Frequently Asked Questions
Pricing and plans
During your free initial Zoom video consultation session, we’ll walk you through the services included in each Cotchy price bundle to determine which is the best fit for your business.
Yes, absolutely. We will never lock you in to our service, and we ensure it’s simple to get your financials and your electronic file from Cotchy if you ever decide to leave.
Absolutely. Each Cotchy pricing bundle has a different set of services that are customised to your business’ needs. As your business grows and progresses, it’s normal for a business owner to need to change plans over time and when that happens, we’ll be here to support you to shift into the subscription that works best for you.
Our Process
Initial Contact: You enter your contact details in the ‘Book A Free Chat’ Contact form.
A friendly Cotchy team member will be in touch with you to book in a consultation Zoom appointment with one of our CPA Accountants.
Let’s Chat: We’ll explain how you can run your business with a clear picture of your finances with Cotchy!
We’ll answer all queries you may have and advise on the best pricing package to suit your needs.
Once you have had your consult and are happy to commence using our services, we will introduce you to your dedicated Account Manager.
Time To Get Set Up: We set you up on a monthly subscription under our CPA approved engagement letter. No hidden fee surprises!
If you choose to move across to the software included in our service package, we will safely and seamlessly integrate the data from your current software to our platform. (If you choose to use another software eg. Xero, or MYOB etc, then you would just need to pay their subscription separate to our fees.)
We collect your bank feeds using our automated software and stay in touch constantly in this set up phase.
You will always have full access to all of your accounts, we can assist in setting up the software for easy access on your devices.
We’ll Do The Lot: We prepare and complete your book work, then send you the Monthly Financial Reports to review that are easy to understand.
And Finally… Time for you to relax, stop stressing about your books and start focusing on growing your business!
Bookkeeping and Accounting
Bookkeeping gives you a clear picture of where your money is coming from (and going to.) Keeping your books up to date, gives you an accurate view of your business’s health, and can help you to make smarter financial decisions.
Keeping accurate books pays off at tax time, as well! When your bookkeeping is up to date, you avoid rushing around to catch up before the tax deadline, or missing out on any deductions you may be eligible to claim.
Keeping accurate books pays off at tax time, as well! When your bookkeeping is up to date, you avoid rushing around to catch up before the tax deadline, or missing out on any deductions you may be eligible to claim.
Your bookkeeper is there to reconcile your accounts, categorise your transactions, and produce your financial reports and statements. They will also make necessary adjustments to your books to make sure they are tax compliant. Our bookkeepers will also complete your monthly or quarterly Business Activity Statements.
Every now and then your bookkeeper may need your input on things like categorising a transaction correctly, but we do try our best to make your bookkeeping as hands-off as possible for you.
You can also book a phone/zoom call with your bookkeeper whenever you’d like. There’s no extra fee or hourly charges for support—we’re always happy to chat out about your financials.
Every now and then your bookkeeper may need your input on things like categorising a transaction correctly, but we do try our best to make your bookkeeping as hands-off as possible for you.
You can also book a phone/zoom call with your bookkeeper whenever you’d like. There’s no extra fee or hourly charges for support—we’re always happy to chat out about your financials.
As the bank date is automatically fed into our platform, we will complete your bookkeeping for the month within 15 business days of the end of the month. This gives us enough time to make any adjustments needed before we deliver your monthly financial reports.
Yes, just let us know in your initial consult about how many years or months needed to be caught up and we can discuss an add-on catch up bookkeeping price to your standard plan. No matter how far behind you are, we can get you all caught up!
The amount of time it takes to catch up on historical bookkeeping depends on how many months of catch-up bookkeeping is required, but usually it takes us about 2-4 weeks to complete one year’s worth of overdue bookkeeping.
Bookkeeping is a procedure of recording daily transactions in a consistent manner and is a key part to developing a financially successful business. Bookkeepers look after the day-to-day financials, such as posting credits and debits and maintaining the general ledger.
Accounting is a practice that works with the financial information compiled by a bookkeeper or a business owner and delivers financial models using that information. Accountants also deal with transactions like asset depreciation and Loan interest.
In short the Cotchy platform gives you best of both worlds. You will have a Virtual CFO for your business without the price tag.
Accounting is a practice that works with the financial information compiled by a bookkeeper or a business owner and delivers financial models using that information. Accountants also deal with transactions like asset depreciation and Loan interest.
In short the Cotchy platform gives you best of both worlds. You will have a Virtual CFO for your business without the price tag.
We provide our clients either cash or accrual bookkeeping. With these methods, we record transactions as soon as funds have been deposited into your bank or paid from your bank/credit card.
We complete accrual adjustments like tracking trade debtors/creditors if accrual is what you require.
If you are unsure if cash or accrual basis bookkeeping is best, we will work with you to deliver the right method. We are CPA Accountants so that will not be a problem.
We complete accrual adjustments like tracking trade debtors/creditors if accrual is what you require.
If you are unsure if cash or accrual basis bookkeeping is best, we will work with you to deliver the right method. We are CPA Accountants so that will not be a problem.
We offer a basic payroll service for associates of the business and we can guide you with invoicing/bill payments/inventory, however, we won’t be managing these modules for you. Rest assured we’ve been around since 1978 in bookkeeping/accounting/tax so we know how to advise on your small business.
Tax
Yes, we’ll prepare and lodge your taxes for you as part of our Plus plan!
Once your bookkeeper completes your year-end financials, your dedicated CPA Tax Accountant will prepare your return. When it is ready, we’ll contact you for your electronic signature and the “all clear.” Then, we’ll lodge your tax return with the ATO.
Also since tax time stress isn’t limited to tax season, we have year-round tax advisory services which comes standard. Our in-house tax professionals are available for all your tax planning requirements. They check-in throughout the year to make sure no possible deductions are left behind.
Yes! Individual Tax Returns can be added to your plan. As well as Company, Trust, Partnership and SMSF Income Tax Returns, you can add any of these on for an additional fixed monthly fee. Chat to our team to find out more.
Yes, all Tax Professionals in Cotchy’s Tax team are fully qualified and compliant. Cotchy is a registered BAS and Income Tax Agent with the ATO with the requisite Code of Ethics. We are also a CPA firm
Cotchy does not complete tax preparation or tax planning work for non-Australian domiciled businesses, however, if you are a foreign company setting up in Australia, we can help you with your new domiciled Australian Business.
Absolutely anything tax-related! Here are some examples to get you started:
The ATO just sent me a letter. What does it mean? Do I have to pay quarterly instalments? Should I incorporate my business? Should I write off mileage or get a business vehicle?
Your Cotchy team are available year-round and will answer your questions in 2 business days or less. Don’t have any burning questions? That’s okay! We’re still available to support you and can give recommendations based on your individual business needs.
We offer a basic payroll service for associates of the business and we can guide you with invoicing/bill payments/inventory, however, we won’t be managing these modules for you. Rest assured we’ve been around since 1978 in bookkeeping/accounting/tax so we know how to advise on your small business.
Integrations and Add-ons
Xero and other bookkeeping software give you a tool to do your own bookkeeping. Cotchy does all of your bookkeeping for you! The lot!
With Cotchy, you get a team of real, expert bookkeepers and accountants in addition to software. You’ll always have the human support you need, and a mobile friendly platform to access your up-to-date financials.
With Cotchy, you get a team of real, expert bookkeepers and accountants in addition to software. You’ll always have the human support you need, and a mobile friendly platform to access your up-to-date financials.
No, we don’t sync your data from any other bookkeeping software.
When you sign up for our service, we’ll take bookkeeping off your shoulders completely! We’ll do all the heavy lifting! This means you won’t need to use any other software with Cotchy. We’ll connect with your business accounts to view your transactions. We use that data as our source of proof and make all necessary adjustments in the Cotchy platform.
We will discuss all software queries in your initial Zoom Consultation—we do everything within our platform!
If you’re switching from Xero for example, we’ll work from your closing balances to do your bookkeeping going forward. We can also bring across all of your contacts in the Xero file.
If you’re not sure whether your closing balances are accurate, we recommend chatting with one of our Accountants about catch up bookkeeping.
If you’re not sure whether your closing balances are accurate, we recommend chatting with one of our Accountants about catch up bookkeeping.
Yes! We connect with most major banks in Australia. Connecting your bank account gives your team access to your transaction history and account statements—nothing more.
We connect your bank feeds and accounts to Cotchy for seamless data transfer. So, for the most part, we’ll have all of the transaction information we need to do your books.
There may be occasions where we’ll request documents from you (like account statements or receipts), just to ensure the information we have is correct. If you need to share files with your bookkeeping team, it’s as simple as uploading and sending through a file. We’ll sort out the rest.
We don’t need any of your past bookkeeping to carry out work going forward. This means that we won’t need to do a full import of your books into our platform. With that said, we do advise on retaining any previous bookkeeping on file in case you need to adjust at tax time. Instead of importing your books, we use your bank statements as our source of proof and import from there.
How does Cotchy protect my financial data?
Our data centres have 24×7 physical security, full-time security guards, video surveillance, and alarms to prevent high-tech breaches. The data centres have uninterrupted power supplies and backup generators for use in case of a power outage. There are also complex smoke, flood detection and fire suppression systems in place.
We rely on the advanced, industry-recognized security safeguards with the Verisign tick to keep your financial data private and protected. With password-protected login, multi-factor authentication, firewall-protected servers, and state of the art encryption technology for data at rest and in transit, we have the security in place to give you peace of mind.
We do this automatically. Your information is saved using the same processes and security practices that handle millions of online tax returns each year via the ATO. You get the convenience of automatic offset storage without physical backup copies of your own. Should the unexpected ever happen to our computers, all of your data will still be accessible to you from any computer connected to the Internet.
We build privacy into everything we do. It’s how we choose to treat and respect our customers on a daily basis. That’s why we follow a strict set of guidelines and practices to protect all your private information. We do not sell, rent or share your information with third parties for their promotional use, and we don’t allow our employees, contractors, or other personnel to see, use or change your data without your permission. We have the TRUSTe Certified Privacy seal
We have an always-on activity log and audit trail are on every transaction. The always-on activity log is a complete record of activities, while the audit trail is an easy-to-read history of all changes to a specific transaction. Effectively nothing can happen to your records without us knowing about it.
About Cotchy
Your bookkeeping team consists of 1 professionally trained bookkeeper, and one CPA Accountant who reviews all your monthly statements and your Year End Financial package.
We like to keep you with the bookkeeper you’re assigned when you come on board. If there are any changes in your bookkeeping team, we’ll let you know as soon as possible and make sure the transition is a smooth one.
We like to keep you with the bookkeeper you’re assigned when you come on board. If there are any changes in your bookkeeping team, we’ll let you know as soon as possible and make sure the transition is a smooth one.
All of our bookkeepers work out of our Melbourne headquarters in Blackburn or from their home office, also in Melbourne. We don’t outsource your bookkeeping to an overseas jurisdiction.
Cotchy bookkeepers are also trained in-house. Collectively, we have experience supporting thousands of small business owners. Our team knows how to serve your business’s individual bookkeeping needs, and they do so with great care.
Cotchy bookkeepers are also trained in-house. Collectively, we have experience supporting thousands of small business owners. Our team knows how to serve your business’s individual bookkeeping needs, and they do so with great care.
The Cotchy brand has been in business since 2019. When our founder, Pat Mannix, a Melbourne educated CPA, decided to embark on this new venture it comes from over 30 years of experience in his family’s 43-year Melbourne based financial firm, Paris Financial.
