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Tax File Number Declaration Forms

Tax file number declaration forms can now be completed and sent electronically to your employees. The form can be downloaded as a PDF and emailed your employees.

Risk Management - Issues for SMEs

There are a wide number of risks that can pertain to small/medium enterprise operations.  

 Commercial Risk

This category includes risks associated with:

·           the market and the sustainability of the business

·           potential growth of the business

·           export opportunities

 Is the business diversifying its operations to minimise risks in the marketplace?

 Compliance/Legal Risk

Businesses can encounter a number of significant compliance and legal risks, including:

·           changes to laws through changes of governments

·           product safety

·           trade practices legislation

·           defamation

·           non-performance of a legal agreement resulting in legal action

 Larger businesses need to be aware of the consequences of not complying with a number of laws relative to dealings with smaller businesses such as unconscionable conduct.

 Businesses need to be aware of the operations of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) relative to dealings with the public and other businesses.

 Environmental Risk

This category includes consideration of environmental issues that might affect the business, including weather issues (cyclones, sandstorms, floods, tsunamis, droughts and storms).  Other environmental issues include:

·           incorrect storage of chemical

·           incorrect disposal of products into stormwater drain

·           biological issues (virus, bacterial, fungi, human tissue)

·           physical issues (noise, temperature such as extreme heat or cold)

·           carbon footprint position

·           tree removal

 Businesses should regularly monitor whether their activities are likely to result in a claim that the business is not abiding by environmental rules because the cost to defend such an action can be very expensive.

Meetings - Waste of Time or Productive?

Businesses need team members to communicate.  One of the key ways to communicate is through meetings.  This means that careful planning should be undertaken to ensure that all meetings are productive.

 Some of the ingredients for productive meetings include:

·           Setting an agenda.

·           Appointing a Chairperson.

·           Preparing minutes of meetings and circulating them to all who attended.

·           Preparation of an action plan out of each set of minutes showing an item, to whom that item has been allocated and when is the report on the item to be submitted.

·           Meetings should commence on time irrespective of who is not there.

·           Meetings should conclude at the earliest opportunity.

·           Everyone present at the meeting should have a clear reason for being there and a role to play in the meeting.

·           Each meeting should have a designated person to prepare the minutes and the action plan, after the minutes have been reviewed by the Chairperson, to ensure that the minutes and the action plan are distributed to all attendees.

·           Sometimes, it's educational to calculate the cost to the business for the persons to be attending the meeting and to then determine whether the subject under consideration is worthy of that cost allocation for the people present.

It's preferable to have small number of people attend the meeting who are vitally interested rather than a large number turn up for the meeting who only have a marginal interest.