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Your Q1 2023 Deadlines for the Diary

The new financial year has started with some changes – remember, super is now 10.5%, and most workers should be paid super on all ordinary earnings as the $450 monthly threshold no longer applies.

We’ve highlighted some upcoming business lodgment due dates to help you get organised for July to September.

Taxable Payments Annual Report

The taxable payments annual report (TPAR) must be lodged by businesses that engage the services of contractors in specific industries. Businesses in building and construction, cleaning, road freight and courier, IT and security services may need to submit a TPAR. Remember – your business may need to report for the first time this year if you’ve made significant income from deliveries.

Talk to Us About Lodgment Planning

If we’re already lodging on your behalf, lodgment extensions automatically apply. If you’re lodging activity statements and other forms directly with the ATO, you may have earlier deadlines. If you need more time to lodge and pay, let us know, and we can help you meet your obligations or arrange a lodgment extension if required.

It’s good practice to plan for your lodgment dates so you’re always on top of your cash flow planning for ATO liabilities.

Your June quarter superannuation guarantee contribution is due soon

Prepare now for your quarterly superannuation guarantee (SG) contribution lodgement.

Most superannuation clearing houses (including SuperStream compliant software companies) require payment by the 14th of the month in order to distribute the funds to the relevant super funds for each employee. If you use the ATO Small business Clearing House (SBSCH) you have until the 28th to lodge and pay.

July is a good time to review all payroll transactions for the financial year. You may have already done this as part of the annual payment summary process.

Here’s what you need to review:

• Have you allocated all payroll related bank transactions to the correct accounts?
• Have you checked for errors such as duplicate pay runs?
• Have you checked that all payroll categories used this quarter have had super correctly applied or excluded?
• Have you checked superannuation accrual reports for accuracy?
• Do you have any salary sacrifice amounts to include?
• Have you had to make any termination payments this quarter? If so, check which payroll categories should have super calculated or exempted.
• Do you have complete and up-to-date contact details and a super choice form for all employees?
• If new employees have not provided super choice details, have you checked with the ATO for stapled super fund details you can pay into?

Checking the figures thoroughly each quarter ensures that you report and pay accurate amounts for each employee. You will also have a more accurate picture of your superannuation liability and be able to plan accordingly.

REMEMBER: To make your payments on time to avoid penalties.

Superannuation calculations can be difficult if your payroll software is not set up for correct accruals. Talk to us. We can help review your super setup and the SG accounts used in your accounting software.

How to coax your people back to the office

Globally, our relationship with work and the workplace has changed.

People got used to working from home (WFH) during the pandemic lockdowns and enjoyed the freedom it offered. In fact, 61% of people working from home are doing so because they want to, even though their office is open, according to a recent survey. But we also need to balance this new WFH ethic with the more sociable aspects of collaborating together at HQ. What’s needed is a switch to hybrid working, with some time in the office and some time WFH.

So, how do you coax your people back into the office and highlight the benefits of sometimes working in one main workspace?

What turned people off of the office?

The Covid-19 pandemic came along and shook up the work dynamic in a big way. We’d had cloud technology and remote working available for some time. But the pandemic acted as a catalyst for pushing remote working as a viable, everyday work option.

This allowed us all to work. But it also had other repercussions too:

• People moved out of the city – many people moved away from the big cities and out into the suburbs/countryside during the pandemic. With cloud tech and WFH now the norm, some people felt there was no need to be in a city-based office. This removed the commute, saved money on train and travel costs and gave them more time in their day.
• A change in property usage and prices – the mass exodus to the countryside pushed property and rental prices sky-high in these greener suburbs – with a huge demand for houses. And, on the flipside, big office buildings in the city have been standing empty, wasting money on rental fees and mortgage payments for companies.

So, how do you entice our people back from their suburban homes and into your office?

Coaxing your workforce back to HQ

People have got very used to working from their kitchen table. So, if you want your team to return to the office, you’ve got to deliver a workspace that offers something more. Working from the office has to appear like a positive benefit, rather than the poorer cousin of WFH.

Creating a more welcoming environment with added amenity and flexibility will also stand you apart in a tight labour market.

Here are five ideas to try:

1. Make your workspace more inviting – Can you redesign the layout to add different work zones?. Have a hotdesking area alongside breakout tables, informal areas to make the office feel less formal and more like a home-from-home.
2. Offer perks and benefits in the office – if there are perks of being in the office, your team will be more incentivised to work here. Whether that is coffee and fruit or a offering gym memberships or cycle-to-work schemes that add tangible benefits of signing up to working a certain number of weekly hours from your HQ.
3. Have more in-person meetings – In a recent study, researchers found that video conferencing hampers idea generation, so our reliance on technology might come at a cost of creativity. While Zoom, Teams and Google Meet can be invaluable for collaborating across timezones, it’s worthwhile, encouraging your team to meet in-person also. Run more of your internal and client catch-ups as face-to-face meetings and have team huddles on a given morning in the office.
4. Encourage in-person mentoring and education – one thing that remote workers miss out on is face-to-face mentoring. Try pairing up senior and junior staff members and giving them an assigned mentoring day to work together at HQ. And think about offering extra-curricular training sessions and ‘lunch ‘n’ learns’ to help people upskill and learn new capabilities.
5. Get creative with your ideas – to tempt people back, you’ve got to offer some fun too. Try a ‘Bring your pet to work’ day, so people can bring their pandemic pooch to the office. Run more charity events where people can get into the spirit and work on their team bonding. Or offer after-work sports and leisure activities, like yoga, five-a-side football, quizzes, cookery classes etc. Anything out of the ordinary that will appeal to a workforce that’s getting a little bored of working on their own from home.

Why you should have a business continuity plan

Keeping your business operational is a full-time job. It’s a balancing act that requires you to keep a multitude of plates spinning, while your executive team and employees support you at every stage of the operational journey. But what happens if these plates stop spinning?

Sudden unexpected threats can catch you on the hop. What if an unexpected circumstance comes up that derails your usual operational procedures? How will you cope? What will you do to overcome the issue? And how will you get the business back on target?

The answer lies in having a thorough business continuity plan.

What’s a business continuity plan?

A business continuity plan is an executive plan that describes the risks that exist in the business, your strategy for dealing with these known and unknown risks, and how you will mobilise your team to overcome any issues, emergencies or gaps in trading etc.

None of us truly knows what lies around the corner. Most businesses were not expecting the 2008 economic crash, or the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. If you can plan ahead and put contingency plans in place, you’ll be better prepared when a worst-case scenario does appear.

How do you formulate your plan?

Every organisation’s business continuity plan will be different. We all have different business models, different company hierarchies and different risks that are peculiar to our own sectors.

But the fundamental basis on which you create your business continuity plan will be the same however your company works.

For example:

• Identify the critical areas of your business – look at your operational business model and think about where it’s most likely to break down under pressure. Are you reliant on a specific supplier to operate? Which are the fundamental departments in your model and what do they bring to the business? Who are your core heads of department and staff, and who could deputise for them in their absence? In short, look for anything that could break down and how this could affect the whole business.
• Create back-up continuity plans for each critical area – you obviously need your main continuity plan to cover the entire business. But it’s also important to look at the risks, essential personnel and key operational activities for each separate department in the company. Your finance team will need a very different continuity plan to your logistics and delivery team, for example. So, tailor each continuity plan to fit the needs of your main business areas, and make sure they’re all fit for purpose.
• Assign a continuity lead and department leads – it’s a good idea to assign a main business continuity lead role or champion, so the responsibility for reviewing and updating the plan sits under someone’s remit. You’ll also need to have a lead person for each critical department, so every cog in the wider machine is represented.
• Make sure everyone knows the continuity plan – a business continuity plan is useless unless the whole company is aware of the plan and knows what to do. Have a central phone number, WhatsApp group and email address set up for any business continuity emergency. And use your internal communications team to provide regular messaging, training and updates on changes to the ongoing continuity plan.
• Keep the business operating – ultimately, your continuity plan exists to keep the company operating in challenging times. It could be that your HQ is flooded out and has to be closed down and moved to an alternative location. It may be that significant employee sickness hits you, leaving only a skeleton staff to run each department. Whatever the circumstances, your plan needs a contingency in place, so you and your remaining staff can continue to trade, make sales and bring in revenues.

Talk to us about building a business continuity plan

No plan can completely remove the threat of the unknown – that’s an impossibility. But with a continuity plan that’s well-conceived and ready to implement, you reduce the potential risks and give you and your team a practical strategy and tactics to work with.

Need to get a plan in place?

We’ll help you analyse your business model, look for the critical areas and assess the potential risks. We’ll also help you put together a watertight business continuity plan that’s ready to implement if (and when) specific threats hit the business.

Don’t burn out this winter!

It’s tough going for business owners this winter. Illness is rampaging through the community – it’s hitting staff, suppliers, clients and schools, creating disruption throughout the economy.

With the labour market tight, businesses are already understaffed. Add high rates of absenteeism, and remaining workers and business owners are under incredible pressure. When you love your job and always want to do the best for your clients, it’s easy to start overworking yourself and run the risk of burnout.

It’s vital that you take care of yourself this winter, so here are three ways to help prevent burnout:

1. Start saying ‘No’– Small business owners are experts in saying ‘Yes!’ and then figuring out the details later. It’s how you grow a small business and build your reputation for being able to solve problems for your clients. Unfortunately, if you’re overworked and stressed out, it’s time to start saying ‘No’. Begin by turning down work from difficult clients, or work that’s outside your core business, so you’re focused on where you add the most value.
2. Identify at least one area you can outsource – You can’t do everything yourself, particularly if you’re understaffed. Look at your processes and try to identify an area that’s not part of your core business which you can outsource. It might be social media posts, or office cleaning, or even just subscribing to a meal kit service to take the stress out of cooking. Usually, the cost of these initiatives will quickly pay for themselves: once you feel less stressed, you’ll be more productive.
3. Hold onto your interests outside work – Running a business can be all-consuming, but hang onto your friends, sports and hobbies even when it gets busy. Letting your relationships, health, and pastimes dwindle away will undermine your emotional, physical, and mental health.

We can help

Not sure if outsourcing tasks will pay for itself? We can work with you to analyse the costs and benefits of any business investment. Get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.