Lodge your report via AUSTRAC Online between 4 January 2016 – 31 March 2016.
Published by Credit Matters Pty Ltd.
Welcome to Credit Matters Newsletter for February 2016. 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
This month we posted our first video introduction on the Credit Matters website as to the value of Credit Matter's risk management information offerings and facilities.
There are new updates in our Word of The Month and Inconvenient Business Truth segments.
Advertising via Credit Matters
If you are interested in reaching a wider group of business prospects, contact Kim to see what we can do for you. There are many different opportunities to advertise your business. The benefit of advertising with Credit Matters is we offer one of the few opportunities to reach a broad marketplace of customers with financial risk management issues.
This month you will find an updated declaration from Express Mercantile on their Corporate Vision for 2016.
Whether as a business owner or employee, we can be susceptible to procrastination, or an inability to quickly take opportunities because of preconceived prejudices and hastily made conclusions. After all, at the end of the day, we are all human and not without some weaknesses.
In addition, we all seem to be under such pressures these days. The lack of time, a guilty conscious about not spending time with our family, working in the business and not on the business, a lack of money etc.
It is only by trying to sensibly managing these factors, can we start to mitigate the effects of missing opportunities and avoid jumping quickly to conclusions. Let us review two simple business interactions.
In the first example, acting quickly to the customer enquiry, complaint or credit claim, is not something which all businesses manage well. These customer contacts are normally perceived to be just another nuisance to be "managed" and placed in a queue to be actioned in due course.
In fact: every enquiry, complaint or credit claim is an opportunity to improve sales and cashflow. In the progressive and switched on business, these customer related issues, are perceived to be an opportunity to reconnect with the customer, correct problems and to make more money.
The second example is the non-paying customer. The role of credit or accounts receivable employees mainly involves dealing with poorly performing customers. As a result, they do not often deal with efficient and good customers who pay regularly.
When customer "x" a previously good customer hasn't paid despite letter, email or telephone contact, the first assumption may be "We have another dud customer." The first assumption is unfortunately too often correct.
Nevertheless, the correct assumption should have been, "This situation is unusual, I better contact them and see what is going on."
Frequently when an enquiry type contact is made, other issues are quickly identified which were causing the problems. You can then set about resolving the problems quickly and which may stop further incorrect assumptions and future problems. The customer in these situations was not trying to avoid payment at all. Other issues were involved and once corrected, the profitable business relationship can continue.
In everyday business affairs, opportunities frequently occur which can be taken up to improve your business. Unfortunately, often due to a lack of management thinking and actions, these opportunities can be missed.
If you believe the customer will wait for you to act or contact them about the opportunities which do occur from time to time, you are mistaken. Business is not just about working the work.
Operating and managing a business properly, means taking up of opportunities, anticipated and unforeseen, as they become available. Developing a process which alerts managers and employees to the possibility of another business opportunity and providing the capabilities to take advantage of that opportunity is critical.
Losing an identifiable opportunity is disappointing. A business lesson can be learnt from these missed opportunities. Not seeing an opportunity is worse because it means your business is not structured and equipped to take up opportunities as they occur.
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.
The words ‘practice' and ‘practise' are very tricky for many people to master. Practice with a ‘c’ is the noun and practise with an ’s’ is the verb. As an example, 'you go to practice to practise'. The idiom “practice makes perfect” doesn’t quite look right, but is correct. A common error is the use of 'Accounting Practise' to refer to the firm or company, which should in Australia be 'Accounting Practice'.
When reading articles on the internet keep in mind the American spelling is always ‘practice”, for both the noun and the verb. You’ll sometimes find incorrect usage as articles may be sourced from overseas, or the journalist themselves may originally be from America.
For more information on the Preferred Australian English spelling visit www.Australian-Dictionary.com.au .
CONSTRUCTION Alert: Queensland Government consulting with industry regarding security of payment reforms
BLOGS
In practice, we often have clients with intellectual property (IP) who want to pursue an infringer or, alternatively have received a letter of demand or had Court proceedings brought against them.
Would you like to know more?
Peter Mills | Special Counsel | +61 7 3338 7921 | pmills@tglaw.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.
"To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions."
Benjamin Franklin
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.
The Debtors Ledger shows the amount of your cash in your customers' bank accounts.
It seems few business people and their managers understand this truth. When goods and services are sold on credit, your customer has possession of your firm's assets, which have a cash value.
When this truth is not understood, you will generally find there is little emphasis on protecting or retrieving this cash as evidenced by:
(i) procedures for granting credit and following up outstanding invoices are out of date or ignored;
(ii) customer enquiries and credit claims relating to outstanding invoices are processed when convenient and not immediately;
(iii) the work of the credit and accounts receivable employees is devalued by a lack of training whilst their suggestions for improvements and the tools to work properly are ignored;
(iv) the cashflow received from sales does not meet budget requirements, etc.
Cash is recognised as being the lifeblood of the business. When your cash is in another's bank account long enough, your business may not survive.
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.
Media Updates
2 February | 16-018MR ASIC releases guidance on new protections for small businesses against unfair contract terms |
2 February | 16-019MR BMW Finance pays $391,000 penalty for breaching responsible lending and repossession laws |
4 February | 16-023MR Supreme Court permanently restrains Roger Munro from operating without an Australian financial services licence |
4 February | 16-024MR Perth man charged with insider trading appears in court |
4 February | 16-025MR GRG International Ltd convicted and fined for late accounts |
10 February | 16-031MR Forex TG requests voluntary suspension of AFS licence |
18 February | 16-037MR ASIC disqualifies Sydney director |
18 February | 16-040MR New South Wales woman charged in relation to SMSF property investments |
23 February | 16-044MR ASIC concludes ABC Learning investigation |
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.
Lodge your report via AUSTRAC Online between 4 January 2016 – 31 March 2016.
Two remitters have had registration suspended
Western Union affiliates Weigang Li & Dongfang Tan (trading as Empire Milk Bar) & Narinder Singh (trading as Star Link Travel) were suspended on 15 December 2015.
Estefa Milka Honores (trading as American Cash Service), whose registration was cancelled in August 2015, has been re-registered with conditions.
In June 2014 changes to the AML/CTF Rules impacted CDD obligations for reporting entities in relation to beneficial ownership and politically exposed persons.
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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