Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Wave Accounting Formalizes Accountant and Bookkeeper Program




Flood levy




CCH CEO claims rivals focussed on clients, not accountants | Finance




Tips For Google+ Hangouts

I have been using Google+ hangouts ever since it came out and in the past couple of months, I have used it to effectively run online panel discussions on various topics of interest. In fact, I see Google+ Hangouts and Youtube broadcasting as a killer of Podcasts (if it is not dead already). It can be effectively leveraged by analysts like me to run online panels and vendors for their marketing purposes including webinars. I have learned a few valuable lessons from running these panels and thought I will share them here.

  • Having a good camera and lighting is a must
  • Having a good microphone is a must for all. If you are having more than one person sharing the same computer, make sure the microphone is positioned in such a way to get the audio from both people
  • Make sure the audio from the speaker is not fed back into the microphone
  • Advise the participants to not type (or create any other noise) while others are talking. If they use the keyboard, their face will be shown instead of the person who is talking
  • Do not have more than one panelists in the same room with their own computer to log into hangout. I am telling you from my recent experience, it's gonna mess up who is shown in the video
  • Last, but not the least, don't check your mobile phone while on the panel. Well, this is a note for myself

If you really want to understand how the video will end up when you do all the above said mistakes, watch this recent hangout. In spite of all the above said gaffes, this is a pretty good discussion on various topics including CloudFoundry, OpenStack and APIs. We spoke with Jeff Hobbs, CTO and VP of engineering, ActiveState and Yoram Heller, VP of Corporate Development, MorphLabs.

If Google can clearly market Google Hangouts, it will be a great success over many of the other video communication and webinar tools in the market. Many people record their webinars and host it on Youtube while Google Hangouts on Air does the same automatically. I have great confidence in the potential of this product but I am not sure how far Google will go in pushing this hard. I will be very upset if this goes in the Google Wave way.




4 Biggest Weaknesses of Great Leaders | Inc.com




The best government grants of 2012: Free money for your business from state and territory governments




PR: The 10 commandments of small business public relations | Dynamic Business – Small Business Advice – Forums | Dynamic Business Australia




Tuesday, July 03, 2012

Tax Time 2012 essentials

http://www.ato.gov.au/taxprofessionals/pathway.aspx?sid=42&pc=001/005/077&mfp=001/005&mnu=52772

Changes to Payroll , Payroll changes , New tax thresholds 2013

http://alwaysonbooks.com/Changes%20to%20Payroll%20Payroll%20changes%20New%20tax%20thresholds

Changes to Payroll , Payroll changes , New tax thresholds 2013 

changes to capital purchases

http://alwaysonbooks.com/changes%20to%20capital%20purchases

changes to capital purchases

see my blog for more details

2012 year-end in Australia | Xero Accounting Software

http://blog.xero.com/2012/06/2012-year-end-in-australia/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+xerolive+%28the+Xero+blog%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Can an iPad Really Replace your PC? Kevin Says Yes.


Sent to you via Google Reader

Can an iPad Really Replace your PC? Kevin Says Yes.

By Michelle Swan



There is no hiding from them – iPads are everywhere. They are everyone's favorite conference giveaway, we see our colleagues breaking them out with glee in meetings, and companies ranging from SAP to General Mills are rolling out thousands of tablets to employees around the world.



Gartner estimates that by the end of 2016 there will be 665 million tablets in use worldwide - growing at almost 100 percent annually. Compare that to the average 4 percent growth that analysts expect for PCs.  Many of our own customers are investing heavily in mobile initiatives as a way to improve business processes from executive reporting to closed loop marketing, and they're already seeing dramatic results. 



It's no wonder that it seems like tablets are taking over the enterprise. But can an iPad really replace a computer as you go about your day-to-day job? The debate rages online, but some mobile warriors like Appirio's own Kevin Dodson say it is possible.



Kevin leads Appirio's mobile services practice and spends the majority of his time working with customers like BMC, DexOne and Kindred to guide and implement their own mobile initiatives. He rarely carries a laptop these days and says he can be just as productive with an iPad and a few key accessories.



Hear from Kevin directly in this video he created for Appirio's own employees.








While tablets might not be a laptop replacement for the majority of enterprise workers, it might happen sooner than we think. The proliferation of new productivity apps for tablets, the rate at which enterprise applications are moving to the cloud, and the growing awareness of mobile and user-centric design are creating a perfect storm that's driving the tablet adoption even deeper into the enterprise.



And Kevin for one is excited.




EOFY: Five cashflow improving tax-time strategies | Dynamic Business – Small Business Advice – Forums | Dynamic Business Australia

http://www.dynamicbusiness.com.au/finance-cash-flow/advice/eofy-five-cashflow-improving-tax-time-strategies-25062012.html

How to know when to invest in new business systems | Dynamic Business – Small Business Advice – Forums | Dynamic Business Australia

http://www.dynamicbusiness.com.au/blogs/blog-categories/business-tech-blogs/how-to-decide-when-to-invest-in-new-business-systems-03072012.html

Minimum wage rises, employers warned to comply


Minimum wage rises, employers warned to comply

The national minimum wage rose yesterday, following on from a Fair Work decision last month to boost the pay packets of the country's lowest paid workers. 


The 2.9 percent rise is due to impact the lives of 1.3 million Australians, with wages to rise $17 a week, to just above $606 per week.


This equates to almost $900 a year extra for a full-time employed minimum wage worker.


The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry had been calling for a $9.40 per week rise, and the ACTU a $26 rise.


The wage rise will affect businesses in all industries, after the Minimum Wage Panel rejected deferral and exemption requests from some sectors.


"In this review we have decided that the relevant statutory considerations favour a moderate increase, which will improve the real value of award wages and assist the living standards of the low paid," Fair Work president Justice Iain Ross said.


ACTU secretary Dave Oliver is warning all employees to check they're being paid according to the minimum wage.


"Now that the minimum wage has gone up, all workplace agreements and contracts need to be checked to make sure that the rates of pay stay above the legal minimum," Oliver said.


"Workers should check their wages against the legal minimum rates to ensure they are not being underpaid thanks to the increase in the minimum wages."


For more information on what you should now be paying your employees, click here.




How to manage your business's online reputation | ITworld

http://www.itworld.com/saas/282244/how-manage-your-businesss-online-reputation

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Acquia Achieves SSAE 16: Does It Really Matter




Why this decade will be the most innovative in history

Vivek Wadhwa

Many people believe that we've run out of ideas and that the future will be one of bleak shortages of food, energy, and water. Billionaire Peter Thiel, for example, argues that, despite spectacular advances in computer-related fields, technological progress has actually stalled because the internal combustion engine still rules our highways, the cancer death rate has barely changed since 1971, and the top speed at which people can travel has ceased to improve.

Thiel is right about engines, speed, and cancer death rates. But he and the pessimists are completely wrong about what lies ahead. I don't believe that the future holds shortages and stagnation; it is more likely to be one in which we debate how we can distribute the abundance and prosperity that we've created.

Why am I so optimistic? Because of the wide assortment of technologies that are advancing at exponential rates and converging. They are enabling small teams to do what was once only possible for governments and large corporations. These exponential technologies will help us solve many of humanity's grand challenges, including energy, education, water, food, and health.

Let me give you a taste of what lies ahead.

Most people in the world have been affected by the advances in computing and mobile technologies. In a short 15 years, the Internet has changed the way we work, shop, communicate, and think. Knowledge that used to be available only to the elite classes through books such as the Encyclopedia Britannica is today abundant and free. All of this happened because computing power is growing exponentially. The technology industry knows this growth as Moore's Law.

The advances are happening not only in computing but also in fields such as genetics, AI, robotics, and medicine. For example, in 2000, scientists at a private company called Celera announced that it had raced ahead of the U.S. government–led international effort decoding the DNA of a human being. Using the latest sequencing technology as well as the data available from the Human Genome Project, Celera scientists had created a working draft of the genome. It took decades and cost billions to reach this milestone.

The price of genome sequencing is dropping at double the rate of Moore's Law. Today, it is possible to decode your DNA for a few thousand dollars. With the price falling at this rate, a full genome sequence will cost less than $100 within five years. Genome data will readily be available for millions, perhaps billions, of people. We will be able to discover the correlations between disease and DNA and to prescribe personalized medications tailored to an individual's DNA. This will create a revolution in medicine.

We can now "write" DNA. Advances in "synthetic biology" are allowing researchers, and even high-school students, to create new organisms and synthetic life forms. Entrepreneurs have developed software tools to "design" and "compile" DNA. There are startups that offer DNA synthesis and assembly as a service. DNA "printing" is priced by the number of base pairs to be assembled (the chemical "bits" that make up a gene). Today's cost is about 30 cents per base pair, and prices are falling exponentially. Within a few years, it could cost a hundredth of this amount. Eventually, like laser printers, DNA printers will be inexpensive home devices.

It isn't just DNA that we can print. In an emerging field called digital manufacturing, 3D printers enable the production of physical mechanical devices, medical implants, jewelry, and even clothing. These printers use something like a toothpaste tube of plastic or other material held vertically in an X-Y plotter that squirts out thin layers of tiny dots of material that build up, layer by layer, to produce a 3D replica of the computer-generated design. The cheapest 3D printers, which print rudimentary objects, currently sell for between $500 and $1,000. Soon, we will have printers for this price that can print toys and household goods. Within this decade, we will see 3D printers doing the small-scale production of previously labor-intensive crafts and goods. In the next decade, we can expect local manufacture of the majority of goods; 3D printing of buildings and electronics; and the rise of a creative class empowered by digital making.

Nanotechnology is also rapidly advancing. Engineers and scientists are developing many new types of materials such as carbon nanotubes, ceramic-matrix nanocomposites (and their metal-matrix and polymer-matrix equivalents), and new carbon fibers. These new materials enable designers to create products that are stronger, lighter, more energy efficient, and more durable than anything that exists today.

And major advances are happening in Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (or MEMS), which make it possible to build inexpensive gyros; accelerometers; and temperature, current/magnetic fields, pressure, chemical, and DNA sensors. Imagine iPhone cases that act like medical assistants and detect disease; smart pills that we swallow and that monitor our internals; and tattooed body sensors that monitor heart, brain, and body activity.


Filed under: Entrepreneur, VentureBeat

Pages: 1 2 View All





Vinod Khosla On Years Of Screwing Up And The 50 Minute MBA




Bank statement lines in Xero Touch




Turn it around: Fix the five most common business errors

Hired the wrong employee or just can't seem to get on top of your cashflow? You're not alone. Here's a look at the five most common areas SMB owners get it wrong, and some advice for fixing these issues. 

The five most common mistakes small businesses make are:

  1. Hiring the wrong employees. Your staff members are the lifeblood of your business and having employees who are unproductive, unskilled in the job they have been hired to do or just the wrong personality type for your business can cause frustration for you and your customers, not to mention lost profits and recruitment costs. Are your employees the best fit for your business? If not, it is worth looking at your recruitment process and possibly engaging the services of an external party to help you screen potential employees in the future.
  2. Keeping the wrong employees for too long. Having unproductive staff working in your business can not only harm you financially in the long term, it can put your business in a vulnerable position culturally. Negative staff members who have been with the business for too long can affect the morale of others and this could spread to the entire company. Make sure you deal with employee issues quickly and don't be afraid to bring in fresh blood if necessary.
  3. Having no clear plan or goal. Many business owners neglect to take the time to sit down and clearly define their business goals. Having goals gives your business a roadmap towards success and allows you to stay focused and on track with your efforts. Without a plan you may find yourself floundering around with no idea where you are going.
  4. Poor financial management. Cashflow problems can lead to debt and financial difficulties. Make sure you have a good system in place to chase up debtors and keep on top of any your financial obligations. Lax financial management can potentially lead to legal as well as financial difficulties so it is important to make your business finances a priority.
  5. Not seeking professional advice. Whether you engage the services of a professional business coach or run a few ideas past a business savvy friend, having an outside perspective can make a huge difference to the success of your business. Many business owners get tunnel vision from following a single way of thinking, and although you run your own business, you may not be a business expert.

There is always something to learn and improve on when you run a business, no matter how far along your business journey you are. Running a business is often trial and error, particularly at the beginning and we all make mistakes while we are finding our way. Take the time to evaluate the state of your business, your employees and your goals and you could find it pays off in terms of profit and future success.




Cloud computing, who’s doing it?

Accounting is just one of the software programs you can take into the cloud, and a major one for small businesses. Here's how some SMBs are using it.

Over the last couple of years, cloud computing has become a hotly discussed topic. A countless number of applications and software programs that can operate online, on any device, have become available and more are being offered all the time.

Small businesses are certainly primed to benefit from cloud technology. It offers more agility, greater flexibility and improves how information is shared with stakeholders. One of the most vital tools for any SMB is accounting software, and many businesses throughout Australia have benefited enormously from moving their accounting software into the cloud.

Comtek NQ is a regional electronics installation business in North Queensland that services an area than spans 350km. The owner, Jim Lennox, says he could travel up to three-and-a-half hours in a day. Last year, he took an interest in online accounting because he wanted an easier way of working with files when he was in and out of the office.

Easier out on the road
"There has been once or twice in the past when I brought home the company file, worked on it offline and then took the wrong file back to the office. Being 64kms from home, you can probably imagine how frustrating this was," said Lennox, who recently moved over to QuickBooks Hosted accounting software for online access. Now he can simply log into his accounting program via a web browser, so he is always using the same file.

He can now generate invoices out of the office, he can complete a job hours away from the office and still invoice his client on the spot. More importantly for Lennox, he now gives his accountant access to log in to his data so he doesn't need to physically deliver the data file and his data is automatically backed up.

Mobility is an obvious reason why cloud accounting software is attractive to many small business owners, but there are far more benefits than being able to access your finances from anywhere. Norstate Marketing, a diverse business selling both promotional merchandise and automotive parts, took on online accounting to save time processing orders and improve accuracy by having all staff accessing the one data file online. The business has sales representatives on the road who sell products to mechanics at their workshop and process orders at the time of sale.

Logging in simultaneously
"Now we find a lot less errors because everybody is using the same data file, there is no requirement for data to be re-entered in the company main file and most importantly there's no longer a delay in completing orders and invoicing. Reps now have no need to call the office and check if a product is in stock," said Lauren Gross, manager of Norstate Marketing.

Before moving to online accounting, the Norstate Marketing on-the-road sales representatives would keep a copy of the companies data file with them for a week. Whilst this method allowed staff to complete on the spot invoicing, they couldn't be sure that all products were in stock so they would constantly be calling back in to the office staff so they could check the 'live' data file in the office.

A key benefit of using a program in the cloud is being able to have many users log in to the same file simultaneously. Carra Property Group operates from multiple locations in Australia, and owner Tom Carra says moving to online accounting has eliminated confusion caused when multiple files were emailed between him and his colleagues.

"In the past we had difficult moments when updating files. It was very easy to get the wrong file and it would cause a mess," he says. However, moving online for him has meant more than just having simultaneous access to the finances. "Before moving to QuickBooks Hosted we mostly saw accounting software as a way of keeping track of finances for tax purposes. Now we want to be using 'live' data to get a better understanding of cashflow."

Instant business decisions
Having instant access to business reporting via an online accounting system will help ensure business decisions are validated and risks minimised. Cashflow, profit and loss, balance sheet and bank reconciliation reports are extremely important and will help you remain fully aware of how the business is fairing at any point in time. Many successful operators review their critical business reports daily and by utilising an online accounting system you can have access to these reports from anywhere, at anytime.

While lots of businesses are benefitting from going online, those that are fairing the best are doing their homework first. As mentioned earlier, there are a lot of companies offering cloud applications and software for small businesses, so before making a decision on an online accounting program it's worth considering the costs involved, how easy the program will be for you to use and where your data will be held. When using an online accounting program your data is stored remotely, not on your premises or within your IT environment. You should also check which country your data is being held in, in particular it's important your data is stored in Australia according to Australian privacy laws.

While Gross's business has experienced lots of benefits by moving into the cloud, she puts security at the top of her list. "While there have been several benefits to moving online for our business, for me personally I am now a lot more confident about the security of my data than I was before. It is a huge weight off my mind knowing that all of our company information is not just sitting in the office overnight or relying on a back-up process."




A disastrous year means I have to let go of some beloved staff. How am I going to do this?




Sunday, June 24, 2012

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Broadband on-the-go: How to stay web connected on the road | Dynamic Business – Small Business Advice – Forums | Dynamic Business Australia

Broadband on-the-go: How to stay web connected on the road | Dynamic Business – Small Business Advice – Forums | Dynamic Business Australia:

'via Blog this'

Are you in the building and construction industry?

From 1 July 2012, businesses in Australia, who are in the building and construction industry need to report to the ATO each year, the total payments they make to each contractor for building and construction services.

Businesses need to report if they:

  • are in the building and construction industry
  • make payments to contractors for building and construction services, and
  • have an Australian business number (ABN).

The first annual report is due 21 July 2013 for payments made in the 2012–13 financial year. In this first year businesses that lodge their business activity statement quarterly, may lodge by 28 July 2013.

The information reported about payments made to contractors will be matched against other information held by the ATO to detect contractors who have not:

  • lodged tax returns, or
  • included all their income in returns that have been lodged.

The good news is if you're using LiveAccounts and you're in the building and construction industry, we've got you covered. The team is currently working on the required changes which you'll begin to see in LiveAccounts around mid to late June. Stay tuned as we'll provide an update and some screen shots in the next week or so.

For more information about taxable payments reporting go to www.ato.gov.au/taxablepaymentsreporting to find:

  • a list of activities and occupations that are considered to be building and construction services
  • examples of situations where reporting is required
  • exclusions from reporting requirements
  • how to register to participate in an online seminar from your home or business
  • Ask your question on this Forum and we'll see what the Community has to say

 

Richard Puffe | Product Manager, LiveAccounts – MYOB




Ex-Googlers Launch MightyText, An iMessage For Android Users




Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Improve your content writing confidence: Four tips

Writing content has become increasingly essential to business owners as it allows them to spread the word about their business and communicate with prospective and existing customers, both in print and online. But this doesn't mean writing is everyone's fortè, so here are some tips for improving the confidence you have in your writing abilities.

Here are just some of the places where the written word is essential:

  • Article marketing
  • Press releases
  • Public relations
  • Advertising
  • Email marketing
  • Blogging
  • Social media

And so on …

Faced with rising requirements for a continuous supply of good quality written content, what do you do if you own a business and do not have writing confidence?

1. Practice makes perfect

As with most things, you will become more confident with your writing the more you do it. Just start writing regularly – have a set time each day for writing and go from there. As you write regularly each day, your writing will improve, you'll find you build in confidence and will soon be able to write with relative ease.

2. Hire a proof reader 

If you consider yourself a reasonable writer but could do with some help for the final polish, a proofreader can take your written content and ensure it all reads well and without errors.

It's easy and cost effective to hire a proofreader to check your content for you. Try sites like elance.com, Freelance.com, vworker.com and odesk.com. The best results come from hiring a proofreader whose first language matches your content.

3. Hire a writer

If you really don't want to do much writing yourself, or don't have confidence in your own ability to do so, it would be best to hire a writer who you can work with over the long-term. You can hire writers from the same sites mentioned above.

Over time, they will get to know your business, and their writing for you should improve over time as they become familiar with your requirements.

It can take a while to find a really good writer who you can trust. A good strategy is to hire five to ten writers for an initial writing piece. You then offer a second writing piece to two or three of those, and then finally pick the one you feel most comfortable with to work with longer term. It means a little more investment upfront, but the solid selection process is worth it longer term.

You can also try to negotiate a reduced rate for a longer term working relationship. However, it's often worth paying them their requested rate, or even a little more, so they feel they are paid adequately for their work, remain loyal, and continue to find it worthwhile working with you.

In terms of delegating writing jobs to your writer, give them as much information as possible. For example:

  • Make notes on what you want the content piece to be about.
  • Provide guidance on the structure, eg. a rough outline of an article or blog post.
  • Let them know about any keywords you want to be included, if you need content for search engine optimisation purposes.
  • Point them to potential research sources.
  • Let them know what kind of word count you're looking for.

Some writing jobs are more specialised and you should expect to pay a lot more for them.

For example, writing emails for an email sequence (autoresponder series) for your website, or writing for advertising purposes, requires a professional copywriter, rather than a standard writer, and a lot more skills and experience are required.

4. Don't write it, speak it

Often people who don't class themselves as writers or have no confidence in their ability to write, have excellent verbal communication skills. Instead of writing, speak it into a dictaphone or similar, and send it to your writer to polish it up for you and turn it into a finished writing piece.




Monday, June 18, 2012

How to manage your own accounts: Five steps

Working for yourself means not only do you need to market your products and services and bring in new business, but you also need to manage your own financial accounts. You have to keep on top of the money coming in and out if you want to survive the first year in business. These five tips will help.
Many entrepreneurs fail in their first year and one of the reasons is lack of cashflow. Here are a few tips to help manage your accounts and ensure you are on the right road to business success:
1) Set up one business account
You have to make sure you keep your business' monies separate to your personal savings and current account – do not mix them up. To avoid doing so, set up a business account with your bank. For example, HSBC offer a number of additional benefits when you set up a business account with them such as an overdraft facility and a credit card. Speak to them to find out what they or other banks can do for you.
If your bank will not let you set up a dedicated business account, set up an account which you will only use to receive invoices and pay expenses for your organisation.
2) Use Your ABN on every business document
For all invoices, make sure that you clearly mark your ABN. It's important that the company you are invoicing knows you are a legitimate business. They will also need to the ABN number of payments they make to all suppliers, as this will be part of their tax return.
3) Set aside money for tax
It can be very tempting to spend all the money you earn, but you have to remember to pay tax. Yes it's a pain, but it's important and if you don't pay your taxes you can be met with serious fines. If you're operating in Australia for less than 6 months, you will be taxed as a non-resident or at around 29 percent. If however, you have been trading for longer than six months, (which hoping your business is a success, it will be) you will have to set aside a lower percentage for tax – but again it all depends on how much you earn.
Visit the Australian Tax Office to find out how much you need to pay weekly or monthly.
4) Record your expenses weekly
Before you finish for the week, make a note of the expenses you have incurred. Don't just wait until the end of the tax year to file your expenses, as this can make it very difficult to keep track of what you have spent for the company and what you may have just spent for yourself – you cannot mix the two. A business expense is a cost you have incurred through your organisation, this can be taking the train into the city for a meeting, attending a conference, going out for lunch during the conference, but not a four course meal.
5) Contact an accountant/bookkeeper
As you are managing your own accounts, you may want to check a few details with an accountant. It is useful to speak to an accountant before you start trading to help you organise your accounts making it easy to do your tax returns when required.

There are many self-help websites for entrepreneurs setting up in business.  If you need a website designed, a brochure or even business cards, there are local services on hand to help. For those living in Sydney, Sydney printing services lets you get started with marketing your business, one of the most important stages in helping to bring in clients. Then you can start managing your own accounts, which will then help you to bring in the clients.



How to Craft a Business Plan That'll Turn Investors' Heads | Entrepreneur.com




Making the NZX50 | Xero Accounting Software




Saturday, June 16, 2012

A Skype call in Ethiopia will now get you 15 years in prison | VentureBeat


Think about our NBN the government tried to install the great firewall, then they decided to built the back bone of the Internet. Could we see this happening in Australia in the next few years. 



‘Tis the season to be tax scam savvy: Eight tips

The tax return season is almost upon us and experts are warning SMBs to be wary of online scams masked as tax related services by the hackers who are offering them.

With an estimated 2.5 million Aussies using the Government's electronic tax return service (e-Tax) each year, cyber criminals are using this to get access to user's hard-earned funds and personal information.

AVG security advisor Michael McKinnon said cyber criminals have begun their end of financial year scams, which aim to trick taxpayers into revealing sensitive and financial information.

"Internet crime and taxes are now two of life's certainties. As younger members of the community join the workforce and others shift from paper-based to online tax return processes, there is always a new audience for inventive tax season scams," McKinnon said.

McKinnon warns people to be suspicious if they receive any email offering government services – from baby bonus applications to notifications about changes made to their tax rates.

But that's not all. In their latest attempt, cyber criminals have added carbon tax compensation to their list of cons. A simple click from an email attachment could redirect you to a malicious website putting you at risk of identity theft and computer viruses that extract personal and financial details.

McKinnon said any email that sounds too good to be true is, and should be ignored.

"That's not how the ATO or any other Australian government agency operates," he added.

As June 30 approaches, businesses are advised to follow these tips to ensure their tax return is filed safely:

  1. Review: Taxpayers should use the end of financial year to review their personal or business online security systems to ensure protection is fully and automatically up-to-date – on all computers, phones, other mobile technologies, plus USB and other memory devices.
  2. Research: By keeping up to date with the ATO and SCAMWatch online security pages about how to recognise, avoid and report scams.
  3. Protect your information: When communicating with your tax advisor, taxpayers should create a password protected Zip file of your financial data.
  4. Be smart: Never open or click on links found within an email. Always open your e-Tax filing directly from the ATO's site.
  5. Be internet safe: Never use a public WiFi connection without a firewall. Always use a trusted WiFi or Ethernet connection from your home or office to file your tax return.
  6. Be alert: If you haven't directly requested information, never respond to communications you did not initiate.
  7. To the bin: Delete all related emails from your server once you've filed your return.
  8. Report it: If you receive suspicious communication from 'the ATO' or any other 'government department', do not click on any links in an email or answer phone questions. Report it immediately to the ATO.



The 5 traits of radically successful people

I have a crazy idea: success isn't just about hard work. We hear about hard work all the time—it's what Olympic champions talk about when they get to the top of the podium and it's what the media credits as the sole force behind of multimillion-dollar Internet entrepreneurs. But there has to be something else in the equation of obtaining unimaginable success. What other traits tipped the odds in favor of the world's most successful people?

What helped propel their careers before they had track records?

For the past year I've been fortunate enough to interview some of the world's most successful people to find the answers to these very questions. Below are just a few of the traits I've noticed that have stood out in the personalities of people who have truly made it big:

1. The Audacity to Break the Rules

In his early twenties, Tim Ferriss, bestselling author of The 4-Hour Workweek, was running an online sports nutrition company and realized that he would be risking his businesses' survival if he followed the industry standard of accepting payment up to twelve months after the product was shipped.

"Everyone followed those rules," Ferriss revealed to me. "I realized I was inviting disaster and financial ruins if I risked my cash flow that way by following the standard protocol, so I insisted on prepayment. Nobody had ever done prepayment. I think that is one of the reasons why my sports nutrition company succeeded where a lot of other startups of that type failed."

Straying from the norm isn't easy when you've spent your whole life following rules laid out for you at school and at home. It takes a major cognitive shift to understand that the way things are, and have been, can be challenged.

Ask yourself what rules in your industry you accept as fact. Why do you follow them? If the excuse is "that's the way it's always been," it's time to consider pulling a Tim Ferriss.

2. An Irrational Level of Commitment

Growing up, Sugar Ray Leonard would wake up, get dressed for school, and walk with his siblings to the bus stop. As the yellow bus would pull to the curb, his friends and siblings would step up into the school bus, but young Sugar Ray Leonard, who is now a six-time world champion boxer, would refuse to get on. As the bus drove away, Leonard tightened up his sneakers and ran behind the bus all the way to school.

"The other kids thought I was crazy," Leonard said, "because I would run in the rain, snow—it didn't matter. I did it because I didn't just want to be better than the next guy, I wanted to be better than all the guys."

My generation is used to instant gratification. But Sugar Ray Leonard demonstrated the necessity to be able to buckle down for the long haul and accept that you won't see any return on investment for years. You have to be able to stay passionately committed even when you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. And remember, Sugar Ray Leonard, now one of the greatest boxers in history, was running behind that yellow school bus at a time when others thought he wasn't "boxing material."

Sugar Ray Leonard kept at it, to the point that others thought was irrational. Turns out irrational commitment leads to irrational success.

Does what you're working on excite you so much that it inspires an irrational sense of commitment? Are you willing to chase the school bus for years—before seeing any return? If so, keep running. If not, maybe it's time to think bigger.

3. A Hunger to Solve Problems

Peter Guber, former CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, was in his mid-twenties as a new hire at Columbia Pictures when he realized that the way the studio heads were selecting directors was archaic—based on esoteric chatter instead of real data. Guber personally took on the task of solving this industry-old problem.

He went out and got a corkboard the size of his office wall and created a matrix: all the directors in Hollywood listed down the side and all the relevant information sprawled across the top—think of it as a primitive Wikipedia for the entertainment industry.

Word spread around town about the young guy who had this crowd-sourced wealth of data on every director in Hollywood mounted on his wall. In addition to adding value and helping others do their jobs more effectively, the corkboard allowed people to take notice of Guber's ingenuity.

"It became a tool that allowed people to recognize that I was willing to do things differently. It shined the light on me and it and gave me more currency to make more daring choices," Guber said. He explained that, "You are in the 'problem solving' business—always. That's the way it works." This was a key trait that allowed Guber to go from being a new hire at Columbia pictures to the studio chief—in just three years.

Although HR reps fail to mention it on the first day on the job, it seems that taking risks, solving other people's problems, and creating value—even in a formal corporate environment—could have huge payoffs for your career.

Are there any problems, even outside your job description, that you could solve? What opportunities can you create to add value to both help people as well as supercharge your career?

4. A Ferocious Drive to Do More

Growing up in a village outside of Shanghai with no running water or electricity, Qi Lu (pronounced: chee loo) had no idea that one day he would have a corner office at one of the world's biggest technology companies. As the President of Online Services at Microsoft, Lu has made a drastic journey to the top thanks to what his colleagues call "Qi Time."

"During college, the amount of time I spent sleeping really started to bother me," Lu explained to me. "There are so many books I can read and so many things to learn. It feels like, for humans, 20% of our time is wasted [during sleep] in the sense that you're not putting that time towards a purpose that you care about."

Although he admits it wasn't easy, Lu has engineered his body to function on four hours of sleep a night thanks to an unusual regimen that ranges from timed cold showers to daily three-mile runs.

Driven by an unusual hunger to do more, Lu's sleeping schedule has added an extra day's worth of work time per week, which aggregates to nearly two months of productivity latched on to every calendar year. And he did it while still in college.

Ask yourself how badly do you want to do more. And what are you willing to give up for it?

5. A Sharp Focus on Playing the People Game

Shortly after graduating high school, Steven Spielberg began reducing the time he spent at college and increasing the time he spent hanging within the Hollywood inner circle. "[Spielberg] was going off to Sony and Cher's place all the time," said Don Shull, Spielberg's childhood friend. In a personal letter to Shull, Spielberg revealed that he would directly approach directors and Hollywood stars on the studio lot and ask them to lunch. And keep in mind—Spielberg was only nineteen years old at the time.

"Spielberg arranged his class schedule so that he could spend three days a week at Universal, watching filmmakers at work and trying to make useful contacts," writes Joseph McBride in his detailed biography on Spielberg's career. "He frequently slept overnight in an office at the studio where he kept two suits so he could emerge onto the bustling lot each morning looking as if he hadn't slept in an office."

"Steve knew at that early age that filmmaking is not just filming—it's a people game. And he played it well," said producer William Link.

While he definitely had talent on his side, so did handfuls of other aspiring directors. What helped Spielberg become the youngest director signed to a long-term studio deal was his focus on building relationships. This has nothing to do with "networking"; this has to do with making friends and focusing on people.

What little changes can you make in your life, starting today, to put a greater focus on people? What investments can you make, in both time and money, to hone the way you play the people game?

Wrapping up

Success can come in different fields, but the principles behind it are one. From Sugar Ray Leonard chasing the school bus to Peter Guber's corkboard, these stories show the unique personality traits that tipped the scales in favor of the world's most successful people.

Success—while defined by everyone on their own terms—is something that truly manifests itself once you make that mind-set shift and tell yourself it's go time. Are you ready to make that shift?

Alex Banayan is a venture capitalist at Alsop Louie Partners in San Francisco. His upcoming book will feature 25 of the world's most successful people and will focus on the little things they did to propel their careers. He is 19-years-old. For more, sign-up for Alex Banayan's newsletter here.


Filed under: Entrepreneur, VentureBeat




7 great Google spreadsheet gadgets - Page 1 - Integrating IT




Thursday, June 14, 2012

Zoho Books: Get Bank Feeds from Wells Fargo, Chase and many more




Acer battles iPad with A700: a $450 full HD Android tablet

Acer has a response to Apple's new iPad with Retina Display and it's called the A700. The 10.1-inch tablet offers a high-definition resolution of 1,920 by 1,200 powered by a Tegra 3 processor and Google Android 4.0 software. With 32 GB of internal storage and a memory expansion slot, the A700 is priced at $450, making it a good value for Android tablet buyers.

Acer has long been known as a value brand, often selling comparable products at relatively lower prices than its peers and competitors. To do so, Acer occasionally cuts a few corners with either missing or limited features or lower quality parts here and there. As I look through the specifications, however, no examples of this jump out at me.

The 16:10 aspect screen offers 178-degree viewing angles and 224 pixels per inch, which isn't bad. The Tegra 3 chip has already proven its performance in the Asus Transformer Prime, so it should do well in the A700. Battery life is rated at 10.5 hours of video playback or eight hours of web browsing. GPS, Bluetooth (version 2.1 only) and an e-compass are in the Wi-Fi slate. A micro HDMI port supports audio and video output to digital televisions along with Dolby Mobile 3 and 5.1-channel surround sound. And the device runs on Google's newest version of Android with a full gigabyte of memory.

Acer says customers in the U.S. and Canada can pre-order the A700 starting today. While I don't see potential iPad buyers jumping on Acer's newest slate by the thousands, the A700 does sound like an attractive — and reasonably priced — tablet for the Android crowd.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Activity statement update Quarter 4 2011-12




10 tips for a headache-free EOFY

As the EOFY fast approaches, business owners are being urged to get their financial paperwork signed, sealed and delivered well before tax-time and reap the rewards over the long-term.

Failing to organise business finances prior to the June 30 deadline may result in extra stress business owners can live without.

MYOB Tim Reid said businesses that take action prior to July 1 put themselves strides ahead of their competitors and allow them to take a proactive approach to the year ahead.

"For example, a business that pays building and construction contractors should start capturing those contractor payments as of next month. Otherwise they'll be playing serious catch up when the first report is due next year," Reid said.

Businesses should see the EOFY as an opportunity to give their finances, operations and strategy a tune-up, Reid said,

"…the end of a financial year can be a launch pad to a happy and prosperous new year," he added.

With this in mind, Reid has the following 10 tips for ensuring headache-free, happy new financial year:

1. Get professional help to know your business better:

Don't wait to get to know your business better. If cashflow, taxation and forecasting aren't your areas of expertise, contact an accountant with experience in your industry to help. They can immediately identify potential EOFY issues, such as incorrect transaction dates, foreign exchange rates or inventory anomalies, and these aspects can be monitored throughout the year.

2. Compare the current financial year against the previous year:

Compare your 2011 tax year against previous years to pinpoint the positive and negative trends. When were your peak periods? How well did each of your products/services perform? Talk to a professional who can help identify which ones deliver the healthiest returns, re-evaluate your margins and loan terms, help you with managing cash flow, inventory and staying on top of debtors, and on the like. They can even perform business-benchmarking activities, comparing your performance against similar businesses

3. Familiarise yourself with key compliance changes for the new financial year:

Did you know the flood levy will no longer apply after 1 July and tax-free thresholds are changing? Are your systems prepared for the introduction of the carbon tax? If you operate a business in the building and construction sector, are your systems prepared for the annual reporting of contractor payments in 2013? Click here for everything you need to know about EOFY compliance changes.

4. Ensure your BAS and superannuation guarantee charge statements are lodged and paid by July 28:

Be sure to pay your super guarantee contributions for the fourth quarter of 2012 by 28 July 2012. If you or your clients miss this deadline, you must submit a Superannuation Guarantee charge statement to the ATO.

5. Take advantage of deductions, write-offs and rebates before June 30:

Take action to scrap worthless stock, plant and equipment before June 30 by reviewing your asset register (which keeps track of your company equipment including items purchased, sold or disposed of). Consider holding off buying business assets until the new financial year, because the instant asset write-off increases from $1,000 to $6,500 from 1 July 2012.

Conversely, there are several government initiatives valid only until the end of the financial year that allow business owners to write-off purchases for business. Maximise these in the current financial year by purchasing any such assets before the end of June. Contact your accountant to discuss what is available to you based on your business.

6. Write off bad debts before June 30:

If any debts have been outstanding for more than 12 months and/or are considered non-recoverable, you may be able to claim a GST credit and write them off as an expense. Be sure to look into this now.

7. Back up your data to ensure compliance with record-keeping requirements:

An ATO requirement is for businesses to keep detailed business records for a minimum of five years. Make sure you have a secure data back-up system. If you don't use accounting software currently, consider starting the new year on a product like MYOB LiveAccounts that automatically does the back up for you.

8. Get on top of your books and diarise dates to review them:

From now on, lock in time to update your data entry and records at least once a week. Compile as much information as you can in preparation for updating your financial records.

Identifying errors is much easier over a short time period than after 12 months' time has passed, so perhaps review your books every two months rather than every quarter. Mistakes can be picked up sooner, potentially saving you money in the long term.

9. Keep your business house in order:

Your transition to a happier financial year will be more seamless if your financials are well organised and compliant. Up to date accounting software acts like a virtual assistant by automating many aspects of this. It also gives you a comprehensive snapshot of your business that's available at a glance at any time.

10. Invest time working on, your business rather than in, your business:

Take the time to formulate a refreshed business strategy for FY2012/2013. It should contain everything from a SWOT analysis to competitor intelligence, a marketing plan and specific, measurable goals. These targets may be financial, such as increasing lead conversion by X percent, reaching a revenue target at a specific time and halving operational costs. Or, they may be operational, such as expanding your product line, moving into another geographic region and up-skilling staff.

Consider involving team members in building the strategy to help improve their buy-in.




Monday, June 11, 2012

Tax-free threshold - for individuals

Tax-free threshold - for individuals: "


What are the changes to the tax-free threshold?
From 1 July 2012, under the government's Household Assistance Package the tax-free threshold increased from $6,000 to $18,200.

This means if you earn less than $18,200 per year you do not need to pay income tax, and if you earn more than $18,200 per year you will only pay income tax on earnings over $18,200."

'via Blog this'

Motorola’s Next Super Phone Leaked: Meet Verizon’s Droid RAZR HD | TechCrunch

Motorola’s Next Super Phone Leaked: Meet Verizon’s Droid RAZR HD | TechCrunch: "The Droid RAZR HD is coming. It’s yet to be announced, but several leaks foretell its coming. And the next Droid is set to go spec-to-spec with the Samsung Galaxy S III. This thing looks killer."

'via Blog this'

Five Reasons To Rely On Web-Based ERP | Cloud Business Review

Five Reasons To Rely On Web-Based ERP | Cloud Business Review: "The question is, should you listen to the hype about ERP implementation on the cloud? The answer is “yes.”"

'via Blog this'

Facebook store goes live, with apps for iOS, Android, and Facebook | VentureBeat

Facebook store goes live, with apps for iOS, Android, and Facebook | VentureBeat: "Facebook’s very own app store has just launched, and it’s a thing of beauty."

'via Blog this'

Pay and get paid with Bill.com | Xero Accounting Software

Pay and get paid with Bill.com | Xero Accounting Software:

'via Blog this'

Doctors on demand: 5 startups wiping out the waiting room




Saturday, June 09, 2012

Another reason you should lean... (gigaom.com)



Another reason you should lean to code: Python for Excel
http://gigaom.com/2012/06/08/another-reason-you-should-lean-to-code-python-for-excel/

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