The end of the financial year is fast approaching and we would like to remind you that the new year brings big changes to your superannuation obligations as an employer.

We are right on top of these amendments, so if you are unsure about how they will affect your business, do read the short list below and get in touch to discuss further – we’d love to hear from you for a chat!

This month we also take you through part 2 of our 3-stage plan for changing the way we work in our office. This includes our new intranet system and why it’s so much better than the old one.

Lastly, we chat to Andrew from Batir Wealth about the #1 reason why you should seek advice from a financial planner about wealth management, you might be surprised by his answer. Scroll down to read the full interview.

Until next time, enjoy the read.

Business Tips
Expert tips and reminders to keep you well-informed.

Have you heard about the new superannuation changes?

On July 1st 2013 new superannuation laws will take effect in Australia and as an employer you are obliged to comply with the new changes. Some of these include:

• New rates for compulsory super payments (increase to 9.25% and eventually up to 12%).
• Super payments for employees aged 70 and over.
• MySuper replaces default super accounts.
• New data and e-commerce standard.

For a full list of the new changes or to discuss how they will affect your business, get in touch with the Cornerstone team.

Cornerstone offers complete account management services for your business, so if you require any further information related to this service please call us and we will be happy to advise you.

What’s New?
Big news and events from the Cornerstone office.

Part 2 of our 3-stage plan: SharePoint

In March we let you know that we have been implementing a new way of working in our office. First we started using Microsoft Lync for instant messaging between colleagues and the second stage is to install a new intranet system.

SharePoint is a part of Microsoft office and is now what we use for our office intranet. We were previously using SharePoint 2007, however we are upgrading to SharePoint 2013.

The 2007 version was previously used as a document hub and sharing facility, working the same way as a website, but only for our staff as an internal source for sharing internal documents. It was easily accessed anywhere, anytime.

The upgrade means we can use SharePoint for the same reasons, but it now also combines a social media aspect which allows us to communicate on the webpage and has all new aspects for project and time management.

The other great feature is that there are many apps to allow you to customise the way it looks to suit your office workflow.

We are really excited to go live with our new site when we have perfected the look and functionality. At the moment, there is so much to learn, but we are finding new and productive ways to use it, and look forward to sharing it with you soon!

Learn more about SharePoint on their website here.

Key Diary Dates
Don’t forget these important upcoming dates!

• 21st May: IAS lodgement due
• 21st May: FBT lodgement due

Customer Spotlight: Batir Wealth
A quick 5 question interview with one of our clients.

We chat to Andrew Crawford about his wealth management business and why he outsources to Cornerstone. Plus, he reveals the #1 reason why you should seek advice from a professional financial planner.

Click here to read the full interview.

We Recommend: Networx Australia
Businesses we have used and that you might find helpful.

Networx Australia are Internet security specialists who assist their customers with the design, acquisition, management and support of their critical business networks and systems.

Click here to visit the Networx website to find out more.

Batir Wealth is a specialist life insurance advisory firm. We provide advice to business owners centring around income, asset, debt and revenue protection in the event that an owner suffers and major injury or illness. What this provides is certainty around income for their family and removed the strain on the business. We also provide advice around removing debt obligations and protecting equity in events of major trauma, total disability or death.

2. What services do Cornerstone provide for you?

Cornerstone provide bookkeeping, BAS preparation and payroll services.

3. How has your business benefited from outsourcing to Cornerstone?

It allows me to outsource these services and focus on looking after my clients needs better

4. What do you do with the time you have saved because of Cornerstone?

Spend more time with my clients and growing my business.

5. What is the #1 reason people should seek advice from a professional about wealth management strategies?

Receiving appropriate insurance advice is important to help ensure continuity of income and can secure business equity and clear debt in the event a business owner cannot continue in the business for a medium to long tern due to illness or injury.

Many thanks to our client Andrew Crawford for chatting to us about this wealth management business. Visit the Batir Wealth website for more information or to get in touch: Batir Wealth.

The leaves are changing colour and falling crispy on the ground, winter (and end of financial year) is almost here.

This month we are discussing the ins and outs of payroll compliance, which might seem like a boring topic, but it’s really so important it gets done correctly to avoid errors and even worse, government penalties.

We suggest you make it easy for yourself and let us do it for you, but in today’s newsletter we outline some of the tasks you should have on your to-do list if you decide to do it in-house.

Lastly, have you ever wondered how advertising agencies come up with ideas to make boring products ’sexy’? Scroll down to our customer spotlight to find out.

Until next time, enjoy the read.

Business Tips
Expert tips and reminders to keep you well-informed.

Are you confused about payroll compliance?

Paying staff may seem like an easy task, but there are many rules that must be complied with in order to complete it correctly, and if the rules aren’t followed, there are penalties to be paid.

Here are just a few issues you really should be on top of, otherwise, the team at Cornerstone are happy to provide you with some advice and guidance:

• PAYG summaries: these are issued to employees for lodgement of their personal tax returns.
• Superannuation payments: based on 9% of salary and paid monthly into one or more employee accounts.
• Work cover policy and payments: compulsory in Australia and calculated on a percentage of wages paid.
• Year end reconciliations: all payroll accounts must be balanced and reconciled at financial year end.

Cornerstone offers complete payroll services for your business, so if you require any further information related to this service please call us and we will be happy to advise you.

What’s New?
Big news and events from the Cornerstone office.

BNI is a business referral organisation whose primary purpose is to assist its members to find and exchange qualified business referrals for each other and develop word-of-mouth marketing techniques.

The philosophy of BNI is Givers Gain, as in, “if I give business to the members of my chapter, in return they will want to give business to me”.

We are really pleased to announce this month that our Director Tim Hoopmann has been appointed the position of President of the Corporate CBD chapter. You can view Tim’s profile on the BNI website here.

Unlike other networking groups, BNI provides its members with a professional structure and an ongoing training system which enables members to network in a deliberate manner as well as constantly update their referral marketing skills.

Last year members of BNI in Australia generated business referrals that resulted in more than $230 million in new business, and Cornerstone is proud to be part of this successful association.

Click here to visit the BNI website homepage.

Key Diary Dates
Don’t forget these important upcoming dates!

• 29th April: BAS and Superannuation Payments Due

Customer Spotlight: Trade Advertising
A quick 5 question interview with one of our clients.

We chat to Deane Waldron about his advertising business and why he outsources to Cornerstone. Plus, he reveals how to inject creativity into advertising products in the hardware and trade industries when the products are not very sexy!

Click here to read the full interview.

We Recommend: Lednyak and Associates
Businesses we have used and that you might find helpful.

Cornerstone has commenced using Adobe Echosign for the signing of our documents such as BAS declarations and letters of engagement. A digital signature is now capable of being accepted as a signature. It’s all about making things easier and saving you time.

Click here to visit the Adobe website to find out more.

Trade Advertising is a agency that assists companies with their marketing, helping them to build brands and increase sales.

We work with a range of SMEs helping them with their branding and marketing material. But our main business is working with multinationals like 3M, James Hardie, Bostik, Hilti and Wattyl.

2. What services do Cornerstone provide for you?

Cornerstone take care of our compliance matters like BAS, PAYG for employees, as well as P&L, Financial Statements etc.

3. How has your business benefited from outsourcing to Cornerstone?

They have provided us with advice in areas outside our expertise. They saved us time with our invoicing by introducing us to Xero and moving our bookkeeping onto the cloud.

4. What do you do with the time you have saved because of Cornerstone?

Well hopefully we use it wisely to generate more sales opportunities, that’s the theory anyway.

5. You say you ‘inject creativity’ into your advertising. How do you do this when working with less ’sexy’ products in the hardware and trade industries?

Just take a look at the new stand that we developed for Hilti in Masters. Ask any Tradie if they’d like a Hilti Cordless Drill – something they find very attractive! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To a tradesman looking for the right product for the right job, a premium silicone or a sealant can be very attractive.

It comes down to market insights, knowing what is important to the people that are buying your products and communicating it in a way that is appealing.

Many thanks to our client Deane Waldron for chatting to us about the ins and outs of his agency. Visit the Trade Advertising website for more information or to get in touch.

Easter is early this year, so it really does make life feel like it is on fast forward for 2013, don’t you agree?

Whatever you will be doing to celebrate the long weekend, the team at Cornerstone wishes you a very happy break with your loved ones, and as much chocolate indulgence as you dare!

This month we discuss outsourcing services versus keeping them in-house, introduce you to Lync; the new MSN messenger and remind you of some important upcoming dates.

If you are fan of seafood or social media, then be sure to check out our customer spotlight and recommended business too!

Until next time, enjoy the read.

Business Tips
Expert tips and reminders to keep you well-informed.

Which costs less: outsourcing or in-house?

Many businesses think it is cheaper, easier and less stressful to hire in-house staff to take care of bookkeeping, management accounting and payroll. In a lot of cases, however, it can be the exact opposite.

The key benefit of outsourcing these services is that the costs related to internal performance are negated, whilst allowing the double benefit of your staff and management being able to focus exclusively on creating maximum value for your business.

The true costs of a hiring an employee are generally understated as they fail to account for the fact that much of the upfront and annual cost of your employees are in addition to their salary. In Australia, these base costs can be summarised as, in excess of the wage that the employee is paid*:

1. Ongoing costs (superannuation, leave loading etc).
2. Financial costs (training, recruitment, office space etc).
3. Fixed Asset costs (computers, stationary, utlities etc).
4. Manpower costs (maternity leave, sick leave etc).

Faced with these costs, Cornerstone Group offers a variety of packaged solutions that will provide you with unbiased, high quality management of your bookkeeping and accounting functions, with simple scalability for growth in your organization, for a more economically efficient price than employing in-house.

As we say at Cornerstone:

Do What You Do Best, and Delegate The Rest!

*Based on recent research outlined in an article written by the Cornerstone team. If you would like to read the full article, please get in touch on (02) 9386 1427 or via our contact form.

What’s New?
Big news and events from the Cornerstone office.

Our 3-stage plan for a new way of working.

Last month we told you that our office has moved over to the new Microsoft Office 365 system. We’d like to share our journey over the next few months to show you a streamlined way of converting your office, just in case you were considering taking the leap.

We’ll be honest, it has been a little overwhelming changing our entire way of working on our computers. It’s funny how much you rely on emails and software like Excel and Word, without actually realising, and when it’s changed, it’s really different.

We have planned to implement the change in three stages:

1. Microsoft Office 365 (introduce and train staff).
2. Sharepoint (our new company intranet).
3. Skydrive (moving our computer network to the cloud).

What is Microsoft Lync?

Lync is part of Miscrosoft 365 – it’s new the MSN messenger and we really like it. It allows us to keep in contact all the time, even if we are out of office, because there’s an android and apple app as well as being a desktop software.

It is slowly reducing our email usage internally, and will make a significant difference when we roll it out across our whole company.

Admittidly, we have had a few teething problems. For example, the first comment we recorded was someone saying is “it’s very white!” – which surprisingly, is part of the reason it took a while to get used to it.

We have also found ourselves still sending emails out of habit when we could have used the Lync instant messaging (IM) functionality. A great feaure is that if you receive an email that you think should have been a Lync message, you can reply with an IM from your computer and it links the email with a hyperlink that sits within your Lync account.

If your emails sit within the Microsoft Exchange domain, your Lync conversations are backed up to your emails so you can always refer back to all conversations. Did we mention it also has audio and video capabilities? Very cool!

Once we get our new Sharepoint system up, which is the next phase of our implementation, Lync will be integrated too.

So far, so good! Stay tuned for stage 2 next month.

Learn more on the Microsoft Office 365 website here.

Key Diary Dates
Don’t forget these important upcoming dates!

March

• 21st March: IAS Lodgement Due
• 29th March: Good Friday Public Holiday

April

• 1st April: Easter Monday Public Holiday
• 1st April: April Fools Day
• 7th April: Payroll Tax Lodgement Due
• 12th April: School Holidays Start (clashes with BAS period)

Customer Spotlight: CSJ Seafoods
A quick 5 question interview with one of our clients.

We chat to Colin Marshall about his seafood business and why he outsources to Cornerstone. Plus, he reveals the best seasonal seafood to buy and cook during Winter!

Click here to read the full interview.

We Recommend: Lednyak and Associates
Businesses we have used and that you might find helpful.

Have you ever hoped your business could become famous via social media? Well, Lednyak & Associates can help make your dream a reality!

We recommend them because they are social media strategy experts. If this is something you are interested in learning more about, get in touch via their website today.

Click here to visit their website.

CSJ Seafoods is a seafood import company. As CSJ Director, I source fish from all over the Asia Pacific for domestic consumption throughout Australia.

2. What services do Cornerstone provide for you?

Cornerstone take care of all our invoices, receivables, expense management, payroll, financials, BAS’s, reporting – the list goes on… I like to think of Cornerstone as my satellite office

3. How has your business benefited from outsourcing to Cornerstone?

It allows me to focus on growing my business and it allows us to do what we do best without worrying about what is going on in the office – if the reports were delivered on time, what suppliers are awaiting payment or what customers haven’t paid on time.

4. What do you do with the time you have saved because of Cornerstone?

Apart from growing my business, I have time to spend with my wife and two kids. I have also recently signed an extended lease on a villa in Bali, so now I have time to actually go and relax there! Its also easier for me not to have extra staff to manage as I am not particularly good with admin and systems. By utilising Cornerstones systems and staff I can focus on what makes me money, such as sourcing fish from all over Asia and selling it!

5. Going into Winter, what is the best seasonal seafood to buy and how should you cook it?

In winter you cannot go past locally caught Southern Blue Fin Tuna, it’s in season and is excellent for my favourite cuisine in the world; Japanese sashimi .

However, from an importers perspective I have sourced the best farmed Baramundi in the world from an amazingly beautiful part of Northern Bali. It is certainly great all year round when BBQ’d, baked, steamed or pan fried, but I like it with a little salt and pepper, fresh ginger and garlic and served with a simple salad.

Many thanks to our client Colin Marshall for chatting to us about his seafood business and his top tips for winter seafood!

No doubt you are back into the swing of things, and although it’s hard to believe that February is already upon us, here it is.

We are lucky to have our office located near one of the best beaches in all of Australia, Bondi Beach, however some are even luckier and actually work at the beach. On their laptops. That’s the joy of a virtual office, you can be anywhere.

This month we explore how to put that dream into action, share a mini office crisis, as well as feature our regular customer spotlight and recommends segments.

Until next time, enjoy the read.

Business Tips
Expert tips and reminders to keep you well-informed.

Have you considered a virtual office?

Many people dream of a more flexible working life, do you?

Here at Cornerstone we enjoy making part of that dream a reality by providing outsourced services for bookkeeping and accounting. It frees up our clients time to get on with what’s important – running their business.

Imagine if you could have more time and more flexibility of space. No, we’re not talking about time travel (although that would be nice), we’re suggesting a virtual office.

Companies like Servcorp offer virtual offices. This means they provide a physical address for post/parcels, landline phone number, receptionist and meeting rooms you can use freely, among many other services.

Meanwhile, you could be working from the comfort of your home office, the beach or off playing golf, while still portraying the professional front your business deserves.

Definitely food for thought as our lives get busier and we strive to achieve that perfect work-life balance.

You could also consider a serviced office with furniture, techincal equipment and board rooms, if you are looking for a more permanent space to run your business.

If you require any further information related to this service please call us and we will direct you to the best person to provide the most accurate advice.

What’s New?
Big news and events from the Cornerstone office.

Microsoft 365 to the rescue!

We know we’ve mentioned it several times, but really, thank goodness for cloud computing. This time we have a real-life story that is sure to cement your views about this brilliant new technology.

Earlier this month our network failed and although none of our files were harmed, we couldn’t access them for most of the day.

We have a really good back-up system, so we were up and running again the next day, but it did prompt us to follow our own advice and get a cloud computing solution in place so that it would never happen again. We researched many different options, and decided on Microsoft Office 365.

This software allows you to access all your saved documents anywhere, anytime and on any device! Word, Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint, Sharepoint and more are all available at the click of a button – even if your office server goes down.

We’ve been saying cloud computing is all the rage for good reason, it allows you to keep successfully running your business with security and peace of mind. Give it a try!

Learn more on the Microsoft Office 365 website here.

Key Diary Dates
Don’t forget these important upcoming dates!

• 21st February: IAS lodgement due
• 28st February: BAS lodgement due

Customer Spotlight: Devotion Digital
A quick 5 question interview with one of our clients.

We chat to Andrew Whitehead about his digital agency and why he outsources to Cornerstone. Plus, he reveals the song he’d play if he ever danced (like no-one’s watching) at a bus stop!

Click here to read the full interview.

We Recommend: Morning Studio
Businesses we have used and that you might find helpful.

Whether you need a website, email newsletter, search marketing campaign or any kind of digital content, Morning Studio have got you covered. They put together our monthly newsletter and are currently re-designing and building us a new website with an easy-to-use content management system.

We recommend them because they are techies that speak in plain English and get the job done quickly. Give Christie Connelly and the team a call on 1300 559 343 for a chat.

Click here to visit the Morning Studio website.

Devotion Digital is a full service digital agency based in Paddington, NSW. We focus on developing better brand connections between our clients and their customers through the use of technology. We create online solutions and digital experiences such as websites, eCommerce platforms, online tools, mobile applications for smartphones and tablets, social media campaigns, and real-world digital activations.

We have a broad client base spanning various sectors. Some of these include: AMP Capital and AMP Capital Shopping Centres (Macquarie Centre, Pacific Fair etc.), Konica Minolta, CSR, Olympus, Sekisui House (former AVJennings), Havaianas, Goodstart Early Learning (former ABC Childcare) and Australia for UNHCR.

2. What services do Cornerstone provide for you?

We’ve been using Cornerstone for a number of years now and they look after all of our accounting and financial duties. These include the day-to-day bookkeeping services, BAS, tax, staff wages, lease payments, contractor arrangements, superannuation and debtor collection.

3. How has your business benefited from outsourcing to Cornerstone?

By outsourcing the above services, it’s allowed us greater time to focus on working within the business and growing better relationships with our clients. The clarity delivered means we’re always in a position to make educated decisions and stay on top of our financial requirements.

4. What do you do with the time you have saved because of Cornerstone?

The additional time is largely used on developing new business opportunities, and spending more time working with clients on their strategic plans. These tasks have always been crucial to the success of Devotion, however the ability to focus on them while staying on top of the businesses financial management was tough.

5. You say great digital is like ‘dancing at a bus stop’. If you really did do that, what song would you choose and why?

Ha – a good question! I’d like to say that everyone dances to their own tune, and we’d recommend our clients do the same; find a point of difference and focus on that, however that’s probably a rather boring response! For me, it’d be something like ‘Fly me to the moon’ by Frank Sinatra. A classic that appeals to all generations!

Many thanks to our client Andrew Whitehead for chatting to us about the ins and outs of his agency. Visit the Devotion Digital website for more information or to get in touch: Devotion Digital.

Happy new year to you and your family! We hope you are refreshed and ready for a big and busy 2013.

There are lots of exciting things happening at Cornerstone this year and we are looking forward to telling you all about them via the e-newsletter each month.

If you can’t wait for the monthly edition to hit your inbox, then why not consider following us via social media? Scroll down to grab all the links to our accounts.

In this edition: Cloud accounting explained, let’s connect online, key diary dates and a tasty customer spotlight. Enjoy.

Business Tips
Expert tips and reminders to keep you well-informed.

Still confused about cloud accounting? Let us explain.

We have had many enquiries about cloud accounting since we featured it one of our e-news editions last year. There seems to be some confusion as to exactly what it is and why it’s so advantageous.

We thought we’d take the opportunity to clear things up, because here at Cornerstone, we are combining cloud accounting with our real-person expertise to give you the very best this new technology has to offer.

What is cloud computing and cloud accounting?

Cloud computing refers to transactions performed over the internet with no need to install software on your computer.

Cloud accounting programs are available online and give you access to your financial records via a secure login 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Cornerstone have partnered with some of the best and most reputable cloud accounting companies such as Xero and Saasu to bring you this fantastic service.

Why should you consider it?

Here’s 5 reasons why cloud accounting could work for you:

• Create, send and track invoices online.
• Automatically reconcile bank and credit card fees.
• View and share interactive financial reports in real-time.
• Login via your mobile for access on the run.
• Integrate other applications such as CRM or payroll.

If you require any further information related to this service please call us and we will direct you to the best person to provide the most accurate advice. Watch our video about Xero.

What’s New?
Big news and events from the Cornerstone office.

Ever wondered what we’re doing throughout the day?

Wonder no more! We are all over the web via social media accounts where we share interesting business tips, discuss current industry trends and even share a joke or two.

We really enjoy interacting with our customers on a personal level, so if you’re a member of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Pinterest, we would love to connect with you there too.

Consider following us at one or more of these accounts:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest

We look forward to chatting with you online!

Key Diary Dates
Don’t forget these important upcoming dates!

• 28th January: Australia Day public holiday
• 29th January: BAS lodgement due
• 29th January: Superannuation lodgement due

Customer Spotlight: Bruno Bistro & Bishop Sessa Restaurants
A quick 5 question interview with one of our clients.

We chat to Erez Gordon who owns not one, but two fabulous Sydney restaurants, about why he outsources to Cornerstone. Plus, we get the scoop on 2013’s must-eat foodie events.

Click here to read the full interview.

We Recommend: Dental Fresh
Businesses we have used and that you might find helpful.

A fresh new year calls for a fresh new you. There is no doubt your teeth and gums will need a check up after the excesses of the festive season, so get 2013 started afresh with a dental appointment.

We recommend the experts at Dental Fresh, so give Dr Anthony Foar and the team a call on (02) 9389 3656 today.

Click here to visit the Dental Fresh website.

I have opened 2 restaurants in the last 18 months; Bistro Bruno and Bishop Sessa. Restaurants as a rule are high maintenance businesses requiring a lot of monitoring, administration and customer face time. Good time management is essential to their success.

2. What services do Cornerstone provide for you?

Cornerstone do all my bookeeping which means I spend my time working on my business rather than being nose deep in accounting software. A weekly meeting covers both businesses and email correspondence covers anything which may come up between meetings.

3. How has your business benefited from outsourcing to Cornerstone?

It means my time is spent building my business not chasing it.

4. What do you do with the time you have saved because of Cornerstone?

See above.

5. Last year Bistro Bruno put on some great events and themed evenings. What’s in store for 2013?

We’ve got a number of events planned for 2013. January is Lobsta-Palooza month when we offer a really good value chilled shellfish platter. February is Italian wine month when we focus on Italian wine varieties and it culminates in a special 5 course Italian wine dinner. Then there is the always popular and booked out Duck and Pinot dinners and a host of winery dinners featuring winemakers and their wines.

Many thanks to our client Erez Gordon for chatting to us about his restaurants Bistro Bruno and Bishop Sessa. Visit their websites for address details and menus: Bistro Bruno and Bishop Sessa. Enjoy!