Tax – Chaos or Calm

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The date June 30 can mean chaos or calm depending on how well organised you are. If this year is already looking like chaos maybe it’s time to consider ways for your office to work smarter as we head towards end of financial year.

Here are a few tips to create calm from Lan Nguyen from Success Accounting Group.

1. Check for missing receipts or documentation – these definitely cause stress and chaos

To create a calmer approach to 30 June; review all necessary receipts and documentation now so that you can present your accountant and the Tax Office with a complete set of documents to substantiate your claims and support your record keeping.

2. Review your financial positioning – If your profit and loss statements are unbalanced there’s a very good chance you are too.

The difference between good bookkeeping and excellent book keeping is balance… in the numbers in your profit and loss and business and credit card bank accounts. Don’t forget to check if the interest on the car hire purchase and business loans is separate from the principle. Are they fully reconciled and all transactions recorded accurately and completely? If not, go to point #1! This is the best time of year to do a stock take and write off any obsolete stock. Check the integrity of accounts receivable and accounts payable and write off any uncollectable debts before 30 June. If none of this makes sense – talk to your accountant A.S.A.P.

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Going green; is it worth it?

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Starting a sustainable small business – for real.

It would be easy to answer the question “what challenges do you face when starting a small business” by discussing the difficulties that face any small business owner with a dream and a startup. However cash flow, staff, legal negotiations amongst everything else are common to all small businesses and their stories can be found in any number of articles on ‘how to start a small business’. These difficult, and often tedious challenges, are far from the most immediate challenges that face small businesses looking to operate sustainably.

The forefront challenge is cementing your company values and sticking to them; despite the more obvious short term savings that will (guaranteed) regularly present themselves along the way.

As a startup there are countless options from fit-out to stock purchasing, product manufacture and packaging that present cheap yet environmentally harmful solutions. Try to find the best product that causes the least damage to the environment, or better still improve on what is already available.

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Commercial Property Depreciation

Five Facts For Commercial Investment Property Owners

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What commercial property investors should consider

Commercial investment property owners are often unaware they are entitled to make a claim for property depreciation. According to Bradley Beer, the Managing Director of BMT Tax Depreciation, around 80 per cent of commercial property owners don’t take advantage of property depreciation and therefore miss out on thousands of dollars.

“Claiming depreciation is paramount for commercial property investors. A depreciation claim can provide the difference in income for owners to turn a negative cash-flow property into an investment with a positive cash-flow,” said Bradley.

To help commercial properties owners earn more from their property, here are five facts about tax depreciation to assist them in the lead up to the end of financial year.

1. What is depreciation and what can be claimed?

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) requires investors to report any income earned from a commercial property as part of preparing their income tax assessment. Commercial investment property owners are entitled to claim depreciation. Depreciation is a deduction available due to the wear and tear of a buildings structure (capital works deduction) and its fixtures and fittings (plant and equipment items) over time. It is considered a non-cash deduction, meaning investors do not need to spend any money to be able to claim it.

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Setting Up Budgets For Exhibition Stands and Trade Show Displays

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by Gill Keinan, Director of NVP Exhibits

The first thing to know is that running exhibitions and trade shows is that it is just like running a business. The thinking of the smart exhibitor should be strategic long term planning and all critical aspects must be covered. In short, if you are always planning only for the next show you are probably spending too much.

Getting the right man on the job

Are you getting the right man for the job? Planning for exhibitions and trade shows require good understanding of strategic planning, marketing skills as well good management skills considering art work and logistics and ability to ask the right questions. In other words getting a capable individual on the job is critical.

Being aware of all expenses related to exhibition stands and trade show displays is crucial. Here are the points to consider:

1. Planning is the key: as a first step makes a list of all the exhibitions and trade shows you attend every year. By doing so you will gain some important information that will help you plan further:

  • Your cost of space
  • Your pattern of attendance

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Work At Home Mum

Managing Your Time and Kids When You Work From Home

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The reason you are working from home is so you can spend more time with your family, right? So don’t feel guilty about scaling back your work commitments whilst the kids are off school. If they are old enough, ask your kids to help you to honour your commitments to your clients so you can give them time too. You might even find that they are willing to help you with your work if it means that you’ll be able to concentrate on doing fun stuff with them. An example might be that they will give you quiet time in the morning (or even deliver brochures) if you’ll take them to the pool in the afternoon.

Make sure you’re really present when you’re spending time with your kids. You can’t be constantly interrupting your time with them to answer your phone or check e-mail. They’ll recognise that you are only half there and resent it. Unplug and really give them your attention when you’re spending time with them.

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Stress Free Business

The Number 1 Secret to Stress Free Business – Part 1

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by David Candy

I thought that this might catch your attention. Afterall, who wouldn’t want to be stress free not just in business but in life in general? In this series I’m going to walk you through exactly how I have not only helped my clients to achieve a stress free life in business but also how I became free of an issue that plagued me for decades throughout each area of my personal and business life.

Identifying the REAL cause of Stress

So the very first thing I do with people suffering from stress is to sit them down and help them identify the number one cause of their stress. And do you know what I hear time and time again? It’s the responsibility I feel, it’s the workload I have, it’s the staff that work for me, it’s home and balancing the work/ home relationship, it’s finances – the list goes on. Sound familiar?

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