Envision Accountants, Phil McKee, Grant Kai-Fong, Accounting, Business, Envision Business & Wealth Advisors, Southport, Australia

Planning For A Successful Year

Mon, 12 Jun 2017 23:00:00 GMT

We are fast approaching the end of another financial year, and right now is a great time to start thinking and acting upon ways to improve your business.

There is one key thing that can make the difference between having an ordinary year or having an extraordinary year. That thing is the goals and objectives you set for yourself and your business for the coming 12 months.

There's no right way to set goals. People do it in different ways. What's important is that you do set them. Some people write letters to themselves, others create pictorial maps, and some use the tried and trusted bullet-point list.

Get Your Goals Visible

Whatever method you use, to have the best chance of success make sure you write them down and formalise them.

Your goals need to be visible, in your face on a regular basis and not gathering dust in your drawer. They can be documented in the form of a wall chart, a graph, a vision board, or in the form of a formal set of goals. Having them in a noticeable, readable and instantly recognisable form gives you a great foundation towards starting to achieve them.

Having Trouble Defining Your Goals?

If you're struggling to define your goals, try thinking beyond the time-frame you're looking at. You could ask yourself "what does success look like and feel like for me?". Then come back from that longer term vision to a closer time-frame. Consider what you should be doing in the next 12 months, and then next 3 months, and then next month, to head you towards that longer term vision. Simply put, break down your long term goals into smaller bite-size manageable pieces.

As a business owner it's easy to fall into the trap of limiting your goal setting to your business. Your goals should take into account the big picture view considering family, health, and finances amongst others. As well as setting objectives you want to achieve, you could also set objectives for things you want to stop doing.

Making Time To Do It

The best time for goal setting is when you've got some quiet time away from your everyday business activities.

Whether you take some time out during your business day or use a part of the week that you are not working in your business, it doesn't really matter. Decide what works for you and make an appointment with yourself to do it.

Clear goals for yourself and your business for the next 12 months (and longer) will give you a direction to aim towards.

Create Your Future

Remember the past doesn't determine the future. Just because you may have set goals before and perhaps didn't achieve them, doesn't mean this will be so in the future. Goal setting can sometimes be a bit scary. There's always the risk of non-achievement in the back of your mind; and it can often seem that the bigger the goal the bigger the doubt.

More importantly, having a direction to head towards and clear goals and objectives could make a big difference. That difference may just be an extraordinary year rather than just an ordinary one.

We work with a lot of our clients to help them define their goals and objectives and then set plans in place to work towards them, monitoring and measuring their progress using state-of-the-art software tools.

If you would like to hear more about how we can help you and your business, contact the team at Envision Business & Wealth Advisors.

Simple Business Practices Which Give You A Great Return

Wed, 30 Nov 2016 22:00:00 GMT

When you're running a business, you need to manage your money wisely. A lot of first-time business owners make the mistake of spending too much. It's also easy to blow money on the wrong things. This can often have bad results for your business, so you need to avoid spending on things that don't help.

The best way to spend your funds is on things which will result in profit. In other words, you should always consider how to get a good return on investment. That way, every dollar spent results in many more dollars earned. Here are a couple of business practices which give you a high return on your investment.

Get Online

Having an internet presence is crucial for any business who wants to thrive in today's environment. It's often the first place customers will find out about you. It helps you reach out to many more people.

It's worth getting your website professionally designed. A poorly presented website can often turn potential customers away and make your business look bad. If your website makes an excellent first impression, you can have a far higher chance of converting your visitors into clients.

Your website can also be used to tell people what you can offer them, but more importantly tell people why you do what you do.

A highly effective way to market your business is to direct people to your website.

Outsource Tasks

Businesses should never be afraid to outsource. There will always be certain things you will want to keep in-house. However, it's worth considering leaving some tasks to external services.

It is often cheaper to delegate some tasks to firms outside of your business. This can also be beneficial in the sense that these firms will be dedicated to, or are specialists in what they do. For instance, an experienced accountant can manage your finances and advise you and your business to a professionally high standard.

It also helps with saving time so that you can dedicate time to what you do best. You can have the peace of mind that the tasks you outsource will get completed by professional services. That way, you can focus on your core operations to increase your revenue, profits and cash flow.

To find out more about these ideas, contact the team at Envision Business & Wealth Advisors to help you achieve better results for your business.

Lessons from Pokémon Go for your Business

Sun, 11 Sep 2016 23:00:00 GMT

Most of you would have heard about the gaming sensation that is Pokémon GO. This augmented reality app has seen unimaginable growth since it was launched in July 2016.

Pokémon GO is a location-based augmented reality game that mixes the real world with the fictional Pokémon universe. Players use a mobile device's GPS system to walk around in the real world to find new Pokémon in the virtual world on the mobile device's app. Players use their phone camera to survey the surroundings, find the wild creatures, and then flick Poké Balls in gameplay until the creatures are hit.

Whether you are unashamedly addicted to Pokémon GO or you are in the other camp and frightfully concerned about the mental state of its players, there are some important lessons for business that we can take away from the recent phenomenon.

1. The importance of Mobile

For years Pokémon had operated almost exclusively on handheld Gameboy and Nintendo DS devices but in recent years casual mobile gaming has overtaken handheld devices. Nintendo finally ventured into mobile and it has been a success. This is an example of how important mobile is to customers in today's environment.

Lesson: Make sure your business is mobile. Empower your employees to get work done not just from an office but wherever they may be and whenever. Allow your customers to engage with you through the medium of their preference. Understand what customers are looking for and adapt to meet their needs. Mobile is no longer a choice; it's a must.

2. We love innovation

Australia was one of the first countries in the world to have access to Pokémon GO. With the vast adoption of the reality app in Australia, servers were being overloaded which led to delaying the release of the game in Europe.

Lesson: Australian's love innovation and are receptive to new things. Be bold and try new initiatives with your own business.

3. Inclusive collaboration breeds success

Pokémon GO has revolutionised the gaming world by influencing users to interact with each other about their experiences, and people are loving it. Players are prompted to join one of three teams when they reach Level 5 in the game. This has generated a sense of community as users look to help each other.

Conversely, in business, collaboration is often limited to in-person meetings or phone calls where if you're not invited, you're not a part of it.

Lesson: Make collaboration inclusive; avoid limiting it to invitation-only events. When employees can share, are part of it, and comment freely, a whole new level of productivity happens.

4. Easy and simple enhances adoption

The phenomenon of Pokémon GO has really been incredible and this is largely due to a simple principle – literally. The simplicity of the game allows hard-core pros and newbies alike to understand the concept at the same level. The game broken down is as simple as walk, click, look, and catch.

Lesson: If you make it easy, then people will use it. If you make sure any new technology you introduce in your business is easy to change to and easy to use, you'll find that everyone in your organisation is not only be will, but happy to embrace the change.

5. It takes many years to make an overnight success

While the Pokémon GO phenomenon may seem like an overnight sensation, the success of it is the result of a number of years of research, development, investment, partnership and planning.

Lesson: Have a big vision for your business and partner with a proactive business advisor to support your growth and help you reach your financial objectives.

If you are looking for a proactive accountant to help you "catch a Pikachu" contact us at Envision Business & Wealth Advisors to see how we can partner you to achieve your objectives.

2016 Federal Budget Proposed Superannuation Changes

Sun, 22 May 2016 23:00:00 GMT

The following are the main proposed changes to superannuation made in the 2016 Federal Budget:

Removal of aged-based contribution rules

From 1 July 2017, it will be easier for people aged 65 to 74 to contribute to super by removing the current aged-based contribution rules as follows:

If you are aged 65 to 74, you will no longer need to meet a work test before making voluntary or non-concessional (after-tax) contributions

From 1 July 2017, you will also be able to make contributions to a spouse aged under 75 without the need for your spouse to meet a work test.

In other words you will have the ability to contribute into your super account from age 65 to 74 even if your have retired.

Tax offsets for spouse contributions

From 1 July 2017, if your partner earns under $37,000 p.a. and you make a contribution to their super of at least $3,000, you may be eligible for a maximum tax offset of up to $540 ($3,000 x 18%). The offset reduces as your partner's income increases above $37,000 p.a. and completely phases out at $40,000 p.a.

Currently, the maximum offset of $540 ($3,000 x 18%) is payable if your partner's annual income is $10,800 or under and you make a super contribution of $3,000, or more. It phases out when your partner's income reaches $13,800.

Your partner can be either married or de facto.

Annual cap on concessional (before tax) contributions

The annual cap on concessional (before-tax) contributions will reduce to $25,000 for everyone from 1 July 2017. This applies to both Superannuation Guarantee and salary sacrifice contributions, which means the total of these two types of contributions will count towards the cap.

Catch-up concessional contributions

New catch-up provisions will allow people with account balances up to $500,000 to make 'catch-up' concessional superannuation contributions. This also applies to defined benefit schemes.

If you have a balance less than $500,000, you can roll over unused concessional contribution amounts under the annual cap of $25,000 for up to five years. This means if you make no contributions for three years, in the fourth year your concessional contributions cap is $100,000. Your annual cap cannot exceed $125,000 because caps cannot be carried forward for more than five prior years.

Your unused annual concessional contribution cap amounts accrue from 1 July 2017.

The annual concessional contributions caps are currently $30,000 for people under the age of 50, and $35,000 for people aged 50 or over during the year.

Transition to retirement income streams

From 1 July 2017, if you are in a transition to retirement income stream (TRIS) earnings on the assets supporting the TRIS will generally be taxed at 15%, regardless of when you started the account.

Income produced by assets supporting a TRIS is currently exempt from income tax.

Introduction of a transfer balance cap of $1.6 million

From 1 July 2017, a $1.6 million cap will be introduced on the total amount of superannuation that can be transferred into a tax-free retirement account:

The cap will be indexed in $100,000 increments in line with the Consumer Price Index, similar to the treatment of the age pension assets threshold.
Superannuation savings accumulated over the cap can remain in an accumulation account, where the earnings will generally be taxed at 15%.
A proportionate method measuring the percentage of the cap previously used, will determine how much remaining cap you have available at any point in time. For example, if you have previously used up 75% of your cap, you will have access to 25% of the current (indexed) cap.
Subsequent fluctuations in retirement accounts due to earnings growth or pension payments will not be considered when calculating the unused cap.

If you breach the cap, you will be subject to a tax on both the amount in excess of the cap and the earnings on the excess amount.

If your retirement account balance is over $1.6 million at 1 July 2017, you will need to either:

transfer the excess back into an accumulation superannuation account, or
withdraw the excess amount from your retirement account.

Additional contributions tax on higher-income earners

Currently, people with an annual income of over $300,000 pay an additional 15% tax on the amount of concessional contributions that push the income above the $300,000 threshold. This tax is known as Division 293 tax and is calculated by the ATO when your tax return is completed. From 1 July 2017, this threshold will be reduced to $250,000.

For example, currently, if you have a taxable income of $280,000-which has been reduced by salary sacrifice contributions of $25,000-you will pay an additional 15% tax on contributions of $5,000, which is the portion of the contribution above $300,000. From 1 July 2017, you will pay the additional 15% tax on the entire $25,000 as all the concessional contributions will be above the new threshold of $250,000.

Introduction of a lifetime non-concessional cap

From Budget night on 3 May 2016, there has been an introduction of a $500,000 lifetime cap on non-concessional (after-tax) contributions. This will take into account all non-concessional contributions made since 1 July 2007.

The cap will apply to people aged up to age 75, and it will be indexed in $50,000 increments in line with wages.

Currently, you can make non-concessional contributions of $180,000 a year (or $540,000 every three years if you are under 65).

If you have exceeded the cap prior to 3 May 2016, you will be deemed to have used up your lifetime cap but you will not be required to take the excess out of the superannuation system.

If you make contributions that cause you to exceed your cap, you will be notified by the ATO to withdraw the excess from your account.
If you choose not to withdraw the excess, you will be subject to the current penalty arrangements for excess contributions.
If you have already made non-concessional contributions up to $500,000 since 1 July 2007, you will not be able to make additional contributions, unless indexation increases the cap.

If you are over 65 and were previously restricted to $180,000 in annual non-concessional contributions, you may have additional flexibility depending on contributions made since 1 July 2007.

Contributions for people who earn only some of their income from salary and wages

From 1 July 2017, anyone up to age 75 will be able to claim a tax deduction for personal contributions regardless of your work situation – up to the new concessional contribution cap of $25,000, subject to 15% contributions tax. This is particularly important for self-employed people.

If you are a member of a defined benefit scheme, you will not be eligible to claim an income tax deduction for contributions to these funds. However, you may claim a deduction if you make a contribution to another non-defined benefit fund.

Changes to defined benefit schemes

If you are a member of a defined benefit fund, the Government has also announced changes which broadly replicate the proposed $1.6 million transfer balance cap and the $500,000 lifetime cap for defined benefit funds.

It is important to note that the changes outlined in the Federal Budget depend on the passing of legislation. To find out more or for an explanation on how these proposed changes may affect you, contact the team at Envision Business & Wealth Advisors .