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"Keeping the busy professional informed" Welcome to the 2010 December edition of The Quintessential Brief. We hope that everyone is finding some time to get into the spirit of the festive season. As the end of the year approaches, we’re all looking forward to a much deserved holiday break, sunny skies and delicious Christmas food! This quarter in accounting news, we discuss the new Paid Parental Leave Scheme which could be of great help to anyone expecting a baby. In other financial news, we have included some information on this year’s ATO Compliance Focus to help you ensure that you and your business are in compliance with the ATO’s latest rules and regulations. Legally speaking, we look at the integrity of contracts to highlight some possible unfair terms and conditions that you should be aware of when reading and signing a contract. For those who are planning an end of year celebration for their business and employees, we discuss the potential legal impacts of these team building events in our legal news section. Doug Robson, an IT consultant from ViBuilt Solutions, examines the importance of return on investment for IT infrastructure. Our small business news section also observes common characteristics of successful business owners and discusses the qualities that can lead to success. Clarity Marketing provide a guide on the best practice for writing an advertising brief when launching a new advertising campaign or promotion for your business. With the festive season approaching Clarity has also included an article on great team building events which could help make your end of year celebrations the best yet! We hope that you find the information contained in The Quintessential Brief beneficial. If there are any legal, taxes or accounting issues that you would like us to address in future editions, please contact us on 1300 QUINNS or visit our website www.quinns.com.au and submit an online enquiry. You can also register online to receive the latest legal, accounting and financial news updates each week via our Client Alerts. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your loved ones. We look forward to working with you again in 2011. Regards Michael |
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ATO Compliance Focus For 2010/11 - Potential Effects for Small Business The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) recently released its Compliance Focus for the new financial year. The Compliance program expresses the ATO's particular concerns and their plans to combat them, with a focus on tax and superannuation compliance. Small business owners may potentially be implicated in a number of these concerns, which are listed in our article. |
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This historic decision to commit $731 million over five years to Australia’s first comprehensive, statutory Paid Parental Leave Scheme will be available to parents for births and adoptions that occur on or after 1 January 2011. The initiative will provide eligible working parents with 18 weeks of Parental Leave Pay at the National Minimum Wage, currently $570 a week before tax. This will be fully funded by the Government and can be shared between partners. |
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A contract is defined as an agreement or set of promises between two or more parties which is enforceable by law, provided that it meets each of these six requirements:
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Don't Let Your Work Function End With A Litigation Hangover End of year parties present an occasion for employees and clients to mingle and relax but it is important that employers remain aware of the legal obligations they have. As attendance is considered to be “in the course of employment”, employers are considered legally responsible for their employees behaviour. Inappropriate employee behaviour at a work event may not only reflect badly on the employer’s reputation, but it can also potentially result in serious legal implications. |
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Tips For An Effective Advertising Brief
Clarity Marketing When considering launching a new advertising campaign or promotion for your business, it's important to put together a carefully thought-out advertising brief for both yourself and the designer. Taking the time to plan and design the brief properly gives you a greater probability of seeing a higher return on investment for the project, as it allows you to focus the message or idea that you are trying to communicate. It also gives the designer greater clarity about what you are hoping to achieve. |
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Clarity Marketing Team building events can be a lot of fun and rejuvenate relationships with co-workers. Not only can they help reduce tensions between employees, they also allow colleagues the opportunity to open up and get to know each other outside of the work environment. There are many reasons why employers hold team events; these reasons as well as some great team event ideas are discussed in our article. |
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Common Characteristics of Success-Oriented Small Business Owners Though the success of a small business can be qualified in many different ways and across a multitude of fields, there are certain characteristics that tend to exist amongst successful small business owners. These characteristics set them aside as individuals with a strong desire to see their business enjoy longevity and heightened size and revenue. Our article contains six of those characteristics that are considered most important. |
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Information Technology and Workplace Productivity
ViBuilt Solutions Often when organisations set up a new workplace, they implement the Information Technology (IT) required to meet their staff and client needs at that point in time. As they continue to expand and evolve their business, they will likely add more IT equipment and increase their demands on existing infrastructure on an ad-hoc basis. |
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Secure Your Wishes With A Valid Will A Will is one of the most important documents that you will sign in your lifetime. Creating a valid Will is not as simple as most people think, and as a result we advise that is not wise to utilise the 'home-made' or 'newsagents' Will. This document will state how you wish for your assets to be distributed after death, as well as other provisions such as the care of your children if they are under 18 and any other special requests. Simple mistakes, such as style of wording, signing incorrectly or not having the Will witnessed properly can cause a Will to be invalid. If your Will is not valid, it cannot be guaranteed that your final wishes will be carried out as you have requested. |
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Celebrations! The last three months have flown by at Quinns as everyone has been so busy. To relieve some of the tax-time stress, the team was treated with a night at the Gold Class movies. We watched the film Salt, snacked on some delicious food and took some time to enjoy ourselves, relax and catch up with one another outside of the workplace. We celebrated the Melbourne Cup in style at The Harbour View Hotel. It was a great day out with some well deserved drinks and many laughs. I'm sure you'll agree that the team looked great in their best outfits! This quarter also saw us bid a sad farewell to Chrissie from the Accounting team, we wish her all the best for the future. Consequently, we welcome James Zhou and Jerry Wu. Quinns also welcomed aboard our new Junior Solicitor, Karman, who you can get to know a little better in our staff profile on page 8. Welcome to the team! |
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Wats on Tap Pty Ltd
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Disclaimer: The contents of this document titled "The Quintessential Brief" (the "Material") are provided as general information only. It is not intended to be given as advice and should not be relied upon as such. If you are concerned about any issue raised by the Material then you should seek your own professional advice. No warranty is given in relation to the accuracy, currency or completeness of the Material. No reader should act on the basis of any matter contained in this publication without first obtaining specific professional advice. Where applicable, liability is limited by the NSW Solicitors Scheme under the Professional Standards Act 1994 (NSW), and other relevant state legislation. The Quinn Group respects your privacy. Should you not wish to receive this newsletter in the future please contact us on 1300 784 667.