A Right Royal Mess!
The Banking Royal Commission was established in late 2017 by the Australian Government to report on any misconduct found in Australia’s financial service industry. Over the past few weeks, information has been released relating to the disappointing practices that major banks and financial advisors have been employing in order to maximise profits, sometimes to the […]
What’s in a name?
Trading names will soon be a thing of the past. From November 2018, the ABN Lookup will cease displaying all trading names and only registered business names will be available. If you wish to operate under a different name to your legal name, you will need to register a business name with the Australian Securities […]
How Safe is your Business?
How secure is your business? How safe are your accounts? How trustworthy are people? These are fair questions, and while in most cases, we’re scammer savvy, security aware and we’re lucky enough to employ staff or engage bookkeepers who are upstanding citizens and will do the right thing. However, as with all things in life […]
Employer warning – Labour hire scam
There are times when outsourcing far outweighs keeping jobs in-house, and in fairness that’s how the service industry works. While this alleviates some of the workload for employers, it’s important to do your research properly so you don’t end up getting burned. Recently, Revenue have identified a new and very clever scam. Employers are unknowingly […]
Stamp Duty Exemption – Does this apply to you?
NSW Stamp Duty has been amended effective 1 January 2018, such that you will be exempt from the stamp duty component on the following insurance policies: • Commercial Vehicles (or vehicles predominately used for business purposes) • Professional Indemnity • Public Liability To qualify for the exemption, you need to: • carry on a business; […]
MUST READ FOR EMPLOYERS – Super Payments from 1 January 2018
A clearing house is the mandatory way that businesses electronically pay their employee’s superannuation to their nominated Funds . There are several types of clearing houses, however the most common methods are through your Payroll software (i.e. MYOB or Xero), or the ATO’s Small Business Super Clearing House (SBSCH). If you currently use the ATO […]
Single Touch Payroll – Are you ready for it?
From the 1st of July 2018, it will be a requirement for certain employers to use a new system to report their employee’s tax and super information. Single Touch Payroll (STP) is a government initiative designed to streamline business reporting obligations and improve instantaneous data available to the ATO. Effectively, the new program will mean […]
Xero tolerance for scammers!
The accounting software ‘Xero’ is popular among our clients, and helpful information is emailed regularly from the Xero team. However, sometimes suspicious and potentially harmful emails are sent out from domains similar to the ones used by Xero. Although this is not common, it is important to be able to identify when emails are not […]
Are you Cyber Secure? Is your business Cyber Secure?
Who would have thought that this would ever be a real thing? Gone are the good old days of bank robbers holding up a branch (like this guy). The real financial crime these days are done online. Cyber security has become paramount in keeping our identities, our wealth and our businesses secure. The ATO has […]
SMSF Property Insurance
Here at HQB Chartered Accountants, many of our clients have their own self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF). If this is you, we would like to raise some important points regarding audit issues around real property. Trustees of SMSF’s like to invest in property. As a result, most of the value of the fund is tied up […]