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Your upcoming tax calendar for November and December 202401/12/2024The holiday season and the end of the calendar year are just around the corner. For many, this time of year is filled with attending events and focusing on family.
Amid the hustle and bustle, it’s easy to overlook important tax obligations.
To help you stay on track, we’ve outlined the key compliance dates for the months ahead. Ensuring these lodgments are up to date will help you avoid any interest or penalties.
Key Tax Dates – November/December 2024
21 November 2024GST – Monthly Activity Statement and payment for October 2024PAYG Withheld – Monthly Activity Statement and payment for October 2024PAYG Instalment – Activity Statement and payment for monthly reporters for October 202425 November 2024BAS – Quarterly Activity Statement lodgment and payment for the July to September 2024 quarter (if lodging through us)28 November 2024Superannuation Guarantee – Lodgment of superannuation guarantee statement and payment of superannuation guarantee charge for July to September 20241 December 2024Large/Medium Companies – Payment of income tax for the 2023–24 income year (lodgment due 15 January 2025)Tax Consolidated Groups – Payment of income tax for the 2023–24 income year (lodgment due 15 January 2025)21 December 2024GST – Monthly Activity Statement and payment for November 2024PAYG Withheld & PAYG Instalment – Monthly Activity Statement and payment for November 2024
If you’re experiencing operational challenges, tackling people issues, or have health and safety concerns, don’t hesitate to reach out. Call, email, or text us—we’re here to assist you. [...]
- How to keep your small construction company on track01/12/2024Times are tough in the Aussie construction industry, with rising costs, a lack of labour and a challenging economic climate. This is leading to a rising number of business failures.
About 1,400 construction firms filed for bankruptcy in the second half of 2023, according to a recent article from Inside Business.
And it’s not just financial challenges that sole traders and contractors are facing. There’s also the stress of the physical and mental pressure of running your own construction business.
So, what can you do to keep your small construction company on track?
As a contractor, it’s hard work balancing your on-site time against the administrative and business-focused time that’s needed to keep your company fit and healthy.
But without a razor-sharp focus on cash, business development, profit margins and your own wellbeing, the business is liable to flounder – making business failure a possibility.
To stop this, here are seven ways to keep your construction business healthy:
Avoid working with just one customer.
Putting all your eggs in one basket is a risky move, so look into working with a varied mix of big and small clients to spread that risk. Even if you lose a few clients, you’re still left with a viable income stream.
Diversify your revenue streams.
If all your income comes from one service, it’s time to diversify! Consider moving into new services or project areas, giving you multiple revenue streams and reducing your reliance on one source of income.
Optimise your cost management.
The major upfront costs and slow payment times in construction can make it difficult to keep cash in a positive position. Rising costs for raw materials are also a major headache. So, now’s a good time to explore strategies to reduce your overheads and negotiate better deals with your suppliers.
Build strong relationships.
Stable, long-term customer relationships are crucial to your success. So put some real effort into nurturing partnerships with customers and suppliers, so you have a secure pipeline of projects and reliable supply chains.
Make good use of technology.
If you can automate an administrative process, automate it! Use the latest AI business tools to automate the answering of your business phone, the booking of customer appointments and the chasing of outstanding payments etc. Using digital tools helps improve your efficiency and can also cut your costs too.
Utilise the available government support.
The Government wants construction to flourish, so it’s important to be aware of the available government grants, subsidies or tax incentives that can ease your financial pressures and help you to grow and prosper.
Take good care of yourself.
It’s crucial to not take on more work than you can handle. As with any industry, you need time away from work. Overworking and spending every waking hour on the business can be counterproductive.
Talk to us about making your construction business a success story
The construction industry is facing hard times: that’s the reality in the current market. But with careful planning, management and strategic thinking, you can overcome the challenges.
Talk to our team about managing your cashflow, cutting costs and coming up with a long-term strategy that plays to your strengths. We’re always here to help.
At the point of selling your business, getting a good price for the company will be a major goal. A key way to achieve this is to add value to the business as part of your ongoing exit strategy.
In this series, we’ll give you all the advice you need to plan your exit, add value to the business, negotiate a great deal and define your new pathway once the business is sold.
You’ve put blood, sweat and tears into this business. So, you’re going to want to achieve a sale price that reflects this hard work, giving you the funds to start the next phase in your journey.
Your potential buyer will be looking for a profitable, well-run business that can prove it’s a viable enterprise. To do this, it’s vital to look at core ways of improving the attractiveness of the company, gradually adding incremental value and allowing you to negotiate a good price.
Let’s take a look at some important ways to add value to the business:
Increase your profitability
A buyer wants an acquisition that will turn a profit. To boost the company’s profitability, look at improving your margins, reducing costs and increasing revenues. Ways to achieve this can include streamlining your operations, negotiating better deals with suppliers and increasing brand loyalty with your customers.
Strengthen your financial performance
It’s important to run a tight financial ship. Aim for the company to be in a positive cashflow position, reduce your ageing debt and strengthen the balance sheet to demonstrate financial stability. This will mean getting in control of your inventory and spending, being proactive about collecting outstanding receivables and exploring financing options, such as invoice finance or bank loans.
Nurture your customer relationships
Loyal customers spend more and provide a stable pipeline of sales and revenue. Building these strong customer relationships is a critical part of adding value, and can start by providing excellent customer service, offering loyalty programs and actively seeking (and acting on) customer feedback.
Invest in the company’s growth
A growing company is an attractive proposition to any buyer, so it’s important to continue investing in growth. Explore new products, services or markets to expand the business’s potential, add value and show the potential behind your business concept. The R&D, strategic planning and resourcing that’s involved will be an investment that pays off once you have an interested buyer.
Prepare for the due diligence process
Before a buyer makes an offer, they’ll want to carry out due diligence checks on the business. To be ready, you’ll need to get your financial records, contracts and other relevant documents in order, and make sure all the information is easy to find and access. Making these checks simple and straightforward helps potential buyers assess the business’s value and gain confidence in the company.
Talk to us about planning the sale of your business
Making your business more attractive to a potential buyer takes good planning, patience and a real focus on adding value. Starting this value-add process early is vital.
If you want to start adding value to the company, prior to selling up, come and talk to us. Our team can help you deliver an exit strategy that increases value and delivers a great deal. [...]
- Accepting cash may become mandatory for Aussie businesses01/12/2024Australia is fast heading towards becoming a cashless society. But there are still segments of society that rely on being able to pay in cash.
With this in mind, the Federal Government is proposing new legislation that would make it compulsory for Aussie businesses to accept cash for groceries, fuel and other essentials.
What’s the impact of this likely to be for your small business? Let’s take a look.
Giving consumers the option to pay with cash
Research from 2022 by the Reserve Bank of Australia shows that 76% of Aussies pay using cards, while 13% pay using cash. However, there are demographic groups, generally the elderly and those in low income brackets, that still prefer to pay using cash.
Reasons for this can range from security worries and a mistrust of online banking, to the relative ease of using cash as a payment method.
To protect the rights of consumers that prefer cash over cards and/or digital payments, the Federal Government hopes to introduce legislation over the next two years.
Here’s the lowdown:
At present, under existing law, businesses do NOT have to accept cash payments. It’s proposed that legislation will be introduced to make it mandatory for businesses to accept cash as payment for groceries, fuel and other essentials. Cheques are to be phased out altogether as a payment option by September 2029. A consultation process will take place in 2024/25 and legislation will be introduced from 2026. There may be an exemption for small businesses, with details on this to follow.
Talk to us about the impact of a move to cash
If you’re a consumer-facing business selling essential items, and currently only offering cashless payment options, this change in legislation could have a significant impact.
Having to accept cash will require you to have cash registers, cash floats and to bank the money at the end of each day – practicalities that cashless systems had done away with.
Talk to our team and we’ll be happy to run you through the implications.
At the point of selling your business, getting a good price for the company will be a major goal. A key way to achieve this is to add value to the business as part of your ongoing exit strategy.
In this series, we’ll give you all the advice you need to plan your exit, add value to the business, negotiate a great deal and define your new pathway once the business is sold.
You’ve put blood, sweat and tears into this business. So, you’re going to want to achieve a sale price that reflects this hard work, giving you the funds to start the next phase in your journey.
Your potential buyer will be looking for a profitable, well-run business that can prove it’s a viable enterprise. To do this, it’s vital to look at core ways of improving the attractiveness of the company, gradually adding incremental value and allowing you to negotiate a good price.
Let’s take a look at some important ways to add value to the business:
Increase your profitability
A buyer wants an acquisition that will turn a profit. To boost the company’s profitability, look at improving your margins, reducing costs and increasing revenues. Ways to achieve this can include streamlining your operations, negotiating better deals with suppliers and increasing brand loyalty with your customers.
Strengthen your financial performance
It’s important to run a tight financial ship. Aim for the company to be in a positive cashflow position, reduce your ageing debt and strengthen the balance sheet to demonstrate financial stability. This will mean getting in control of your inventory and spending, being proactive about collecting outstanding receivables and exploring financing options, such as invoice finance or bank loans.
Nurture your customer relationships
Loyal customers spend more and provide a stable pipeline of sales and revenue. Building these strong customer relationships is a critical part of adding value, and can start by providing excellent customer service, offering loyalty programs and actively seeking (and acting on) customer feedback.
Invest in the company’s growth
A growing company is an attractive proposition to any buyer, so it’s important to continue investing in growth. Explore new products, services or markets to expand the business’s potential, add value and show the potential behind your business concept. The R&D, strategic planning and resourcing that’s involved will be an investment that pays off once you have an interested buyer.
Prepare for the due diligence process
Before a buyer makes an offer, they’ll want to carry out due diligence checks on the business. To be ready, you’ll need to get your financial records, contracts and other relevant documents in order, and make sure all the information is easy to find and access. Making these checks simple and straightforward helps potential buyers assess the business’s value and gain confidence in the company.
Talk to us about planning the sale of your business
Making your business more attractive to a potential buyer takes good planning, patience and a real focus on adding value. Starting this value-add process early is vital.
If you want to start adding value to the company, prior to selling up, come and talk to us. Our team can help you deliver an exit strategy that increases value and delivers a great deal. [...]
- Do You Have Direct Debits and Online Payments Set Up for Your Business?01/12/2024Do you have direct debits and online payments set up for your business? Making it easy for your customers to pay you is vital to business success. Getting direct debits and alternative payment methods linked to your business is so easy these days there’s no excuse not to give your customers multiple ways of making payment.
Many service-based businesses choose direct debit arrangements with their clients to avoid late payment. If you’re often chasing overdue payments, consider implementing direct debit arrangements to reduce your administration time.
If you’re already using online accounting software, check the add-on solutions and choose one that integrates with your accounts. This means the payment platform information feeds directly into your accounting software to be easily matched to customer transactions.
Make it Easy
You probably already have bank transfer information set up, but adding several other methods such as PayPal, debit cards, and credit cards allows customers to choose the method most convenient for them. Many customers appreciate the automation and simplicity of direct debits. Make sure your payment terms and conditions are clear on your website and invoices and don’t forget to include all your chosen payment methods for customers!
Worried About Costly Fees?
You have the option to choose whether you will absorb the cost of the payment gateway processing fees or whether you will add the cost to your invoice and charge clients extra. Your accounting software will then allocate the funds accordingly to invoice payment and fees received.
Better Transaction Recording
When you integrate direct debits and online payment methods with your accounting system, you dramatically reduce errors in recording customer payments – which means less time spent on your accounts!
Not Sure Where to Start?
If you’d like to make it easier for customers to pay you, talk to us about which solutions are best for your business. We can discuss which platforms have the best and most secure integrations with the accounting software you use. We’ll help streamline your payment systems.
At the point of selling your business, getting a good price for the company will be a major goal. A key way to achieve this is to add value to the business as part of your ongoing exit strategy.
In this series, we’ll give you all the advice you need to plan your exit, add value to the business, negotiate a great deal and define your new pathway once the business is sold.
You’ve put blood, sweat and tears into this business. So, you’re going to want to achieve a sale price that reflects this hard work, giving you the funds to start the next phase in your journey.
Your potential buyer will be looking for a profitable, well-run business that can prove it’s a viable enterprise. To do this, it’s vital to look at core ways of improving the attractiveness of the company, gradually adding incremental value and allowing you to negotiate a good price.
Let’s take a look at some important ways to add value to the business:
Increase your profitability
A buyer wants an acquisition that will turn a profit. To boost the company’s profitability, look at improving your margins, reducing costs and increasing revenues. Ways to achieve this can include streamlining your operations, negotiating better deals with suppliers and increasing brand loyalty with your customers.
Strengthen your financial performance
It’s important to run a tight financial ship. Aim for the company to be in a positive cashflow position, reduce your ageing debt and strengthen the balance sheet to demonstrate financial stability. This will mean getting in control of your inventory and spending, being proactive about collecting outstanding receivables and exploring financing options, such as invoice finance or bank loans.
Nurture your customer relationships
Loyal customers spend more and provide a stable pipeline of sales and revenue. Building these strong customer relationships is a critical part of adding value, and can start by providing excellent customer service, offering loyalty programs and actively seeking (and acting on) customer feedback.
Invest in the company’s growth
A growing company is an attractive proposition to any buyer, so it’s important to continue investing in growth. Explore new products, services or markets to expand the business’s potential, add value and show the potential behind your business concept. The R&D, strategic planning and resourcing that’s involved will be an investment that pays off once you have an interested buyer.
Prepare for the due diligence process
Before a buyer makes an offer, they’ll want to carry out due diligence checks on the business. To be ready, you’ll need to get your financial records, contracts and other relevant documents in order, and make sure all the information is easy to find and access. Making these checks simple and straightforward helps potential buyers assess the business’s value and gain confidence in the company.
Talk to us about planning the sale of your business
Making your business more attractive to a potential buyer takes good planning, patience and a real focus on adding value. Starting this value-add process early is vital.
If you want to start adding value to the company, prior to selling up, come and talk to us. Our team can help you deliver an exit strategy that increases value and delivers a great deal. [...]
