While it may come, finally, to having to terminate the employee its best to approach this situation knowing as many of the facts as you can and with the aim in mind of helping them lift their performance to an acceptable level. So the first step isn’t confronting them with their poor performance but to impartially analyse the situation overall and try and assess just what might be at the bottom of their performance problem. While any number of things can impact performance here are some common ones to keep in mind.

Inability to do the work

When the person was hired someone made the assessment that they could handle the type of work involved. But do they really have that ability?

Not performing at the required level 

Did this person bring the requisite skills to the job or do they need additional training to develop them?

Doing the wrong job 

Clear job descriptions can help in choosing the right people to hire, getting them productive fast and keeping them focused on doing what they were employed to do.

Suffering poor morale 

If the ability, skills and knowledge are all there, but the person seems to actually choose to perform badly, you need to unearth the reasons why. That’s best done in a tactful performance review.

External factors affecting performance 

Employee’s problems have a way of becoming the business’ problems so they need to be addressed quickly and effectively. It won’t always be possible to find a solution to the problem but it’s definitely best to try to help a team member find a way to getting their performance back on track.

New Year’s Resolution -

Take Control Of Your Day!

It’s always challenging to find enough time to work on your business while keeping up with the demands of working in the business. Because long-term projects and planning activities get placed on hold while you put out fires and deal with unexpected interruptions, actual management of the business is often fragmented and very low in real productivity.
Here is a simple approach to solving the time management problem that’s guaranteed to work for you once you commit to it.

Step 1. Create a ‘To Do’ list

Make it as complete as possible by including both long-term and short-term tasks – everything that you have to do in a business day regardless of its importance or urgency. Include time for making and receiving telephone calls, impromptu conversations and meetings. Assign everything on the list to one of these four categories:

• Category 1: Urgent and Important – things that are critical to the business and have a deadline involved.
• Category 2: Important but not urgent
• Category 3: Urgent but not important – activities such as telephone calls or meetings not related to your Category 1 or 2 projects. They are urgent only because they need to be handled immediately.
• Category 4: Activities that are not important and not urgent
Now put this list aside for a day.

Step 2. Track your real workday

Throughout the next day, without referring to your ‘to do’ list, make a note of everything you do and how much time you spend on it.
When the work day is complete go back to your ‘to do’ list and compare what you’ve actually done during your day with what you rated as really the most urgent and important tasks before you. If you’re like most people you’ll have spent far too much time on activities you’ve judged to be Category 3 and 4 types and consequently far too little time on those activities and projects that really matter.

Step 3. Restructure your time usage

Start by taking the prioritised ‘to do’ list and making an estimate of how much time every Category 1 and 2 item requires for completion. Relate these to any deadlines or completion dates that may apply and calculate just how much time needs to be spent on them each day. For example, you may have a major project that needs to be completed in ten days and will require approximately fifteen hours of your time to complete. That works out to needing 1.5 hours on average each day if you’re going to meet the deadline.

Step 4. Develop your schedule

Now go to your calendar or diary and block out the necessary time you need to complete everything that’s in Categories 1 and 2 – your real priorities!
Go back to your list and review everything that’s in Category 4. Either delete these items or delegate as many of them as possible. Things you’ve put into Category 3 can be handled on an ad hoc basis when time permits, but only when you are sure that everything in Categories 1 and 2 have received sufficient attention.

Step 5. Plan, Prioritise & Review

Take 5 to 10 minutes of time out to plan and prioritise at the start of each day. Close out each day reviewing your accomplishments and reflecting on your progress.
Once you begin working in this new way you’ll find that every day is more productive. You’ll be tempted to find excuses to make exceptions for one reason or another. Don’t! Taking control of your day won’t be easy at first, but stick with it and you’ll be hours ahead every week.
If you would like a referral to some great tools to help you with your time management, send me an email and I will point you in the right direction.

Nonetheless, there are some strategies that can be implemented that can help you save money and reduce the stress involved in running a business.

Go Online: The online world offers many cost cutting opportunities for businesses, here are a few:

Stop mailing lists: With most people using email, this is a simple and efficient way to save money.

Advertise more online: Traditional print or broadcast advertising is still useful; however you can save money by having a functional and dynamic website. Linking to other websites and using social media to promote your business is a cheap and effective way to create market awareness.

Take your business online: If you operate a clothing boutique for example, and you’re finding rent an impossible and insurmountable cost, you can keep your current clients by operating online!

Reduce your energy bill: Not only will this give your business a cleaner image, but it will also help to clean up your budget. Install energy efficient appliances and become aware in saving techniques as simple as switching off lights and computers.

Mobile Phones: Mobile phones are not a new technology, but certainly coming to replace landlines. Having a landline is an unnecessary cost when you can be reached on your mobile. Taking out a plan for both your personal and a business mobile use will still be cheaper than operating a landline.

Eliminate inefficient business tools: Look for technologies which are multi-functional, useful and cost effective. How necessary is a fax machine? Fax machines scan documents to convert them into a digital form; why not keep them in a digital form and email them?

With a little ingenuity and imagination you can cut your business’s costs and make your life as a business manager more enjoyable.

Of course, Christmas time is also when businesses are fronted with big expenses such as bonuses, parties and staff wages. However, your business’s future should not be neglected.

Market your business by extending your brand and solidifying your customer relationships and referral sources.

Here are a few inexpensive ways to do holiday marketing:

• Holiday cards: are not only inexpensive but also show your continuing respect and value towards your clients, customers, patients, referral sources and key suppliers. Emailing instead of traditional mail is a perfectly appropriate substitute which is guaranteed to reach the customer and deliver the same result.
• Gifts for clients: this small expression of gratitude will communicate the value you place on your client relationships. Ensure the gifts are in line with your business. For example, if you owned a hairdressing salon, you may choose to reward your loyal clients with free treatments or discounts.
• Christmas business events: are a good opportunity to celebrate your business, your staff and your customers. Of course there must be an associated budget to which you adhere, however events like hosting a picnic for families can be done on a small budget. Such events will pay themselves off in the long run with customer and staff loyalty.

It’s about being creative and standing apart from your competitors. Keep your business goals in mind when choosing the appropriate marketing channels and choose something that will best reflect and boost your brand.

Each business endeavour should be marked by a business plan and often such plans come into fruition alongside our personal new year’s resolutions. Planning ahead allows you to set out goals best suited for your business.
In order to plan ahead though, we must reflect upon the events which brought us to this point and evaluate them against possible future circumstances.

This is a time to take advantage of the freedom to plan and evaluate your business without the tax deadlines and pressures felt towards the end of the financial year.

You can look to your accountant to provide advice on ways to improve your business’s finances and operations and reduce your tax liability. Explore and remedy your business’s weaknesses whilst building upon its strengths.

So whilst your customers are scrambling for last minute Christmas shopping, you can take a moment to reflect on your business’s past, present and future.

Tax, Books, Business Strategy & Weath Management

We Work with You to Put it All Together: More Cash, More Wealth, More Lifestyle.

We can help… Our clients are business owners and Directors of Gold Coast companies ranging between 10 and 50 employees.  We work as accountants for a very targeted client group, enabling us to constantly deliver the service and attention to detail that our brand is known for.

Our client’s reasons for relying on us with all their business management needs is simple, they know they can count on us, and they know our drive is to simplify their processes and offer real value in working to assist their business growth rather than complicating it.

We believe that there are 4 overlapping areas in financial & accounting management:

• Structure Advice and regular review
• Tax Planning
• Annual Assets & Liabilities Health Check
• Planning for Growth, Profit and Cashflow

By working with you to understand your personal or business situation and needs, we will deliver you a personal solution designed specifically to ensure that your objectives are achieved.

We can calculate your overall tax position and prepare your tax return, with the necessary claims, elections and submission to the ATO.

We work in many areas of our clients business such as:

Business Management Accounting

• Financial Management, Company Secretarial, Compliance, Accounting and Management Reporting, Strategic Advice, Corporate Finance, Corporate Tax, Exit Strategy, Business Sale Planning

Personal Accounting

• Structure Advice, Asset Protection, Insurance, Estate Planning, Retirement Planning, Tax Planning, Financial Planning

Business Acquisition

• Due Diligence, Structure Advice and reviews

During times when business is slower and unpredictable, it is essential to maintain a weekly cash flow forecast. Even some simple cash flow planning can prevent your business from disaster.

One of the biggest impediments to growth is access to finances that will fuel the investments needed to support growth. Therefore it is important that a business obtains healthy and robust profit margins to prepare for any future expansions.

Once a firm has to invest in growth infrastructure they depend upon internally generated activities with high contribution margins. Without these, the firm will have to raise funds through the sale of equity or otherwise borrow funds.

Here are some key aspects of business growth that require funding.

1. Investment in new support systems With more data to process through increased transactions there must be sufficient finances to fund the necessary support systems. These include financial, logistics, quality control, human resources, customer relationships management, complaints handling and asset tracking. These new systems also require staff training which similarly costs money.

2. Increased training for staff The time it takes to train staff will have an affect on the cash flow of the business. This training will be necessary as new products or operating systems come into play with business growth. Furthermore, in adopting and/ or inventing new products for sale, new marketing operations will need to be implemented.

3. Competitive edge With new products or business movements, surplus cash can help firms to counter aggressive marketing, meet competitive product changes or undertake competitive pricing.

4. Time to assess The ability to absorb mistakes and revaluate what went wrong and what the solutions are can be the difference between complete failure and just a bump in the road. Rather than having to instantly cut back or take drastic action, the firm with a cash buffer can re-enter the market with a renewed approach.

Therefore, even without any immediate prospects of business growth it is wise that strategies are implemented from day one of business operations that account for the future. After all, growth does not come from standing still.

For anyone who runs a business, the holiday season is always a stressful one, presenting unique challenges and positive opportunities.

Here are a few tips to successfully surpass the holiday season.

1. Watch your cash flow: both businesses and individuals will report that the holidays create new dynamics for cash flow. If this is a time in which your business experiences high-income, then it is best to put that money into a reserve account. On the other hand, some businesses (and individuals) may need to reduce expenses as much as possible due to low income. Having money waiting in a reserve account for when times get tough is always a prudent measure.

2. Holiday gifts: a must-not-ignore holiday constituent that can sometimes prompt shoppers to ignore their budget. Whilst keeping cost in mind, business gifts to major customers, referral sources, strategic planners and employees show an appreciation of their input to a company’s success.

3. Holiday specials: businesses can create gift packages that bundle a number of products or services together. These increase total sales amounts and provide customers with excellent value

4. Gift certificates and gift cards: are a must have option for businesses that are aware of consumer demands. Consumers love the efficiency and simplicity of gift certificates no matter what your line of business may be.

5. Functions: during the holiday season functions are a way of networking and marketing. In hosting a function you have the opportunity to build potential client relationships and essentially extend your brand identity. Attending functions is a great opportunity to gain insight into other markets or even your own.

Holiday time is essentially a time to stop, evaluate and enjoy the opportunities it brings for you and your family.

This measure will focus on small business owners and as more director penalty notices are issued, business directors will be made personally liable for company tax debt.

These penalty notices are an effort to reaffirm the importance of tax compliance and mandate non-compliant cases to rectify their debts.

Changes to the law made effective in July, have made it easier for the ATO to take action against company directors for outstanding debts.

Under these laws, company directors can no longer appease their obligations by entering into a company agreement with the ATO. Instead, there are only three options on receiving a director penalty notice:

• pay the debt
• appoint an administrator
• liquidate the company

Small businesses have been targeted as accounting for some 60 per cent of the $12.2 billion outstanding debt prompting the ATO’s firm action.

The ATO warns that continual deferment of debt payments will not be treated with the leniency granted during the financial crisis.