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While accounting software platforms have the potential to save businesses time, improve accuracy and streamline processes, technology can only do so much. A flesh and blood accountant brings experience, knowledge, strategic know-how and an eye for detail that can help protect you from making costly, detrimental accounting and taxation errors, writes Matthews Steer Accounting Supervisor, Belinda Torr.

The Matthews Steer team was delighted to welcome a packed house for the first Success Stories Breakfast of 2022. Special guest speaker on the day was Laney Quinn, General Manager of Procal, one of the largest dairy companies in Australia.

With a federal election looming, Budget 2022/23 was never going to be radical, nevertheless, Josh Frydenberg’s fiscal roadmap for the next 12 months unveiled a number of initiatives that will have implications and impacts for the Australian economy, and Australian businesses, business owners, industries and sectors.

Retirement is a period of immense change that heralds a very different stage of life to anything you will have experienced previously, and the prospect of retiring can be scary or exciting. Whatever you choose to do in retirement is going to cost money and, as you’ll no longer be able to rely on your employment income, it’s important to have a plan in place.

From 1 November 2021 there are new rules regarding super funds for new employees. If a new employee commences employment and they don’t choose a super fund, you will need to request their stapled super fund details from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

The Matthews Steer team was delighted to welcome a socially-distanced in-person capacity crowd to their information-packed Success Stories breakfast on November 12, which featured presentations from Human Resources guru Shanyn Payne, climate and energy policy expert Tennant Reed, and Matthews Steer Government Grants expert Gary Twomey.

Accounting firms are increasingly finding themselves looking inward to solve challenges that arise with changes in the sector, and to deal with the shortcomings of age-old ways of working. This imperative to innovate has impacted the accounting industry in numerous ways, challenging us to do more with less, and leading to the exploration of artificial intelligence solutions and deep dive into data and analytics.

From November 2021, the Australian Business Registry Services (ABRS) will legally require all Directors (or Alternate Directors) to verify their identity by registering for a Director Identification Number (Director ID).

Planning can be exciting, engaging, and fun to do. Speak to anyone who’s set their sights on a house build or renovation, or a holiday, and they’ll wax lyrical describing every detail they’ve planned down to the second dishwasher in the butler’s pantry or the poolside cocktails they’re intending to consume. Planning, it seems, can be highly enjoyable and, when we’re not wrestling with a global pandemic, a hugely fruitful occupation to devote some time to. So, why then do so many Australian business owners fail to write or refine a formal business plan?

One attribute most businesses share is the desire to build and improve and evolve. In the volatile world in which we now live, maintaining a crystal clear focus on our business intelligence – what we know (or think we know) about our clients, markets and competitors – has become essential to tackling and overcoming the changes and challenges we, as business owners, face on an almost daily basis.