Jeff Rogers is hailed as a genius by small business operators – it’s more than he expected from a career as a chartered accountant.

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

The cost-effective system is appropriately named B-Free and business operators love it. As with most 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 recognized 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 by Visa or EFTPOS, a fair way through entering the data I realized 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, categorized expenditure and calculated GST.

“It was a big breakthrough; similar systems were available to major corporations but the cost was way out of 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.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) heard about the system and asked the B-Free team to present the idea to senior tax officers including 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 model. We are working with MYOB to ensure B-Free are compatible with the most popular accountancy software on the market. We knew we had a winner,” he said.

B-Free became more sophisticated – 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 recognizes 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 is 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 contractor’s present account and BAS returns each quarter. The ATO’s enthusiasm for B-Free is hardly surprising. 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.

Mr Rogers says 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 license 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 is the world’s first software product to link accounting, internet and electronic banking information for micro and small business. The web-based system does up to 98 per cent (an average 87 per cent) of the processing work, reducing the time spent on preparing accounts and budgets from days to minutes.

Mr Rogers said tax isn't something that happens once a year. “There's BAS and different deadlines for business and individual tax payers. Fringe benefits tax, the tax economy, transfer pricing and a raft of other issues makes tax time tough. Don’t forget payroll tax, stamp duty, customs duty and capital gains tax – those who do will pay a penalty.

“There's a new unit at the ATO looking at breaches by micro businesses and companies with turnovers of between $2 million and $100 million. Old accounting systems can lead to costly errors. B-Free software makes preparation of accounts and BAS returns easy. We have done all the hard work,” he said.

Mr Rogers said the comprehensive resource works with MYOB-integrated solutions. "Business operators can define unique needs, extend reporting capability, integrate with other information systems and create unique business solutions using B-Free software. Time is money – tax savings can quickly be consumed by extra bookkeeping costs, B-Free provides the perfect solution by cutting tax reporting time,” he said.

B-Free scored a bull’s eye with small business, medium sized companies, corporations and individual taxpayers. The company won a major federal government grant, a developer deal with business solutions giant MYOB and a partnership with IT icon Microsoft in the first year of operation.

Microsoft linked with B-Free through an integrated partnering framework. The partnerships show B-Free is respected for expertise and technology with marketplace impact. Mr Rogers said the Microsoft partner program benefits the business. “The program builds relevance and value through tools and resources.

“B-Free is a Microsoft Certified Partner, our IT solution programs are developed on Microsoft’s latest .NET technology. This allows greater innovation in the creation of programs and a longer shelf life for systems. B-Free programs are designed for longevity in the fast-paced world of IT,” he said.

Techno buffs and those who just want to get the job done are impressed with the B-Free Windows-based client server software package. B-Free is quickly installed on the PC, it takes less than 5mb of hard disk space. It is compatible with all Windows programs from 98 to XP.

The software is written in Visual Basic .NET; Microsoft's latest program language specifically designed for web based applications. B-Free meets Microsoft .NET standard and is developed on the SQL and XML platforms. Industry-standard Open DataBase Connectivity (ODBC) unlocks the full potential of MYOB data files and custom-built business solutions.

Mr Rogers said B-Free is a very stable, far-reaching and reliable program. “The solution is almost totally web based; we are a step ahead of all comparable products. The backend management is completely integrated into the software and the website, allowing global changes to be made and distributed instantly. This means rapid response to market innovations – B-Free keeps business at the forefront of industry trends,” he said.

B-Free shared Microsoft’s stand at CeBIT – Australia's premier e-Business event – in Sydney in May. This is another accolade for the range of business accounting software. CeBIT is the Australasian 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.

B-Free’s status as a Microsoft Certified Partner ensures the latest information technology is immediately implemented into the product range. Development briefs cover e-commerce applications, budgeting features, POS modules, WAP versions and more.

Mr Rogers recently showed B-Free at the National Small Business Summit (NSBS) in Sydney. He said the summit is the primary forum for small business discussion. B-Free was one of 15 companies invited to participate in the summit. We showed how exciting the 2005 tax cuts can be for small business and how to cut through the red tape.

“The NSBS addresses issues at a federal government level. Speakers include Prime Minister John Howard, the leader of the opposition and other senior decision makers. Mr Howard spoke at the NSBS opening dinner, Federal Minister for Small Business Fran Bailey and Shadow Minister for Small Business Tony Burke hosted a breakfast meeting and Federal Labor leader Kim Beazley addressed guests at a luncheon,” Mr Rogers says