Archive for category: Business Improvement

Many small businesses in Australia are still up to their neck in paperwork. A recent global survey of 2,000 small businesses by Intuit found that Aussie business owners consume 25% of their time on admin tasks and only 22% are actually working to expand their business. The item that was listed as the “biggest barrier to business goals” was admin.

Can trusted advisors help you? In what way?

Trusted advisors are your life raft

Trusted advisors should come in when a small business lack the time or funds to perform manual bookkeeping, or internal capability to search for a digital solution for admin tasks.

Four out of ten business owners haven’t got a clue who to call for help on how to strengthen their business, specifically for financial dealings and strategic planning. Experienced accountants or bookkeepers have the know-how to provide advice and guidance on these matters to small businesses.

Technology advisors

The people you go to if you want to go digital as they can advise you on software and solutions. An Intuit research found that one in five small businesses are not yet using cloud technology. Of those who have adopted cloud, 80% revealed that it saved them money. With cloud technology, small businesses can use a “single ledger” for universal access and real-time collaboration.

Business consultants

A business’ entire operations can potentially be transformed by business accounting software. Accountants and bookkeepers can teach their clients how to automate invoicing, billing and other business processes.

According to research, small businesses that have adopted mobile technology are saving as much as nine weeks annually, in time, and boosting their revenue by an average of 8%. Automating processes and adopting mobile technology will boost a business’ operations exponentially and allow their advisors to advise them on where to focus business and sales activities.

Strategic partners

Many small businesses prioritise growing their business. This is where accountants and bookkeepers can expand their services by offering more strategic, high-level business insights to their clients. They have the opportunity to become a strategic partner to businesses, with data showing that only 6 out of 10 owners have a trusted advisor and businesses are open to turn to an advisor with the expertise to value and benchmark their business.

Find your pain points

Small businesses must turn to experienced and cutting-edge accountants and bookkeepers, who can find their pain points and devise a reactive business plan, moving forward. The essential job of a strategic advisor is to win customer loyalty and take the initiative in identifying parts of the business where there are problems, such as invoicing, account reconciliation or payroll.

There are small businesses that overlook the help and advice that their accountant or bookkeeper can provide in financial matters. It is the task of trusted advisors to make the business world become aware about the new roles they can play for small businesses.

By finding unresolved customer issues and attending to their unmet needs, trusted advisors can establish trust with small-business clients. This will help build business relationships and, in the long run, ensure customer loyalty.

If you or your business is in need of bookkeeping, accounting and other business-related processes, contact PJS Accountants. We have over 30 years’ experience with local Redlands businesses. Call us for enquiries on how PJS Accountants can assist you.

If you’re feeling like nothing is working the way you want them to or your path towards the future is blurry, you can easily find yourself in a state of paralysis or reluctant resignation.

If you want to take control of your destiny, you mustn’t stay stuck or accept defeat. Here are steps to help you get moving again if you are feeling stuck:

1. Stop beating your head against a brick wall.

If you’re not seeing any results despite doing everything you can to get things moving, there’s no use continuing them. What you can do is reserve a block of time in your schedule to devote to the issue, and then do nothing until the scheduled time arrives.

The objective here is to go back to the issue with new perspective, restored energy and a change in attitude, so if the issue comes to your mind in the interim, tell yourself that you have set a time for you to revisit it. While waiting for this time do something else, like going for a walk or even going on a holiday if the problem you are experiencing has more significant consequences.

2. Take a look at the big picture again.

Usually when we’re stuck, the reason is we’re focusing more on the problems rather than on our objectives. When it’s time to go back to the topic, the first thing you should do is re-acquaint yourself with the reasons why the topic is crucial for you and what your objectives are for embarking on it.

Perhaps, if you stop thinking about the ways you can make things happen and instead concentrate on your best-case scenario outcome, you’d change from a defeatist attitude into a can-do one.

3. Focus on what you can do.

If you’re analysis of the big picture reveals that you’re on the right course and the issue you’re pursuing is one that you are fully committed to, you may still be hindered by still being clueless about the steps that you need to do to make a breakthrough.

But in most cases, we have some idea on what needs to be done, even if you don’t yet have a complete grasp of all the things that you should know.

When you find yourself at this stage, it may help to move away from the computer and go old school with pen and paper to come up with a list or a mind map of all the tasks and objectives you need to complete to accomplish your big picture outcome.

After you have done this, you will usually realise that you can’t fix everything in one go, but there are some things you know how to deal with and you have a starting point.

Finally, you can get moving, and as you do, it becomes obvious that you are starting to get un-stuck, often due to the fact that you are tackling the project with renewed energy, rather than feeling weighed down by it.

4. Have fun doing your project.

If you are still feeling overwhelmed, or you’re feeling like you’re not gaining any traction, why not make a game of some aspects of it?

For example, you’d decided to pursue an opportunity that you did budget for and the cost is so far out of your reach, but it’s a smart move on a big-picture perspective. If you commit to doing it, you can challenge yourself in thinking of the cheapest ways you can participate in this opportunity. Think of wild and wacky ways you can reach your goals while spending the least amount of money.

A process that had initially caused you stress becomes much more fun, and you can also learn some really important insights about ways you can think outside of the box when you need to.

5. Applying what you’ve learned in future projects.

If you don’t commit to learning everything about yourself, your business and what works throughout the process, and applying what you’ve learned, none of the steps recommended above will work.

Usually, an undertaking that is big enough to overwhelm you will also be big enough to encompass multiple layers or moving parts. Applying the steps repeatedly can help you get unstuck.

If you are considering outsourcing your bookkeeping, accounting and other business-related processes, while still involved in making the big decisions and remain in control, contact PJS Accountants. We have over 30 years’ experience with local Redlands businesses. Our team will be at your disposal, always ready to receive your calls and provide services, to help you to stay in charge of all aspects of your business. Call us for enquiries on how PJS Accountants can partner with you to improve your business.

How do you deal when a key employee resigns from the company, or worse, decides to go to your competitor?

For small businesses, the impact of a key employee leaving can be significant. The impact on the business will be are the more obvious if the one leaving is client-facing.

According to HR experts, the best way to handle this is for a business to acknowledge that employees will quit sometime in the future, and that more often than not it would happen without your prior knowledge.

Conducting constant conversation with employees about their goals and dreams is a good idea, but there is minimal effect when this is done in a proper setting in the pretext of a performance evaluation.

As an alternative, maintain some kind of formal system for reciprocal feedback and review and at the same time ensure that you are talking to your team members on a regular basis about what their goals are with their function.

Reasons Employees Leave

Nowadays, people resign from their jobs sooner and more frequently, particularly if they are younger. You’d be disappointed if you expect people to remain with your company for five to 10 years.

In most cases, the main reason why people leave jobs is not because of how they were being paid.

What was discovered during exit interviews is that the key reasons people go is the training and the manner on how they were managed. They were not being given the opportunity to grow and learn, or the way they had been managed was not right.

It was also found that a company making a counter-offer of higher salary to the employee doesn’t work very often. In most cases, when the employee does accept the counter-offer, they still leave within six months anyway.

People look for intangible things from their role, which they get from having constant communication with them about their role.

Uncertain business

The key is to be prepared, if a key person in your organisation is leaving and you can’t do anything about it. Businesses must carry out a risk audit, drawing up the roles and responsibilities of each employee.

Ask yourself what the impact to your business would be if employee X walks out tomorrow? Does this person do a task that only he or she can do? Do they have several clients that need to be informed of their leaving?

The audit will give you a rough summary of the skills and capabilities that you have to take care of in the short and medium term should a key employee resigns.
This will put you in a better spot to come up with a strategy.

An essential thing that you can do if a key employee resigns is to have an exit interview. This can be done by you, but an independent party will most likely obtain more truthful views on an employee’s time with the company.

The next course of action

It can be disturbing when a colleague resigns and you didn’t get the reason for their leaving. This lack of information can result in office gossip, amplifying the complaints the employee may have had. By being open and transparent as much as possible about the reason why the person resigned, you can provide the right information and handle the narrative.

It is also important to have a plan for your next course of action.

Provide employees the information about what you are going to do to handle the person’s leaving. For example, you can inform them on when the employee’s last day in the office is, when you will begin the hiring process for the replacement, or the date you expect to have a new person on board.

Lastly, if the employee is leaving to take a post with a competitor, make sure to run by them again any IP protection or confidentiality provisions in their contract. While not offering full protection, this would protect you in some ways.

After all of these, don’t forget to rally the troops. Any time that something bad happens in the business, getting people together is crucial. This may even allow you to give someone else the chance to fill the void left the by employee’s resignation.

If you are in need of accounting and other related services, contact PJS Accountants. We offer accounting and other bookkeeping services to individuals and companies, big and small. Allow our team to evaluate your business and advise you on the right measures to create an excellent financial management strategy for you.

A number of very important changes have recently been made by the Fair Work Commission to annual leave entitlements for employees contained in the Fair Work Act 2009.

It is now critical for you to familiarise yourself with these changes because:

• The changes are now officially authorised for implementation.
• Prosecution and penalties apply to those who will not comply.
• Employers must now update their existing annual leave policies and procedures.

Below is the detailed explanation for each important change:

New Cash out Policies

For the first time, all employees covered by the Modern Award are now entitled to cash-out a part of their accrued annual leave. However, there are four very strict rules to follow in order to cash out:

1. Employees can only cash out a maximum of two weeks’ annual leave every 12 months.
2. An employee must always have a remaining balance of at least 4 weeks after the cashing out has been processed.
3. Each agreement to cash-out annual leave must be recorded in writing, and
4. The amount paid to the employee must be no less than the amount they would have received had the leave been taken.

The following must also be noted by all employers:

• Employees under 18 years of age will also need their parent / guardian to sign the cashing-out agreement, and
• Employers remain strictly prohibited from coercing or misleading employees into cashing-out their accrued annual leave.
• A small number of Modern Awards are still subject to variation to permit cashing-out of annual leave. Always check the applicable Award carefully.

The cash-out leave policy is still in effect for employees who are not covered by either a Modern Award or an Enterprise Agreement. However, it is subject to the separate rules contained in section 94 of the Fair Work Act 2009. These rules are similar as those listed above, however there is no limit on how much annual leave can be cashed-out in each 12 month period.

Excessive Annual Leave

The issue of unwieldy leave balances is common in many businesses. With the latest changes, employers will now find it easier to guide employees to take annual leave and thus minimise, or do away, with excessive leave balances.

What is ‘excessive leave’?

• If the employee is not a Shiftworker: 8 weeks’ annual leave
• If the employee is a Shiftworker: 10 weeks’ annual leave

Most, but not all, Modern Awards now have a ‘model directed leave term’. This new provision will permit employers to direct an employee to take annual leave. As is the case with cashing-out of annual leave, very strict rules apply:

1. The employee and employer must firstly meet with one another and discuss ways of reducing the excessive leave balance. If they’re unable to reach agreement on when or how annual leave should be taken, your business can then direct the employee to take some of their annual leave. This is referred to as ‘directed annual leave’.
2. The directed annual leave period must begin:
   • no earlier than 8 weeks, and
   • no later than 1 year from the date the annual leave direction is issued by your client
3. The directed annual leave period must be at least one week long, and
4. The employee must have at least six weeks of annual leave left after the directed leave period has been completed.
5. The Employer’s direction must not be inconsistent with any leave arrangements already in place. This includes any annual leave policies or procedures which apply in their workplace.
6. An employee may subsequently request annual leave despite the employer’s prior direction for it to be taken. If this happens, the employer must disregard their previous direction when considering the employee’s new annual leave request, and in the case where an employee has had an excessive leave balance for over 6 months and the employer has failed to issue a way for the leave to be taken, the employee is allowed to unilaterally take some of their leave. In this case the same rules as mentioned above for employer-directed leave will also apply.

Leave in Advance

Under most Modern Awards, employers are now allowed to grant their employees with annual leave prior to that leave having been accumulated by the employee.

Notably, the new ‘model clause’ also specifically permits employers to deduct any subsequent ‘annual leave debt’ from the employee’s last pay if their employment terminates prior to their accrued annual leave having been restored to a positive balance.

The following rules apply to annual leave provided in advance of accrual:

1. The mutual agreement must be recorded in writing.
2. The agreement must confirm the amount of leave in advance being provided, the date when that period of leave will commence.
3. The agreement must be signed by both the employer and the employee, as well as the employee’s parent or guardian if they’re under 18 years of age, and
4. A copy of the agreement must be kept in the employee’s records.

Payment of Annual Leave

Several Modern Awards have historically required employees to be paid their full wage or salary in-full and upfront when they begin a period of annual leave.

Most Modern Awards applying this rule have now been changed to permit employees who are paid via EFT to continue getting their wage or salary payments ‘as usual’ during their period of annual leave.

Any advice stated above is of a general nature only. For guidance on your individual business situation, consult with your human resources department or accountant.

PJS Accountants offer accounting and other bookkeeping services to individuals and companies, big and small. Allow our team to evaluate your business and advise you on how to create an effective strategy for employee annual leave management. For enquiries, contact PJS Accountants.

There has been a dramatic change in the manner we communicate in business. For small businesses, deciding on the most economic, efficient and effective strategy to communicate internally and with customers can be difficult. With the changes in the manner by which consumers want to receive information, it is wise to keep up to date with the latest trends in technology and communication.

Email is still No. 1

Majority of small businesses still prefer email as the medium for outbound marketing and communications, according to the 2016 SME Direction Survey. Email is also expected to grow as an important part of any business’ marketing mix with over 50% of the respondents considering emails as a vital growth platform.
The growth driver of emails is the advances in technology, i.e. the business intelligence metrics available and integration with systems like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platforms, personalisation and automation.

Social media

Using social media as a small-business communication tool has been growing for some time and does not appear to be losing momentum. According to a survey of Australian SMEs, social media is expected to have the second-fastest growth among different types of communication media in 2016.

Businesses are beginning to recognise the potential of social media as being more than a broadcast medium. It remains as a tool to promote content, like blog posts and product promotions, but forward-thinking companies are utilising social media to connect with customers and prospects.

Shared conversations

The expectation of millennials for prompt, two-way conversations is one of the major impacts they have on business conversations. People now are not afraid to respond to communications and are more likely to talk to a staff of a business, whether a sales rep or the owner, using one of the platforms now available. They are now also more at ease connecting with businesses on social media, like the way they connect with friends.

Adding a personal touch with videos

Video conferencing is now a quick, easy and accessible way to communicate. It’s now easy to meet with customers or teams in different locations via video using free tools such as Skype, Join.me and Facetime. It is also now easier to start video chats, with laptops and mobile phones now featuring front facing cameras.

Video meetings add a personal and human touch to communications, further promote shared conversations, and provide all the advantages of body language and facial expressions.

However, while technology is making it easier to communicate with clients in increasingly various ways, it also means that customers are being flooded with messages from many fronts, including all kinds of messages from your business rivals.

To distinguish yourself from your competitors, convey your message across and have meaningful conversations with your customers, consider leveraging technological advances that are easily accessible today. Moreover, consider utilising several tools such as email, face-to-face, social media and video chats to create meaningful connections.

Do you need assistance in organising your books and other accounting-related services? Contact PJS Accountants. We offer accounting and other booking services to individuals and companies, big and small. Allow our team to evaluate your financial situation and advise you on the right measures to gain repeat business.