Chartered Accountants ANZ (CA ANZ) said the Federal Government’s commitment to legislate tax deductions for small businesses is a big win for those already struggling to retain talent.

Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers announced the Government’s intention to legislate initiatives that allow businesses with a turnover of up to $50 million the capacity to deduct 120 per cent of expenditure on the training of staff up until 30 June 2024.

Small businesses will also be able to gain a bonus 20 per cent deduction, which will support the uptake of digital technologies until 30 June 2023.

“This is a big win for small business, and I thank the Federal Government for moving swiftly to legislate these tax deductions proposals as it is something, as a profession, we have been advocating for,” said CA ANZ Chief Executive Ainslie van Onselen.

“Small businesses are grappling with the capacity to retain their staff, and this move will give them certainty to invest in their people and to give their staff some clear pathways in their professional development,” Ms van Onselen said.

“This type of investment may differ between a staff member staying with a business or deciding to pursue another opportunity.

“This is a great boost for smaller businesses in the lead up to the Jobs and Skills Summit in Canberra where I will be representing the accounting profession,” Ms van Onselen said.

“At the upcoming Jobs and Skills Summit, I’m looking forward to sharing solutions to address skilled migration, boost domestic skills and education, and increase the workforce participation of women, mature workers and underrepresented groups.”

Epson has announced its participation in the inaugural Australian Photographic Prize Awards (APP) and Conference, an initiative by Robyn Campbell and Karen Alsop, with over $35,000 worth of prizes across various competitions including the Epson Print Awards.

The Australian Photographic Prize (APP) was born in early 2022 and after months of work behind the scenes and with the support of sponsors including Epson, the APP is now open for entries.

The response has been extremely positive with hundreds of entries already received. Many of these entries have been for the Epson Print Awards, created specifically for professionals but open to amateurs and students also, including international entrants.

After gathering feedback from photographers around the world, the traditional concept of ‘print awards’ has been turned on its head by the APP in the form of the new Epson Print Awards.

In the last few years due to Covid lockdowns, there has been an increase in digital awards, whereby entrants typically enter online, receive a score (and possibly written feedback), but miss out on the excitement of having a print judged in-person by experienced judges.

APP co-founder, Robyn Campbell, said, “There is simply nothing more exciting when entering print competitions than seeing your photography being judged by the best in the industry. You hang off every word that is said. On top of this, if one of the judges decides to challenge for a higher score, it’s validation as a photographer you’ve created an impactful image.”

Also part of the APP is the APP Expo Playground, which will run Thursday 8  Saturday 10 September between 3:30 and 5:30 pm each day at City Edge in Narre Warren, Victoria. This interactive experience will offer attendees the opportunity to try their hand at printing their own work on Epson professional printers and experience a variety of hands-on shooting demonstrations at the Kayell Australia photo studio stand.

The culmination of the four-day event will be a celebration of photography, video and photographic artistry. The APP will bring together professionals, amateurs, experienced photographers and those just starting out.

Epson proudly supports Robyn, Karen and their team in this initiative and will continue to support grassroots and professional photography in Australia, as it has done for decades.

For more information on the inaugural Australian Photographic Prize Awards go to: https://australianphotographicprize.com.au

For more information on the Epson Print Awards go to: https://australianphotographicprize.com.au/epsonprintawards/

At Corporate Traveller, domestic business travel has now bounced back to near pre-COVID levels, with international travel not too far behind. The return of corporate travel, however, brings back the age-old problem of business productivity whilst travelling.

Tom oversees hundreds of Corporate Traveller employees around the world, across dozens of cities, and is required to travel regularly between multiple cities every month, with Toronto, Perth, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, London, and New York already visited.

Tom Walley, Global Managing Director at Corporate Traveller, Flight Centre Travel Group’s flagship corporate travel management provider for SMEs, shares his own tactics for maintaining business productivity whilst travelling – from planning and prioritisation skills to discipline and innovative technologies.

He says: “Being highly productive while travelling is particularly a challenge for business leaders who need to oversee and sign off on deliverables from their teams back home, join virtual meetings, approve budgets, and generally be available for their own managers or board, as well as urgent requests by their direct reports. Getting on impromptu calls, looking over important presentations and contracts are all part and parcel of the deliverables I need to meet while travelling.”

While remote-working technologies over the last two years have eased communication difficulties for people working remotely, working as productively when you are on the move remains a challenge for many business travellers, particularly team leaders who are responsible for managing employees remotely.

“The cost of slowing your usual productivity, however, is plenty of stress and late nights when you do return to HQ. Many travellers often return to a plethora of important deliverables and approvals as they play catch up on emails and deadlines. Some leaders also find that if their productively slows, so does the team’s.

“Just because you’re travelling, your personal productivity and that of your team back at HQ should not slow down if you plan carefully and have the right technologies in place. There is also a way to avoid late nights working in your hotel room.”

Research has found that half (51 per cent) of business travellers admit catching up on office work is the most stressful aspect of travelling for work purposes,[1] while a quarter feel they must work overtime upon returning to the office to make up for lost time when travelling.[2]

9 ways to maintain business productivity whilst travelling.

1. Delegate before you travel. Set realistic expectations to avoid burn-out or missed deadlines and talk openly with your team or managers about what you will and won’t be able to do while travelling. If you have a very tight business trip planned, you will not be able to complete the same workload that you would in the office. Delegate tasks to in-office team members to help maintain productivity in the workplace. If you’re travelling with a team, ensure each person has a balanced workload they can effectively manage.
2. Set up your digital communication and synchronise your files. Tom ensures he has the best fit-for-purpose applications for communicating with his team while travelling, including mobile apps such as WhatsApp and Microsoft Teams. “Before travel, I recommend executives install messaging and virtual meeting apps used by their team on all devices – and synchronise documents and emails across them. You could store large files on Cloud drives such as Google Drive or Dropbox, which provide free capped storage. Just check beforehand if the available free space is adequate for all your files, whether you’ll need to upgrade, and if they support your devices and file types.”
3. Use your most productive time of day for desk work. Tom says, if possible, dedicate one or two time slots per day – when you know you will be most productive – to desk-based work such as presentation updates, approvals, team meetings and any issues management back at HQ.Tom says: “The most productive travellers go beyond this and develop a realistic schedule of meetings, desk work, travel time and leisure activities before their trip to prevent them from taking on impromptu and unnecessary activities on their trip.”
4. Pre-book everything. Tom recommends making advance bookings as much as possible. “Not only flights and transfers, but also transport to and from meetings, meals out, any required in-room hotel meals, any essential hotel dry cleaning, and any leisure activities.”
5. Be selective with your time. Don’t let your travel schedule unravel. Try to avoid meetings running past their scheduled times. Consider using rideshare rather than car hire, so you can work during the drive. Try to have a consistent sleep routine so you won’t need to nap in transit and try to use transit waiting times and flights for work.
6. Fly early. Book an early morning flight, and get a good night’s sleep beforehand, to ensure you have a full and productive day at your destination.
7. Use your hotel or mealtimes for meetings. Tom recommends taking shortcuts and multitasking where possible. If you are staying at a four- or five-star city hotel, you could hold informal meetings for two or three in the lobby café. You could also gauge whether your stakeholders are open to meeting over lunch or dinner.

“Meeting this way can relieve your stress on a jam-packed work trip and lighten the meeting atmosphere. Clients and suppliers will understand that when you are travelling for business, you are trying to squeeze in as many meetings as possible, and they are more likely to accept a meeting over a meal, coffee or at a hotel.”

8. Get the best Wi-Fi everywhere. Choose flights and accommodation with the fastest Wi-Fi. Comfortable internet browsing requires a broadband connection of at least 25Mpbs to support up to two devices. When travelling with colleagues, ensure you have 100-200Mpbs internet to support multiple devices.[3]
   If you are travelling to a rural or regional area, take a prepaid pocket modem or dongle from most telco retailers. When travelling internationally, you will need to weigh up the capabilities of your mobile phone plan, particularly its international roaming offering. For instance, some providers offer as little as $5 per day for international roaming through your existing phone plan.[4] For longer trips, you may benefit from purchasing a local SIM card.
9. Outsource your travel admin. Knowing what you should do yourself, and what you can rely on others for, is an essential part of remaining productive while travelling for work. Tom says: “An increasing number of businesses are partnering with travel management companies in this complex travel environment. You don’t want to think about flight delays, pandemic restrictions, and check-in requirements on a work trip.”

Corporate Traveller, for instance, allows businesses to book transportation and accommodation on a single consolidated platform, backed by a team of travel advisors, the ideal bended approach for SMEs. Business travel itineraries are hosted on the CT.GO app, which features an AI assistant named Sam to notify travellers on the go and carries out simple tasks such as flight check-ins. Tom adds: “Organising your next move while on the go can be unresourceful. Good travel management companies integrate easy booking technology with expert travel advisors to ensure a smooth trip.”

Maintain business productivity whilst travelling

[1] Statista, 2022 statista.com/statistics/777004/stressful-aspects-business-air-travel-worldwide/

[2] NexTravel, 2019 cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/5863384/Business%20Travel%20Productivity%20Report.pdf

[3] BroadbandNow, 2020, broadbandnow.com/guides/how-much-internet-speed-do-i-need

[4] Vodafone, vodafone.com.au/plans/international-roaming

Global demand for cheaper cuts of beef is expected to increase in the year ahead as rampant inflation and slowing economic growth see consumers trade down, Rabobank says in a newly-released report.

And Australia – as one of the largest exporters of beef ‘trimmings’ (the cheaper meat cuts which remain after prime cuts are removed) – is expected to be among the best-positioned countries to benefit from this increased international demand, particularly from the US, the agribusiness bank says in its Q3 Global Beef Quarterly.

“Evidence of declining consumer confidence in the face of slowing economies and rising inflation is starting to build,” the Rabobank report says.

“In general, beef markets are resilient to changes in economic conditions. However, we do see movement within supply channels and price points that tend to favour cheaper options such as mince/ground beef and quick-service restaurants over the more expensive cuts and consumption channels.”

Growing demand for Beef

The bank forecasts the volume of trimmings consumed globally to remain strong and potentially increase in the second half of 2022 as consumers continue to trade down to lower-value beef cuts and cheaper proteins. Trimmings are typically used in the production of ground or minced beef.

“Major importers of trimmings include the US, China, Japan and South Korea,” the report says. “With these countries facing slower economic conditions in the second half of 2022, we expect consumer-purchasing decisions to favor the consumption of trimmings. The US and South Korea face high inflation pressures, whilst China and Japan continue to struggle with slower economic growth off the back of COVID.”

In the US – with its high consumption of ground beef – this should support demand for trimmings both from domestic and imported sources, Rabobank says.

Adding to the changing consumption habits due to economic conditions is the potential for the US to dramatically increase its need for imported trimmings.  The report says that high domestic beef production in the US is reducing the need for imported trimming products.  But, if US production contracts – with a slowing of the current US cow liquidation – higher import volumes will be needed.

And Australia and New Zealand will be in the ‘box seat’ to help fill that demand, says Rabobank senior animal protein analyst Angus Gidley-Baird.

Australia’s increased herd inventory will generate additional grass-fed and female slaughter numbers.

However, a caveat remains for the Australian market with our current limited processing capacity, Mr Gidley-Baird says. “Unless we can correct this, our ability to ramp up production and capitalise on any trimmings demand growth will be limited,” he said.

Global beef market outlook

Rabobank’s Q3 Beef Quarterly says the global beef market remains strong.

“Most beef retail prices (in domestic currencies) continued their upward trend in Q2 or remained steady,” the report says.

Beef prices in most markets are sitting between five and 11 per cent higher than quarter two in 2021, with the UK a notable exception recording a decline in prices as consumer demand for beef has softened due to high retail prices.

Cattle markets worldwide also remain favourable, the report says, supported by either seasonal conditions – in the case of Australia and Brazil – or strong demand, in the case of the US.

There was however some decline in cattle prices (in US dollar terms) from the previous quarter in countries including Australia, Brazil, Argentina and New Zealand.

Australian cattle prices

Cattle prices continued to decline through July, Mr Gidley-Baird said, dropping below “year-ago levels” for the first time in 2.5 years, although we have seen them lift through August.

“Prices remain historically high,” he said. “Although at the end of July the Eastern Young Cattle Indicator for weaner age cattle had dropped 23 per cent since the beginning of the year, there is no need to panic.

“Since the beginning of August, we have seen prices rise again. We feel that the change in the seasons prompts producers to hold cattle, reflected in lower sale yard numbers. With weaner cattle prices dropping the margin for backgrounders has improved which we believe has stimulated some additional demand.”

Mr Gidley-Baird said the bank expects cattle prices to contract through Q3, but the warmer spring months and pasture growth should see some stability return to the market with some possible upside in Q4.

Although Australia’s cattle slaughter numbers are slowly increasing, volumes remain historically low. Mr Gidley-Baird expects overall production for the year to be similar to 2021 at 1.9 million metric tonnes.

While there are many similarities in the actual process of buying a business or a property, leading business sales marketplace AnyBusiness.com.au says that many business buyers are confusing the investment strategies and earnings prospects of the two very different asset types. 

“The key considerations of purchasing a business versus a property are virtually polar opposites. Yet many mum and dad investors and people looking to become their own boss are mistakenly using the same approach for both,” says Mary Tamvakologos, Director of Operations, AnyBusiness. 

“Business is well-known to be a riskier place to invest money compared to property, but what isn’t so apparent is the fact that businesses have a much lower cost of entry. Median house prices across Australia are currently around $747,800¹ – and far higher in some capital cities – while many businesses can be purchased for a fraction of that amount.” 

For example, a fully managed Port Melbourne café is currently listed for sale at just $49,000, while a 40 year-old NSW-based automotive antitheft technology manufacturer is listed at $380,000. 

But perhaps the greatest misconception is that, unless you develop the next Facebook or Google, the greatest financial returns come from property. 

“To a large extent, you can’t control a property’s value: the sale or rental returns are relatively capped by market forces determining the value of similar homes within the same area,” says Mrs Tamvakologos.

“Business owners, however, have virtually unlimited control over their revenue growth and value, which are determined by factors under their stewardship such as marketing effectiveness, operational efficiency, sales conversions and customer satisfaction. And they don’t necessarily have to wait years, or decades even, to realise that growth.” 

Business broker and director of Melbourne-based Paramount Business Brokers, Fred Samoun, says that the property and small business markets (those below $1 million in value) are inextricably linked, as owners often leverage property equity to purchase and operate their business. Yet the similarities largely end there. 

“In the small business space, prospective buyers often ask questions as if it were a property purchase. But aside from the actual buying process – search online, enquire, inspect, make an offer and buy – they are totally different things. So, we have to try and get them to think about it more as an investment,” Mr Samoun says.  

“I often describe a business as a living dynamic beast – you’re not actually buying bricks and mortar or a freehold, but essentially a living entity that will grow and change in response to your inputs.” 

Unlike the largely transactional nature of real estate, business vendors also have a vested interest in its ongoing success under the new owners – making them a valuable resource to leverage post acquisition. 

“A business vendor wants to see the buyer succeed and do well. They have often built the business up over 10 or 20 years and don’t want to see their loyal customers let down,” says Mr Samoun. 

“I have never met a vendor and sold a business from someone who has not wished the business to go on and prosper.”  

Both Mrs Tamvakologos and Mr Samoun concur that their biggest piece of advice for anyone purchasing a business is to do thorough due diligence, with the help of reputable legal, accounting and financial advice. 

“As with a property or indeed any major purchase, it’s important to shop around, obtain good advice and be very clear on exactly what you are getting for your money,” says Mrs Tamvakologos. 

“Similar to perusing property listings on the major portals, business listings sites like AnyBusiness.com.au have filters that allow you to search businesses by industry, price and location. And just like buying a home, a business is somewhere you will spend a great deal of your life – so it’s important to also pay a visit in person before signing on the dotted line, to ‘feel’ it and know that it will be a place you will enjoy.  

“It shouldn’t be purchased on emotion, but it should be somewhere you – as well as your future customers and staff – can feel positive and upbeat.” 

Business vs property – core similarities 

• The need for good advice from your agent/broker plus reliable accounting, legal and financial advice. 
• Negotiations should be based on the business case, not emotion. 
• Presentation is important – know the difference between quality assets and quick makeovers.  
• Listings websites are a great place to find and compare current opportunities – e.g., AnyBusiness.com.au for business listings, Domain or realestate.com.au for property listings. 

Business vs property – key differences 

• Investment risk is higher in business, but the cost to entry is generally lower. 
• Businesses have uncapped revenue and earnings potential. 
• Proper due diligence is even more important for business. 
• People impact business value – customers and employee satisfaction, supplier relations, relationship with vendor. 

Putting off awkward client conversations is costing accountants over $100k each year. New research by Ignition uncovers the financial and human cost of avoiding or delaying awkward client situations in the professional services industry.

According to 97 per cent of accountants and bookkeepers surveyed in a new report, unrecovered out of scope work is costing Australian firms on average over $100,000 each year. What’s more, by putting off awkward client conversations, 43 per say their mental health has suffered.

The new findings in the ‘2022 State of Client Engagement’ report released by Ignition, the world’s first client engagement and commerce platform, shines a light on the financial and human cost to accounting and bookkeeping firms by avoiding or delaying awkward client conversations. Conducted by YouGov, the study interviewed 557 key decision makers in accounting and bookkeeping firms with 1-50 employees in Australia.

“As a former accountant, I’ve experienced my fair share of awkward client conversations,” said Guy Pearson, co-founder and CEO at Ignition. “For many accountants and bookkeepers, the fear of losing a client and the potential impact to the firm causes them to put off having these awkward conversations. We now know this has the opposite effect, with detrimental impacts to their firm, their people and their health and wellbeing.”

Awkward client situations a mainstay in the professional services industry

In Australia, nine in ten (93%) of accountants and bookkeepers have encountered an awkward client situation, with accounting professionals naming the following as the most awkward:

● 78% having to chase clients for late payments

● 76% advising clients that the work they have requested is out of the agreed scope

● 73% finding errors in the client proposals or engagement letters sent manually

On average, one in two accountants and bookkeepers encounter these awkward client situations at least 2-3 times in a month. The most common awkward situations encountered each month include:

● 53% not billing clients for out of scope work

● 51% chasing clients for late payments

● 51% commencing client work without a signed letter of engagement

● 50% sending clients proposals or letters of engagement with errors

Avoiding or delaying awkward client conversations is the norm

In Australia, 95 per cent of accountants and bookkeepers said they have delayed or avoided having an awkward conversation with a client, with 72 per cent saying they were trying to improve or maintain the client relationship. According to respondents, the top barriers to having an awkward conversation are:

● 41% are concerned about the clients’ negative response or reaction

● 37% lack the confidence to confront the client

● 35% lack the information needed about the agreed scope of work

● 33% lack the the skills needed to negotiate with the client

For many accountants and bookkeepers, the fear of losing a client is stronger than the desire to confront or negotiate with a client. In fact, two in five (41%) accountants and bookkeepers have gone so far as to write off all or part of an invoice to avoid having an awkward conversation with a client. When managing increases in the scope of client work, 35 per cent admit they just absorb the increased time and costs themselves.

Avoiding awkward client conversations incurs financial costs

By putting off awkward conversations, accountants and bookkeepers in Australia have traded short-term comfort for the long-term health of their firm. The top financial and business consequences include:

● 41% experienced a loss of potential income for the business

● 36% saw a negative impact to the quality of the work

● 31% faced cash flow pressures

● 23% had to shut down part of the business due to profitability issues

On average, accountants and bookkeepers estimate that out-of-scope work that hasn’t been fully billed is costing their business $8,648 each month. That equates to more than $100,000 each year. In addition:

● 95% experience late payments

● 40% of client invoices are paid after the due date

● On average, client invoices are 31 days overdue

“Overdue client invoices are endemic to accounting firms,” said Pearson. “What the research tells us is that accountants are unwilling to confront clients about bills owing, so they absorb the costs themselves. “In a high inflationary environment, where cash flow is king and a vital ingredient for business survival, firms can no longer afford to put off these client conversations or leave their outstanding payments to chance.”

Avoiding awkward client conversations is taking toll on mental health

Of accountants and bookkeepers that avoided or delayed awkward client conversations, two in five (43%) said it had a negative impact on their mental health and others in the practice. They also report:

● 42% report staff are overworked

● 37% report staff have taken sick leave or time away from work

● 35% report low morale among staff members, as well as resentment (35%)

● 33% report staff have quit and they have difficulty in retaining staff

To learn more, you can find the full report here.

About 48 per cent of all new Australian business start-ups fail within the first four years, and just 77 per cent make their first anniversary, according to new data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
However, the potential for failure isn’t deterring record numbers of Australians from getting into business – and the majority are doing it on their own.
In 2021-22, of the 473,000 new businesses that commenced, just 25 per cent had employees.
RSM Australia Director of Business Advisory Philip Price said non-employing businesses – which covered sole traders and partnerships without employees – comprised 60 per cent of the 2.6 million businesses operating at the end of June 2022.
Despite it being an ‘employee’s job market this new data shows Australians are prepared to take the risk and set up their own business,’’ Mr Price said. In a reflection of Australia’s tougher economic climate and current skills shortages, the number of non-employing businesses increased by 10 per cent in 2021-22, with a net movement of 15,000 surviving businesses changing their status from employing to non-employing,’’ he said.
‘’Interestingly, the reverse happened in 2020-21, when employing businesses increased by 14 per cent, with 58,000 surviving businesses changing from non-employing to employing,’’ he said.
‘’The tightening labour market skills shortage is exacerbated in the current economic and business environment as individuals start new businesses in big numbers.”
However, Mr Price issued a note of caution to Australians who may be unhappy in their current jobs and are considering setting up their own business.
Unfortunately, the survival rate of new non-employing businesses is poor with just 74 per cent still operating after the first year and only 47 per cent still standing after four years,’’ he said.

‘’This compares with a four-year survival rate of 72 per cent for new businesses with 20-199 employees and 70 per cent for businesses with 5-19 employees.’’

Mr Price said sole proprietorships with one owner – also known as sole traders – also had similarly low new business survival rates with only 43 per cent still operating after four years.

‘’Being a sole trader may be the simplest and cheapest business structure to set up, but it’s not the most protective or successful,’’ he said.

‘’These types of entities are risky because they offer no asset protection, with the owner having unlimited liability for all debts accrued.

Do the groundwork to avoid a start-ups fail, first by putting together a business plan and seeking expert advice on the best legal structure to use.”

One in five Australians encounters scams on a daily basis. Avast provides us with the top tips to spot a scam.

A quarter (25%) of Australians encounter scams on a weekly basis, according to research commissioned by Avast¹, a global leader in digital security and privacy. The new research reveals the extent of the scamdemic currently facing Australians with three-quarters experiencing a spike in attempted scams in the last 12 months, and one in five (19%) being targeted by scammers at least once a day.

Historically, email has been the main means by which scammers target their victims, however that risk has now spread to multiple communications channels, with the research showing scams are reaching Australians mainly via email (78%), text message (75%), phone calls (66%), messaging services such as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger (36%), and social media (31%).

While Avast’s research reveals that most Australians (84%) believe they can identify a scam, with 3 in 5 (61%) confident they wouldn’t fall for one, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) Scamwatch tells a different story. Australians have reported over $336 million lost to scams in 2022 (July), compared with $323.7 million over all of 2021, which was already a staggering 84% increase on 2020.

Stephen Kho, cyber security expert at Avast says, “We are in the midst of a scamdemic, and there is a clear disconnect between Australians’ perceived confidence in ability to identify a scam and the increasing amount of money being lost to scams every year. In reality, this is being further fuelled by our own fear of embarrassment, with half (50%) of Australians admitting they would feel embarrassed if they fell for a scam despite the prevalence and sophistication of some of these scams, as scammers get sharper with their tools and scams become increasingly more targeted to individuals’ situations.”

The research shows that nearly nine in ten (89%) respondents agreed that online scams are becoming much more sophisticated, and 44% feel scams are increasingly becoming more personal and targeted. Many (45%) admit that they would be more likely to fall for a scam that addresses them personally by name.

“The best tool we have for combatting this scamdemic is to make a unified effort to speak up about our experiences to help educate others on what to look out for, as scammers become craftier and target us in new ways every day. We need to destigmatise the experience of being scammed,” Kho says.

As experts in digital security and privacy, Avast has created the Scamdemic Centre to help educate digital citizens around scams and trigger important conversations and knowledge sharing with family and friends.

“The vast majority of Australians (85%) agree that there needs to be more education around how to avoid falling for a scam, and Avast’s Scamdemic Centre is aimed at playing a role in that while encouraging Australians to share their experiences to further educate the wider digital community and help tackle this ever-growing issue,” explains Kho.

The three main reasons Australians believe scams are becoming increasingly difficult to spot are advanced technology being readily available to scammers (73%), the many ways scammers can gain access to their victims’ personal information (i.e. text, email, social media) (62%), and the belief that people share too much information online, making them ‘easier’ targets in the eyes of cyber criminals (60%).

“Australians recognise that people are getting complacent with their online security (44%), but with free digital security products like Avast One, this is easily rectified.

“Avast truly believes in prevention, as it is difficult to recover financial losses after being deceived into handing them over to bad actors,” Kho continues.

Tips to help you spot a scam:

• The sender’s name is vague, and the email address is long or convoluted
• The sender’s phone number is international or an unknown local phone number
• The email or message is attention-grabbing or alarmist
• The call you have received is from an unknown number with a robo speaker
• The email or message urges immediate action of some kind
• The email, message or call cites some pretence for seeking your personal information, including asking you to log in or confirm your details on a website
• The email or message requests payment or a transfer of funds
• The email or message urges you to click hyperlinked text or a link without clarifying where you are clicking

The Scamdemic Centre can be found here: https://www.avast.com/en-au/avast-scamdemic-centre#pc

About the research:

¹ The survey was conducted by Pureprofile on behalf of Avast, between 6th June and 8th June 2022, with a nationally representative sample of 1,010 respondents in Australia aged 18-65+ years old.

FLK IT OVER enables property keys to be logged and photographed in a SaaS platform that enables managers to follow up.

A week manning the reception desk to cover Covid staff shortages led FLK IT OVER CEO and Founder Andrew Colagiuri to create a new system for property keys, which he believes is a game changer for property managers. 

“During Covid when the lockdown was introduced for select Sydney suburbs eleven of my fourteen staff were affected, so I chose to man the reception desk and experienced first hand how outdated the check-in and out system for property keys is,” says Mr Colagiuri.

“Like most businesses at the time, there was no option but to roll up the sleeves and do whatever was needed to keep the business going, this meant spending some time on reception,” said Mr Colagiuri. 

“After some research we found most offices still using a checkout book, or excel spreadsheet so there was definitely an appetite for an updated system that not only tracks keys, but works seamlessly and delivers a great experience for their trades who often hold keys and return when they are back in the area,  not knowing the urgency .”

Trades are busy, and on the road a lot so writing messages or answering their phone can be tough which leads to a lot of unnecessary back and forth, but with our smart sms conversations it’s so quick and efficient for them to keep the agent informed and updated.”

“FLK A KEY is an extension of the e-document signing tool FLK IT OVER, that enables keys to be logged and photographed in the platform and an overdue section enables managers to quickly see what keys need to be followed up.” 

“When keys are overdue a text message is sent to any trades or tenants to notify them their keys need to be handed back, FLK A KEY has an automated conversation on the agent’s behalf via sms. It then emails this conversation to the agent. It’s all about using technology to deliver efficiencies .”

“It enables those with the overdue keys the ability to respond with the touch of a button explaining the delay or date of intention for returning the property keys.”

“This puts an end to chasing the return of keys with endless phone calls and the technology makes it very simple to see who needs reminding to return the keys.”

“Chasing 10 outstanding keys can take upto 30min of phone calls and back and forth, now they can let FLK A KEY do that for them and move on to dollar productive activities.”

“When keys go missing, it costs time and money (and sometimes the client) so we want to make sure we remove all three issues for agencies.”

“If the agency has 300 rental properties and uses this technology rather than manually updating the traditional spreadsheets and endless phone calls they usually have 20-30 keys out at any time so the time save nature is massive, plus it’s a great customer service experience.” 

“If agencies want to increase profits they will need property managers to manage more properties and the only way they can do this is through improving efficiencies by using the latest technology.” 

“Since its launch four years ago over 500 real estate agencies are actively using FLK IT OVER, including ASX listed McGrath Estate Agents, translating to 100 percent year on year growth with six figures a month in recurring revenue.” 

“Over 4,500 active property managers are logging in every month to use the system with around 13,000 real estate documents a month.”

“FLK A KEY is available now for property managers to use in conjunction with the FLK IT OVER software.”