27th August 2019

FAL Update

As I write this the sun is not shining although it is supposed to be, after all of this rain we have had. The last few months have been busy for us and as we get to the end of August we will be away for September. This is our annual holiday and much needed break, a chance to catch up with family and friends, see some sights and read a book or 2. We worked through the Christmas and New year’s season and have, as a small and busy practice worked at least one day of every weekend since. As many of you know, during this time I have been quite ill.

Naturally for all of this hard work there is a reason for this: our work ethic and it relates to discipline. Like you we are self-employed. We have many clients, new clients coming to us for help with their accounts. The issues are that much time is spent in the business, little if any is spent on the business. Further, financial controls are seldom ever in place, and this culminates in being cash poor, debt laden and of course, behind in tax and GST and PAYE. The common statement is:
“ I have done all this work and I have no money in the bank”. There are reasons for this and we now have a new reporting system which I will comment on a little bit later.

Therefore, in order for us to be forthright, we have to walk the talk as the saying goes. Money earnt from hard work is a responsibility that one must respect, nurture and cherish. It is not an instrument or vehicle to go and buy the latest cell phone or toy for the car or boat or have a splurge. Money is hard earned and even harder to replace or replenish.

The key is discipline. The hardest taskmaster or mistress there is. I rely in part on reflecting on quotes, as simple and as comforting as they are, they are mercilessly truthful.

Quotes are great things, I find them tools I can rely on to keep me going. We all have the same dreams, desires hopes and wishes, the same pressures and more. I often dwell on inspirational quotes to get me by, see me through another day and get ready for the next. I thoroughly believe in the following:

“There is no magic wand that can resolve our problems. The solution rests with our work and discipline.”

So said Jose Eduardo dos Santos, president of Angola from 1979 to 2017. In my view he would know very well what he is talking about given the conflicts he confronted.

MYOB

MYOB continues to evolve with its software and we think provides straight forward applications for clients to use …and for us also. We became a Gold Professional Accountant Partner with MYOB a few months back. This year also commemorates for us our 10th anniversary as an accountant partner with MYOB and our 15th year in private practice.

Some milestones have been achieved, and this took a lot of hard work to get there.

Unicef

Around the same time as our Gold Status was received, I had submitted a proposal to Unicef. I was moved by the plight of the children’s suffering in Yemen and Syria. I struggle with how children can be collateral damage in conflict zones when, for the most part, they are ruthlessly gunned down by snipers and waring soldiers even when crossing a street, ducking for cover or trying to escape to freedom. A percentage of our income across the board is donated to Unicef to provide aid and relief.

MYOB FEES

Normally we provide your software and pay for this each month. In these cases, from 01 December 2017 our costs for this are rising. You will now pay $2.30 more a month for the software component. MYOB have raised the costs twice over the last 2 years which we have absorbed, but we must now make the change to the new rate.