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JobMaker scheme – key points

JobMaker Scheme - Key Points

The JobMaker hiring credit scheme is now open for registration.

Here’s a summary of some of the key points around the JobMaker scheme.

If you are considering applying for JobMaker, please take into consideration the administration of JobMaker can be quite complex, so we don't recommend attempting to manage this on your own. Talk to us about how we can assist.

For background, JobMaker was announced by the government in the October 2020 federal budget, and will operate until 6 October 2021.

Key points:

  • Key to the hiring credit scheme is that employers must have added additional employees and also have increased their payroll during the relevant JobMaker period, as compared to a baseline date.
  • The hiring credit is backdated to 7 October 2020 (applying to new employees from that date) and will provide eligible employers with the following payments for up to 12 months for new jobs created from that date.
  • Eligible employees must work an average of at least 20 hours per week over a JobMaker period for the employer to qualify for the payment in respect of that employee. They must have commenced employment between 7 October 2020 and 6 October 2021, were aged between 16 and 35 years at the time they commenced employment, and worked an average of 20 hours a week for each whole week the individual was employed by the qualifying employer during the JobMaker period.
  • The JobMaker payments for up to 12 months for new jobs created are:
    a) $200 a week for hiring a worker aged 16 to 29 on at least 20 hours a week during the JobMaker period and
    b) $100 a week for those aged 30 to 35 on at least 20 hours a week during the JobMaker period.
  • Employer eligibility criteria are broad. Some employers are specifically excluded. These include:
    • employers who are claiming JobKeeper
    • entities in liquidation or who have entered bankruptcy
    • commonwealth, state, and local government agencies (and entities wholly owned by these agencies)
    • employers subject to the major bank levy, and
    • sovereign entities (except those who are resident Australian entities owned by a sovereign entity).
  • Entitlement to a hiring credit payment is assessed in relation to three-month periods known as “JobMaker periods”. These periods are relevant for the purposes of the additionality criteria (refer first point).
  • Claims can only be made during the claim period. No exemptions or extensions are available. There are strict dates by which claims for a period must be reported by. The credit is paid every 3 months in arrears to employers.

As mentioned at the start, this is a summary of some of the key points around JobMaker. There are many other requirements and a thorough understanding of those requirements are needed to ensure your JobMaker administration is correct. 

Talk to us if you need support in applying for or administering JobMaker.

Five benefits of outsourcing your Payroll

Five benefits of outsourcing your payroll

When it comes to running a business, time is an irreplaceable commodity and we are seeing more and more businesses start to outsource specialist or essential services. If you employ people, then payroll is both a specialist and essential service.

Why?

Because outsourcing payroll allows business owners to focus on their strengths and core business, leaving the complexities of systems and compliance to experts.

With the right team behind you, the benefits of outsourcing your payroll can be realised almost immediately.

Here are five benefits of outsourcing your payroll.

1. Save time

By outsourcing your payroll, time spent on compliance, regulations, and training staff on using internal systems is eliminated. Cloud-based payroll services can also eliminate time spent by HR updating entitlements, leave and benefits.

2. Save money

Having fewer full-time employees can cause a ripple effect on cost savings throughout an organisation, from HR and IT through to office space and utilities. Outsourcing to payroll services providers reduces the cost of hiring and retaining specialised staff – two activities that are expensive and increasingly seen as unnecessary.

3. Compliance

For many small business owners payroll isn’t a core competency. And that means the complexity of work place agreements and EBAs increases the risk of costly errors. Keeping up with the Australian government’s National Employee Standards (NES) vigilance and expertise to remain compliant.
Outsourcing to a specialist payroll provider ensures that the minimum standards are adhered to.

4. Simplified reporting

Outsourcing payroll provides complete transparency and access to accurate information that doesn’t need to be verified. Simplified reporting means, as a business owner, you can more effectively plan for growth and predict changes to your staffing needs.

5. Avoid losing payroll expertise

Outsourcing your payroll means your business maintains a consistent approach to payroll management. There’s no need to induct employees and role transfer can be reduced to the functions and outputs of the payroll service.

At the end of the day outsourcing payroll services allows you to focus on the aspects of your business that generate revenue.

Talk to us today about outsourcing your payroll so you can invest in strategic resources that increase value and drive the growth of your business.

Leveraging your technology


Leveraging your technology

The decisions you make in your business are only as good as the data you use to make them. The more accurate and up to date your data is, the better your decisions will be. Leveraging your technology will provide you with accurate real-time data to make more informed decisions in your business.

Processes and systems drive your business, so it’s important to ask yourself if all of yours are clearly documented and up to date? Some processes may be followed simply because they always have been. Although other processes may have evolved over time, your documentation might not necessarily reflect this.

Using technology to streamline your processes and systems increases efficiency in your business, saving time, money, and reducing stress. You’ll also prepare your business for the future, making it more sustainable, scalable, and saleable.

Leveraging your technology can help you to:

  1. Make your data accessible from the cloud, allowing you to view real-time data and make decisions on the go.
    Example: Xero.
  2. Reduce human error and increase productivity by automating repetitive tasks and workflows.
    Example: Asana for workflows.
  3. Track your expenses and load them directly to your accounting software simply by taking a photo.
    Example: ReceiptBank.
  4. Minimise double handling and increase efficiency by integrating your apps.
    Example: Xero Marketplace.
  5. Collaborate with your team regardless of where they are.
    Example: Slack and Microsoft Teams.
  6. Save the time and money needed to travel by using online meetings.
    Example: Zoom and Microsoft Teams.
  7. Induct new team members seamlessly with clearly documented processes.
    Example: Deputy.
  8. Monitor your inventory in real-time, reducing inventory days and freeing up cash.
    Example: Fishbowl and Unleashed.
  9. Store customer preferences to personalise customer experience, increasing customer satisfaction and retention.
    Example: Vend and Kounter.
  10. Make your business become scalable with systems in place to allow the business to grow without the wheels falling off. Talk to your business adviser. 

Using technology to its maximum advantage will help to improve your business. However, implementing these changes can often be overwhelming.

Talk to us about any of the above technology to improve efficiencies in your business.



Building a better business in 10 steps

Building a better business in 10 steps

There’s no magic bullet to building a better business; it’s about taking small steps every day to get a bit better than the day before - it all adds up!

Owning and running a business is not easy. And at times you might question why you’re even doing it, particularly after the impact Covid-19 and the associated lockdowns had on business.

But you’re here because you had a vision. You decided being in business was a better way to achieve that vision than working for someone else. And, you’re right; you just have to work on it.

It's likely that you're an expert at what you do. Maybe you’re a tradie and know plumbing or carpentry like the back of your hand. Or, maybe you’re a restaurant who can dish up delicious meals. This doesn’t mean you’re an expert at running your business though. It’s hard taking time out of working in your business to work on it. But doing this is essential for its success.

There’s no magical overnight solution to building a more successful business. It’s about taking small steps every day to get a bit better than the day before.

So, what should you do to build yourself a more successful business? We’ve broken it down into 10 essential steps

Ten steps to building a better business

  1. Get clear on exactly what it is that you want.
  2. Be open to change and new learning.
  3. Define where you are now (warts and all).
  4. Make a plan.
  5. Get your organisational structure right.
  6. Be a better leader.
  7. Be held accountable by someone independent.
  8. Build strong networks.
  9. Monitor your progress.
  10. Keep your well of happiness full.

These are the 10 most important things you should be working on to ensure you achieve your goals. Small, incremental changes can have a massive effect on your success.

We’re here to help you, every step of the way. Get in touch!

“Success isn’t overnight. It’s when every day you get a little better than the day before. It all adds up.”  Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson


strategic alliances

Strategic alliances: the benefits of working together

Strategic Alliances: the benefits of working together

Your business may compete head-to-head with a number of other companies, but this doesn’t mean you have to treat ALL other businesses as if they are the competition. In fact, there are real benefits in creating strategic alliances with other like-minded organisations.

When you look at the wider marketplace, you’ll see that there are businesses out there that may well compliment your offering. And by working together (rather than against each other) it’s possible to become valued strategic partners. Collaborating to serve your joint customers, improve brand awareness and, ultimately, expand your target market.

If this sounds like a positive strategy, now’s the time to do your homework and start hunting down the best strategic partners for your business.

Working to serve a shared customer base

Strategic alliances are all about finding the common ground between you and your intended partner. This means finding the best ways to combine your efforts.

If you can share the same customer audience, and create a complementary way of meeting their needs, that creates a broader, more connected way of growing both companies.

Finding a company that’s interested in forming a strategic alliance

Find partners in complementary sectors

If you’re an professional services business, like us, it makes sense to partner with solicitors, lawyers, accountants, marketers, and other professional services providers who can help your clients.

If you're a manufacturer, find a shared audience or customer need, and to create some real synergy between your two businesses. For example, if you're a maker of shoes it makes sense to partner with a clothing manufacturer that shares your same sense of style and purpose. 

Take part in business networking and events

To get a wider understanding of your local, or industry specific, business network, it’s worth taking part in plenty of online and offline business events. You’ll meet new people, hear about new brands and will find it easier to find your ideal strategic partner. The wider your business network, the more choices you have for an alliance.

Look at crossover between your target audiences

Once you’ve found a potential strategic partner, it’s important to take a detailed look at the crossover between your partner’s audience and your audience. Do they shop through the same channels? Do they fit a certain age group or social demographic? Are these customers local? Or are they part of a national or global online customer base? How large is their database?

Cross-reference your customer databases

By sharing and comparing your client relationship management (CRM) data, you can cross-reference both sets of customer data. Then see where there’s overlap, or where you may already share some of the same customers. The better you understand each other’s customers, the more likely it is that you’ll find some common ground for shared marketing and promotion.

Run joint events and promotions

Present joint webinars with your strategic partner, or run joint promotions. By finding a common theme, you bring both audiences together and reinforce the alliance between your two brands. You also reduce the expenditure by sharing the costs and reach a wider audience.

Combine your R&D efforts

To move your alliance forward, you can also try combining your research and development (R&D) activity. Find new products, new services and new ways of keeping your joint customers happy. By sharing the time, costs and effort of developing new offerings, both companies will benefit. And you keep your businesses at the cutting edge of their respective sectors or specialisms.

Strategic alliances are all about finding the common ground. If you share the same customer audience and create a complementary way of meeting their needs, you can significantly expand your target market.

cash flow vs profitability

Cash flow vs profitability

Cash flow vs profitability.

We all know that understanding cash flow is vital to the success of your business.

And having cash reserves is important to make sure you are never left short at crucial times, such as when wages are due, and when tax and loan repayments needs to be paid. Or, as 2020 has shown us, if the unexpected occurs.

That’s why it’s important to be able to forecast your business’ cashflow.

An accurate cash flow forecast should take into account your business’ current performance across revenue, operating costs, payment habits of both, financing commitments etc.

It should also include what you know about future trends and seasonality.

Cash flow vs Profitability - What’s the difference?

Having positive cash flow is different to being profitable.

Positive cash flow means your revenue comes in on time to pay your expenses and keep you from running out of cash.

Profitability means your revenue is greater than all the expenses required to keep your business generating that revenue.

Basically, timing is the difference between the two.

An example

If you sell $1,000 of goods every month and spend $500 in a month, you will make +$500 profit.

But if you’ve paid your suppliers for the $500 expenditure within the month and fail to collect the cash from the sale of goods within the month you would have -$500 in negative cash flow.

Why it's important to understand the difference between cash flow and profitability

Unfortunately, many businesses fail due to poor customer payment collections, and not understanding the difference between profitability and positive cash flow. 

It’s important not to rely on a profit showing in the Profit and Loss statement, as it is more reflective of positive cash flow than actual profit.

When relying on your bank balance and the P&L to indicate your business performance, you are at huge risk of forgetting all of the items you are responsible for “below the fold” on the Balance Sheet.

Often, the biggest, lumpiest cash out flows that you are responsible for appear there: GST, payroll taxes, loan repayments etc.

This is why it’s important to implement forecasting in your business. A great option to implement forecasting is Futrli. 

Talk to us about how we can help you forecast your business cashflow and profitability.

Setting Sales Targets

Setting Sales Targets

Setting Sales Targets

Setting sales targets for your business is standard practice for any aspirational, growing company. If you’re going to stretch the sales and marketing teams, it’s important to have clear, unambiguous targets for them to aim for.

Setting sales targets in uncertain times

In uncertain times it’s more than likely that your established sales targets will effectively become unrealistic and impractical for your teams to use.

So, how do you set sales targets when the world has changed? 

And how can you ensure these targets are meaningful, accurate and workable for your business goals?

Understanding your strategy and sales numbers

Knowledge is power, especially when it comes to defining your business strategy during uncertain times. The better you understand your position, the easier it will be to agree on the right strategy and to set sales targets that support these aims.

With a plan in place and targets to meet, everyone knows what they need to achieve. A list of key tasks to do at each point along the sales journey adds real value. Even if you don't end up gaining new business, you’ve made every effort to solve the customer's needs.

Important steps for setting sales targets:

Understand your turnover and profit goals.

Do you know how many sales to make if you’re going to break even, or want to actually make money? 

Understanding your gross margin, your break-even point and your desired profit margin helps you calculate how many sales will be needed to achieve this profit goal.

Bear in mind, of course, that your sales will, most likely, be down during uncertain times. And work this into your figures and targets.

Make your targets SMART

If you set sales targets then these numbers have to be Smart (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely).

Break them down into achievable goals, such as weekly or monthly targets, and track your actual sales over time. That way you can see how you’re performing against your sales target. 

Look at regular performance reports and make these part of your regular management meetings. Discuss how you’re tracking and what action you can take if you’re not hitting your desired targets.

Track other sales elements

It’s also worth considering what other elements of the sales process you can measure, to get a handle on how you’re doing as a business. Track things like calls/enquiries, visits to your home page, trials, bookings or customer demos.

Analyse what drove these enquiries or visits, so you understand where things worked well and can do more of the same.

Run forecasts and scenarios

Use your tracking data to project your sales position forward in time. Base your projections on the historic information you have available and the other drivers you’ve identified. 

Run different scenarios. For example, 75% sales based on prior year numbers, 50% sales and 25% sales. And see how you’d need to tweak your sales targets to account for these drops in sales activity.

Fill the information gaps

Are there any gaps you could fill to get a better understanding of the market and your customers?

A proactive effort to make more follow-up calls with existing customers can be incredibly informative.

Running a customer feedback survey can also help to gauge where the sales process works well, where you could do better and what their future buying intentions might be over the coming months of the crisis.

Talk to us about your sales targeting process.

contractor or employee

Contractor or Employee

Contractor or Employee 

What You Need to Know

Should your staff be contractors or employees?

There are many factors to assess and, as a business owner, it’s your responsibility to get it right.

So, what is the difference between a contractor and an employee?

An employee

  • works in the business and is integral to that business
  • has rights and entitlements under the Fair Work Act 2009
  • has a reasonable expectation of ongoing work, agreed hours and duties
  • is covered by the employer’s workers compensation insurance
  • is paid superannuation guarantee.

A contractor

  • is actively running and advertising their own business
  • is responsible for their own insurance, equipment, licenses and tax
  • has a high level of independence, discretion and control as to how and when the work is performed
  • is able to delegate work
  • is liable to fix mistakes at their own cost
  • may or may not be paid super depending on the nature of the work engagement.

It is the business owner’s legal responsibility to determine the nature of the work and the correct basis of engagement. We can help you get it right.

Multi Factor Test

There are many factors involved in deciding whether a worker is an employee or contractor. And the guidelines must be applied individually to each working relationship.

There is no single overriding factor, rather, the totality of the working relationship and nature of the work being done is taken into consideration.

Sole Trader as a Contractor May Not be Right

When sole traders are engaged as contractors, the business owner needs to check whether they really meet the criteria for being engaged as a contractor. Many sole traders engaged as contractors are not actively carrying on a business, and do not have the level of independence that a contractor should have. This is even if they have their own ABN. 

Sole traders are often engaged for their own services and labour. However they are not free to delegate the work to someone else and must work under the direction of the employing business. In this case, they should be engaged as an employee and not a contractor.

Factors to Consider

This is not an exhaustive list but some of the main factors to assess.

  • Is the worker engaged to achieve a specific result or are they engaged for their labour?
  • Are they able to delegate their contract to another worker within their own business?
  • How much choice do they have in where, when and how the work is performed?
  • Is the service integral to the business?
  • Do they advertise services and accept work from other businesses?
  • Who is liable to fix damages or mistakes?

Contractor or Casual Employee?

If you are not sure whether a worker is an employee or a contractor, check the ATO Employee or Contractor information first.

It’s okay to engage a worker as a contractor initially and to reassess the engagement three to six months later if the situation is unclear.

However, at that point, if the worker does not meet the contractor definition and you don’t need a permanent employee, put them on as a casual employee. This is often the best solution for both parties.  It means the employer is compliant with tax, super and employment laws. Plus the worker retains some flexibility while being paid super and having tax taken care of.

The ATO and the Fair Work Ombudsman are particularly concerned with the validity of sole traders treated as contractors. This is because they are the workers most frequently disadvantaged by being classified incorrectly as a contractor when they in fact meet the test for being an employee.

Get it Right to Avoid Penalties

A business that should have engaged a worker as an employee will be liable for back-payment of entitlements (such as leave, overtime and allowances), and superannuation.

Some situations are straightforward to work out. But many contractor or employee decisions are not so easy with so many factors to consider.

Let us help you get it right and sort out the tax and superannuation obligations for all your workers whether contractors or employees.

benefits of forecasting

What are the benefits of forecasting?


What are the benefits of forecasting?

There are many benefits to forecasting for your business.

First and foremost is that you’re more likely to maximise your profits if you are able to accurately project your revenues and expenses.

Additionally, accurate forecasting helps you to identify potential opportunities and manage your cashflow. And when you have this information you are able to make educated decisions at the right time for your business.

Here are some examples of questions that an accurate forecast of your cash flow could help you answer:

  • Can i start creating a new product/service?
  • Can I open a new office/location or start selling in a different area/country?
  • Can I afford another member of staff or outsourced assets?
  • Can I take more money out of my business?
  • Am I at risk of running out of cash?

How do you create a forecast?

The short answer is you don’t have to do it manually anymore.

Forecasting Apps, such as Futrli, mean that the complex, manual time-consuming forecasting is a thing of the past. Forecasting is now possible with the click of a button.

An added benefit of using Futrli to forecast, is that you can test out your decisions before you make them.

Using automated predictions means you have a second brain on your business 24/7.

Futrli

  • Creates separate predictions for invoices, cash transactions and journal entries
  • Works out how many days it takes for invoices to be paid for every account
  • Considers ‘what we thought the month will look like’ compared to current month actuals and adjusts accordingly
  • Reads account names and looks for account-specific patterns
  • Creates staff payroll predictions just like your payroll software does

And the information is presented in chart format, making it easy to understand.

How far into the future should I forecast?

Forecasts are most beneficial for looking at the next year. They should be used in the short term for immediate planning and decision making and medium to long term to assess and extrapolate current trends.

It’s important to remember that the further you look into the future, the less accurate your cash flow forecast will be as there are too many unknowns yet to pass.

Talk to us about forecasting and how Futrli can benefit your business. 

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