Issue 126 May 2017

Scott Brady, founder and director of Brady Perspectives, has had a full and interesting career to date, including being an Australian Army Officer, working in intelligence, undertaking two tours of East Timor. After leaving the Army in 2007, Scott worked for Noetic Corporation, in the United States, working on three big projects for the US Department of Defence, looking at...

It is with great pleasure that Apis announces a number of recent staff promotions to support the growth of its Canberra based professional services team. Apis has operated in the Nation's capital for over fifteen years, offering specialist services across strategic planning, programme and project management, business and systems analysis, user research, product delivery, change management and complex procurement. "We...

Airport lounges, once a haven of the elite and well-heeled travellers, are now most often the province of business types. So, whilst awaiting the departure of a flight recently and patronising such an establishment, I happened across a copy of that revered publication, The Australian Financial Review, open at an article headed "Accountancy firms liable for underpayments". As an accountant...

Businesses often see their branding misappropriated. However, the range of intellectual property and allied rights which can attach to branding means care must be taken in developing a suitable strategy before taking action. Branding registered as a trade mark If the branding in question has been registered as a trade mark, then the simplest course is to consider trade mark...

Do you provide employees with a business credit card associated with a customer loyalty program? Are employees able to convert loyalty points accumulated in connection with the business credit card to rewards (e.g. goods, personal flights, holiday accommodation etc.)? Do you as an employer use the points accumulated under your business credit card to reward employees (or potential employees) with...

Native Advertising is the future of advertising, magazines, newspapers, blogs and websites. It is basically paid editorial or advertorial. Or you could call it 'content marketing'. The way the old media (including online) worked was that the content was written by journalists and was 'objective', 'unbiased' and 'news'. There was a solid brick wall between 'journalists' and 'advertising'. The thought...

Marketing in today's world is confusing. There are traditional offline marketing mediums like print, TV, radio, outdoor advertisements and there are online options such as search engines, blogs and social media. Ideally, your marketing mix should have both offline and online mediums. In this article, let's focus on the online bit and break it down into smaller chunks. Before we...

For the first time in my life, last week I felt old … and I'm only 48. If my body holds out, and medical technology continues to improve, I reckon 90 is not a bad target. So, I'm just past halfway. Knock out the first 20 years and the last 10 and I reckon on a productive life of about...

Before you know it, the end of financial year will be here. Is your business ready? Tax is always something to consider as it is a large cost to most businesses. Looking at your business and personal situation in advance of the year end can provide tax planning opportunities. It may be that there is an opportunity to obtain additional...

Australia wide, there are approximately 280,000 complexes, with around 40% of the population currently living in a strata environment. You just need to look around at all the complexes currently being built around Canberra to understand this is only going to increase. Green Field sites are areas not previously developed, and as for all complexes, the developers have certain legislative...

According to a survey conducted by Discover Financial Services in 2008, lack of cash flow is a major problem for nearly 44 percent of all small businesses. While it is only natural for a business to experience fluctuations in income, generating sustainable cash flow is perhaps the only way to remain afloat. The irony of the situation is that a...

Most of us are regularly exchanging data over networks with organisations, people and devices. With cyber-attacks becoming more common, strategic and methodologically diverse, I'm amazed by how many people take their online security for granted and don't implement some very basic cyber security controls. The following are a few simple steps to increase your cyber security. 1. Use a password...

The challenge of late paying customers is one that every business has to deal with at some stage. Typically, there are four types, so read on if you want to find out who you could be dealing with. 1. In their own time The chronic late paying client can be an ongoing challenge. Often it's the big corporations or government...