17/06/2016 by Lavina Webb Anyone who has been working for more than three months, either full-time or part-time, must be reasonably competent at what they are doing. If they were not, chances are they would have been asked to leave well before their probationary period was up. However, just because they are good at their jobs does not mean they know everything about our taxation system. We know that, because our jobs are all about our taxation system. We are

11/11/2016 by Lavina Webb It seems that every celebrity or sports star, at the end of their career, writes a no-holds-barred book about their road to success. Many of them have one person, among others who influenced their career, who provided crucial assistance at just the right times, to keep them grounded. They describe their relationship with this person as that of a mentor, and believe this was the difference between a solid career and a stellar one. Mentoring an

17/12/2016 by Lavina Webb Over the last five years in Australia, the number of SMSFs (self-managed superannuation funds) has grown by 27% and the latest figures show that there are almost 600,000 SMSFs managing $624 billion or 30% of all superannuation. The other 70% or $2.11 trillion is invested in professionally managed superannuation funds. These funds are the default funds for compulsory superannuation contributions, with some performing better than others over the last ten years, but all having little involvement

09/01/2017 by Lavina Webb For many Australian businesses 2016 has not been a good year, with some large and very well-known retail names going into liquidation. Masters hardware chain, Dick Smith and now Payless Shoes have shed thousands of jobs and left premises empty, with Dick Smith only surviving as an online store. Small Businesses Need Outside Help A well-known business publication, when discussing the various reasons for the demise of many businesses, noted that poor decision making and unsustainable