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1. 30 government grants to grow your business

It's tough to get money at the moment. The venture capital funds have shut up shop, the sharemarket is shying away from IPOs, the banks have backed away and the angel investors have had their wings clipped.  

2. Bluestone Construction goes under and warns subcontractors a

Another Sydney construction company has collapsed, with Bluestone Construction appointing Jirsch Sutherland as administrators. The owner of the construction company, which employed 25 staff, says outstanding money owed by contractors and the tough construction environment are to blame for the collapse. Bruce Oaklands, principal supervisor and licence holder for Bluestone Construction, told SmartCompany the company's problems began last July when it completed work as...

3. Regulations that matter

The top 19 things you must do!   The following list is general, but needs to be completed before starting most businesses, although of course each business will have its own requirements.   Business premises   Know the business address. Sounds obvious, but if it is to be leased, negotiate the

4. Beware the contractor tax trap

SMEs provide employment for approximately 30% of the Australian workforce, with an increasing number of people being hired on a contractual basis.  While some employers may think hiring individuals as contractors will mean they are no longer responsible for employee tax obligations such as PAYG withholding, superannuation, WorkCover and payroll tax, then they’ve just received a wake-up call...

5. Australia’s best government grants

If there’s one thing businesses like more than winning a new deal, it’s free money. Countless SMEs have been able to accelerate their growth plans, enter new markets and develop new products by accessing much-needed government grants and support programs. But despite the hundreds of grants available for small bus...

6. Drugs and alcohol in the workplace

With drug and alcohol use prevalent in our society, employers are rightly concerned about the impacts of usage on work performance. By PETER VITALE fo VECCI. By Peter Vitale     Employees on drugs can be a nightmare in...

7. Market manipulation

The ageing population and increasing government health spending are helping the physiotherapy sector record strong growth, although the weakening economic environment may force some operators to book in for a stress-relieving massage. By ROBERT BRYANTBy Robert Bryant

8. Good health, and getting better

Aspen Medical provides doctors on demand. It has grown fast since it was founded in 2003, and co-founder Glenn Keys shares what he has learnt about managing cash flow and building loyal relationships with suppliers with AMANDA GOME. By Amanda Gome

9. Baillieu to move quickly on stamp duty, public transport ref

Victorian Liberal leader Ted Baillieu has now officially taken power, after John Brumby conceded defeat yesterday afternoon, ending an 11 year run for the Labor Government. Baillieu is set to move quickly, with incoming treasurer Kim Wells confirming the new Premier will call on Parliament to resume before Christmas in order to pass a suite of measures, including changes to stamp duty taxation and tougher public transport security rules. The new Liberal government is also expected...

10. Beware of the ATO’s data-matching machine

The Australian Tax Office must have one monster computer system to store all the data it continues to accumulate! The use of data-matching (and data-mining) is now a well worn and central plank of the ATO's compliance activities. Taxpayers may be surprised to know the kinds of data the ATO matches and how widespread that is. Data-matching prog...

11. Join the job queue

IBISWorld estimates that over the five years to 2008-09, the employment placement industry's revenue grew at an average annualised real rate of 1.6%. Low unemployment and strong economic conditions fuelled demand for employment placement services from the private sector for the majority of the current performance period, with unemployment reaching a low of 4.2% in 20...

12. Piece of mind

PsyCare founders Peter Stebbins and Danielle Lees understood that many workplace health and safety cases stem from psychological, rather than purely physiological, causes. They tell AMANDA GOME their story, and are ready for readers' questions.

13. Bullying can be financially painful

Bullying is on the rise and employers who turn a blind eye to bullying risk fines, higher WorkCover claims, lower productivity and higher absenteeism. By PETER VITALE. By Peter Vitale of VECCI   Last week a victim of a schoolyard bully i...

14. Beware the regulatory traps of home business

Just because you operate out of home doesn't mean you can avoid rules and regulations. By Jane Shelton A friend of mine and his spouse are starting up a tourism B&B and have found it necessary to get a tourism license to operate. Sometimes state and council rules and can trip up an unwary home business person and can limit the type of business you can conduct at home.   You may need a license: the www.bli.net.au web...

15. Performance management

Performance appraisals are a thankless and fruitless burden, guaranteed to disappoint all but the paperweights in HR. Performance managementIf your correspondent was an entrepreneur, and had invested his hard-earned cash in ...

16. Data-matching a winner for taxman

The taxman has a tactical strike weapon under his belt, and he isn’t going to give it up. By TERRY HAYES of Thomson Legal & Regulatory.By Terry Hayes If you haven’t heard about the t...

17. The 2007 federal election – a guide for SMEs

Who is best for your business? Labor or Liberal? However you vote, the outcome of the 2007 federal election will make a difference to your business. It's not just policies that are changing. There are millions of dollars of give aways that business ownersBy Mike Preston

18. Belt-tightening Victorian Budget cuts jobs, the first home b

Victoria has maintained its Budget surplus but will slash 4,200 public sector jobs, abolish the first home buyers grant and cut WorkCover premiums in order to balance the books. Victoria’s Treasury cut its growth forecast for the coming year to 1.75% and predicted zero job creation and higher unemployment than previously forecast. “The financial conditions that are being faced by this state are the worst in a decade,” Treasurer Kim Wells said. In the Budget, rele...

19. Recruiters dodge jobs slump

With Australia having dodged the worst of the global financial crisis, the effect on the Australian employment placement services industry has been mild compared with its international counterparts. Australia's rise in unemployment was relatively small and quick to begin reversing, with demand for employment placement services rebounding in 2009-10 and 2010-11.

20. COSBOA calls for universal definition for small business –

SMEs have begun lobbying the Government for a change in the definition of “small business”, arguing there are too many descriptions across different levels of Government that confuse entrepreneurs and stop them from accessing assistance. Independent MP Rob Oakeshott, Opposition business spokesman Bruce Billson and officials from the Prime Minister’s office and treasury will be attending a roundtable hosted by COSBOA and the Tax Institute on May 1 to discuss a possible new defini...

21. Employees in the dark on fairness test… New pay scales on

Employees in the dark on fairness testAlmost 90% of employees do not think the Federal Government’s AWA fairness test is truly fair, according to a recent survey of 2000 employees conducted by human resources firm Talent2.But the judgment may not be an entirely educated one: while just 13.9% were prepared to agree that the fairness test is fair, 60.9% new little or nothing about the test, whether it applied to them and how workplace agreements work. ...

22. Income protection insurance and your business survival

How long could you keep paying the bills if you had a serious accident? Income protection insurance is a cost to business that entrepreneurs probably can’t afford to do without. But LUCINDA SCHMIDT warns to watch out for the pitfalls, and get the right coBy Lucinda Schmidt

23. The state of security

Despite statistics showing a general decline in reported break and entry, robbery and other theft, cautious households and businesses are increasingly investing in security and preventative measures. In a climate of heightened global fear of terrorism, increasing internet usage and accompanying cyber-crime, demand for security and investiga...

24. Job market heats up

Australia bypassed the worst of the global financial crisis, which has meant its effect on the Australian Employment Placement Services industry has been mild compared with its international counterparts. Australia's rise in unemployment was relatively small in 2008-09 and 2009-10, and quickly began to reverse in subsequent years, with demand for employment pla...

25. Pay-rate chaos... Workcover audits hit SMEs... Industry poli

SMEs struggle with pay-rate chaosEmployers are in the dark over paying staff correctly because the national wage setting body, the Australian Fair Pay Commission, has failed to publish pay scales that employers are legally obliged to meet. The AFPC pay scales replaced most of the old awards when WorkChoices came into effect in March 2006. In December 2006 the AFPC issued a decision updating the...

26. Recruiters wait for recovery

Australia bypassed the worst of the global financial crisis, which meant its effect on the Australian employment placement services industry was mild compared with its international counterparts. Australia's rise in unemployment was small and quickly began to reverse, with demand for employment placement services continuing to grow in 2010-2011 and e...

27. The all-seeing taxman

The tax office is watching you - and you’ll be surprised where it is getting its information. The Australian Taxation Office is awash with data on Australian businesses, and with increasingly complex and sophisticated computer systems it knows how to use it. As the saying goes, “forewarned is forearmed”, so it pays for business to know where the tax office gets its information and what it might do with it.So where does that data come from? It comes from a range of sources tha...

28. Toll faces Fair Work Australia after using private eyes to s

Transport and logistics company Toll is facing unfair dismissal charges after using private investigators to follow staff who take leave to recover from workplace injuries. Toll is before Fair Work Australia twice this week facing action by workers who say they were unfairly dismissed, after the transport giant had them followed while on sick leave. Although WorkSafe a...

29. Liberal victory almost certain in Victoria, with Ted Baillie

The Liberal party is set to gain power in Victoria in a shocking and unexpected defeat of the Brumby Government, with leader Ted Baillieu set to become the state's first Liberal premier since Jeff Kennett lost power in 1999. A Liberal Government has promised a number of initiatives for small businesses, including a rewrite of the existing WorkCover legislation and the introduction of a "competitiveness report" analysing the state's economy, which would include recommendations on everyth...

30. New OH&S leaves SMEs vulnerable... Mortgagees confident... T

New federal OH&S could leave SMEs vulnerable   Business will have yet another layer of occupational health and safety red tape to deal with when new federal workplace safety regulations take effect tomorrow, raising fears that small and medium sized business could fall through the cracks between federal and state OHS systems.   The regulations implement a new workplace safety regime for businesses insured under the federal Comcare WorkCover regime. ...

31. Faster broadband a winner… Port expansion's long-term gain

Faster, better broadband a winnerLabor’s plan to deliver faster broadband to nearly all Australians will be a winner, according to independent telecommunications analysts. The plan announced yesterday will give business and personal users access to high speed bandwidth up to 40 times faster than current broadband speeds. A fibre optic broadband network would connect to every town and suburb, and from exchanges to “nodes”, the familiar w...

32. The SME guide to Labor's plans

Labor has won a resounding election victory, and Kevin Rudd will be Prime Minister. But what does it mean for your business? By MIKE PRESTON.Labor has won a resounding election victory, and Kevin Rudd will be Prime Minister. But what does it me...

33. NSW to cut workers compensation in a move backed by industry

The NSW Government is considering cutting benefits under the workers compensation scheme by putting a cap on medical expenses payouts, removing coverage for injury claims relating to journeys to and from work and reducing weekly compensation payments. WorkCover premiums in NSW are 20% to 60% higher than in Victoria and Queensland and the Government says “urgent action” is required. The Finance and Services Minister, Greg Pearce, released an issues paper yesterday on the sc...

34. Queensland most tax-effective state for SMEs: Report

Beautiful one day, lower taxes the next? Queensland remains the most attractive state for SMEs when it comes to state taxes, a study by Pitcher Partners has found, as a major bank tips the resources states of Queensland and Western Australia will outperform next year. The accounting firm's report of state taxes looked at what two businesses would pay in their first year of operation. One business had $1.1 million in wages, the other $5.5 million. Combining the Workcover ...

35. Howard’s generous industry package… Wages spiral up… S

Howard’s generous industry packagePrime Minister John Howard today hit back at Labor with a massive assistance package for business including many initiatives for small and medium companies. There is a new start-up grants program, assistance to connect business with public research, a huge export support program and productivity centres. The $1.4 billion Industry Statement called “Global Integration” contains some surprising new initiatives, the usua...

36. NSW election a likely ALP win... Oz tourists prefer OS... Ba

On the eve of the NSW election, ALP victory looks likely The state’s stalled economy and protection for small business from anti-competitive conduct are the big issues for tomorrow’s NSW state election, according to business representative groups.Polls have consistently predicted the return of Morris Iemma’s Labor Government tomorrow. In a final testament to a campaign widely considered to have struggled, NSW Coalition leader Peter Debnam yesterday announce...

37. Dollar hits 10-year high… Banks' culture clash?… IPOs' r

Dollar hits 10-year highThe Australian dollar surged to a 10-year high this morning, pushing through the US80c barrier to peak at US80.33c before retreating to US80.08c at 11.45am.Rising petrol prices and comments by Reserve Bank assistant governor Malcolm Edey, suggesting core inflation is “likely to be too high”, are behind the big rise, giving markets increased confidence in the likelihood of an interest rate rise in the near future.A weakeni...

38. Sales training is not a luxury – it’s essential

Keeping you and your sales team “match fit” and actively engaged is paramount to your survival and success. How do you do it? Here's how... Keeping you and your sales team “match fit” and actively engaged in the market place selling effectively is paramount to your survival and success in today’s market. Yet too many businesses, large and small, do not train their sales teams in the vital skills needed in the much more consultative, value add, less product-focused market of today. ...

39. Nathan Tinkler's horse racing empire goes into liquidation

Liquidators have been appointed to coal baron Nathan Tinkler's Patinack Farm, which is at the centre of his horse racing interests. Patinack Farm was wound up in the Federal Court of South Australia yesterday following an unpaid levy to Workcover South Australia of around $17,000. Tinkler has ploughed somewhere between $200 million and $300 million into Patinack Farm and bought training facilities, stud farms and h...

40. Workcover premiums plea

  Victorian businesses are calling for cheaper workcover premiums following a bumper $1.17 billion profit for the Victorian Workplace Authority in 2006-07.   The increased profit came despite marginal growth in investment returns and as a result of improved insurance operations. Victorian businesses have won a cut in premiums in each of the past four state budgets.   Meanwhile, NSW businesses hope that occupational health and safety is one of the iss...

41. Victorian Government accused of "ripping the guts" out of TA

A confidential cabinet document has revealed the Victorian Government is planning TAFE campus and course closures, fee hikes, job cuts and an asset sell-off. A cabinet-in-confidence document outlining the planned cuts was leaked to various media outlets, including SmartCompany. The document reveals Swinburne University wants the state government to buy its Lilydale and Prahran campuses or allow them to be sold off. It estimates its Prahran campus would fetch...

42. Smallgoods, big fine: Federal Court slams businessman for un

A Federal Magistrate has slammed an "unsuccessful" businessman for operating a "chaotic" work environment which led to him underpaying staff by more than $70,000 in both wages and superannuation. The court fined Adelaide man Andrew Sitarenos $24,280. Magistrate Stuart Lindsay said Sitarenos has had a "singularly unsuccessful career as a small businessman". Sitarenos operates the poultry processing and retail business Uncle Tom's Quality Smallgoods. Sitarenos has had ...

43. Disharmony over WorkChoices... Pay scales at last... Budgets

Business groups disharmony over WorkChoicesTensions are breaking out as big business tries to coerce groups representing small business to speak out in favor of the Coalition’s industrial relations package WorkChoices.The Federal Government is urging industry groups to launch advertising and marketing campaigns in support of WorkChoices. The Business Council of Australia is reportedly considering it, while the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry ...

44. Victoria’s budget surplus windfall

An unexpected surge in tax revenue has helped the Victorian budget to a $1.365 billion surplus for 2006-07. Budget documents released yesterday by Victorian Treasurer John Lenders revealed the surplus was $743 million more than had been predicted in May.A one-off $390 million contribution from WorkCover and the Victorian TAC was the single biggest reason for the larger than expected surplus. The

45. NSW WorkCover premiums to fall

All new or renewed WorkCover premiums for NSW businesses will be cut by 5% from the end of 2007, Premier Morris Iemma announced today. Iemma says the cut, which will give close to $110 million back to NSW businesses, is affordable because of the $812 million surplus achieved by the state’s WorkCover scheme this year.Pressure has been mounting for deep cuts to the NSW WorkCover scheme, which in the past has been

46. Tinkler sells up Patinack Farm: Why he must really be broke

Nathan Tinkler’s move this morning to put his horse racing empire on the market reveals the true state of the embattled coal baron’s finances. At a recent NSW Supreme Court hearing, Tinkler was very cagey about the extent of his assets and debt. He put a value of $1.2 billion against the assets held in his family’s trust, all in his wife’s name but this is an aggressive valuation. He also revealed he had as much as $600 million debt against t...

47. Huge IR battle breakout... Business looks to Vic budget... J

Huge IR battle breakoutFederal Minister for Small Business, Fran Bailey, has slammed Labor’s family friendly measures announced at the weekend, describing them as unworkable. She says Labor’s proposal to introduce 12-months unpaid leave for each parent, and to take requests from employees requesting flexible work until a child reaches school age, would “drive small business people out of their tree”.But Opposition spokesman Craig Emerson accused Ba...

48. Interest rates hold... Industry package ho-hum... Vic budget

Interest rates to stay on holdThe Reserve Bank of Australia announced this morning that it has decided to keep the standard cash interest rate unchanged at 6.25%. The decision met with expectations that the RBA would take no action on rates after consumer price index data released last week showed inflationary pressures were easing.St George Bank head of economic research Steven Milch predicts there won’t be any rate rise this year, although he predicts ...

49. Are the fashionable high-heel shoes going to get me sued?

Dear Aunty BI am sure you fancy a sexy high heel as much as the next woman. But am I the only one on the planet that thinks this new fashion is ridiculous? The young women in my o...

50. Territories trump states in Pitcher Partners national tax an