With the end of the financial year fast approaching in PNG, we spoke to BLP approved advisor KLG & Co. Business Consultants, a business that specialises in supporting clients in Accounting & Financial Management and Tax Compliance & Planning.
Principal Consultant Kopi Like-Grammon says around 30% of their clients are SMEs. She encourages SMEs to get a jump on their business tax return to take the stress out of life.
“It is really stressful running around at the last minutes trying to get your tax return completed and lodged.”
It is even better when the accounting is automated using cloud software such as Xero and QuickBooks Online. Consistently updating accounts each month relieves the burden of having to do everything at year end.
“We help our SME clients get their paperwork in order to assist their tax return submission. Accurate reports are essential for end of year tax compliance and to maintain stakeholder confidence.”
“Sometimes there is resistance from SMEs to use an accountant or tax agent. But what we provide our clients is so much more than just the tangible completion of statements and paperwork. The advice we give our clients can be quite transformative in their business.”
She says completing accurate reports illuminates their business performance helping them understand whether they are making a loss or a profit. “We help them see the parts of their business that are doing well and the parts that are not. Analysing their reports, we can help them to decide whether they should declare dividends or bonus payments and prepare for audits.”
“Engaging a qualified and experienced financial and tax advisor,” she adds “can also help SMEs save time and money. For example, we bring in expenses perhaps that our clients don’t know they can claim against their income, thus reducing their tax outlay.”
Kopi is a qualified CPA and publicly registered accountant and tax agent. In the business she is joined by two other CPAs, an experienced accountant and graduate in training.
KLG & Co. Business Consultants was established in 2013 and became an approved Business Link Pacific (BLP) Advisor in 2019. Business Link Pacific (BLP) connects small and medium sized businesses to a network of quality approved advisors and offers subsidies to improve the affordability of advisor support.
KLG & Co have secured 15 BLP subsidies through BLP for their SME clients, subsidising their accounting advisory cost by 50%. Kopi says, “SMEs are so happy when they receive the BLP subsidy. It’s an answer to their prayers. Accounting fees can be expensive, but with the BLP subsidy, the cost is so much more affordable for our SMEs.”
“When they learn they can get a BLP subsidy, they are very motivated to look for advisory services. They are often so surprised that this help is available to them,” she says.
Kopi talks about the benefit of being a part of the BLP Advisory Network:
- Being a BLP Advisor has led to an increased client base and helped provide a steady income. She says SME referrals to her business from BLP are motivated to use their services because they have been through the BLP diagnostic test.
“With these clients, their mindset has prepared them for how important advisory services are and how it can help their business. They know what they are trying to achieve with our services, and they see the value to their business. For example, if the BLP diagnostic has indicated the value of getting a loan, they learn from BLP how important it is to get all the paperwork right to achieve this goal. We help them register their business or complete the paperwork or requirements of the loan. Without the BLP advice, SMEs might overwise not see the value of recruiting an accounting specialist.”
- Being a part of the BLP network gives our business credibility. We know of clients that have told us that ‘If BLP likes you, we like you’. The BLP competency assessment process that Advisors must go through to be an approved BLP Advisor is rigorous. This gives SMEs the reassurance that a BLP Advisor will provide a quality service and can be trusted.
- Additional to this, since becoming a BLP Advisor we’ve learnt so much through networking opportunities. It’s really helped us to grow. We learn from other businesses in the same industry, and we’ve also learnt a lot from different types of advisors – like HR and IT advisors which has developed the strength of our business.
- We are benefiting from cross service selling. We recommend other non-accounting BLP advisors, and they recommend us.
Looking to the future, Kopi has many plans for KLG & Co Business Consultants. “We would like to recruit more staff, specialise in providing capacity building opportunities to train accountants, expand training of SMEs to know their responsibilities as Directors and business owners, concentrate on providing more cloud software systems to clients and go into Green Finance to help clients involved in solar energy, ecolodges and aquaculture. Right now, she is also planning a revision to her website to refine and upgrade information and access to clients via a logon. Big plans for a bright future.
Pacific SMEs – start your journey with BLP
As a Pacific based SME, start your journey with BLP through our free online tools. You can self-assess your business needs with these tools that have been developed to help small- and medium-sized businesses diagnose areas that an advisor could improve.
The first step can be the online Business Health Check. You can also check your business’s resilience to respond to crises or climate change challenges on the Business Continuity Planner and the Climate Action Sensor.
If you prefer to meet a local BLP representative in person to discuss your business, get in touch with our local partners to arrange a face-to-face Diagnostic.