Communication Tips

I attended an interesting seminar yesterday where Max Walker an Australian cricketer from the 80’s was guest speaker. He reminded us of the infamous underarm bowling fiasco from the Chappell brothers (& yes he was playing in the match and well remembered the booing as they, the Australians left the field.) Interesting the number of people (Gen Y’s who had no knowledge of the event! Must be getting old …)

Anyway, I really appreciated his spin (please excuse the pun!) on communication. When was the last time YOU had a decent conversation with your team or supervisors? There IS a need to interact, to make contact on a regular basis

Some tips ….

*        Listen! Listen! Listen!

*        Show you’re interested … nod, smile, stay focussed

*        Clarify! Clarify! Clarify!                      

*        Ask Questions!

*        BE present ie be aware of preparing to reply or jumping ahead in your thoughts

*        Be aware of your OWN attitude (take ownership)

*        Be aware of mood – your and theirs (take ownership)

& remember, most importantly to ….

                       

*        Include “thank you” in your conversations.

To succeed... You have to believe in something with such a passion that it becomes reality - Anita Roddick

Lower tax and less time filling in forms

Imagine small businesses having the ability to put their time into business; not working for the government doing tax compliance work.

The Institute is putting a proposal to the Government to massively reduce the cost and complexity of tax matters for SME’s. The aims are:

• Tax takes less than an hour a week

• One GST and Income tax a month or less

• No FBT or provisional tax.

They are looking for your support and comment.

We are the people/businesses that will be most affected.

Summary of Small Business Taxation recommendations:

• A simplified tax system for businesses with turnover of less than $1.2 million per year.

• A merger of the sole trader and company/partnerships entities for tax purposes, thus removing the transactions between the business earning entity and its owners

• The owners pay tax on the basis of the personal tax rates (starting at 12.5 percent, up to 38 percent)

• Income tax will be calculated and paid two monthly on a simplified cash basis on the GST return
  
  
• No end of year balance date and square up issues
  
  
• Trading stock (except for livestock) purchases are deducted on a cash basis - no need for stock takes for tax purposes.
  
  
• No provisional tax, no fringe benefit tax and no entertainment tax
  
  
• Simplified rules for depreciation.

Download the website and report here.



An interesting summary published by the NZ Institute of Chartered Accountants gives a very readable commentry.

Please share this with your associates and lets see if we can make a difference.


To succeed... You have to believe in something with such a passion that it becomes reality - Anita Roddick