Empowering Smes

The Corporate Governance Network, being presented by ESS Small Business, will give SME company directors and committee members of not-for-profits, charities, sporting and social organisations the opportunity to listen to commentary presented by a panel of experts relative to the operation of businesses and organisations and to consider the development of action plans for their own professional development and for their businesses or organisations.  The Corporate Governance Network is being presented in 8 x 90-minute webinar/workshops during 2018/19.

Directors/committee members need an understanding of the strategic planning process that will assist the development of their company/organisation.  Few directors are able to make the journey from an SME company director to chairman of a listed public company.

Company directors and committee members of organisations have a clear responsibility to protect their company’s/organisation’s assets. For many companies/organisations, debtors are a large asset. The “management of debtors” is a key area for directors/committee members to enquire about – to satisfy themselves that appropriate systems have been implemented and that the systems are operating efficiently.

Welcome to Empowering SMEs. An awareness of human resources laws and best practices is an important component of a company director’s and committee member’s knowledge base. Whilst it is true that directors should authorise a company’s human resources system and that it is management’s role to implement that system, directors have an ongoing responsibility to regularly enquire as to the effectiveness of the system. Many directors of small/medium enterprise companies will also be management team members and they, therefore, have two key responsibilities – as a director, signing off on the human resources policy and monitoring the effectiveness of the system and as a management team member, implementing the human resources’ system.

Hello, I’m Peter Towers, Managing Director of ESS Small Business and ESS BIZTOOLS.  Welcome to Empowering SMEs. Directors of small/medium enterprise companies, committee members of not-for-profits, charities and sporting organisations need an overall understanding of “business” to carry out their duties. An understanding of “business” is what “corporate governance” relates to.   Many directors and committee members do not fully appreciate the wide range of items that they are legally responsible for, once they are appointed a director or committee member.  It is this awareness and understanding of a director’s key role and responsibilities that we’re trying to articulate through the series of webinar/workshops on “corporate governance”.

Today we’re going to look at the Research and Development Tax Rebates and the Export Market Development Grant.

Good leadership is needed in every type of business, whether it’s a sole trader, partnership, trust or company, with a turnover of any level, or your entity is a not-for-profit, charity or sporting organisation.

Directors and committee members of charities, not-for-profits and sporting organisations need to be aware of the legislation that applies to either companies or not-for-profit type organisations.  What is the best practise?  What are the ethics of running businesses or organisations?

Revelations from the Banking Royal Commission have highlighted that directors have a responsibility to: develop policies and strategies for their company; and make sufficient enquiries to satisfy themselves that management and the team have appropriately implemented systems to ensure that the policies and strategies signed off by the directors are working efficiently.

This series of articles is part of the Corporate Governance Network and today’s subject is “People Issues with Directors and Committee Members”. Company directors, committee members for not-for-profits, charities and sporting organisations have a very important responsibility when it comes to “people issues” within their organisations.  So, lets look at some of the “people issues” that we will be exploring in some depth in the Corporate Governance Network series of webinars/workshops, which commences on Wednesday 9th May 2018.

Corporate governance requires an awareness of “All Things Financial”. Company directors and committee members of not-for-profits and charities, together with officers in all types of organisations need to have an awareness of a wide range of financial matters.

Hello, I’m Peter Towers, Managing Director of ESS BIZTOOLS.  Welcome to Empowering SMEs. Today I want to talk to you about awareness of legislation, because this is a very important component of the new Corporate Governance Network Product that we are releasing, with the first webinar/workshop on the 9th May 2018.

Today I'd like to talk to you about a new concept that we’ve developed which we’re calling the Corporate Governance Network. Over the last two years, through our consulting business – Towers Business Development Pty Ltd – we have conducted a series of workshops on behalf of the AusIndustry (a department of the Federal Government) on the Role & Responsibilities of Company Directors.

Accountants who are committed to offering business advisory services to their clients will contribute to adding value to their clients’ businesses.

The long-awaited legislation for Crowd-Sourced Funding becomes operational from 29 September 2017.  This is great news for the small/medium enterprise community who have long suffered from a disadvantage in that they have been unable to go to the market to raise capital.  Instead many small/medium enterprise operators have had to take out second and third mortgages on their homes, borrow from relatives and friends and run up large debts on credit cards so that they were able to finance their business operations.

Australia earned a very dubious title a couple of months ago that Australia has the worst debtors' days outstanding in the world.  Not a very attractive title to win.  I'd rather win the world cup!  But we have won the dubious title of having the highest debtors' days outstanding in over 80 countries.   The Australian government's Small Business Family Business Ombudsman, Kate Carnell has described this as the "silent killer of modern business".   She has indicated that she is going to talk to government departments and big businesses about improving their debtors' payments.  However, I believe there is another contributing factor to this problem and that is unfortunately, many small/medium enterprises do not have effective debtors' systems in operation.  This has occurred because many of you were not able to get appropriate advice at the time when you started business and you didn't know the intricacies of what's involved in appropriate debtors' management.

A very unwanted title has been awarded to Australian small/medium enterprise operators with the announcement that Australian small businesses have the “largest debtors' days outstanding in the world".  (Download Australian Financial Review Article) The survey was conducted by UK-based “Market Invoice” which found that Australian businesses were being paid 26.4 days later than the traditional payment period, far later than the next latest country, Mexico with 18.6 days or South Africa with 16.5 days late. Based on the traditional 30-day payment terms this means that Australian small businesses are being paid on an average of 56.4 days which the Australian Government Small Business Ombudsman, Kate Carnell described as the “silent killer of modern business”. Ms Carnell said that “in Australia more and more small businesses are falling victim to the unscrupulous payment practices of some big businesses – and even government departments – that are quite frankly a drag on productivity”.

Today I want to talk to you about innovation.  Innovation is important in Australia.  The Australian government has recognised this by introducing an Innovation Statement and a range of legislation to support innovation.   The first new law to be introduced related to Early Stage Innovation Companies.  That will apply to: entrepreneurs inventers companies; and business people who are developing new products, processes or services and other new types of products.   This legislation commenced from 1st July 2016; yes, it's already operating.  Unfortunately, the government, for whatever reason, has not fully promoted and publicised that this new, exciting legislation is now operational.  That's unfortunate, because this legislation will give many small/medium enterprise operators, inventors and entrepreneurs the opportunity to present your business to potential investors who, hopefully, will then be encouraged to make investments in your types of companies.   Why don't you undertake some research to see whether

Hello, I'm Peter Towers for ESS Small Business.   We have a special webinar coming up on the 19th October 2016 for small/medium enterprise operators who are looking for a boost to their businesses.   This webinar is particularly aimed at people aged over 50 who are operating businesses.  But don't worry, those of you who are younger it also equally applies for you; because one day, you'll also be 50.   The presentation is going to be made by Lorraine Pirihi.  Lorraine is going to be looking at freeing up time and what matters to you, as a business operator.   The key items to be discussed include: Get the right team in place. Master the skill of productive marketing. Staying on track with effective systems. Focus on creating wealth. Make time for yourself and time for your family and priorities.   Lorraine Pirihi is a coach, a productivity expert, a mentor, a speaker and author and I'm sure that she will make a great presentation which will make you think about various aspects of your business.   Why don't