December 2013 Issue 89

Australia spent $5.6 billion on mobile devices last year and this trend is continually growing. More than 75% of the population chose mobile devices because of the convenience factor and most people kept their mobile devices close to them throughout the day. The natural progression then is for people to buy goods and services via mobile devices, because it's accessible,...

Team meetings are a great way to get everyone on board, reach consensus, gather opinions, build the team, work on a problem and share information. However, as there are a number of people present, this makes them challenging as group dynamics and roles that individuals in the group take on may hinder communication and progress. Ask yourself the following questions:...

Australia's economy is maintaining momentum and consumer confidence is strong heading into the busy end of calendar year period, fuelling an active jobs market. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index rose 1.9 per cent to 110.3 in November, close to the previous 2013 peaks in March and September. Consumer sentiment is being buoyed by low interest rates, rising house and...

In the prefect world property investment and owner occupied mortgage holders will fix their repayments at or near the bottom of the interest rate cycle for a period of time that is sufficiently long enough to ride through the next peek. Endless articles have been published on this subject but few, if any, are reliably instructive as to actually picking...

Sugar has become one of the main talking points of our society in terms of health, with the prevalence of obesity related diseases, such as diabetes and metabolic syndrome increasing all the time. Glucose (also known as sugar or carbohydrates) is what the brain uses for energy. Consequently, we cannot take sugar out of our diet. The Atkins Diet is...

In 2003 Australia ratified the Child Protection Convention. This Convention is also known as the Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition and Enforcement and Co-operation in respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children. The Child Protection Convention provides for the personal protection of children and for the protection of property of children. While the Convention was...

As Neil Sedaka crooned "Breaking up is hard to do". But it is doubly hard if you are both members of an SMSF! In an SMSF, the individuals that "own" the fund have the dual role of trustee and member. This gives rise to problems that are unique to SMSFs. The individuals must separate their roles as trustee from their...

Do you know that the registration of a business, company or domain name gives you no substantive intellectual property rights in law? Many businesses operate under the belief that the registration of a business, company or domain name gives them the exclusive right to use that name and provides a form of immunity against infringement proceedings brought by owners of...

The confidence of Australian directors about the outlook for business and the future of the economy has dramatically improved since the election of the Coalition, but they see increasing red tape and the burden of regulation as Australia's greatest economic challenges, according to the latest Director Sentiment Index (DSI) which is published by the Australian Institute of Company Directors ....

  Many businesses invest considerable sums to develop functionality for their computer programs. Contracted IT developers are commonly asked develop solutions to reorganise the way in which business information can be stored, accessed and used. The solutions themselves become valuable assets, but controlling rights to the solution is often left overlooked until it is too late. Paying a consultant to...

We have seen a significant amount of activity by the Australian Taxation Office ("ATO") in relation to reviewing the timing of Superannuation Guarantee ("SG") payments. Employers are currently required to pay 9.25% (up from 9% in 2012-2013) of Ordinary Times Earnings into the employees' superannuation fund by the 28th day after each quarter end (i.e. 28 October, 28 January, 28...

Canberra business PayMe Australia has been recognised for its innovation and growth in the field of specialised payroll management by winning the inaugural Canberra BusinessPoint Business of the Year award. PayMe Australia, a contractor payroll management company, was originally formed to support the payroll needs of IT contractors in the ACT. Today PayMe provides specialised services to the IT, administrative,...

DON DI PLACIDO DIRECTOR I look back on the past 25 years of my professional career as an accountant and business owner with a sense of pride and achievement. Running a business, as any business owner will know, requires not only expertise in your particular area of knowledge but the need to adapt to the changing needs and expectations of...