Business Acumen Queensland
By Michael Moloney

Accounting software developed by Gold Coast company B-Free is believed to be the first to link accounting with internet banking and electronic banking for the micro and small business market.

B-Free software was launched by State Development and Innovation Minister Tony McGrady on the Gold Coast last month. He said one of its major benefits would be a dramatic reduction in time spent on BAS Statements by small business.

“While these solutions have been available to larger businesses for some time, the cost of these systems has been prohibitive to the micro and small business market,” Mr McGrady said. “The B-Free software cuts account and BAS preparation time from 1-2 days to between 20 and 40 minutes.”

Former accountant Jeff Rogers found a solution to the problem of time-consuming bookkeeping and inaccurate tax returns by designing a computer software program that transfers data from bank accounts to complete financial reports or tax returns in minutes.

GRASS ROOTS ANSWER
A with many great ideas, B-Free had a simple foundation. Mr Rogers was working for a major accounting house and trying to help a friend put his books in order when he recognised a more logical way of compiling data than keying in every receipt.

“An American friend – film director Robert Flurio was on the Gold Coast working on the Flipper movie. Robert was due to return to the USA and asked for my assistance in completing his Australian tax return. I was happy to help until Robert turned up in my office with two big black garbage bags of receipts,” Mr Rogers said.

“Robert had paid for most things with VISA or EFTPOS. A fair way through entering the data I reloaded the bank already had all this information, all I had to do was transfer it. The initial B-Free program collected the information from the bank records through secure sites, categorised expenditure and calculated GST.

“It was a big breakthrough; similar systems were available to major corporations but the cost was way out of the reach for businesses with five or less employees and much too expensive for individual contractors. I partnered with other accountants and computer program specialists and developed the first B-Free program,” he said.

ATO INTEREST
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) heard about the system and asked the B-Free team to present the idea to senior tax officers including Commissioner Michael Carmody. Mr Rogers said they were very excited at the prospect.

“As the day grew closer and the ATO list of people attending the presentation grew longer and more impressive, we became very nervous. We decided to hire Deane Hutton of television’s Hey Hey It’s Saturday to make the presentation on our behalf.

“The taxation officers saw the best presentation they had ever seen; they loved B-Free and asked us to work with them to beta test the system. It was a first for an Australian company. B-Free was developed in partnership with Microsoft using the .NET business mode. We are working with MYOB to ensure B-Free is compatible with the most popular accountancy software on the market. We knew we had a winner,” he said.

B-Free became more sophisticated as word recognition was added to the program. Mr Rogers said B-Free can now take bank data and adapt the information to complete accounts, BAS statements and tax returns.

“The system recognises words – if it sees Caltex or BP it knows this is a motor vehicle expense, B-Free puts the amount in the right category and calculates GST. Cheques may not always be easy to understand, anything B-Free can’t figure out it listed in red. The business operator can go through the list and assign the cheque to an account at the push of a button,” he said.

The ATO receives 2.5 million BAS statements each quarter; 1.8 million contractors present account and BAS returns each quarter. The system reduces the risk of error giving the ATO a more accurate record and helping small business operators take advantage of tax concessions old booking systems often miss.

TIME IS MONEY
Mr Rogers said the system is cost effective and time efficient. “Business people want to get on with the job, they don’t want to spend their precious time entering information into a computer, working out the right categories, calculating GST and deciding if it is a legitimate deduction. B-Free does all this and more for an initial tax-deductible outlay of $299 fully supported (annual licence fee is $149).

“We work through a super secure double encrypted site at Bond University. Clients’ financial details are not stored on any computers other than Check Point secure servers and their banks. B-Free is a breeze to use, but if clients need support it is available immediately. It’s like having an accountant on call 24 hours a day seven days a week,” he said.

B-Free shared Microsoft’s stand at CeBIT – Australia’s premier e-business event – in Sydney in May. Mr Rogers said this was another accolade for the B-Free range of business accounting software. CeBIT is the Australiasian showcase for the information and communications technology (ICT) industry. The three day event at Darling Harbour saw around 30,000 business people viewing products from more than 600 exhibitors from Australia, Asia, Europe and America. High level delegations from India, Russia, Iran, China and Korea attended the expo.

Mr McGrady said the State Government was keen to support innovative Queensland companies like B-Free. He said the Government had committed $18.5 million to the development of Queensland’s ICT industry over the next four years.

“Smart ICT – Taking it to the World, features 10 new programs which will fast-track growth, build productivity, increase export markets and provide a series of ICT forums to foster partnerships between industry and research organisations.”