BGL is proud to announce CAS 360 and Simple Fund 360 integration with digital signing solution, Adobe Sign.
Read More
BGL has been rated by accountants as Australia’s #1 SMSF software provider in the 2020 Investment Trends Report.
BGL launches GuestTrack, a free COVID-19 tracking application for business
Meet BGL superstar and Account Manager, Damien Gunatillake! Damien has been a BGLer for 2 years and is an essential part of the BGL team.
Brooke has been a BGLer for an incredible 6 years and is an essential part of the BGL team!
BGL is proud to announce the release of the 2020 SMSF Annual Tax Return in Simple Fund 360.
Having worked with multinational corporates, SMEs and start-ups with angel or venture capital backing, Matt brings to the BGL Team many experiences and learnings from both the product and sales perspectives. Matt will join the BGL Team as the Head of Sales and Account Management with a focus on building strong relationships with existing clients and prospects to drive sustainable growth in BGL cloud products.
“I’m thrilled to be joining BGL!” said Matt Green. “BGL has a wonderful team. They’ve worked hard to build a solid business with innovative products and enjoy very loyal customers. I look forward to helping the BGL Team build upon their successes to date”.
“Matt is a great addition to the BGL Leadership Team” says Ron Lesh, BGL’s Managing Director. “Matt has a wealth of experience in the accounting and financial services industry and with SaaS businesses. We are excited Matt has decided to join us”.
BGL has a team of over 150 people across Australia, China, Hong Kong, Philippines and Singapore.
Krish has been a BGLer for an incredible 9 years and is an essential part of the Simple Fund 360 team!
BGL says we need to recognise the extraordinary contribution made by accountants, bookkeepers and financial planners during COVID-19.
“Our clients are doing it really tough” says Ron Lesh, BGL Managing Director. “They are working 16+ hour days to help their clients through the incredible complexity of the government’s COVID-19 support packages while dealing with the same financial difficulties in their own business”.
There has been much well-earned praise for our hospital workers, emergency workers, the staff at Coles and Woolworths, the many thousands of food retailers, restaurant owners and all the others battling to keep the Australian economy alive during this crisis. But nothing has been said about the incredible contribution made by those helping Australia’s 2,000,000 + small business survive the economic carnage.
“One thing New Zealand got right through their shutdown is a voucher scheme for accounting services” Lesh observed. “I see the IPA and the CPA’s have been calling for a similar scheme for Australian small businesses. It really is time the government stepped up”.
“I am also incredibly disappointed our politicians and public servants do not seem to want to share the pain and sacrifice made by so many others” added Lesh.” We really are not ALL in this together. If you are a politician or senior public servant, you seem to be in a protected class!”
“I am really concerned about the economy and the mental health of my people, our clients and their clients” said Lesh. “The rhetoric coming from the state premiers and so much of the media really does not help give Australian’s any sense of a positive future – and there is a hell of a lot to be positive about!”
“Employees want to know their jobs are secure and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel” Lesh said. “From Day 1, I went out to our people and told them their jobs are safe – focus on your health and your family. The rest will take care of itself. This period of economic vandalism will end. And you will be able to be with your mum on Mother’s Day – who would have known the Grim Reaper from Spring Street would be so cruel as to ban that!”
“I am really proud of the BGL Team” noted Lesh. “My guys have continued to release market leading software throughout this period. And our clients have continued to benefit from our first-class product support while our account managers have helped those we can.”
Published by selfmanagedsuper
Written by Jason Spits on 29 April 2020
The impact on the retirement income of superannuation fund members who choose to withdraw $10,000 from their fund in the current financial year under COVID-19 early access measures has been vastly overestimated by some models, according to an investments and retirement-focused fintech firm.
mSmart managing director Derek Condell said while the models put forward by ASIC and Industry Super Australia (ISA) are using figures presented in real dollar terms, they have also factored in inflation until the age of retirement, which in some cases could be up to 40 years away.
Condell said modelling conducted by mSmart, using algorithms developed by mSmart director Dr Frank Ashe and which eliminated the inflation component, found the overall decrease in a final super balance was around $30,000 for a super fund member aged 35 at the time of early access and who had an initial balance of $70,000 at that time.
He added the decrease translated to only a $55 a fortnight, or $1430 a year, drop in an original estimated pension drawdown of $58,000 and similar declines were seen for members currently aged 45 and 55 and retiring at age 67 and drawing a pension from age 68 onwards (see table below).
“We have calculated the above with a 50 per cent probability and assume that the investment portfolio is continually invested in assets despite markets having fallen from their highs, and the results are shown in today’s dollars, where we have taken inflation out to give a meaningful ‘like with like’ result,” he said.
“We have done this to show what purchasing power people would have with their superannuation if they were accessing the money today compared to what these funds may look like in 10, 20 or 30 years, and the impact is minimal.”
The firm’s numbers echo comments from a senior Treasury official who was questioned during a senate committee about the modelling used by ISA in producing its figures.
ISA released its model on 26 March and estimated fund members could face an impact on their final superannuation balance that was twice that estimated by ASIC on its Moneysmart webpage.
Responding to questioning from Senator James Paterson as to the difference in the figures, Treasury retirement income policy division head Robert Jeremenko told the the Senate Select Committee on COVID-19, which is examining the government’s response to the pandemic: “The major reason for that is the use of nominal figures rather than real figures. Those figures that ISA quote do not use today’s dollars, effectively.
“That is inconsistent with what ASIC has told super funds and what ASIC has told anyone who is making public statements about the effect on retirement balances of various withdrawals from super.
“So it makes intuitive sense to me that you use today’s dollars when you’re trying to estimate what effect a withdrawal will have at some point in the future, which is what the ASIC Moneysmart calculator does.”
mSmart recently announced it was in the final stages of developing an app that projects the likelihood of the future value of superannuation, savings pools and education funding plans, taking into account all the uncertainties of economies and markets.
Recent Comments