Around 300 people gathered at the Dockside conference venue at Cockle Bay in Sydney to hear the winners of the 2007 ActionCOACH My Business Awards announced. Nearly 500 businesses had entered the 2007 Awards from which the 27 finalists were selected for the eight categories.

The ActionCOACH Award for Outstanding Excellence and the Cisco Award for Best Young Business was won by the healthy foods franchise chain, Healthy Habits, founded by MD Katherine Sampson.

Since commencing its franchising program in 2005, the company has expanded rapidly from three to 26 outlets. In accepting the ActionCOACH and Cisco Awards, Katherine commented that “ For me, success is what I have left behind, the difference I have made, not the dollars I have made.”

Congratulating Katherine, Brad Sugars, the Chairman of ActionCOACH said that “ the judges had been “ most impressed by a company that can take an old idea and make it new again.”

The winners of the categories were:

• The GIO Award for Best Small Business: Health Protect International - MD Nicson White
• The Imagine Award for Fastest Growing Small Business: Contours Express - CEO Dave Hundt
• The Provident Inventory Finance Award for Best Medium Business: Production Parts - MD Peter Nicholls
• The NSW Business Chamber Award for Best Regional Business: R Radford and Son - MD Robert Radford
• The NEC Award for Best Technology in an SME: SmartBurn - Director Peter Hutchinson
• The Melbourne IT Award for Best E-Business: Nelson International - MD Gary Nickless
• The Optus Award for Best Young Gun in Business: Expect A Star Education Services - CEO Ryan Meldrum

My Business Editor, Peter Stirling, congratulated all the finalists and winners adding that “ the great aspects of these Awards is that it encourages people to strive to succeed and so the very best that they can to achieve their goals.”

The sponsors of the 2007 ActionCOACH My Business Awards were: ActionCOACH, Cisco,GIO, Imagine Essential Services, Provident Inventory Finance, the NSW Business Chamber, NEC, Melbourne IT and Optus.

Visit www.mybusiness.com.au/awards for more.

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All employers whose business operates under a Federal award are obliged to circulate a new ‘Workplace Relations Fact Sheet’ to their staff, regardless of whether they have signed their staff up to an Australian Workplace Agreement (AWA).

The one-page fact sheet summarises the Australian Fair Pay and Conditions Standard, record-keeping obligations, unlawful dismissals, the Fairness Test, and freedom of associations.

Failure to distribute the fact sheet can result in a fine (payable by the employer) of $110 for each employee who was not shown the sheet. Employers have until October 20 to present the sheet to existing employees, and all new employees starting after Friday July 20 must be given the fact sheet within seven days of commencing work. To obtain a copy of the Fact Sheet go to www.workplace.gov.au

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SME cashflow financing specialist, Provident Cashflow Ltd, has introduced a new financing facility to help businesses pay for goods being produced by outsourced contractors.

The new working capital facility follows on from the original inventory finance that Provident introduced two years ago to enable businesses to pay for stocks that they wanted to purchase. The new facility takes the financing further down the production cycle by allowing businesses to pay, via the facility, for the production of the goods being manufactured by a third party.

The Managing Director of Provident Cashflow Ltd, Matthew Nolan, said that the production finance facility was being launched in response to requests from clients to help fund their production costs. “Suitable production costs that can now be financed include a wide variety of outsourced manufacturing, refining and processing costs, that each adds value to goods for resale.”

Provident Cashflow Limited introduced its unique inventory finance facility to Australia in 2005.“We recognised a funding gap existed in the cash flow cycle of our manufacturing clients” said Matthew Nolan,.“They needed a new source of capital – production finance - to increase available production levels and drive sales growth.”.

Production finance is available without any requirement for real estate equity, and there is no requirement for the stock being produced to be pre-sold.

“Clients currently use inventory finance to buy goods such as jeans or fabric to make jeans, but until now no one has funded the production processes needed to convert fabric into jeans. Production finance changes all that as outsourced production costs such as cutting, sewing and machining can all be financed” said Mr Nolan.

Suitable industries include textiles and clothing, furniture, food, building materials, electronics and petroleum. The funding is available prior to commencement of production, enabling businesses to secure upfront payment discounts.

For more information contact Provident Inventory Finance Limited
Ph: 1800 763 012 www.inventoryfinance.com.au

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The CEO of the Council of Small Business of Australia (COSBOA), Tony Steven, has welcomed the timing of the election and said that it will be an opportunity for business to raise issues including the efficiency and equity of competition in the business community, and industrial relations.

Mr Steven said “The Government has made some recent changes to the Trade Practices Act, however, ensuring competition is delivering the best outcomes for the consumer is still a work in progress. If the Coalition is re-elected, COSBOA will be looking for far more reaching amendments to protect competition and deliver a fair go to small businesses.”

He said that if Labor is elected, COSBOA will lobby hard for the unfair dismissal exemptions and AWAs to be retained. “The ALP have announced a Fair dismissal code of conduct and small business would need this to be far more reaching than currently proposed to ensure employment confidence was retained and unemployment is kept at the current low levels,” he said.

Website www.cosboa.org.au

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The Workplace Authority is to undertake an audit of employers that could result in businesses being ordered to make back payments to staff where there has been an underpayment identified within an AWA.

The Workplace Ombudsman, Nicholas Wilson, said that employers would be given the opportunity to comply voluntarily with the fairness test but those who failed to rectify the pay position could be prosecuted.

The Workplace Authority, mostly because of inadequate information from employers about the previous pay and conditions under which staff were employed, has rejected a large number of AWAs. Businesses that are having trouble in meeting any back pay, because of underpayment, would be allowed to make up the arrears in instalments.

The fairness test was introduced in May and applies to all employees on AWAs who are earning under $75,000.

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The Federal Government has eased what was a draconian charge on businesses which are late in submitting their superannuation guarantee charge (SGC) payments for their employees.

Employers were penalised an equal amount to the SGC owing – in effect having to pay it twice – for late payments plus interest. The change to the penalty means that employers who make a late Superannuation Guarantee (SG) payment do not pay the same amount twice.

Employers are required to make SG contributions on behalf of employees quarterly. The SGC penalty has generally included the amount of the late contribution even where the employer has paid the amount into a superannuation fund, albeit late.

The Federal Minister for Revenue, Peter Dutton said “The Government will amend the law to ensure that employers will not have to pay the contribution twice. Ultimately, the employer has already made their SG contribution for the employee. However, employees will still be entitled to interest to compensate them for the late payment.”

“The Tax Office continues to pursue employers who have SG debts owing to their employees. Penalties and interest will continue to be imposed on employers who fail to make their SG payment on time,” Mr Dutton said.

The changes to the law will take effect from the date of Royal Assent of the amending legislation. From Royal Assent, employers will be able to use the offset, including employers who have already been assessed with the SG charge and which remains unpaid at Royal Assent. Until the changes become law, employers who are in these circumstances should contact the Tax Office to discuss their situation.

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In the real estate world, the cry ‘position, position, position’ emphasizes the importance of a good location. In the vvirtual world, it is much the same. Just like a house in a desirable suburb, a domain name in a sought after top-level domain (TLD), such as ‘.com’, will be more valuable than one in an obscure country-coded domain..

Well, in the virtual world, Asia is now up for grabs. A new ‘.asia’ TLD has been created for businesses in the Asia/Pacific region (including Australia). A great rush for domain names with the ‘.asia’ suffix can be expected.

In order to avoid brand misappropriation, businesses with pre-existing rights will be given certain priority. A series of ‘sunrise’ periods have been allocated which precede the ‘.asia’ TLD becoming operational. During these sunrise periods, which extend from 9 October 2007 to 15 January 2008, businesses may apply for registration of ‘.asia’ domain names, which correspond with their pre-existing brands (or company names).

After the ‘sunrise’ periods, there will be ‘landrush’ period (in February 2008) and then, from March, ‘.asia’ domain name registrations can be sought on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.
According to Philip Macken, of Macken IP, Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys, all Australian businesses should consider seeking ‘.asia’ domain name registrations for their major brands. “This is a unique opportunity to secure domain names for important brands, covering the entire Asia/Pacific region, at relatively low cost. Not only will the registration of these domain names have great value but this will also prevent competitors (or cybersquatters) misappropriating these names.”

Enquiries regarding ‘.asia’ domain name registrations can be made to Philip Macken (philip@mackenip.com.au Tel 02 9960 0005

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A common problem facing most small businesses today is that they’re simply not big enough to justify an internal IT staff member. Conversely, they’re not so small that they don’t have ongoing IT support requirements. This leaves many small businesses in a precarious position as they’re left at the mercy of IT outsourcers charging $100+ per hour.

Nik Devidas, from Rock IT in Melbourne says “The glaring problem with casual IT arrangements is that you are only getting reactive support – your system has to stop working before you can get the problem fixed. This costs you money whilst your staff are idle waiting for help to arrive.”
The alternative is a fixed-cost support agreement. Rock IT’s support agreements include unlimited hours of monthly support and proactive services such as monitoring and maintenance. “The aim is to ensure that for one monthly fee a small business can be confident about their IT spend. It also puts the onus on the support company to ensure that their customer’s network is up.”

For more information, contact Rock IT Consulting on 1300 304 328 or go to http://www.rockitsupport.com.au

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Logistics company, DHL, has launched the world’s first shipping service that eliminates the need for manual paperwork, therefore dramatically streamlining international business processes.

The new service will appeal to SMEs where time is sensitive. DHL’s customers can now submit shipment details electronically using DHL eMailShip, an industry-first that allows air waybills and other required paperwork to be prepared offline using the Adobe Acrobat PDF or Microsoft Excel format.

Once complete, the shipment details are submitted to DHL electronically via email. On receipt of the completed forms, customers receive a confirmation email with an attached air waybill and the necessary declaration forms to print and attach to their shipment.

In addition to easier shipment processing, users can also arrange shipment pick-ups at the click of a mouse and access shipment documents without having to search through files of paperwork. It also allows details entered in previous electronic forms to be re-used for subsequent shipments.

The easy-to-use DHL eMailShip does not require additional software installation, password or hardware, beyond the basic configuration of a PC equipped with Internet connection, email system, the relevant Acrobat Adobe or Microsoft Excel programs and a printer.

To download a complimentary copy of eMailShip, please visit www.dhl.com.au where a handy user-guide with step-by-step instructions for using the tool is also available.

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Standards Australia is producing an Employment Screening handbook to assist employers reduce the risk of potential security breaches and ensure the identity, credentials and integrity of staff and contractors.

The new handbook will support the Australian Standard for Employment Screening (AS 4811-2006), the only Standard of its type in the world. Mr John Tucker, CEO of Standards Australia said consumer confidence is critical to the ongoing growth of industry. An important part of this is the trustworthiness and honesty of an organisation’s employees.

“The illegal, unethical or negligent actions of a single staff member or contractor can result in major financial, performance or safety related harm – damaging the reputation of any organisation,” said Mr Tucker.

“It will help industry to put in place measures that will reduce the risk of individuals using fraudulent and deceptive means to gain employment, advancement or other benefits to which they may not be entitled or suitably qualified,” Mr Tucker said.

For more information, contact Standards Australia on www.standards.org.au

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The ACCC has released a Franchisee Manual covering topics such as: the application of the Franchising Code of Conduct; advantages, disadvantages and responsibilities of being a franchisee; steps that should be taken before choosing a franchise; how to research and verify information about a franchise; steps that should be taken to understand and evaluate a franchise agreement and how to resolve a dispute.

"The Franchisee Manual is a comprehensive publication that will assist people thinking about buying a franchise and also existing franchisees to understand and comply with the Franchising Code," ACCC Victorian Regional Director, Mr Bob Weymouth, said.

A printed copy of the publication is available at no cost by calling the ACCC Small Business Helpline on 1300 302 021 or it can be downloaded from the ACCC website.

To view the franchisee manual - click here.

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Value Finders is a procurement company specialising in suppling consumer and commercial electrical goods, including televisions, entertainment systems, ovens and fridges, for small to medium enterprises, corporates and government sectors.

It is able to source products at attractive prices by aggregating the demand for these products, thus producing attractive discounts for SME customers. Value Finders can supply nation-wide and is not limited by product or brand.

“Using Value Finders is a convenient way for businesses to resolve their procurement problems, save time and money, and focus on their core business,” Mr Witts, Value Finders CEO. said. “Once people understand what we do they can't believe it hasn't been done before.”

“SMEs don't generally have buying power to receive large discounts on purchases. As Value Finders buys on behalf of businesses on a consistent basis we are able to receive significant savings that we pass onto our customers. In addition, as Value Finders is a service provider we do not have warehousing or retail front overheads. This lowers our operating costs and is another way we can save customers money that traditional retailers cannot do.”

Value Finders will project manage the entire process, from sourcing the goods, to organising delivery at the required date and arranging for the goods to be installed if required. Dealing with only one company can be a great time-saver, especially on multiple purchases.

In addition to saving time and money, an important benefit Value Finders provides to its customers is the ability to source any brand available in Australia. Some people may also be surprised to discover that getting the product they need, when they need it, can be a challenge in Australia as we are not a large market on a global scale and demand often exceeds supply.

For further information tel 02 9922 3713 email: valuefinders@iinet.net.au

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