Do you think accountants can fully advise small business owners if they have never been in business themselves? A few years ago I would have said yes. Now I say no. I am not talking about providing isolated services such as tax advice or delivering a budget. I am talking about advisers who are the go-to person for business owners but have never been there themselves. In my own life I have worked with a range of complex clients, I have won awards. I have obtained professional qualifications. I thought I was a pretty kick-ass adviser. But it wasn’t until I started my own business that I actually understood and could identify with: Managing cash flow Trade offs with family time Working with your spouse Having no guaranteed salary Navigating employer regulations Being the final decision maker Creating a team and choosing employees Switching your mind off Being CEO, worker, marketing, HR and customer relations all at once! Holding senior positions in large accountancy firms gave me zero insight into how small business owners juggle these issues everyday. Experience is the only pathway to expertise here. So next time you are taking crucial advice on the direction of your small business ask yourself if this adviser really ‘gets it’.

Top five for pre 1 July 2019 It's nearly the 2020 financial year! Now is the time to get busy and ensure an excellent kick off to the new year. Here are our top five things to think about before 1 July 2019. Switch on STP Single Touch Payroll (STP) is not optional! From 1 July 2019 employers will need to report payroll and superannuation information to the ATO in real time via an approved electronic method. If you are not using a cloud based accounting or payroll system you will need to find an alternative way to lodge. If you don’t have a solution on how you will report, we can help you here: https://calendly.com/growthmd/stp Get ready for SDRS Brush up your team’s Medicare claiming knowledge and billing procedures now and be ready to start 1 July 2019 in tip top compliant shape. From 1 July 2019 the Medicare Shared Debt Recovery Scheme (SDRS) officially begins and has the potential to see Health Practices share in practitioner debts for amounts deemed as incorrectly billed to Medicare. If you haven’t discussed the SDRS with your team (both practitioners and administration) we recommend you set aside time to do this pre 1 July. Super Changes From 1 July, the ATO will be able to consolidate low balance super accounts where a contribution hasn’t been received in 16 months. I hear you asking, “how does this affect me”? We have worked with many health practitioners who have retained their previous superannuation fund (e.g. QSuper for doctors working with Qld Health) even after switching to another fund or an SMSF as their main super account. In many cases this is to retain beneficial or exclusion free insurance coverage. Often the balances of these accounts are low and only topped up as required. It is important to act if you have additional super accounts with low balances as there is a risk of losing default insurance cover if your account remains inactive on 1 July of this year. 2020 Tool Kit If you looked back 10 years, we bet you thought back then that health practices would be digital, connected and paperless by 2020. Most practices are not there yet, but the good news is that an array of tools are available to push your practice closer to that 2020 vision. The start of the 2020 financial year is the perfect time to take steps in implementing automation and efficiency tools that streamline and simplify businesses processes. With so many tools on offer it can be confusing but with the right advice on selection and implementation, taking the first steps is easy. A few which we love: BetterConsult, ReceiptBank, Cubiko, Tanda, Surgical Partners and Xero. 1980 v 2020 accountants Are you still working with an accounting firm which fees you on a time (per the minute) basis - which we think is more circa 1980 than 2020? The new financial year is an opportunity to transition to a more modern approach to accounting. What do we mean by modern? Guaranteed annual fees, technology advice and reviews, included support line, flexible after-hours communication times and 100% cloud-based systems. This is what we do at GrowthMD and you can find out more here: https://calendly.com/growthmd/discovery

What an amazing conference. Together we were able to donate 34 Typhoid injections to Kenyan children and fund a Medical Clinic in rural Indonesia for 30 days. So enjoy the good feels from contributing to something good. See the common discussions we had with practitioners over the weekend here: If this sounds like you please get in touch with Kelly. https://calendly.com/growthmd/bfd-delegates

These are some of the questions I am frequently asked by doctors considering setting up their own practice. Any other burning questions you think I should add to the board? If you want clarity on some of these issues come along to the Business For Doctors 2019 conference in my hometown of Brisbane, 31 May to 2 June 2019. I will be discussing these issues in detail to a room of entrepreneurial and answer-seeking doctors. https://businessfordoctors.com/bfd19/

Two quick wins for medical practices in business success – that won’t cost you an arm and a leg.

Trusts? Franking Credits? How will it affect you?

Do you always move your definition of success just a little bit further away? I do. When I was 23, I was a divorced single parent with no university qualification. Back then if somebody had told me of my personal and professional life today, I would have been over the moon - amazed -proud. A success. But truthfully, I don’t feel like I have reached success yet. Yesterday my husband asked me to take some time to acknowledge our recent wins. He reminded me that I should be proud of how my business has evolved in such a short time and the professional successes we have had. I find that hard to action. I don’t think I am alone. I see so many accomplished colleagues and clients always striving for the next achievement without acknowledging the ones they have already nailed. Maybe this is due to our fast-paced daily life, or perhaps it is our thirst to continually feel like we are winning or getting ahead? Women (and mothers in particular) often feel guilty for taking time out to give themselves a pat on the back. I always remind my clients of how far they have come in their businesses journey — time to follow my advice.

Do you use benchmark data to gain insights into the performance of your practice? Comparing your numbers, side by side with those of your competitors and colleagues will snapshot the key areas of focus for your business. It’s not expensive and it’s not time consuming for you. Common benchmarks we like to look at: - Revenue per FTE dental practitioner - Overhead as a percentage of sales - Staffing costs as a percentage of sales - Rental as a percentage of sales - Average spend per patient visit - Average annual number of visits per patient Our director Kelly Chard works with Dental and Medical practices all over Australia on getting their individual numbers and performance right.

This weekend GrowthMD is putting in some overtime to finalise business plans for a client with an exciting Australia wide medical offering. I know I harp on about business planning a lot, but do you know why? Because 80% of SMEs don’t have a plan for their business. Connected to this - 60% will fail within the first 3 years. Don't wing it. Don’t be an amateur.

I saw something today on LinkedIn. It bothered me. The author was questioning the definition of an accountant. Her own interpretation of an accountant is somebody that “solves your problems - in a way you may not understand”. Why did this bland definition bother me? I am sure many accountants would be chuffed with this definition. We sound almost magical! I thought about this for a while and came up with my answer. I am not a clean-up person. I don’t solve your problems. Well, this isn’t entirely true. I probably will solve your problems if you are in a pinch – but I don’t want to. Taxation and accountancy problems, in 99% of cases, stem from a failure to plan, a failure to follow the advice or an inability to obtain information. If you are my client, we are working together from day one to avoid future catastrophes or “problems” actively. Nobody likes being the clean-up guy. I much prefer being the lead safety / navigator car guy. So please don’t think of me as somebody who solves your old tax problems. I don’t do behind the scenes. If I fixed your problems behind the scenes like some magic woman you may be impressed. You may be temporarily happy, and you might even pay me a little more this year. But I am not helping you. I am providing you with a quick fix and then letting you loose on a new financial year with no more knowledge or smarts than before. I am not educating you. I am allowing you to be dependent on me to fix the problems again in the future. I don’t speak unique accountant language. Once upon a time an accountant may have sat across the table from you in a suit and tie, calculator in hand and told you which section of the Tax Act 1936 you had breached. You would have sat there bewildered and wondering what sort of secret language this person was talking. Not anymore. I, along with my progressive peers, prefer to explain your finances to you in straightforward “real speak”. The aim is always using language and concepts that you understand. If overhead, I may not sound impressive with my plain language, but I can promise you that you are getting value from this conversation. If you can understand it – you can take action. So where IS the magic in accounting then? When clients and accountants proactively work together. Discussions are authentic. Transparency is a priority. Now, this is when Accountants are magic, and this should form the definition of a great accountant.