Welcome to the Mclowd Practitioner Update.
Introduction
As per the most recent Community Newsletter, the focus of the development Team is very much on improved support for year end processing.
Lodgement
These efforts have begun to bear fruit, with FY18 lodgement now available within the Pro version (annual cost just $33 p.a).
While the current workflow involves importing a year end file to our partner LodgeIT, in due course this will be simplified, with lodgement embedded into the Mclowd interface itself. (We will also add support for Xero Tax in the next few weeks).
Please note however that for now this will not be suitable for Funds affected by recent ECPI changes. We will advise when support for this scenario has been deployed.
Further Year End Improvements
As part of this release we have also addressed outstanding gaps in terms of GL accounts, including:
- LIC capital gains deduction
- Amortisation expense
- Borrowing cost
- Excess foreign tax credit writeoff
A full list can be downloaded here.
Account references have now been incorporated into the year end interface itself, making it easier to reconcile.
Improved mapping of the GL to SMSFAR is also an important step towards providing editability of the chart of accounts.
Data Feeds
As mentioned in previous communications, Mclowd now has in place data feeds for Australian managed funds, including current and historical unit pricing and distribution information, as well as asset allocation.
Along with the ASX, bank and broker data, the Community has now built much of the data layer that is required to support high volume users.
While all of the above is already available to Practitioner users, our efforts will now shift to delivering the automation which is enabled by these data sources.
Online Collaboration
While Practitioners have been able to manage client users for some time, we have now enabled the ability for Trustees to invite Practitioners and other third parties to collaborate with them online.
This functionality will be particularly useful for those Trustees who are engaging with service providers via the Marketplace. Trustees are able to define roles (as either read only, or read / write) depending on the level of access required.
TBAR
A reminder that Mclowd now supports the generation of TBAR files for submission to the ATO.
More details are available in the Practitioner User Manual.
Conclusion
The Mclowd Community now gains in both numbers and strength on a daily basis.
This growth:
- Is making it easier to deliver against current and planned improvements, to the benefit of all stakeholders
- Will ultimately drive structural change across the industry
As always, please keep the feedback coming.
Regards
Ashley Porter
Managing Director
Mclowd Pty Ltd