There has been a reform with the privacy law and it would take effect in less than 12 months, March 12, 2014 to be exact. There will be three major areas that will be affected by this reform, mainly:

• The introduction of comprehensive credit reporting. The changes will ensure that consumer credit providers will have the access to adequate data for the assessment of credit risk without putting the personal information in jeopardy. This support responsible lending, ensuring the credit risk would be lessened and personal information would not be shared. This will be underpinned by a new Credit reporting Code of Conduct which is approved by the Commissioner.

• The Introduction of a unified set of Australian Privacy Principles. In place of the current National Privacy Principles, these new principles will be introduced. Changes will take effect in the areas of direct marketing, handling of unsolicited information and overseas disclosure of personal information once these new principles take over.

• Intensified powers for the Commissioner. The power to resolve investigations and promote privacy awareness and compliance will be intensified for the discretion of the Commissioner. The Commissioner will also be given the authority to conduct Performance Assessments of Private sector organisations.

Here are the things that your business can do to prepare for the changes that will take effect next year:

Review your company’s:
• Systems, practices, procedures, staff training
• Privacy policies and collection notices
• direct marketing practices with the inclusion of opt-out mechanisms.
• Outsourcing arrangements, most especially if this will involve the sharing of personal information outside the country.

When analysing why such variance exist, the first thing that you have to determine is where the variance is. The truth is, there is no perfect budgeting, and you will most likely have variances all the time. Although small variances are always a part of operating a business they would still need thorough investigation if it continues to exist. We don’t need to tell you about how large variances definitely requires in depth investigation. You have to know what the normal pattern of variances that your business have and what would be odd or weird.
You also better be cautious about this normal pattern. A little increase or decrease would seem unnoticeable but looking at them as a whole would make you realize that it is already a huge number.
When did it occur? Variances can come regularly or seasonal. It is also important to take note that some variances may occur because of a delay in updating the system that you use.

The significance of the why in the existence of the variance is equal to the solution that you will take. You might be overreacting over a simple data delay or you might too relax with a major budget variance.

What do you need to do?
Once all the elements as to the existence of the variance then you’ll have everything that you need to draft a plan that will solve this issue. Consult your colleagues and partners about it and make profitable decisions.

Your needs: Your first priority
In negotiation, you should first look into your needs. Evaluate what would work for you and where you stand in the situation. Is this customer important to you? How does your relationship with them stand? Can you be flexible financially? Once you have looked into your situation this is the time when payment arrangements will be possible both satisfying your needs and your client’s ability to pay.

Your Client’s Situation: Understanding their place financially
Your customers will be the ones paying you. Without understanding their position, it would be impossible to see how you can get paid immediately. Verify if they are making excuses or is stating the truth. Bank accounts and cash flows will provide you with the verification. If their answer as to why they didn’t pay you is something not as truthful as they say, then you can look into solutions much easier like handing them invoices if they claim that they didn’t receive any.

In a negotiation, when there is resistance in any of the parties, the benefits and consequences of arriving at an agreement should make them oblige. It would always be helpful to give those positives rather than the negatives because then they would see how the agreement would be a benefit to their business.

In every business, pricing is very crucial. Because despite the fact that you are the best one in your industry, if you ask for too much then people might go looking for cheaper alternatives. Pricing greatly affects the profitability of your business.

You have full control on the price of your merchandise. You can adjust it anytime or you can give limited promotions to spice up customer interaction. Did you know that a simple price adjustment can bring you more than a 150% of your usual client base? Yup that is how powerful your pricing is.

Value and cost orientation

How do you want people to see your business as a brand? A company that provides cheap but high quality products or a business that focuses on offering the best of the best with no regard to cost? Settle your image and know how you want your business to be recognized. This will give you an idea on how you will price your products and services.

Consistency

Although it is great to try to adjust your business along with the changing economy, you should not try to change your pricing too often. It needs careful consideration and research for you to adjust your pricing. If you think that your competition has changed pricing, or there is not much patronage for a certain product then a pricing change might be necessary. Just make sure that they are not too drastic to confuse your clients.

Product presentation, packaging and intended function.

Do not overprice. As much as you want to earn more you should never burden your clients to pay more just because you are becoming a household name. Also, your product should reflect the price that you have given it. If you are on the luxurious side, make sure that what you display and offer them are all luxurious, they should be worthy enough for the high cost.

They almost seem, sound and mean the same for laypeople but they are actually different from one another at some point.

Stock
It refers to the share or a small portion of ownership of the business. You can look at it in percentage or potions. Such as buying 50% of a company’s stocks means that you own half of the company. Buying stocks or investing in them can be a huge risk because you never know if you will gain something in it or lose it in the process. The goal of buying stocks is to be able to sell them at a higher price, if the company do not succeed then you’ll be left with useless stocks that you can’t even sell because the company went bankrupt.

Bond
This one, on the other hand, is sort of a loan that you provide a company. They may need it for expansion purposes or for continued sustenance; there is actually a wide variety of reasons. If they need money they can offer public bonds instead of stocks. When a company initially starts to sell stocks to the public it published an IPO or initial public offering. The rules here is that the selling company will receive an interest rate for the sold stock besides the principal. The money borrowed will have to be repaid with interest during the set deadline and that the remaining becomes part of the capital to the borrower. So this means that the company goes in debt when they have bonds but they do not lose ownership of their company.

Courtesy Terms: Please and Thank You
Please and thank you not only shows that you are grateful to have made business with them but it also converts into payments. Having these two words into your invoice increases your chances of receiving the payment because they reflect politeness of asking for the payment rather than demanding for it.

The Consequences: Interests for Late Payments and more
No one wants to pay more than they ought to thus if you include the consequences of paying late in the invoice, it will help them see that they would just be inconvenienced more if they pay late. This is highly optional but if you enforce this strictly it will show clients that you are very serious with your business and that they either pay up now or risk having to pay more than they owe you. It would also be worth your time to check if they understood your terms as soon as they receive the invoice. They might think that you are making up these consequences or that they did not notice them when they received the invoice if you didn’t clear it out with them immediately.

Payments Terms: As specific and as clearly as possible
When you have the payments term laid out and stated clearly in the invoice, confusion will be lessened. The payment date should also be workable for both you and your client. Give your customers enough time to be able to pay up. This is also the part where you indicate the portion of the payment that needs to be paid in a certain date such as if you need half the payment at an earlier date or if you need a third of it sooner.

Too much play

Every business should always take care of the emotional wellbeing of their employees but too much of these entertainment expenses can pose a potential ATO audit. Also be aware that the unnecessary expenses that your business make such as the luxurious furnishings and outrageous cars you might have likened into buying will definitely cause the ATO to wonder. Keep them at bay by being realistic with everything that you do with your business, keeping accurate records of your book and to make sure that entertainment expenses is kept to a minimum.

Independent contractors?

You may have a different opinion when it comes to your employees but no matter what you think about your employees (or contractors) it is important that you file payroll tax returns and pay all of their taxes on time. They will also be curious when you suddenly changed your employees into independent contractors.

If you can’t be bothered to do this on your own, then hire a payroll service provider to keep you from spending your precious time on this.

Cash transactions

Business that operate on a cash basis – such as convenience stores – are on a greater potential of being audited. This is due to the fact that the nature of the business provides more venues for fraud to occur. ATO will take extra care in looking into your claims because of this.

Here are some tips to help you:

Receipts

Always keep receipts. However small or unnecessary they may seem, always keep them. They still add to the amount that you have used of your petty cash and a close approximation of all that you have consumed would be better than a rough estimate. It will also save you from the burden of having to think about and recalling every transaction that you have made to be entered to the books.

Access

Petty cash should be readily available but not to everybody. Place it somewhere where only a few people can have access to such as a locked drawer or a cashier box. Give authority for only a few people and give them instructions to only take cash from it when it’s totally necessary and to keep the receipts.

Replenishments

If a part of the petty cash has been used, replace that as soon as possible. It’s best that you try to keep the same amount of petty cash all the time. This will help make you see if the petty cash is almost always used up or just enough for all necessary expenses.

The following is a list of examples of non-operating expenses:

• The repair of the machinery that you have bought for your business. The machinery is currently on rent since you don’t need it for running the business yet.
• The salary of the caretaker of the space you have bought for your business but is now on lease since you are not yet planning to open up the new business.
• Broker fees should you want to invest in the financial market through the use if the profit you have gained from your business.

Here on the other hand is your business’s operating expenses:

• The rent of your office space.
• The salary of your employees.
• The cost of your equipments and machineries.
• Office supplies.

If you think that the expense directly affects the operation of the business such as if you do not pay for the rent of your office space then there is no way you can continue working there  and if you do not pay for your office supplies the ease of work and administrative functions will be jeopardized then they are positively operating expenses. While if they could pose little to no effect to the business’s standard operating procedures like when you do not pay for the broker fees it would not affect the operation of your business then these expenses are your non-operating expenses.

If you envision a growing company with future investors to provide additional funds then keeping accurate financial reports should be one of your priorities.  The process of pitching your business for potential investors and lenders involves them carefully studying your well-kept books. They use your financial statements to see if investing in your business is a wise decision. Your books reflect your company’s history and continued path to success specifically with highlight to your business’s profitability.

Bookkeeping provides a clear outline of what your business’s strengths and weaknesses are. Every business decision should be based on what the business’s current financial situation is, without accurately kept books, there would be no basis for sound decisions. If you want to keep your business growing and to continue its path to success then a quick access to a complete financial data that shows how the business does should be readily available.

Without bookkeeping, you’ll be sending hours trying to figure out what the jumbled piles of files and documents means. That is not how you should be spending your precious time. You should be able to make wise business decisions in minutes.

Another benefit of bookkeeping is its ability to protect you from potential identity theft and scams. Accurate financial records will also put a highlight on simple errors that would not be a simple task if you don’t have well-kept books.