others. BGL Smart Docs is currently reading two million pages per month and loading the data extracted from those documents into Simple Fund 360 and Simple Invest 360, saving our clients a huge amount of time and money while dramatically reducing errors and improving efficiency.”

“As the Smart Docs technology evolved, we realised it could be used across many industries, leading to the creation of BGL Smart Docs 360, which will be available as a retail and developer (no-code AI) solution.”

If you’re attending the Big Data & AI World event in Singapore, visit BGL’s Chief Operating Officer, Daniel Tramontana and Head of Development, James Luo, at the Global Victoria Pavilion S10.

To register your interest in BGL Smart Docs 360, visit www.bglcorp.com/smart-docs-360.

Published by Australian Fintech on 19 September 2022
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BGL Corporate Solutions now offers free corporate compliance training for ASIC registered agents, accountants and administrators.

“We’re excited to offer this free live training course to help those new to a company secretary role find their feet in a complex and ever-changing compliance landscape,” said Ron Lesh, BGL’s Managing Director. “BGL has over 30 years of experience in the corporate compliance space and has developed this course to share its knowledge and expertise with the community and help pave the way for the next generation of company secretaries and administrators.”

Warren Renden, Head of CAS 360 at BGL, said, “We developed CAS 360 to be the complete tool for managing company compliance requirements. This new training course will give participants an overview of company secretary duties, so they may better grasp their roles and responsibilities.”

BGL’s Company Secretary 101: A Beginner’s Guide live online training course is ideal for new ASIC registered agents, accountants and administrators or those wanting to refresh their skills and will provide attendees with an understanding of the core duties, legal responsibilities, tasks and activities of a company secretary. The course is complimentary for all and provides attendees with 2 CPD hours.

A company secretary has an essential role in governing and monitoring how a company operates to ensure the company is compliant with Australian corporate law. It involves maintaining a registered office and reporting any changes for the company to ASIC. Because of this critical role, a company secretary is subject to several legal obligations and duties.

To learn more about BGL’s Company Secretary 101: A Beginner’s Guide live online training course or to register, visit www.bglcorp.com/company-secretary-course

Published by Australian Fintech on 05 September 2022
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BGL Corporate Solutions have announced the release of its new two-way integration with Xero Practice Manager (XPM).

“We have been running Version 2 of our Xero Practice Manager integration in BETA for several months and are excited to start rolling this out to all BGL clients,” said Ron Lesh, BGL’s Managing Director. “The integration allows clients to efficiently manage client and contact data across four applications in a single database – a dream for any professional firm.”

In 2017, BGL released Version 1 of its integration with Xero Practice Manager, which automatically synchronised contacts with BGL’s product suite (which includes CAS 360, Simple Fund 360 and Simple Invest 360) with clients in Xero Practice Manager.

“For some firms, Version 1 of this integration worked extremely well,” said Lesh. “However, we listened to client feedback and decided to rebuild the integration from the ground up.”

“The new integration with Xero Practice Manager is more dynamic and keeps data records across apps consistent,” continued Lesh.

“Features include both client and contact synchronisation, prompts to review a client/contact before synchronising to a product, notification of duplicate client/contacts, the ability to add clients/contacts in bulk and to view client/contact relationships and change history. Plus, a brand-new user interface to view and filter the integrated client list.”

“So, if a client’s details changed in BGL’s product suite, this change is automatically updated in Xero Practice Manager, providing seamless practice management integration for professional firms,” noted Lesh. “Plus, when client or contact details changed in any of the apps, BGL’s company compliance software, CAS 360 will prompt clients to prepare all the relevant ASIC compliance documents.”

This integration will be rolled out to our other practice management integration partners in the coming months.

BGL will be at Xerocon Sydney 2022 this week. Visit the BGL booth E+19 to watch a live demonstration of this new two-way integration and how it creates a single database between BGL’s product suite and Xero Practice Manager.

Published by Australian Fintech on 29 August 2022
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BGL Corporate Solutions have once again been announced as the recipient of the SMSF Adviser Software Provider of the Year award.

“We are thrilled to once again be recognised as the #1 SMSF software provider,” said Ron Lesh, BGL’s Managing Director. “Our team has worked tirelessly to ensure our clients have the best solution to meet their needs consistently releasing software updates every 3 weeks. That is an incredible achievement and one of the many reasons why Simple Fund 360 is leading the market and why clients continue to support us.”

Released in 2014, Simple Fund 360 software uses sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) powered technologies for smart data capture, categorisation and review – simplifying the process of transaction processing for SMSFs and providing incredible efficiencies for clients.

Simple Fund 360 integrates with BGL’s CAS 360, Simple Invest 360 and many industry-leading practice management solutions while providing integrated accounting workpapers, digital signing, 350+ data feeds, registry integration, sophisticated portfolio reporting and BGL SmartDocs – BGL’s award-winning industry-leading paper-to-data solution. And for the accountants, Simple Fund 360 includes a proper double entry general ledger.

Jeevan Tokhi, Head of Simple Fund 360, said, “This award is a fantastic recognition of the entire BGL team. Our product team has continually delivered regular updates and listened to our clients. Our client-facing teams have provided exceptional service. BGL’s ecosystem team and our partners continue to build better integrations. Most importantly, we are delighting our clients!”

BGL’s Simple Fund 360 is used by almost 7,500 businesses administering over 250,000 SMSFs representing 41% of the 605,000 SMSFs in Australia. This client-voted award cements its position as the leading SMSF administration software solution in Australia.

BGL will be at Xerocon Sydney 2022 next month. Visit the BGL stand to watch a live demonstration of the BGL Suite and how it can improve your firm’s efficiency while delivering remarkable experiences for your clients.

Published by Australian Fintech on 22 August 2022
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BGL Corporate Solutions announce that automated document reminders are now available in its company compliance software, CAS 360.

“It’s fantastic to release another highly anticipated feature,” said Ron Lesh, BGL’s Managing Director. “Set and forget document reminders will make following up with clients for outstanding company change documents, Annual Returns/Reviews and trust documents a breeze!”

“Traditionally, company professionals have used spreadsheets and calendars to track documents sent by email or snail-mail to their clients for signing, approval or some other action,” continued Lesh. “Sending consistent document reminders is crucial to avoid late lodgment penalties, but without automation, the process is tedious and time-consuming.”

“When a document is prepared in CAS 360, CAS 360 will automatically create reminders to be sent to their client,” said Lesh. “Clients have complete control, selecting the date and time of each reminder, if the reminders are sent by email, SMS or both, the email/SMS template, who the sender is and who the reminders go to.”

“When set, the document reminders appear as pending in the Document Deadline Alert and can be managed in CAS 360’s Pending Outbox screen,” added Lesh. “Once a document is lodged, the pending reminders are disabled. Plus, it’s easy to customise the reminders based on the needs of the client and toggle them on or off when required. It’s an excellent and well thought out feature which will save our clients heaps of time.”

“When a client logs in to the product, CAS 360 will show an Automation Report that details the automated tasks CAS 360 completed since their last login. It’s CAS 360 doing the manual work for you,” Lesh noted.

This automated document reminder functionality comes just months after BGL released its automated debt reminders in CAS 360, which sends automatic reminders to clients for outstanding debts to ASIC. “For anyone still manually tracking documents or debt and sending follow-ups to their clients, these features are game-changers,” noted Lesh.

CAS 360 now supports over 700,000 companies and 117,000 trusts across Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, with plans to release CAS 360 in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom in the not-too-distant future.

For more information, please visit www.bglcorp.com/cas-360.

Published by Australian Fintech on 15 August 2022
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BGL Corporate Solutions have announced its company compliance management software, CAS 360, now integrates with cloud document management software, SuiteFiles.

“It’s great to add SuiteFiles to the BGL Ecosystem,” said Ron Lesh, BGL’s Managing Director.

“This integration will help CAS 360 and SuiteFiles clients in Australia and New Zealand automate workflows such as Annual Returns/Reviews, filing, and company management.”

“CAS 360 was one of our most requested integrations because of the number of clients SuiteFiles and BGL share,” said Andrew Sims, CEO of SuiteFiles. “We’re pleased to bring CAS 360’s automated workflows and our document management together for the benefit of our shared clients.”

SuiteFiles is a time-saving document management solution that allows clients to securely manage, edit, share, and sign documents. Integrating CAS 360 and SuiteFiles allows BGL clients to upload or generate documents in CAS 360 and automatically save them in SuiteFiles.

This feature will save clients time by streamlining the workflow between the two applications, removing the need to manually add documents to SuiteFiles while improving the visibility of data and documents across their businesses.

“This one-way integration allows SuiteFiles to pull documents and data directly from CAS 360,” added Lesh. “Plus, any changes to documents prepared in CAS 360 will automatically synchronise to SuiteFiles. It’s seamless!”

BGL’s free and open API is highly regarded and used extensively across the industry, with over 350 data feed and integration partners in the BGL Ecosystem delivering a holistic experience to our clients.

For more information, please visit https://help.suitefiles.com/introducing-cas360-integration.

Published by Australian Fintech on 10 August 2022
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BGL Corporate Solutions, Australia’s leading provider of self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF), investment portfolio and company compliance management software, has announced it now has over 700,000 companies managed by over 2,700 firms on its company compliance solution, CAS 360.

“This is another huge milestone for BGL, and I’m extremely proud of the teams’ efforts,” said Ron Lesh, BGL’s Managing Director. “These results are only achieved thanks to the continued innovation, perseverance and passion of every individual at BGL.”

CAS 360 now supports over 700,000 companies and 117,000 trusts across Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, with plans to release CAS 360 in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom in the not-too-distant future. “CAS 360 is only in its infancy. With Hong Kong and the United Kingdom coming in the near future, 1,000,000+ companies are next on our charts,” noted Lesh.

“It has been a big month for BGL,” added Lesh. Simple Fund 360 now has more than 250,000 SMSFs and CAS 360 more than 700,000 companies – what a great effort by the team,” Lesh added.

Released in 2017, CAS 360 is cloud-based company compliance, trust and AML management solution with sensational automation providing incredible efficiencies for clients. CAS 360 streamlines the Annual Review process with automated tracking, downloads, database comparison review and delivery of the annual statement pack to clients. Automated alerts help users manage Annual Review dates, document deadlines and company debt. BGL suite and external practice management integration save heaps of time. Plus, set and forget email and SMS reminders make following up with clients a breeze! CAS 360 is the complete company compliance solution.

“We have come so far with CAS 360, and this is just the beginning,” says Lesh. “The future is very bright indeed.”

Published by Australian Fintech on 01 August 2022
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BGL Corporate Solutions, Australia’s leading provider of self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF), investment portfolio and company compliance management software, announce the electronic lodgment of pay-as-you-go (PAYG) payment summaries to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is now available in its SMSF administration software, Simple Fund 360.

“It’s fantastic to release another highly requested feature. I am extremely proud of the efforts of the BGL team,” said Ron Lesh, BGL’s Managing Director. “This feature will go a long way to make our clients’ lives easier.”

“Generally, the trustee of an SMSF will be required to withhold tax for superannuation benefit payments if the member receiving the payment is under 60 and is taking their benefit in the form of an income stream (pension) or a lump sum,” said Lesh. “There are also circumstances around defined benefit income streams and death benefits.”

“When an SMSF withholds an amount from a payment, it is required to pay that same amount to the ATO using an approved form,” continued Lesh. “Traditionally, this has been done manually, requiring the completion of paper forms to be submitted to the ATO. With this release, BGL clients can electronically submit the PAYG payment summaries to the ATO via Simple Fund 360, making the process paperless and saving SMSF professionals hours.”

“This is just one of many features we plan to release to make SMSF administration paperless,” added Lesh. “Watch this space!”
BGL now has over 250,000 funds administered on Simple Fund 360, representing 41% of the estimated 605,000 SMSFs in Australia, cementing its position as the most widely used SMSF administration software solution.

Published by Australian Fintech on 28 June 2022
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BGL Corporate Solutions has been recognised as an accredited Mental Health First Aid Skilled Workplace.

BGL is 1 of 165 organisations across Australia recognised as part of the Mental Health First Aid Australia Skilled Workplace Program, which was first introduced in 2018. The program aims to inspire positive change and celebrates organisations driving mental health literacy and competency skills.

“This is a great achievement” said Ron Lesh, BGL’s Managing Director. “Our people work tirelessly to provide award-winning software solutions and customer service for our clients. Supporting our team members’ mental health and wellbeing has never been more important. To have mental health and wellbeing deeply embedded in our culture is something I am so very proud of.”

“BGL has always been focused on the mental health and wellbeing of our team and we have implemented many initiatives to support our team members. One of which was to have all BGL leaders trained in mental health first aid,” added Lesh. “With the help of Joel Clapham, Founder and Chief Mental Health Champ at Hearten Up, BGL had all our leaders trained as Mental Health First Aiders. This equates to 1 trained Mental Health First Aider for every 7 BGL team members.”

“This initiative alone has had an enormous positive impact on our leaders and our team members,” continued Lesh. “It has also positioned us to be recognised as a Great Place to Work.”

“Creating and sustaining a mentally healthy workplace requires constant and consistent effort,” said Lesh. “We will continue to invest in new and better ways to educate our team, raise awareness and reduce the stigma related to mental health. It is just so important.”