Blog

Payment Delays Costing Small Businesses $1.1bn A Year

Blog
According to a recent report prepared by Accenture and Xero, Australian small businesses are faced with cash flow problems due to three key reasons of delayed payments, seasonal slowdowns, and rising expenses. Following a review of data from more than 200,000 businesses in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, these…

Record High Demand for Accounting Professionals

Blog
Australia is facing a skills shortage as the number of vacancies in the accounting sector continues to grow. There are currently an estimated 9,000 vacancies for accountants, with thousands more of a shortage in other sectors including nursing, disability care, and retail. Overall, employers are struggling to find suitable workers…

Accounting Sector Amongst Top Wage Growth Earners

Blog
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) confirms the seasonally-adjusted wage price index, or WPI, rose by 0.7% as of the June quarter, for the third consecutive quarter. The professional services segment, which includes accounting professionals, saw wages rise by 2.9%. This is one of the highest increases in…

TPB Launches New Corporate Plan

Blog
The Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) has launched its new Corporate Plan for 2022-23. The plan is aimed at helping ensure that consumers of tax practitioner services enjoy excellent service. It also seeks to build more trust with the community in the tax profession and boost the integrity of the tax…

RBA Hikes Interest Rates To 1.85 percent

Blog
Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), Philip Lowe, has announced that the cash rate target has been increased by 50 basis points to 1.85%. This is the fourth consecutive month in which the cash rate has been increased. In June and July, the rate was similarly increased by…

SMEs Driven To Insolvency By Skills Shortage

Blog
With the country facing a severe skills shortage, more and more businesses are being driven into insolvency. This is happening across the economy, from start-ups to long-established companies. The SME segment has been identified as the hardest hit by this situation. Businesses operating in the hospitability industry were highlighted as…

Higher Tax Bills for Queensland’s Interstate Landowners

Blog
Changes to Queensland tax rules will now see landowners with landholdings in other parts of the country have their land tax bill increase from 30 June 2023. The proposed changes that were flagged in December 2021 and have already been included in the most recent state budget, have been termed…

Audit Shield claims activity across Australia 2021-22

Blog
The Accountancy Insurance claims department continues to be busy processing claims from client accounting firms across Australia. The six most common audit activity areas that have been noted were: > Employer Obligations (PAYG/SG/FBT) > Income Tax (Full/General/Combined) > ATO (High Wealth) > Payroll Tax (All States) > BAS (Pre &…

ATO Warns That Filing Early Increases Risk of Mistakes

Blog
The Australian Tax Office (ATO) wants taxpayers to be aware that filing their tax returns early may not be the best option. While you can begin filing returns as early as 1 July, you run the risk of making mistakes as not all required information will have been pre-filled at…

ATO Advice for Lodging Cryptocurrency Losses

Blog
With the recent downturn in the cryptocurrency market, there is likely to be a good number of investors that will be reporting losses. The Australian Tax Office (ATO) is however flagging this as an issue of concern that investors need to be more careful about at tax time. According to…