QuickBooks 2011/12 streamlines BAS reporting

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 31 March 2011 23:05

Business IT - Technology

QuickBooks 2011/12 features GovConnect, a new program for reporting to governments. The first function to be implemented is BAS submission.

The headline feature of QuickBooks 2011/12 (the latest edition of Reckon's well-regarded accounting software) is support for the Federal Government's Standard Business Reporting (SBR) technology.

SBR is intended to be used for a wide range of reporting to government departments and agencies. It allows software developers to create programs that submit data and then handle the responses appropriately, as well as pre-filling certain fields with data from the agency.

For example, an accounting program would already check that a total in a BAS does actually equal the sum of the relevant items. But SBR means that the government server receiving the data can immediately carry out other types of checking (eg, that the ABN matches the name of the reporting entity) and immediately flag any inconsistencies. Under previous practices, such errors could take weeks or even months to resolve.

'Over 50,000 of our existing customers will automatically receive the SBR-enabled application today, and many more can now purchase this technology off retail shelves for the first time,' says Gavin Dixon, CEO of Reckon's business division.

"Let's face it, who doesn't want to spend less time filling out forms. Business owners and accountants are busy people and Reckon GovConnect will help ease the burden of red tape by pre-filling forms with data taken from directly within QuickBooks and the ATO."

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