This month four finalists have progressed onto the feasibility study stage of the joint AUSTRAC-ACIC challenge in the Business Research and Innovation Initiative (BRII) program, which forms part of the National Innovation and Science Agenda.
Published by Credit Matters Pty Ltd.
Welcome to Credit Matters Newsletter for April 2017. Our monthly newsletter contains information about financial risk management issues, blogs, advice of new business listings and free advice from organisations such as ASIC.
You can always view past copies of our newsletters via our website at www.creditmatters.com.au
We wish to notify all members that entry to the Professional Development Award has now closed. Surprisingly, there weren’t any participants for this award and the first prize of AUD1,000; therefore no winner will be announced this year.
In an effort to understand why there were no participants for the Award, I would appreciate your feedback and thoughts to the attached questionnaire
As a thank you for your assistance, all questionnaires completed and returned will go in to a draw for a $100.00
There is a new feature in our Members Area prepared by The Kaplan Group on debt collection in the US. If unfortunately, you are currently experiencing payment difficulties with a US based customer and need the assistance of a debt collector, this feature may be of value.
We welcome Stopline Pty Ltd. to the Better Business Club.
Advertising via Credit Matters
If you are interested in reaching business prospects who need your services or products, contact Kim to see what he can do for you. There are many different opportunities to advertise your business via Credit Matters and it may not be as expensive as you might imagine.
This month, you will find attached our questionnaire about the Professional Development Award, an announcement from Trace Personnel, and brochures from Stopline Pty Ltd, CreditWatch and Peter Nash of Absolute Facts.
Currently it appears there are two mainstream views on the state of the business world. It seems the ever-positive commentators advocate there are few problems and many opportunities. On the other hand, the more conservative commentators would suggest otherwise. They believe the global financial and business fundamentals are out of alignment and suggest a sustainable future is at risk.
To further complicate the situation, we also know the media is more interested in bad news stories rather than good news stories. Bad news sells better.
So, what is the truth? As is so often observed in real life, the truth is what the observer wants it to be, even if it is incorrect.
Warren Buffett's quote then becomes useful in understanding how business people might think, whilst providing an insight on how we might want to act in a complex world.
if the global business environment is less than favourable, business people may be tempted to reduce their business costs. Of course, reviewing how to save costs in an open-minded fashion whilst still operating effectively, has some merit.
Should you only focus on reducing costs, you may fail to understand how the costs saved have resulted with increased costs elsewhere in the business. In addition, your day to day business may suffer and the business becomes insolvent anyway because of a lack of sales and cashflow.
From another perspective, once fear gets a grip on management's thinking, and their attention is on cost minimisation, they often fail to see other opportunities which materialise. The fact is; more profitable business opportunities are likely to present themselves in disruptive times then in more stable times.
On the other hand, if the global business environment is deemed to be in reasonable shape, many business people will keep expanding and moving forward without due care to possible negative factors. This could easily have harmful consequences if the business is not strong enough to manage any adverse events which may not have anticipated.
Alternatively, other business people will see opportunities even if a few negative factors might occur which could cause them problems. These adverse consequences however, will be included in their plans when looking for new opportunities.
Taking the positive outlook can work in a disruptive business environment. The proviso of course is; the business has proven sound financial resources and income streams plus strong operating foundations. For instance, there must be the evidence that most negative business events can be reasonably managed, e.g. if the business was to lose a major customer, it could survive.
Alternatively, if an opportunity was to occur, you want the confidence that your business is in a position to take advantage of the takeover a competitor, buy a complimentary business, start a new service or move in to a new market, etc.
In disruptive times therefore, understanding how Buffet's quote may impact on your business operations and future makes some sense.
Word of the Month - The aim of Word of the Month is to share those many words used in Australian English which cause confusion. The confusion arises because there's often two spelling variations.
Is the spelling defence or defense?
At first glance this is appears to be an easy one. The spelling in Australia is defence. Both the Macquarie and Oxford dictionaries have defence as the Australian spelling, with defense being the American spelling. No ambiguity there.
However, a check using Google for sites ending in .au, shows the number of pages returned for defence as 5.12 million and defense as 1.33 million. With so much usage of the American spelling in Australian sites, we see some usage is correct, (referring to American defence organisations), there is quite a lot is laziness, (American news articles not edited for Australian consumption), some incorrect usage, then some sites using the two different spelling variations in the same article.
Australian defence companies with Australian sites are faced with the same dilemma as Australian authors when marketing to a global audience. Do they use Australian English, or do they use American English? Perhaps different editions for different markets may be a better approach.
For Australians creating content for Australian usage, the spelling is defence.
For more information on the Preferred Australian English spelling visit www.Australian-Dictionary.com.au .
CONSTRUCTION Alert: A dollar a day keeps general damages away
Often builders treat liquidated damages with suspicion in contract negotiations. It is correct to say that liquidated damages protect owners in the sense that owners do not have to prove their actual loss by reason of builder delay. Provided that the amount of liquidated damages represents an owner’s genuine pre-estimate as at the date of […]
Superannuation Case Law Update – March 2017
The Supreme Court of New South Wales has considered whether an adjudication application delivered by USB constituted valid service under the Building and Construction Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW) (SOP Act) in the decision in Parkview Constructions Pty Ltd (Parkview) v Total Lifestyle Windows Pty Ltd (Total) [2017] NSWSC 194. The SOP Act provides […]
As a result of an action commenced by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Federal Court of Australia recently ordered Valve Corporation (Valve), a foreign corporation, to pay a pecuniary penalty of AUD$3 million for breaching the Australian Consumer Law in the course of conducting its online business. Valve ran an online games software […]
Bayer Pharma AG (Bayer) pursued Generic Health Pty Ltd (GH) for damages for patent infringement. In a recent Federal Court decision, GH had been found to have infringed a patent for a pharmaceutical combination of ethinylestradiol (EE) and drospirenone (DRSP) for use as a female oral contraceptive (OC).[1] Bayer’s claim Bayer elected damages and claimed […]
This week Thomson Geer hosted, and I chaired, a critical franchising update seminar on the topic “preparing for the burden of ‘vulnerable workers’ legislation: proposed solutions for your business“. It is quite a topical issue due to the numerous official reports into the “7 Eleven scandal” and the introduction of the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting […]
Would you like to know more?
Peter Mills | Special Counsel | +61 7 3338 7921 | pmills@tglaw.com.au
Why Hiring And Retaining Good Employees Is So Important
Hiring good employees is not only important to business, it’s essential. Employees are the heart and soul of a business; they are the mechanism that makes a business run; they are the breath of life that enables a business to be something more than an idea.
Bad employees not only affect an employer by driving down sales, costing the company unwanted expenses due to negligence or simple lack of motivation, etc, but they affect the customer as well. Of course, once a customer has experienced a bad employee, it automatically affects the employer in obvious ways. Although this seems like common sense to most people, it is uncanny how most employers will overlook this fact, whether it’s because of time constraints to effectively deal with the problem or lack of better judgment.
Find the Right People to Start With. Contact Paul at Trace Personnel on 9281 5466 or paul@tracepersonnel.com.au
Credit Matters provides access to blogs written by Kim Radok. Just go to www.creditmatters.com.au to read these and previous blogs.
Since our last newsletter, we presented the following blogs.
Since our last newsletter, the following posts have been added to the Invaluable Reading From Australia and Around The World section.
Credit Matters is a financial risk management resource centre for the Australian business community. If you are in business, Credit Matters is your ideal source of financial risk management solutions.
As Buffett says, ‘Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.’
Our ‘Inconvenient Truths’ are facts-of-business that too many owners and managers either aren’t aware of, have forgotten, or lost sight of. Symptoms of overlooked truths are increasing expenses, depleting cash flow, diminishing profits and/or lack of winning new business opportunities.
Email us at info@creditmatters.com.au to discover the ‘Inconvenient Truths’ and how they can redirect your business back to success.
Bad business practices may still allow you to earn good profits. However you are likely to miss out on the cream of profits.
A we look around the business community, it is not too difficult to see those businesses which seem to have bad business practices, yet survive and report good profits. Perhaps indeed, they are lucky. However, we all know that you cannot be lucky forever.
One of the problems of success is that it can lead to complacency. Alternatively, there other people who believe, "If it isn't broken, there is no need to fix it." To some degree, that is correct.
The world of business today is unfortunately, not steady and disruption is the new norm. If you do not change to some degree, then you may find your former successful business practices no longer work. As a consequence, the extra profits you should have been accumulating and saving for a rainy day, have never been received. Worse still, your current business operations may no longer lead to the profits required to keep your business solvent.
Bad business practices may still allow your business to earn enough profit in the short-term. However, if you did not earn and save any extra profit to keep your business operating in bad times, you may not have a business in the future.
If you do not understand this Business Inconvenient Truth, contact Kim
To view the full list of Business Inconvenient Truths, become a member at www.creditmatters.com.au. Membership is free.
31 March | 17-094MR ASIC bans former Victorian insurance broker for seven years |
3 April | 17-099MR Perth businessman Steven Robert Noske convicted of insider trading |
4 April | 17-100MR Federal Court declares Melbourne licensee breached FOFA laws |
4 April | 17-101MR ASIC bans two Melbourne men for breaches of best interests duty |
6 April | 17-103MR Company director convicted for making a false statement to ASIC |
6 April | 17-104MR Former company director pleads guilty to deception |
10 April | 17-109MR Director of motor finance company convicted of concealing a company debt |
12 April | 17-114MR Director pleads guilty to falsifying company books |
19 April | 17-117MR Director of cleaning company convicted for concealing company property |
Be wary of scam emails pretending to be from ASIC
News From ASIC - Help with ASIC online services
Are you registering, renewing or cancelling a business name? Check out ASIC's new series of YouTube videos to help you use its business names register and other online services.
30 March 2017
This month four finalists have progressed onto the feasibility study stage of the joint AUSTRAC-ACIC challenge in the Business Research and Innovation Initiative (BRII) program, which forms part of the National Innovation and Science Agenda.
12 April 2017
Today I congratulate Mr Paul Jevtovic APM on his leadership and achievements in the fight against organised crime and terrorism.
Draft AML/CTF Rules now open for consultation
Draft AML/CTF Rules relating to customers which are custodians open until 1 May 2017
Draft Privacy Impact Assessment – AUSTRAC Data Matching Program and Fintel Alliance
The draft Privacy Impact Assessment considers the Fintel Alliance initial operational projects and the AUSTRAC Data Matching Program.
AUSTRAC assists in unexplained wealth investigation: over AUD2 million in assets seized
Victoria’s Corruption Prevention and Integrity Conference
Save the date – Victoria’s Corruption Prevention and Integrity Conference - See more at: http://www.ibac.vic.gov.au/Events/event/corruption-prevention-and-integrity-conference#sthash.9JrgEq01.dpuf
Operation Nepean special report April 2017
http://www.ibac.vic.gov.au/publications-and-resources/article/operation-nepean
This report concerns an investigation into allegations that Jeff Finlow, the former manager of the facilities department at women’s prison, the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre (DPFC), was involved in serious corrupt conduct.
10 April 2017
IBAC investigation uncovers corruption of procurement processes at women’s prison - See more at: http://www.ibac.vic.gov.au/media-releases/article/ibac-investigation-uncovers-corruption-of-procurement-processes-at-women-s-prison#sthash.CeZXgIcm.dpuf
31 March 2017
Tougher penalties under new Horticulture Code
https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/tougher-penalties-under-new-horticulture-code
13 April 2017
ACCC proposes to grant authorisation to SA businesses for the joint purchase of electricity
18 April 2017
Country of origin food labelling factsheet
This factsheet provides an overview of the Country of Origin Food Labelling Information Standard 2016, which requires origin information to be displayed for most food products offered or suitable for retail sale in Australia.
28 March 2017
Unfair contract terms under scrutiny
https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/unfair-contract-terms-under-scrutiny
7 April 2017
ACCC to monitor Australia's broadband performance
https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/accc-to-monitor-australias-broadband-performance
A free smartphone app developed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) will help business owners undertake important checks before they enter into business transactions with other organisations.
For more information ASIC APP INFORMATION
Credit Matters is continuing to grow and provide marketing and knowledge about financial risks to the Australian business community.
Furthermore, we invite marketing and knowledge ideas from our readers and contributors on how we can assist our respective firms grow. If you have any ideas, please contact me at Click to see email
If you are interested in finding new ways to reach your marketplace, why not try Credit Matters. Our prices for advertising are very reasonable and advertising packages are on offer to make any cost, even more affordable. So if you are interested in reaching your customers at the right price, please contact Kim at Click to see email for options.
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