Melbourne grandma steals $850k from her small business employer

An office manager at a real estate agency stole a massive amount of money from the business and says she spent more than half of it on the pokies. Picture: Supplied Frances Vinall Court reporter NCA NewsWire/The Australian, June 10, 2021 A Melbourne grandmother working as a real estate office manager stole more than three-quarters of a million dollars from …

The ATO is switching off its business portal in July. Here’s what SMEs need to know

Eloise Keating SmartCompany, June 9, 2021 The Australian Taxation Office has switched on its new online services platform for SMEs and will soon retire the business portal it is replacing. The changeover means SMEs need to start getting familiar with the new ‘online services for business’ platform before the business portal is retired at the end of July. Work has …

SME lenders promise cash in a flash as competition fires up

James Frost, Financial services writer, Financial Review, Jun 9, 2021 Small business lenders keen to take advantage of delays in the approvals process are spruiking fast turnaround times for loan assessments and payments. As buoyant economic conditions stir the animal spirits of Australia’s 2.5 million small businesses, niche lenders such as OnDeck and global payments giant Square are fine-tuning their …

Main Sequence backs husband-wife team

Main Sequence partner Mike Zimmerman. Source: Supplied. David Swan, Technology Editor  The Australian, June 9, 2021 CSIRO’s deep tech investment fund Main Sequence has led a $3 million Series A funding round for Canberra-based AI compliance software specialist Castlepoint Systems, which has quickly grown from its husband and wife team of two to more than 20. CEO and co-founder Rachael …

Jim’s Mowing franchisee has small win in lockdown battle with Vic government

Jim Penman, founder of Jim’s Mowing, is supporting one of his franchises in a legal fight against lockdown. Melissa Iaria, Reporter NCA NewsWire/The Australian, June 9, 202 Jim’s Mowing has won a bid to have its legal challenge to Victoria’s lockdown heard separately to six other businesses. Jim’s Mowing founder Jim Penman is bankrolling his franchisee Steve Thompson in a …

Hybrid model: Future of flexible work depends on equal access for men and women

Angela Priestley SmartCompany, June 9, 2021 CEW president Sam Mostyn AO. Source: Women’s Agenda. Now well into the second year of this COVID pandemic, it seems like at least some of the changes we’ve seen around work during this period are here forever, especially around expectations on flexible work. But how these giant shifts in work will contribute to future …

Fran Hughes: Beware tax implications of de facto cohabitation

Fran Hughes, The West Australian, 8 June 2021 If you have recently moved in with your partner — or are one of the 10.4 per cent of Australians in a de facto relationship — here’s five implications of your co-habitation come tax time. Credit: SrdjanPav/Getty Images The way we live has changed in the last decades, with the number of …

Mark McGowan vows to stand firm on Government’s public service wage policy, despite pressure from unions

Peter Law, State Political Editor, The West Australian, Wed, 9 June 2021 Premier Mark McGowan. Credit: Daniel Wilkins/The West Australian Mark McGowan is vowing to stare down unions threatening industrial action over his Government’s strict wages policy for public servants. Just months after they helped WA Labor get re-elected, nine unions have formed a “public sector alliance” in a bid …