The Power of Subtraction (a revolution in problem-solving)
How often in your busy life when faced with an issue or a problem do you consider subtraction? Every day, with big and small challenges, we neglect a basic way to make things better. We don’t subtract. We are great at adding to our “to dos” but we don’t consider “stop-doings”. We collect new-and-improved ideas…
Directors in a pickle
With DPNs The Director Penalty Regime (“DPR”) encourages directors to ensure their company continues to lodge its BAS, even if the company can’t pay the resulting liability. However, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when the ATO paused its debt, audit and lodgement work, many companies in financial difficulty stopped lodging their BAS because…
What are you up to?
You are being watched (Director Identification Numbers (DINs) update) “It’s on the way – a director ID (Director Identification Number)” I heralded in my June 2020 LinkedIn article (Directors – numbered for life). https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/directors-numbered-life-jennifer-low/ A year later, where are we at with DINs? The DIN was announced as part of the 2020 Federal Budget’s Modernising Business…
Up, up and away… for now (the Kleenmaid saga)
With his successful appeal against his 2020 convictions for fraud and insolvent trading, former Kleenmaid founder and director Andrew Young may have won that fight but possibly not the war. Following the failure of Kleenmaid in 2009, an ASIC investigation and prosecution by the CDPP, there were a number of successful convictions of officers of…
“You must be SO busy!”
The question we have been asked so many times since the COVID pandemic hit. Given the huge disruption to our lives that COVID has caused, and the resulting uncertainty, financial mayhem was predicted. The speculation of a tsunami of insolvencies dominated conversations and the media. In response, the Government took fairly immediate action to implement…
New insolvency regime
On 23 September 2020 at 4:27pm Josh Frydenberg announced “that the Morrison government is embarking on the most significant reforms of insolvency law in almost 30 years”. The government intends to introduce what it claims will be a single, simpler, faster, more cost-effective insolvency recovery process for small business. The new insolvency regime is a…
What type of leader are you?
Most of us lead someone, somewhere, sometime. At work, at home and/or with friends. To the extent that we lead, we usually want to be good at it or like to think we are. But how do you picture or want to picture your leadership style? A benevolent dictator? An exemplar of unparalleled discipline, fabulous…
You can never stand in the same river twice
I keep hearing “When will we be returning to normal after COVID-19”, or from those who acknowledge some things may be permanently changed, the “new normal”. But I balk at the notion that we can ever be in a “normal” state. Returning to normal is not possible, no matter how defined. The world constantly changes,…
Directors – numbered for life
It’s on its way – a director ID (Director Identification Number). A unique identifier that a director will keep forever. The aim is to prevent the appointment of fictitious directors (Homer Simpson, Marilyn Monroe), and facilitate traceability of their profile and relationships with companies over time. Some detail: Expected to begin in the first half…
Positive psychology (a quest for the good life)
Is this for you? Or is it just “fluffy science” or “happiology”? Positive psychology is the scientific study of human flourishing, and an applied approach to optimal functioning. Positive psychology studies what makes life most worth living. Its theory is more than an edict to “be positive” and is far more than self-help material based…
Final chapter in Kleenmaid saga (ASIC’s final clean up)
Kleenmaid, a business founded by Andrew Young in 1980, was an Australian-owned domestic appliance importer and retailer, operating a chain of company and franchised stores across Australia. Its first product was an American-manufactured washing machine sold through appliance service agents. In 2008, rumours started to circulate about the financial stability of the company. Administrators were…
Super Duper – Pardon & Remission
(Super Guarantee Amnesty) Nearly two years after it was first introduced into parliament, the Superannuation Guarantee Amnesty was finally passed by parliament on Monday. The legislation still requires Royal Assent. Normally, if you are late paying your staff’s super: The super payments are not a deductible expense, and You will be charged stiff penalty interest…