Podcasts about ppsr

Small Biz Matters: People, Policy, Purpose ~ Episode #230 Broadcast date: 23 April 2024 Host: Alexi Boyd, Small Business Advocate & Policy Advisor Guest: Tim Beresford CEO Australian Financial Security Authority So many acronyms, so little small business time. But the PPSR is one you and your advisors should know about. Why? Because it's free, it helps to protect your assets and your business. PPSR stands for the Personal Property Securities Register which is an official government register; a public noticeboard of security interests in personal property that is managed by the Registrar of Personal Property Securities. According to the Attorney General's department it must be reliable, managed responsibly and is accessible. But that's not much use if small businesses, the ones who can benefit the most, don't know about it. So, who the AFSA is and what they regulate and enforce, how the PPSR came about and what important role advisors and associations can play in assisting small businesses to manage their assets? The AFSA also manages the application of bankruptcy laws in Australia, which right now, is a big deal for small businesses. According to CreditorWatch's most recent research, Australia is on track to see 10,000 small businesses collapse by the end of June, the worst number in 11 years. CreditorWatch has said the number of businesses in external administration has hit a record high. Today we welcome Tim Beresford, the CEO of the Government regulator in charge of Australian Financial Security Authority to tell us about the importance of their work in engaging with small business in all industries and how they're working harder to ensure more small businesses can take advantage of the PPSR and understand better the regulations around bankruptcy and personal property.   PEOPLE –  Tim, tell us about yourself and how you've come to be an advocate for small business in this space? How can small business people best utilise the personal property security services in their businesses? Who should they go to for advice? POLICY - Bankruptcy and personal property securities laws seem like a personal problem but we know the Government is very concerned about small businesses too. How has the COVID insolvency laws impacted the current state of small businesses? PURPOSE -  How did the PPSR come about and what problem is it trying to solve? Who does AFSA regulate and enforce? Advisors play an important role in assisting small businesses to manage their assets - how can the Aust Financial Security Authority and advisors work better together to help small businesses to manage their assets? Tim Beresford is the Chief Executive at the Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA), having joined the agency in mid-2022. AFSA's role is to support a strong credit system for Australia and is a visible, modern and contemporary regulator. The agency administers and regulates the personal insolvency and personal property securities systems and manages criminal assets.  Tim is also the immediate past Chair of the Benevolent Society (TBS), Australia's oldest non-Indigenous not for profit. Previously, Tim has held the roles of Acting Chief Executive of the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), Deputy Vice- Chancellor of Macquarie University and First Assistant Secretary of the Social Policy Division in Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. He has significant leadership experience in the higher education, government, not-for-profit, financial services and professional services sectors. His areas of expertise include strategy, governance, public policy, change management and organisational design. He holds a Bachelor of Economics (Honours), Bachelor of Laws, a Masters of Philosophy (International Relations), and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Relations) and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. To find out more go to https://www.afsa.gov.au

In this episode of The Cut, host Simon Cathro, Managing Principal of Cathro & Partners, welcomes listeners to season 3.  This season the team will delve into the legal industry with a focus on insolvency, restructuring, and related legal matters. Simon and his guest, Tom Gardner, a restructuring lawyer from Gilbert & Tobin, discuss the complexities of insolvency law, sharing insights from their extensive experience handling various cases, from manufacturing and retail to food delivery services. Tom recounts their career journey, starting from working for Justice Black at the Supreme Court, where they were first exposed to insolvency matters, to their current role dealing with stakeholders in distressed situations. The conversation also touches on the lighter side of legal work, including the daily responsibilities of a law clerk, right down to the critical task of getting the judge's cappuccino.  Tune in for an informative session that sheds light on the intricacies of insolvency law and the roles of those who navigate this challenging field. What you'll learn about: [00:03:36] Personal Property Securities Register. [00:07:33] Notice board overhaul in law. [00:11:31] Complexities of Personal Property Law. [00:17:37] PPSR registration changes. [00:21:28] Purchase Money Security Interest. [00:26:27] PPSR complexities and case law. [00:32:28] Register data points reduction. [00:36:12] Asset detachment and financing. [00:39:10] Reducing fraud and providing clarity. Links: Gilbert & Tobin Tom Gardner Linkedin Cathro & Partners Simon Cathro Linkedin  

Buying a second-hand vehicle? Make sure you don't get sold a lemon! Buyers are always advised to get a vehicle mechanical check before making that purchase – now more than ever, with people potentially putting up flood-damaged vehicles for sale. Dealers don't have to tell you if a vehicle is flood-affected, so ask the question! Other sensible checks include a vehicle history on the PPSR register at https://www.ppsr.gov.au, and checking the dealer licence and registration on the Consumer Protection website. Remember, the same consumer laws don't apply for private sales. In this week's podcast with Nine Weir from Consumer Protection WA, we talk about all these things as well as a chat about buy now, pay later cards and how to use these responsibly so you don't get into financial strife.

In this episode, we talk to Aspect Legal's Special Counsel, Mark Gardiner. Mark joins our host Joanna Oakey to talk about what business owners and their teams should be looking out for when managing suppliers and supply contracts in a downturn. They drill into a few risk factors and warning signs to look out for in this area, the importance of PPSR and how to deal with customers with signs of insolvency. Mark also shares a few tips and pointers on the best way to deal with these situations.

Staffan Laestadius, professor emeritus i industriell utveckling vid KTH och del av Global Utmanings styrelse, samtalar med LiseLotte Jernberg Bate om hans senaste bok En strimma av hopp, som tar upp klimatkrisen och hur vi kan hitta en väg till det postfossila samhället. De diskuterar tipping points, kaskadeffekter, begreppet frihet och hur sambandet mellan utsläppsrätter och jämlikhet ser ut. 

Handeln med utsläppsrätter blev en för svår knut att lösa när Europaparlamentet skulle enas om ett stort klimatpaket för EU. Kriget gör det svårare att komma överens i just den här frågan. Programledare: Claes Aronsson Medverkande och röster i programmet: Kristian Åström, ekonomikommentator Ekot Andreas Liljeheden, Brysselkorrespondent SR

Handeln med utsläppsrätter blev en för svår knut att lösa när Europaparlamentet skulle enas om ett stort klimatpaket för EU. Kriget gör det svårare att komma överens i just den här frågan. Programledare: Claes Aronsson Medverkande och röster i programmet: Kristian Åström, ekonomikommentator Ekot Andreas Liljeheden, Brysselkorrespondent SR

Vi har länge arbetat med Vontobel, som bidragit till att vi kan dela med oss och utbilda kring spännande investeringstrender. Vilka möjligheter finns det på marknaden, och vilka investeringsmöjligheter uppstår när världen förändras? Temat för veckans podd: Utsläppsrätter. Vill du lära dig mer om Utsläppsrätter så har vi skrivit ett mer ingående inlägg på temat samt länkar till hur du hittar till Vontobels investeringsbara produkt på samma tema.

Mark McKillop addresses how to go about removing or amending a PPSR registration. He discusses the administrative and judicial processes for disputing a PPSR registration, the nature of the judicial process, and some tips and pitfalls of disputing the registration. As part of the presentation, he also looks into the advantages (albeit at a cost) of the judicial process over redress by the Registrar, where the Registrar has had a blanket policy of not acting where opposition is made by the secured party.  A copy of all materials referenced in the podcast can be accessed here: https://markmckillopbarrister.com/2021/10/05/disputing-a-ppsr-registration-a-practical-guide/

After an interruption to our originally planned broadcast, we are happy to re-invite you on a wild ride in a rare Ferrari Lusso! With liquidator Richard Rohrt and Auctioneer Ian Hyman, we take on legal chicanes of invalid PPSR registrations, hairpin turns of asset disclamation and reclamation and other twists and turns that saw that same Ferrari being auctioned and contested. Don't miss this episode as Richard Rohrt (Partner at Hamilton Murphy) and Ian Hyman (CEO at Hymans Valuers and Auctioneers) take us on the legal journey of a lifetime. Lunch Money is YOUR social media home for work-outs, capital raising, special situations professionals and living your life a quarter mile at a time!

I veckans avsnitt gästas vi av Jakop Dalunde som är EU-parlamentariker för Miljöpartiet. Han berättar mer om utsläppsrätter, vad det är för något, varför vi som investerar på börsen måste bry oss och vad som låg bakom prisrallyt i utsläppsrätter. I söndags var det val i Tyskland, vad innebär det för hållbarhetsarbetet i Europa? Ett spännande avsnitt med hög kunskapsdensitet som är måstelyssning för att minska risken för stranded assets pga. hållbarhetsfrågor. Delikat lyssning på dig, Johanna & Nicklas

A new car, whether brand new or second hand, is one of the bigger investments we make and we want to ensure it gets us safely where we want to go, is reliable and isn't going to cost us excessively for repairs. There are some simple checks to do before you buy a car, like a $2 PPSR vehicle search, plus guarantees under consumer law if you buy through a dealer. You're less protected with private sales. If there's still a statutory warranty on a second hand car, make sure it's not voided by missing service history. Tom Chapman, Consumer Protection Officer in the Kimberley talks about all these points in our latest podcast.

Resources: Come and visit my website at (https://www.thesiteshed.com/) Check my latest podcast or listen to the previous ones (https://www.thesiteshed.com/podcasts/) Tradie Web Guys (https://www.tradiewebguys.com.au/apply) The Contracts Lawyer (www.thecontractslawyer.com.au) Personal Property Securities Register (https://www.ppsr.gov.au/) Check out Part 1 of this series with Helen Kay (https://www.thesiteshed.com/blog/contracts-1/) How to Sell Your Trades Business Series     Episode 220 (https://www.thesiteshed.com/blog/brandon-1/) Episode 221(https://www.thesiteshed.com/blog/brandon-2/)  Episode 222 (https://www.thesiteshed.com/blog/brandon-3/) Selling your business. This topic should make business owners curious about whether they are planning to sell or not. As a business owner, it can be considered a wise thing to do if you start preparing your business with the end in mind, especially because one of the key factors that determine if a business is thriving is if it is ready for sale.  In this episode with Helen Kay, The Contracts Lawyer, she emphasises the importance of getting help from experienced professionals to help with the sale of one's business and the tasks that business owners can do themselves to make sure the sale goes smoothly. She also talks about the stages of selling a business, the seller's due diligence, etc.  I highly recommend that you tune in to this episode as it provides vital information about preparing your business for sale.  What's Discussed in This Episode:  An overview of The Contracts Lawyer and recap of the previous episode [3:54] Getting into the business of ‘selling your business' [5:27] The legal business health checklist [8:47] The importance of working with experienced professionals [10:42] Stages of selling your business [12:53] Ensure the business name is registered to the seller [18:12] Ensure the trademark is owned by the business owner [19:02] PPSR and how it applies to trade businesses [20:51] Ensure that key contracts are documented [21:47] Lease issues [23:28] Seller's Due Diligence [18:04] Summary of steps to make sure your business is ready for sale [28:34] About Our Guest: Helen Kay is a business lawyer, in fact, she is The Contracts Lawyer. She is a highly accomplished commercial and property lawyer with extensive legal experience working within top tier firms in Australia as well as running her own legal practice and heading up various commercial practices over the years.  Helen has assisted many businesses across different industry sectors with their commercial legal agreements, including commercial leases, buying and selling businesses and providing general contractual advice. Connect with me on LinkedIn. For more podcast episodes, you may also visit my website. Tune in and subscribe to The Site Shed: You can also listen to The Site Shed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. Thank you for tuning in! If you enjoyed this podcast and this series, please take 5 to leave us a review: Google Facebook  iTunes – Apple Stitcher – Android See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Check it out on Itunes | StitcherWe have Nic Coffill, Commercial Transactional Lawyer from Aubrey Brown Lawyers, on this all new episode of Get to the Contest Small Business Podcast. We talked extensively about PPSR, asset protection and matters that are very important to small business owners.Here are some key takeaways from that interview:1. Be proactive in businessBe curious of anything and everything in relation to business. Stuff like PPSR (Personal Properties Securities Register) may be a very important tool for your kind of business. Get advice upfront when a transaction is taking place, or do the searches when a transaction is taking place before it's too late.2. No one ever plans for failure, but it doesn’t hurt to protect yourselfIf you are protecting significant chunks of money and assets, then the nominal cost of thelodgments on the PPSR and any advice around that is going to be absolutely a cheap insurance policy. No one ever plans for failure but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't at least take the appropriate safety steps to protect yourself.3. Think laterally.When a problem comes their way, most people can just charge out and try to solve a problem the way it’s always been done. Thinking laterally is taking another perspective in dealing with problems and different tasks. Take time to see everything in a wider perspective and allow new ideas in by speaking to a lawyer or an accountant.To know more about PPSR and how to protect your assets, feel free to email me atwjackson@foxgroup.com.au

One of the biggest stress causes for tradies in business is cash flow. Closely tied to that is trying to get paid by people who owe you money! Today's episode shows you how to literally bulletproof your business! We cover PPSR, how it applies (and doesn't), the importance of t's and c's as well as how to make sure you (almost) never have to worry about being taken by a client or contractor again!

Unfortunately, the majority of SMEs are unaware of the potential consequences of ignoring the operations of the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR). Millions of dollars have been lost by SMEs and some big businesses through ignorance of how the Personal Property Securities Act operates. If your accountancy firm is the “trusted advisor” (and I’m sure that this is how you see your role) for your clients, surely you need to be advising your clients, especially those in the “PPSA High Risk Categories” of the consequences of not registering on the PPSR – which could be very costly and, in some cases, lead to business failure.

We have spoken previously about the implementation of New Year’s resolutions relative to the delivery of a wider range of professional services to your clients. Today, I'd like to respectfully suggest that resolution number one for 2018 should be “Help Your Clients Avoid the Personal Property Securities Register Quicksand!”   Over $400 million has been lost by Australian businesses, both large and small, since the Personal Property Securities Register regime commenced in January 2012.   Unfortunately, a significant number of small/medium enterprise operators have no knowledge of the Personal Property Securities Register and indeed, when told about this legislation, many people question why they have to register on a government register to protect their own assets!   There is no doubt, in my mind, that the vast majority of your small/medium enterprise clients need their accountants’ assistance in navigating the requirements of this legislation.   The best place to start is the definition of Personal Property which is defined as “all forms of property other than real estate”.   This covers an enormous range of “business assets”, including: debtors leases of more than two years (was one year up to 20th May 2017) stock – stored on someone else’s premises/on consignment livestock – especially livestock on agistment crops goods artist works plant and equipment motor vehicles, boats, aircraft licenses and trade marks intellectual property service entity arrangements   One of the biggest problems is business assets that are stored on someone else’s premises – in someone else’s warehouse or on consignment to another business.   There needs to be a “triggering event” for a potential problem to emerge. This will always be the appointment of a liquidator, receiver or trustee in bankruptcy to a customer, licensee or the owner of premises where your client has business assets situated.   One of the biggest problems is a liquidator being appointed to one of your client’s customers who has been making payments to your client that a liquidator determines as being “preferential payments.”   Some accountants claim that all work aspects of the Personal Property Securities Register are legal work. I disagree.     I have talked to many legal practitioners who have all indicated that their role is to prepare the two key documents that businesses require – Terms of Trade Agreement Retention of Title Agreement   There is a lot more involved in an effective system to protect your client from the consequences of not registering on the Personal Property Securities Register other than these two agreements.   Businesses need systems to ensure that the Terms of Trade and Retention of Title Agreements are sent promptly to any new customer for signature prior to the supply of any goods and to ensure that there is a follow-up system to ensure that your client receives the signed documentation and that a decision is then made whether to register this customer on the Personal Property Securities Register. All of this must be done promptly so as to comply with the legal requirement to process a registration on the PPSR prior to any goods being sold and within 15 days of the date of the agreement.   The legal practitioners that I have spoken to have indicated that they do not do this work. When I’ve enquired of them who they think does this work they have replied – consultants, accountants, someone within the business’ office.   Why not hold some briefing seminars for the various subgroups of clients that you probably have, such as: subcontractors prime contractors primary producers wholesalers and retailers others   This will enable you to talk to a group with common interests in the operation of this legislation.   ESS BIZTOOLS has developed a Personal Property Securities Register Product Package to assist accountants and business advisors to conduct due diligence reviews on your clients' systems to assist your clients to navigate this complicated legislation, the registration requirements and seminar material for the presentation of seminars to your clients and prospects.   If you would like to obtain more details why not click on to www.essbiztools.com.au and then click onto the Personal Property Securities Register Product Package.   If you have any questions relative to the ESS BIZTOOLS' Personal Property Securities Register Product Package or any of the other product packages that have been produced to assist accountants/business advisors to offer a broader range of professional services, please do not hesitate to contact us. peter@essbiztools.com.au 1800 232 088  

As a small business operator, are you aware of the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR)?  Has your accountant/advisor talked to you on how you can minimise the risks under this register?  Do you know that, in Australia, over $120M has been lost by small and large businesses in court cases involving the Personal Property Securities Act (PPSA)?  Virtually in every one of those cases, the company or business had not registered on the PPSR.  It’s rumoured that over $200M in addition has been lost by other businesses who haven’t registered on the PPSR, sought some legal advice and found that they had no case to be able to present.  Therefore, they lost that money.   You could insure on the PPSR for under $5 for a 7-year period per transaction.  Undoubtedly, this is the cheapest insurance in Australia.   ESS Small Business provides material to accountants and small/medium enterprises to help you review your business operations, to determine your risk areas.  The risk areas cover virtually every asset in your business, except land and attachments to land.   The legislation applies to: debtors stock stock on consignment vehicles plant and equipment builder’s plant and equipment tradesmen’s plant and equipment Intellectual Property cattle horses thoroughbred horses (has been an infamous case in New Zealand with over $2M lost by the legitimate owners to a liquidator acting on behalf of a secured creditor) aeroplanes boats cars   Everything, except land and attachments to land, is caught up under this legislation.   The ESS Small Business and ESS BIZTOOLS’ system, produced to assist accountants/advisors and small/medium enterprises is the only one of its kind in Australia, to specifically assist businesses to alert on the areas where you’re subject to problems under this legislation.   For example, where did you store your stock last night?  If you had stock stored in someone else’s premises and, in an unfortunate circumstance that a liquidator was appointed to that business, you will probably lose it.   The other big risk that businesses are running relates to preferential payment claims being received from liquidators.  Have you already received one of those?  I can assure you that thousands of businesses have.  The vast majority of those businesses could’ve avoided all of the stress, the worry and the costs of the preferential payment claim if they had registered that particular debtor on the PPSR.   Do something about it.  In the first instance, we invite you to visit www.esssmallbusiness.com.au and obtain the articles we’ve developed on the PPSR.   Accountants/Advisors Can Help If you would like to talk to an accountant/advisor who is keen to provide you with advice on a PPSR due diligence system, to help protect your assets, ESS Small Business has a directory of accountants/advisers who are interested in supplying a wider range of services, commonly known as “business advisory services”, to small/medium enterprises.  This directory is called “Find an Accountant/Adviser”.   Visit www.esssmallbusiness.com.au and click on “Find an Accountant/Adviser” menu tab.  All you need to do is to type in your postcode and the system will then show you accountants/advisers in or near your postcode who offer a wider range of commercial services to small/medium enterprises.   ESS Small Business also includes a number of free articles and articles for sale, including a complimentary copy of the article “PPSR – Operational Issues in Risk Management”, which is attached with this transcript.   We will be presenting a webinar, featuring “Personal Property Securities Register”, on Wednesday 20th July 2016 at 4pm AEST.  Click here to register to attend this webinar, free of charge.   If you have any questions in relation to how accountants/advisers can assist you to add value to your business, please don’t hesitate to contact me on 1800 232 088 or send me an email at peter@essbiztools.com.au.         Peter Towers Managing Director  

Do you know that, in survey after survey over the last 15 years, you and your peers have identified that small/medium enterprises want to receive additional commercial services?   One of the services that would benefit most small/medium enterprises is assistance with debtors’ management.   Accountants/advisors who are offering business advisory services, other than taxation, can assist you to manage your debtors.   At ESS Small Business, we provide a debtors’ management service that many accountants/advisors use, to provide specialised advice to small/medium enterprises.  These services will help you: Identify ways to welcome your new customers but ensure that, first of all, you’ve undertaken appropriate due diligence reviews on your potential new customer. Identify ways to reduce debtors’ days outstanding – an area where a lot of money can be tied up in your business. Improve debtors collections. Provide a debtors’ reduction checklist to help with the identification of particular debtors that needed to be approached for above normal payments to be made by them. Identify one of the key business risk areas for small/medium enterprises, which is the PPSR and how it operates. The PPSR does affect debtors and you can receive liquidators preferential payment claim letters.  A way of significantly reducing this is to implement an appropriate PPSR strategy in your debtors’ system. Have a written debtors’ system for your business.   In fact, the SME Debtors’ System Manual, developed by ESS Small Business, gives you a customisable manual that will suit your business requirements, to assist a person who has the difficult job of managing debtors within any small/medium enterprise.  The manual will also help to keep debtors’ days outstanding to a reasonable figure, which will benefit your cashflow.   Accountants/Advisers Can Help If you would like to talk to an accountant/advisor who is committed to assisting small/medium enterprises, like yourself, in business advisory services, other than taxation, ESS Small Business has a directory of accountants/advisers who are interested in supplying a wider range of services, commonly known as “business advisory services”, to small/medium enterprises.  This directory is called “Find an Accountant/Adviser”.   Visit www.esssmallbusiness.com.au and click on “Find an Accountant/Adviser” menu tab.  All you need to do is to type in your postcode and the system will then show you accountants/advisers in or near your postcode who offer a wider range of commercial services to small/medium enterprises.   ESS Small Business also includes a number of free articles and articles for sale, including articles on debtors’ management.   We will be presenting a webinar on debtors’ management on Tuesday 12th July 2016 at 2pm AEST.  Click here to register to attend this webinar, free of charge.   If you have any questions in relation to how accountants/advisers can assist you to add value to your business, please don’t hesitate to contact me on 1800 232 088 or send me an email at peter@essbiztools.com.au.         Peter Towers Managing Director  

Welcome to 2016/17!   A new financial year – what are you going to try to achieve this year?   Are you happy with your financial performance?  Are you happy with the support that you’re receiving from your accounting/advisory firm?  Are you getting feedback?   I’m going to ask you six questions to undertake a review of your preparation to be an outstanding business during 2016/17.  If you would like some further advice on the questions that I’m going to raise, I will have suggestions on where you can turn to for support.   Debtors’ Days Outstanding “Is the debtors’ days outstanding in your business less than 40 days?  If not, my recommendation is that you have a debtors’ due diligence system review undertaken for your business.”   Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) “Are you aware of the PPSR?  Do you know that approximately $300M has been lost by businesses in Australia since this legislation commenced about 3 years ago?  Have you considered the risks that you’re running by not registering assets?”   “If you’re registering assets on the PPSR, have you asked your accountant/adviser to conduct a review?  Recently, I was told by a solicitor of a problem that had occurred to one of their clients that, inadvertently, there had been a mix-up on terminology between “grantor” and “grantee”.  This caused the business to lose around $400,000.  Perhaps that could’ve been avoided if there had been a follow-up review of their systems.”   Succession Planning “Do you have succession planning operational within your business?”   “Succession planning isn’t just for the owners or CEOs but can apply to all positions within a business.  An accountant/adviser who is offering business advisory services can undertake a review for you.”   Business Plan “Do you have a business plan?  If so, is it up to date?  Are you using it?  Should you have a business plan?”   “Business plans are like maps for tourists.  If you haven’t got a written plan, how are you going to know where are you proposing to go?  More importantly, how do you compare your current performance against your predetermined strategy?”   Financial Position “Do you understand your financial position?  Do you understand the terminology that is used in financial accounts?  Are you receiving accurate monthly, departmentalised management accounts that you and your team of managers can use to really understand what’s going on within your business?  Are the KPIs that you’re receiving appropriate?  Do they help you run the business or could you think of some better KPIs that might serve your purposes better?”   Early Stage Innovation Companies (ESIC) “Have you developed a new product, process, service, marketing or organisation method?  Are you interested in raising capital to help you with this new venture?”   “If so, I’ve got some great news for you.”   “The Federal government has finalised the legislation for the ESIC.  By the time you listen to this podcast, that legislation will be operational so you could form a company and, as long as it complies with the requirements to be called an ESIC, you could raise capital in excess of $2M if you wish.  This would probably make you happy and would also make the investors happy because they can receive some significant taxation benefits by investing in an ESIC.”   “Accountants/advisers who are committed to offering business advisory services for clients can assist you in these processes of, not only confirming that you’re potentially eligible to be deemed to be an ESIC, but then assisting you to get investment ready.”   Accountants/Advisers Can Helps ESS Small Business and our associated company ESS BIZTOOLS have developed detailed packages to assist accountants/advisers to deliver each of these services to their clients.   We’re more than happy to introduce you to accountants/advisers who are committed to supplying business advisory services to small/medium enterprises.   ESS Small Business has a directory of accountants/advisers who are interested in supplying a wider range of services, commonly known as “business advisory services”, to small/medium enterprises.  This directory is called “Find an Accountant/Adviser”.   Visit www.esssmallbusiness.com.au and click on “Find an Accountant/Adviser” menu tab.  All you need to do is to type in your postcode and the system will then show you accountants/advisers in or near your postcode who offer a wider range of commercial services to small/medium enterprises.   To welcome 2016/17, we’re presenting a special webinar, free of charge.  This webinar will evaluate Early Stage Innovation Companies legislation and advise you on the process that will have to be undertaken for you to self-assess, possibly with assistance from your accountant/adviser, then to assist you to become investment ready.   This webinar will be held on Wednesday 6th July 2016 at 4pm AEST.  If you would like to register, please click here.   I look forward to presenting this webinar to you.   If you have any questions in relation to how accountants/advisers can assist you to add value to your business, please don’t hesitate to contact me on 1800 232 088 or send me an email at peter@essbiztools.com.au.   Once again, happy new financial year and, from the team at ESS Small Business, good luck for a highly successful 2016/17.     Peter Towers Managing Director  

The Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) and the associated Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) can affect every business in Australia.   Many small business operators say to me, “Why are you worrying about a personal property piece of legislation?”  Unfortunately, the term “personal property” is a misnomer.  This applies to business property.  In fact, it applies to every business asset except land and attachments to land, including your debtors, stock, vehicles, Intellectual Property (IP) and items that you’re renting or leasing to someone else.   In the first instance, it’s highly desirable that you have a consultation with a commercial solicitor, especially if you haven’t done so since January 2012, relative to the two key documents that you need for this legislation – the Terms of Trade Agreement and the Retention of Title Agreement.  Your solicitor will give you a general overview as to how this legislation works.   Then we believe that you need input from your professional accountant or adviser, to establish a system that guides you as to what should happen to utilise your two documents and to ensure that registrations are appropriately enacted.   When you start transactions with a new customer, prior to any sales being made, you should’ve asked your prospective customer to review your Terms of Trade Agreement and Retention of Title Agreement and to sign the agreements.  When you receive the signed agreements, a decision needs to be made within your organisation as to whether a registration of that customer will be made on the PPSR.   The rule of thumb that I suggest you use is that, if this customer didn’t pay you or you had to refund money that they had paid you in the previous 6 months because you’ve received a preferential payment letter from a solicitor, would that payment financially embarrass you?  If so, I believe you should ensure that this customer is registered on the PPSR.   You don’t have to register every invoice.  You’re basically registering the customer and, if your solicitor has drafted the Terms of Trade Agreement appropriately, that agreement will cover the current and future sales that you’re going to make to that customer.   If you have stock on consignment at someone else’s premises, that’s a vulnerable position for you and your business.  It’s an asset that you can gain protection for on the PPSR.   If you’re renting or leasing assets to someone else, you can obtain some relief by registering on the PPSR.   If you have plant and equipment, scaffolding, building equipment, tradesmen’s tools, etc stored on someone else’s property, then you should be getting advice as to whether you need to register those assets on the PPSR.   If you have IP in your business that you’ve licensed or entered into some type of utilisation agreement with someone else, then that transaction should also be registered on the PPSR.   We believe that the obvious professional group to assist you in this regard are accountants or advisors.  Our recommendation to you is, once you’ve received your Terms of Trade Agreement and Retention of Title Agreement from your solicitors, have a discussion with your accountant or advisor relative to implementing an appropriate system to ensure that your system works properly within your organisation, to give you the maximum protection.   It has been 3 ½ years since this legislation started in Australia.  If you haven’t experienced any problems or, indeed, had anything to do with the PPSA and the associated PPSR, you’ve been lucky.  Over $120M has been lost in court cases by businesses that owned assets and hadn’t registered those assets on the PPSR.  Those assets were ultimately forfeited under a court order to someone else – normally a secured creditor via a liquidator.  You may also have avoided receiving preferential payment claims from liquidators of companies with which you’ve had dealings.   This is no reason why you shouldn’t be protecting yourself now, for future transactions.  The cost for a 7-year protection is very small (under $5), the cheapest insurance premium on the market.  I would urge you to have discussions with your solicitor to get the agreements prepared and then have discussions with your accountant or advisor to ensure that you have an appropriate system within your business, to protect you from the consequences of not appropriately registering on the PPSR.   Find an Accountant/Adviser If you would like to find an accountant who can offer the types of services mentioned in this edition, generally known as business advisory services, please utilise the Find an Accountant/Adviser directory within the ESS Small Business’ website.  Please visit www.esssmallbusiness.com.au and click on “Find an Accountant/Adviser” menu tab.  All you need to do is to type in your postcode and the system will then show you accountants in or near your postcode who offer a wider range of commercial services to small/medium enterprises.   ESS Small Business contains other free articles and articles for sale, prepared by approximately 20 other businesses, on a wide range of small/medium enterprise matters.   ESS Small Business also presents webinars, free of charge, covering a wide range of small business matters.  These webinars are also recorded and are available for viewing.   We will be presenting a webinar, featuring “PPSR – System for Individual Businesses”, which will be held on Thursday 28th April 2016 at 6pm AEST.  Click here to register to attend, free of charge.  To view our other upcoming and recorded webinars, click here.   Whilst you are on the ESS Small Business’ website, why not have a look at the offerings from a wide range of business people who are able to assist small/medium enterprises?   If you have any questions on the services that accountants can offer, please don’t hesitate to contact us.     Peter Towers Managing Director  

On the ESS Small Business’ website, we have a wide array of information (some free, some available for purchase) relating to debtors’ management.   The free material includes the debtors’ overview, looking at the various aspects of the management of debtors and suggestions on how to collect debts (Debtors’ Collection).   We also have a subscription service available, whereby you can subscribe for an SME Debtors’ Manual that you can review, edit as you require and then customise as yours so that you have a manual in your business to guide the persons who have the responsibility for debtors and covers items such as: opening an account approving an account PPSR function collection of debtors calculation of debtors’ days outstanding sending of statements to your customers   The manual also looks at some of the due diligence services combined with debtors’ management.   The SME Debtors’ Manual includes introduction on an effective debtors’ system, debtors’ management system and setting up for a debtor.   Setting up for a debtor is the initial application for a debtor to be able to open an account.  At that stage, they’re not a debtor, they’re a prospective customer who has asked if they can purchase on a credit basis.  How do you go about checking the bona fides of that would-be long-term customer?   Once the new customer has been approved, the next task is the drafting of the welcome letter to the new customer, which allows you to identify your terms of trade and the credit limit that the customer has been granted.   Evaluation of the PPSR issues is very important.  Over $120M has been lost by Australian businesses in court cases since the PPSA commenced 4 years ago.  The Debtors’ System Manual discusses the Terms of Trade and Retention of Title Agreements, both of which should be prepared by your commercial solicitor.  There needs to be a discussion on whether you’re going to register a particular customer.  Just bear in mind that you don’t need to register each invoice on the PPSR, you just need to register a customer.  The registration lasts for a maximum of 7 years.   There are a lot of problems at present with liquidators issuing preferential payment claims.  One way that you can avoid these types of claims is if you’ve registered that customer on the PPSR.   There are forms in the system to assist with the calculation of debtors’ days outstanding, comments on debtors collection systems, including digital debtors collection.   We’re linked to our business partner, IODM, which has an excellent system that utilises digital technology to assist in the management of debtors.   The SME Debtors’ Manual is available for you to personalise to suit your business so that your staff has a written system to guide them in this very important area of debtors’ management.   The SME Debtors’ Manual is available for $265 including GST.   As a preview of what’s included in the SME Debtors’ Manual, the following complimentary articles are available: Debtors’ Overview Debtor Collections   Find an Accountant/Adviser If you would like to find an accountant who can offer the types of services mentioned in this edition, generally known as business advisory services, please utilise the Find an Accountant/Adviser directory within the ESS Small Business’ website.  Please visit www.esssmallbusiness.com.au and click on “Find an Accountant/Adviser” menu tab.  All you need to do is to type in your postcode and the system will then show you accountants in or near your postcode who offer a wider range of commercial services to small/medium enterprises.   ESS Small Business contains other free articles and articles for sale, prepared by approximately 20 other businesses, on a wide range of small/medium enterprise matters.   ESS Small Business also presents webinars, free of charge, covering a wide range of small business matters.  These webinars are also recorded and are available for viewing.   We will be presenting a webinar, featuring “Improving Debtors’ Management”, which will be held on Thursday 21st April 2016 at 4pm AEST.  Click here to register to attend, free of charge.  To view our other upcoming and recorded webinars, click here.   Whilst you are on the ESS Small Business’ website, why not have a look at the offerings from a wide range of business people who are able to assist small/medium enterprises?   If you have any questions on the services that accountants can offer, please don’t hesitate to contact us.       Peter Towers Managing Director

Over the last 12 months, there has been a lot of discussion amongst accountants as to how they can best respond to the market trends that are occurring which have been supported by various surveys of small business operators – that small/medium enterprises in Australia and New Zealand want to receive additional business services from their accountant.   In the first instance, I believe you should be sitting down with your accountant so that your accountant can assist you and spend some time, on a weekly basis, working ON your business, rather than continually working IN your business.   Some of the items that you might consider in these conversations include: ·           What does your accountant think of your business? ·           Have they prepared a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats)? ·           What do the management financial accounts for your business indicate?  Please ensure that those accounts are prepared on an individual business basis, not all being lumped together in one Profit & Loss Account. ·           What are the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and ratios? ·           How does your business line up and benchmark against other businesses?  If you would like a benchmarking report prepared, please talk to your accountants. ·           How does your business compare with budgets and cashflow forecasts when compared to your actual results? ·           Is there any cost reviews you would like undertaken in your business?  Accountants are well aware that, in a survey conducted 2 ½ years ago by CCH on 1,348 small/medium enterprises, identified cost management as the biggest single problem that small/medium enterprises have.   Other items to consider include:   Business Plans·           Do you have a business plan? ·           Is your business plan up to date? ·           Does your business plan reflect your current business operations? ·           Do you need a business plan prepared to assist you in achieving your targets?   Financial AreasDo you need some assistance in negotiations with your bank for an increase in an overdraft or a new loan facility?   Capital RaisingHave you thought about the initiatives that the Federal government is currently processing through the Parliament for amendments to the Corporations Code, to enable crowd funding equity companies to be legally formed in Australia, as well as innovation companies?   The crowd funding companies will be able to raise up to $5M, with the maximum retail investor limited to $10,000 per company per annum.  This is going to bring about considerable amounts of work with which your accountants can assist you.   The other type of new company is an innovation company.  This company is going to have special benefits for investors to obtain a taxation rebate on their investment and also a Capital Gains Tax holiday.   TrainingDo your team need some support with extra training on how to understand financial accounts, KPIs and ratios?  Do they need assistance in trying to personalise these types of accounting reports to the circumstances within your business?   If so, your accountant could assist you in undertaking those training courses and you could probably also receive some grant support from the Federal government’s skill development program.  Ask your accountant to look into that.   Grants that are availableAt the same time, have a look at any other grants which you might be able to avail yourselves, such as: ·           Research and Development (must be a company) ·           Export Market Development Grant – you need to be an exporter and you can also claim that grant if you’re proposing to export ·           Business Growth Grant – available for about 650 different types of businesses in Australia   There are always some changes going on in this whole area of grants.  A couple of weeks ago, the Business Development Grant was changed yet again to include the tourism industry in Northern Australia (area North of Tropic of Capricorn, which starts in Rockhampton, Queensland).   PPSR Due DiligenceAre you aware of the Personal Property Securities Act (PPSA) and the associated Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR)?  If not, please ask your accountant to explain to you how this legislation works.   Unfortunately, through ignorance of the PPSA Legislation, millions of dollars have been lost by Australian and international businesses operating in Australia.  Indeed, only a few weeks ago, the NSW Supreme Court issued a judgement on a case in Western Australia that involved a major international corporation from the USA, which lost $60M worth of assets because they had not registered on the PPSR.   Don’t let the words “personal property” confuse you.  This is “business property”.  Why it was called “personal property”, I have no idea.   Succession PlanningHave you got a succession plan?   A succession plan is not something that you prepare just when you’re wanting to sell your business.  It should be something that’s embedded in your organisation at every level.  Your accountant can assist you.   Intellectual Property·           Have you got a strategy to protect the Intellectual Property (IP) that has been produced within your business? ·           Do you have appropriate protection? ·           Are you applying for patents if appropriate?   Debtors·           Do you have a debtors’ management system? ·           Do you know your debtors’ days outstanding figure? ·           Do you think that figure could be improved, which could unleash significant cashflow benefits?   Your accountant can assist you.   Vision·           What’s your vision for your business? ·           Why not write it down? ·           Where do you want your business to be in 3, 5 and 10 years’ time?   Discuss that vision with your accountant.   At the same time, you could write down what you believe the valuation of your business, then you could ask your accountant to tell you what he/she believes your business is currently worth.  Invariably, there would be a difference.  This is known as the “valuation gap”.  In most cases, it seems that the owners of the business have a higher expectation of value than what their accountants do, that’s OK.  You’ve then identified the differences between the 2 figures – the “valuation gap”.  Your accountant should then be able to prepare for you a strategy plan for the next 3 or 5 years, to assist with the implementation of business strategies for the bridging of the “valuation gap”.   Find an AccountantIf you would like to find an accountant who can offer the types of services mentioned in this edition, generally knows as business advisory services, a Find an Accountant/Adviser directory within the ESS Small Business’ website.  Please visit www.esssmallbusiness.com.au and click on “Find an Accountant/Adviser” menu.  All you need to do is to type in your postcode and the system will then show you accountants in or near your postcode who offer a wider range of commercial services to small/medium enterprises.   If you would like to obtain more information, a complimentary article, “Characteristics of a Well Run Business”, is available.  Click here to obtain your copy.   ESS Small Business contains other free articles and articles for sale, prepared by about 20 other businesses, on a wide range of small/medium enterprise matters.   ESS Small Business also present webinars, free of charge, covering a wide range of small business matters.  These webinars are also recorded and are available for viewing.   We will be presenting a webinar, featuring “Planning for Success”.  Click here to register to attend and to also view our other upcoming and recorded webinars.   Whilst you are on the ESS Small Business’ website, why not have a look at the offerings from a wide range of business people who are able to assist small/medium enterprises?   If you have any questions on the services that accountants can offer, please don’t hesitate to contact us.       Peter Towers Managing Director  

Millions of dollars have already been lost by Australian businesses through ignorance of the operation of the Personal Property Securities Act (PPSA) and the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR).   This is undoubtedly a “time bomb” for businesses.   Businesses are losing assets through ignorance of the law.  A wide range of business activities have been affected, including: ·           motor vehicles and trailers ·           cleaning equipment and products ·           inventory (stock) ·           assets that have been hired ·           machines owned by one company and hired to another company within the same group ·           a cabinet maker caught by a preferential payment demand by a liquidator ·           considerable costs have been incurred by hiring and renting businesses ·           the owner of $60M worth of electrical generating equipment has lost it ·           there has been confusion about terminology of “grantor” or “grantee”.   These are just a small snapshot of some of the problems.   Businesses need to be proactive in protecting their assets from this legislation.   In the first instance, if you haven’t already done so, you should be obtaining legal advice and asking a commercial solicitor to draft two very important agreements for you: ·           Terms of Trade Agreement ·           Retention of Title Agreement   You should be issuing these agreements to your customers to sign prior to your business transactions being conducted with them.   We would recommend you engage your accountant to undertake a due diligence review of the systems that you’ve implemented within your business.  If you haven’t implemented a system, get your accountant to implement a system to protect yourself from this legislation.   Liquidators are surprised about the number of small/medium enterprises that have been caught by this legislation.   When do you need to act?  NOW!  It’s very important that you get your “house in order” now!   There are very strict timelines for placing a registration on the PPSR: ·           For inventory or stock, you should register the potential transaction before you deliver the stock to your customer. ·           If it’s not inventory, registration must be made within 15 days of the customer obtaining possession of the goods covered by the invoice. ·           Other security interests such as loan agreements, hire agreements, assignment of Intellectual Property agreements, etc.  These must be registered within 20 days.   Businesses need to be very vigilant on protecting their assets from this legislation.   If you would like to obtain more information, a complimentary article, “Personal Property Securities Register”, is available.  Click here to obtain your copy.   ESS Small Business contains other articles that look further into the PPSA and the PPSR, written by a Melbourne Solicitor who is very experienced in the operations of the PPSA.  These articles are available to purchase.  We will also be producing more articles, over the next 2 months, on the PPSR relating to how the PPSA affects different types of businesses.   ESS Small Business presented a webinar, featuring “PPSR – How do you Protect your Business”.  Click here to watch the presentation and to also view other webinars on various business matters, free of charge.   Whilst you are on the ESS Small Business’ website, why not have a look at the offerings from a wide range of business people who are able to assist small/medium enterprises?   If you have any questions on the operation of the PPSR and how it might affect your business, please don’t hesitate to contact us.         Peter Towers Managing Director  

Virtually every accountancy business in Australia does income tax returns.  Some accountancy businesses claim to be “famous” for tax, however, how do you differentiate accountants in a crowded market place?   The beginning of a new financial year is an appropriate time for a small/medium enterprise business to stop, reflect and take stock of where your business is going.  Are you receiving the right advice to help you add-value to your business?   There are a lot of changes occurring in the business world, including “digital disruption” which is affecting many businesses such as banks, accountants, lawyers, retail, property management, etc.   One of the concerns about which you should be thinking is this: Is your accountant assisting you to add-value to your business?   Taxation return preparation doesn’t add any value to your business.   One way some accountants are trying to develop a range of services that will add-value to their small/medium enterprise clients is by adding products known as “business advisory services”.   What does “business advisory services” include? ·           Cashflow Management ·           Business Planning ·           Succession Planning   “Business advisory services” also include:   Debtors’ Management Helping businesses to better manage debtors so that the money that’s tied up in the debtors’ system can be released to use in the business.   According to Dun & Bradstreet, the average debtors’ days outstanding in Australia is currently 51.8 days.  That’s over 80% longer than the traditional 30-day trading period.   Your accountant should be able to assist you to introduce strategies to reduce debtors’ days outstanding.   Chief Financial Officer Services Some accountants are now becoming a virtual Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for their small/medium enterprise clients.   Large businesses have CFOs working on a full-time basis, so do some small businesses, who are finding that this type of service could considerably add to their business’ performance.   The reason for this is that the same problems that affect large businesses also apply to small businesses.  This is the reason large businesses have CFOs.  In your probability, you won’t need a CFO on a full-time basis, however, there’s some time each week which I’m certain you can utilise the services of a skilled accountant working as your CFO.  Perhaps you should have a discussion with your accountant relative to this, to see whether they’re able to supply that service.   Cost Management In the CCH survey[1] of small businesses conducted a couple of years ago, your peers within the small business community identified that assistance with cost control is one of the major issues confronting small/medium enterprise operators.   Is your accountant assisting you in analysis of your operation of costs?   Personal Property Securities Register Due Diligence System Do you realise that every business in Australia could be caught up with a major problem through the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR)?   If you’re dealing with another business and that business goes into a liquidation event, then you could be caught up.  You will have to either repay money that’s deemed to be a preferential payment to you or lose assets you’ve stored at someone else’s premises or rented to someone.   For a very small charge, you can protect yourself from the PPSR.  Has your accountant discussed this with you?  Have you had a due diligence review within your business to see what changes you will need to implement within your systems, so you will not have to worry unduly about this problem?   Identification of Grants Do you know that the Australian Federal, State and Territory governments combined make available about $5B per annum worth of grants, incentives and special loans for businesses, primarily small/medium enterprise businesses?   Is your accountant assisting you to obtain some of this funding?   After all, you’re paying your share of it, because all taxpayers are contributing to this pool of money to be made available to some businesses.   Strategic Management Advice Are you concerned about corporate governance or how your business is going in the future?  Are you considering appointing an external director or person to your Board of Directors or Board of Advice?  Are you thinking about appointing an external, independent person as Chair of your company?   These are all areas an accountant, offering business advisory services, can discuss with you.   Assistance in Raising Capital Another important area for many businesses is that, as they grow, they get sick of having to borrow money from the bank and mortgage a house yet again.   There’s an opportunity to raise capital from Business Angels and, whilst this involves selling shares in your business to external people, it can be very beneficial in the overall scheme of things and help you to avoid going to more personal debt.  Your accountant should be able to assist you in getting prepared to raise capital from Business Angel investors.   These are some of the issues that confront businesses in 2015/16.   Accountants can assist These are issues that we believe your accountant should be discussing with you and offering you a service, to assist you to grow and add-value to your business.   Accountants who subscribe to ESS BIZTOOLS receive material, papers, templates and articles on all of these subjects and much more, so they can then assist their small/medium enterprise clients to add-value.   In the first instance, our suggestion is you discuss these issues with your accountant and see whether your current accountant is able to supply these types of services for you.   If your accountant is unable to supply those services and you would like to receive details of accountants, in your location, who are able to supply those services, please send an email to peter@essbiztools.com.au with your name and postcode and we will send you details of accountants in or near your postcode whom we know can supply business advisory services to you.   A complimentary copy of paper on the types of services that accountants can provide as CFOs is available.  If you wish to access this free material, please click here to sign up.   If you wish to receive future editions of Survival Hints for Small Business series, you can visit our iTunes – Podcasts - Survival Hints for Small Business page and subscribe to our podcasts.   If you have any questions or suggestions on future items to be covered in Survival Hints for Small Business, please don’t hesitate to contact us.   Best wishes for 2015/16.       Peter Towers Managing Director 1800 232 088 peter@essbiztools.com.au www.esssmallbusiness.com.au [1]SMEs - the fine line between failure and success, CCH, April 2013

Utsläppshandelssystemet för koldioxid inom EU fyller tio år. Det är världens största utsläppshandel för koldioxid men hur effektiv är den? Kritiker menar att systemet har havererat och att det spelat ut sin roll, andra säger att det visst fungerar även om utsläppsrätterna just nu är för billiga. Klotet denna vecka handlar om utsläppshandel som det går att tjäna pengar på men som kanske bara flyttar utsläppen någon annanstans. Programledare Pelle Zettersten.

Understanding decisions of courts and liquidators’ actions relative to the PPSR and the PPSA is important for business operators The Personal Property Securities Act (PPSA) has operated in Australia since 2012.  Since that time, there has been a number of court cases and significant non-court actions by liquidators, receivers and administrators utilising the PPSA and, in most cases, highlighting the lack of an effective registration on the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR). Because of the courts’ decisions and insolvency practitioners’ actions, millions of dollars have been lost by businesses, both large and small, mainly caused through ignorance of the operations of the legislation and the desirability for a registration to be made, if the loss of any asset or money owing to a business could cause financial embarrassment.