Welcome to the seventh edition of The Blueprint
As the year draws to a close we reflect on what has been a very difficult year for most business, from collapses in the global financial markets to the strength of the Aussie dollar, business has experienced its most difficult times this decade.
As with all things, new life begins and over the last month we have seen a lot more activity bringing much needed hope for the New Year.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our readers a Merry Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year.
Enjoy this edition of The Blueprint.
Regards,
David Carpenter
Partner
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The Fair Work Act - Is your business prepared? |
| The Fair Work Act - Is your business prepared? |
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The Fair Work Act 2009 (FW Act) sets out a number of requirements that business, including small business, needs to be aware of. Aspects of the FW Act commenced on 1 July 2009 including new unfair dismissal laws and the small business fair dismissal code, as well as requirements for employees and employers to bargain in good faith when making enterprise agreements. |
One of the key aspects of the Fair Work Act is the treatment of existing agreements and Awards. These will be treated as follows:
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Existing |
FWA |
| AWAs | Continue until terminated (even after expiry date) |
| Transitional Instruments (All other types of agreements) |
Continue until terminated (even after expiry date) |
| Individual Transitional Arrangements | Continue until terminated (even after expiry date) |
| State Based Awards (NAPSAs) | Continue until 1/1/2014 |
For further details in relation to FW Act click here
Action checklist prior to 1 January 2010
- Have you found out which award your business is currently covered by and which modern award you will be covered by after 1 January 2010?
- Have you looked at the minimum conditions of the award and the minimum wage rates for each classification and checked that you are either above or below them. You then need to look at the transitional arrangements for moving wages and conditions up or down (i.e. 1.25% every 1 July to 2014).
- Are arrangements in place so that your business will comply with the National Employment Standards when they come into force on 1 January 2010?
- Are you keeping the required records and giving employees pay slips?
- Are you aware of your options for making an enterprise agreement with employees?
- Do you understand how to bargain in good faith if you want to make an enterprise agreement with employees?
- Do you understand and are you able to comply with the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code if terminating an employee's employment?
- Is your business equipped to prevent unlawful dismissals or adverse action matters from arising?
- You will need to get copies of the Fair Work Information sheet (FWIS). The FWIS must be given to all new employees, who commence employment after 1 January 2010. It does not need to be provided to any existing employees.
- If you have a HR or staff policy manual, you will need to adjust this to reflect the new conditions etc.
| Payroll system and Fair Work Act |
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Is your payroll system ready for the changes with the Fair Work Act?
For a free assessment of your payroll system please contact our Business Software & System Solutions team or visit our website at www.cutcher.com.au/software and follow the link through to HR3Pay for further information. |
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| Lending volumes swing from majors |
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The latest issue of Mortgage Business reports that healthy competition is returning to the Finance Industry with lending volumes beginning to swing away from the major banks. The issue reports on the speech by Mortgage Choice CEO Michael Russell at a media lunch this week. |
The report is an interesting overview of recent movement in the industry and highlights that :-
- Greater lender competition is essential to ensure borrowers get a fair deal
- Greater competition with the majors would encourage lower rates and fees as well as broader range of loan features.
- Healthy competition encourages lenders to stay on their toes in terms of quality and price of loan products, which is of vital importance to the health of the market and the health of consumer choice.
Data released by Mortgage Choice shows that while the lion's share of its business is still written by the majors there is a clear swing emerging back towards second - tier and non - bank lenders.
Volumes to the big four have fallen from a peak of 75 per cent in the first quarter of 2009 to a forecast 57 per cent in the first quarter of 2010.
Non-banks have recovered from a low of 1 per cent to 4 per cent over the same time frame.
Over the last year banks outside the big four have recovered from a 21 per cent share to an estimated 34 per cent share in the first quarter of 2010.
| Meet David Carpenter |
David Carpenter is a Partner with Cutcher & Neale and is part of our Business Services division. David's qualifications include Bachelor of Commerce from The University of Newcastle, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA), a Fellow of the Taxation Institute of Australia and Member of the Australian Institute of Management. He also has extensive experience assisting SME’s in the industrial sector in dealing with their accounting, taxation and business advisory needs.
David is a keen sportsman enjoying all forms of sport. He is a keen golfer. David is married with two children.
David’s expertise is in the following areas:
- Taxation Advice and Planning
- Business Structure Consultancy
- Business Planning, Reconstruction and Valuation
- Management Consultancy
- Franchise Consultancy
- Goods & Services Tax
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