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BGL is proud to announce it has received ISO 27001 recertification for the 2021 year.
BGL is proud to announce it has received ISO 27001 recertification for the 2021 year.
Browsing through various platforms, it has been great to see the discussions around digital signing.
Digital signing in my view, is a must for any organisation where client signatures are required and where the law permits.
As a software provider, it is important to build into the software design and experience a quality engagement piece that brings to surface the true value of Digital Signing.
At BGL Corporate Solutions, we currently integrate CAS 360 (Australia), CAS 360 (New Zealand), Simple Fund 360 and Simple Invest 360 with DocuSign and Adobe Sign and soon to be released, FuseSign by FuseWorks and PleaseSign.
What differentiates these integrations is that they are built directly into the software.
We deeply embed the digital signing solution into the software. We mark up the documents and forms, so that when you deliver a set of documents to your clients, they are ready for digital signing. We allow for easy selection of signing and tracking so users can monitor the status
When complete, we notify you and then store the document as required by the governing bodies and make it easy for you to retrieve.
When it comes to Digital Signing solutions, the end-to-end experience is so important and that is what we make great!
2020 was a mad year.
I think we are all happy it is behind us.
But, during 2020, I was really proud of what the BGL Team achieved.
Let me first look at the CAS 360 Team.
There were 17 software releases with over 400 new features released.
Just think about that – 1 software release every 3 weeks and over 1 new feature every day of the year!
Second, let’s look at Simple Fund 360.
There were 42 major software releases with 100’s of new features released. These include:
And these are just the major releases!
Apart from the work of these 2 teams, the Training and Documentation Team were tasked with updating the documentation and training materials for both products. These guys did an amazing job keeping up with the speed of development of the CAS 360 and Simple Fund 360 product teams.
And last, but not least, let’s include the fantastic work of the BGL IT Team. The BGL IT Team released myBGL and a huge amount of internal development during the year. This team also made numerous software releases of both myBGL and to other internal systems.
Not a bad effort from 3 of the sensational teams at BGL.
Working from home the Teams proved they are consummate professionals.
I am so proud of what was achieved in a very difficult year. I am so proud of each and every one of you!
Below is an email I sent to Simple Fund Desktop clients today.
If this affects you, please speak to your BGL account manager
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I am writing to advise you of the future of your BGL Simple Fund Desktop software.
As you would be aware, there will be a number of significant changes to superannuation law in the 2021 calendar year. These changes include indexation of the pension cap of $1.6m, Superstream Rollovers and the ability to have 6 members in an SMSF.
BGL has made the decision to not make these changes to Simple Fund Desktop and therefore 30 June 2021 will be the last tax release of Simple Fund Desktop.
BGL launched Simple Fund Desktop in 1997. This software has had an incredible life but eventually all good things must come to an end.
BGL will continue to support Simple Fund Desktop clients. No date for the cessation of support has been set and we know it will take a while for all clients to move to Simple Fund 360.
Simple Fund 360 is the natural move for Simple Fund Desktop clients. Migration is seamless and ALL data and reports are migrated from Simple Fund Desktop to Simple Fund 360, meaning you do not lose ANY of your valuable data.
To prepare for your transition to Simple Fund 360, it’s best to start early by:
My Account Management and Client Success Team are here to help make your move absolutely seamless. I have asked them to reach out to you in the coming weeks to help you get started but if you would like to contact us, please call on 1300 654 401.
Finally, let me thank you for being a Simple Fund Desktop client. For many of you, I know Simple Fund Desktop has been a part of your lives for a very long time. I hope Simple Fund 360 will help you continue this remarkable experience
“It’s simply too complicated” said BGL’s Managing Director, Ron Lesh. “Indexing the $1.6m cap to $1.7m is not the problem – it’s the partial indexation where a person has already commenced a pension that is crazy.”
“There are 2 real problems with partial indexation.
1. Potentially every person can now have a different total balance cap, and
2. Access to ATO total balance cap data is not readily available.
This makes these changes a nightmare for SMSF advisers” says Lesh. “The ATO and Treasury have known for 2 + years that this will be a problem but have done nothing about it. BGL and many others have been asking for API access to ATO total balance cap data, but our requests have been ignored – it’s simply not good enough.”
“Something needs to be done – and fast”
“The Government needs to find a solution to this – fast” added Lesh. “The simplest is to remove partial indexation and increase the total balance cap for everyone to $1.7m. This removes the complexity and is fairer than some of the other solutions. Why should the date a person commences a pension determine how much that pension should be? Clearly this is unfair”
“BGL needs to implement these changes in our market leading Simple Fund 360 SMSF admin software by 1 July 2021. Implementing partial indexation without access to ATO total balance cap data is going to result in many errors” noted Lesh. “Something needs to be done – and fast”.
BGL has over 6,000 clients representing over 200,000 SMSFs using it’s multi award winning Simple Fund 360 SMSF admin software. “It would be really nice if the government took into account the practical implementation issues of the legislation and made changes to help accountants who have already beared the brunt of the work around JobKeeper of the past 12 months” Lesh said.
Yes, more than 1/2 of my life! And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
As I reflect on my time, I would like to share with you my 24 lessons for 24 years.
To my BGL family members, clients, community + friends, I celebrate you today.
Excited by that which is ahead.
Hello everyone and welcome to 2021!
For the first release of 2021, the CAS 360 team have worked on some great new features.
When adding a new company to CAS 360, you can now import the basic company information directly from ASIC.
If you toggle on the ‘Import from ASIC?’ CAS 360 will conduct a real time search of the ASIC register and find the company for you.
Clicking on import, will add the company to your CAS 360 company list, and also import the basic company information (Company Name, Number, Company type and class).
CAS 360 is the best place to manage all of the trusts that your firm looks after, with industry leading trust features.
In this update, we add more documentation for trusts.
When preparing unitholder transactions, if there is an allotment transaction, CAS 360 will now prepare a unit allotment journal, and for unit transfers CA360 will now prepare a unit transfer journal.
New Trust registers have also been added, with a new Register of Trust Relationships, which will show all of the position holders in the trust. Also, a new Register of Trust Events has been added, which will show all event transactions that have taken place inside the trust.
This update sees a huge change in the way contact data is entered into CAS 360. We have added new fields and grouped a number of key data fields.
We have added support for ‘Other Names’ which include ‘Casual Name’ a long time requested feature, soon this casual name will be appearing on documents such as letters.
We have also added a whole heap of new contact fields, including identification numbers, and company number types for company contacts.
For New Zealand Companies we have expanded the health check to now include General Company Details and Holding company information.
CAS 360 will now check this information every day with the NZ Companies Office and alert you if there have been any changes.
Live Checks (checking when inside the company) has also been added for Company Details and Holding Companies.
If you would like to view the full release notes for February 2021 please click here to visit the BGL Community.
See you next update!
Warren
As a part of the new Treasury Laws Amendment (Combating Illegal Phoenixing) Bill 2020 there will be 2 law changes taking effect on February 18 2021.
From 18 February 2021, companies will no longer be able to cease the last remaining director on ASIC records.
To enforce this, lodgements submitted using a Form 484 Change to company details, or Form 370 Notification by officeholder of resignation or retirement, to cease the last appointed director without replacing that appointment will be rejected.
There are some exceptions to this, including if:
CAS 360 already had a block on resigning the last remaining director via a form 484, a similar block will be added to the form 370.
We will also add new messaging alerting the users when they are trying to cease the last remaining director.
There are significant changes for late lodgements of director cessations.
From February 18 2021, if a director’s cessation date is notified to ASIC more than 28 days after the effective date then the effective date will be overridden and replaced with the lodgement date. Late fees still apply to the Change of company details form in this scenario.
Example
John Smith is a director of ABC Industries Pty Ltd.
John Smith resigns as a director on 1 April 2020; however, the Form 484 is lodged to ASIC on 1 November 2020.
On ASIC’s records, the resignation date will be 1 November 2020. The standard late fees will still apply.
When lodging a document in CAS 360 that is going to receive a late fee.
CAS 360 will always alert you. A new warning will now appear of officer cessation transactions that are later that 28 days to advise the user that the cessation date will be replaced with the lodgement date.
GuestTrack started as an initiative by BGL to help our clients (Accountants) help their clients (Small Businesses) track guests in a COVID-19 environment. As industry leading software developers, GuestTrack was something we released quickly to relieve some stress for our community.
Today, GuestTrack is spectacular market leading guest check-in tool and as we now enter a new normal, we are introducing subscription options so we can recover some of our running costs. These changes come into affect for existing GuestTrack users on Monday 1 February 2021.
All current GuestTrack clients continue to receive a FREE subscription.
GuestTrack Subscription | Free | Basic | Enterprise | Not-for-profit* |
Pricing | Free | $9 + GST per month | Contact Us | Free |
Inclusions | ||||
Google Ads | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Unlimited Check-ins/outs | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Unlimited QR Codes | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Customisable Form | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
56 Day Data Retention | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Email & SMS Notifications | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ |
Phone, ID & Face Verification | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ |
CRM, Booking & API Integration | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ |
AI Analysis & Data Prediction | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ |
* To be eligible for the Not-for-profit GuestTrack Subscription, you must satisfy one of the following requirements: (1) Your registered email ends with .gov.au (2) Your organisation is listed on the ACNC.
Reminder: BGL cannot sell, share or profit from any of the personal data collected by GuestTrack as it is encrypted, and we simply do not have access to it. The data is owned by the GuestTrack account owner (business using GuestTrack) and no one else can decrypt or access this data. GuestTrack Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy
This has been a tumultuous year for BGL, our clients and the superannuation industry.
During the year, the government introduced another super early release scheme – this time in response to COVID-19.
I have asked our friends at mProjections to do a couple of calculations to demonstrate the impact of a withdrawal and how to engineer a higher retirement. Please check these out.
Example 1
Phillippa, 29, worked in the hospitality industry with 2 jobs, total income (pre Covid) of around $55,000pa, pre-tax. She is single and had built up a Super balance of $25,000.
Shortly after loosing one of those jobs, she withdrew $8,000 without thinking about the consequences to super. Her Super had been invested in a typical ‘Balanced’ Investment Option with 65% in growth assets.
Using the mProjections Report, Philippa moved her post-withdrawal balance to a High Growth Investment Option (85% in growth assets). She saw that, before withdrawal, she would have $55,194 pa annual retirement income for 25 years, but with a move to High-Growth – without additional contributions – she would enjoy a $57,415 projection. Most importantly, her upside for a considerable improvement in retirement spending would increase.
Example 2
Jonathan works as an electrician in the western suburbs of Sydney and had his hours reduced to 20 hours per week for 3 months. He decided to withdraw $8,500. Using figures in our Report, he saw how to increase his $79,747 tax-free pre-withdrawal retirement projection by moving the balance of his fund to a High Growth Investment Option and a consequent retirement income projection of $82,442.
He also noted the greater likelihood of upside. ‘Low’ here is 15% of assets in growth.
If you would like to prepare an mProjections report for your clients, check out their website.
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