Talking Cents

Small business accountants celebrate small business support line

In the past month the Government's Small Business Support Line has celebrated its third anniversary and notched up its 60,000^th telephone call from small business owners. The support line caters for small business queries ranging from business planning, cash flow management, business registrations and personal stress and hardship. Whilst this is a great free service for small business owners who manage their own affairs it concerns us that so many small business owners are not sufficiently educated or do not have the right team of key advisors to support and advise them.

With 37% of all calls dealing with registrations and licences these statistics further back up the recent findings of Dr Philip Lignier of the University of Tasmania that small businesses are now spending on average 500 hours a year on tax red tape. If this is you spending 10 hours per week on tax compliance then you really need to speak with your small business accountant to find a better way of doing business. After all, you did not start your small business to just be a tax collector for the Government. The whole purpose of being in business is to surround yourself with key people to take care of such matters, allowing you to focus on doing what you do best, whether that be the services you provide or goods that you make for your much loved customers. Being informed about the legal/taxation requirements of your business is critical to your success and keeping on top of them will allow you to focus on your key income producing activities. By doing so, you ensure the long term success of your business and alleviate a great source of stress for small business owners.

Working in the small business accounting industry we are happy to celebrate this achievement.