Welcome to the next edition of our 2006 Newsletter.
We hope you find the following information of benefit to you and your Organisation.
ACCOUNTING AND TAXATION MATTERS
FINANCIAL PLANNING
FINANCE AND LENDING
HUMAN RESOURCES
ARM TEAM AND OFFICE MATTERS
LIGHTER MOMENTS
Tax: WITH YEAR END LOOMING AGAIN, CPA AUSTRALIA’S PAUL DRUM FCPA AND GARRY ADDISON FCPA PROVIDE TIPS FOR GETTING YOUR TAX RIGHT (Source: In The Black June 2006, Story by Paul DrumFCPA)
AS THE FINANCIAL YEAR DRAWS TO A close, it is timely for individuals and small businesses to consider the following year-end tax tips.
• Record keeping Records are normally required to be retained for tax purposes for at least five years, but special requirements apply in some areas. For example, in the case of capital gains tax and the substantiation rules, records have to be held for longer periods. In other cases, for individual taxpayers with simple returns, the relevant period is only two years. A similar period is also likely to apply to very small businesses that elect to join the simplified tax system.
• Work-related expenses (WREs) The Australian Taxation Office’s compliance program for 2006 again focuses on over-claiming of employees’ work-related expenses. Such expenses typically include employee claims for expenditure incurred on items such as travel, uniforms, subscriptions, union fees and self-education.
• Rental properties The ATO is maintaining its strong focus on this area because of the large amount of revenue involved. The types of things the ATO looks out for are repairs versus improvements, ensuring the property was really a rental property (and not just your weekender), and that interest on any property loans has been correctly claimed. Certain building capital works (including construction and improvement costs) may be written off as a tax deduction over a 40-year period (2.5 per cent per annum).
• Dividends and interest To ensure that interest and dividends are returned by taxpayers, the ATO matches information provided in tax returns with information from external sources. But don’t forget to put in your imputation credits. The best way to avoid trouble here is to include all such income in your return and retain supporting documents such as bank and company dividend statements.
• Capital gains on shares and real property This area is also being closely monitored, so make sure that you keep all relevant records to support the details provided in your return. You should also check your eligibility for the general 50 per cent discount and, if you are a small business owner, the various small business COT concessions. Details on these are available from the ATO’s website (www.ato.gov.au).
• Aggressive tax planning Taxpayers should be more alert than ever of year-end tax schemes. There is now much more information in the market on this type of higher risk investment, such as the product ruling system, and taxpayer alerts, which are early-warning notices issued by the ATO. You should stick with those products that have ATO product rulings, but note these are not intended to be any guarantee of the profitability of an investment. Also, they may not be worth much if an investment venture is not aligned with a business plan as set out in the original prospectus, Check the ATO website for more details, including the investment checklist, at www.ato.gov.au/atp.
• Salary packaging and fringe benefits This can be a useful way to obtain some tax savings, particularly if you are on the top marginal tax rate and your employer offers it. Some of the most common and tax effective items to consider include superannuation, laptop computers and motor vehicles. Note that your employer will include the reportable fringe benefit amount on your payment summary, which must be included in your tax return. This may impact on your liability for the Medicare levy and entitlement to certain benefits. Business owners should note that fringe benefits tax may be applicable to entertainment expenses (from business lunches to tickets for sporting events), company motor vehicles, some directors’ loans and a host of other benefits received by employees and directors.
• Family tax benefit Family tax benefit (FTB) is available to eligible families (including sole parents) with children, You can claim the FTB as a direct payment from the family assistance office, or as a lump sum via your tax return, or periodically through reduced PAYG withholding payments. But make sure you don’t “double dip” !
• Rebates Tax rebates (or offsets) can reduce your tax bill, so it pays to know what you are entitled to. What you can claim depends on the level of your income and family circumstances. Examples, subject to satisfying certain criteria, include private health insurance, medical expenses, dependent spouse rebate, low-income rebate and the senior Australians tax offset. The new 25 per cent entrepreneurs tax discount will also be available this year, together with the childcare rebate of 30 per cent for out-of-pocket childcare expenses up to a maximum of $4000 per child for approved care for costs incurred in the 2004/05 income year. You should ensure that you have retained all your relevant receipts and records for that year to substantiate your childcare claim.
• Can I just make an estimate of my stock? It’s not sufficient to simply make an estimate of your stock, or to take a guess, Each year you need to include a value in your accounts of stock in hand and work in-progress at 30 June. Closing stock can be valued at cost, replacement or market value or less if obsolete, but you have to document which method you use.
• What is the position regarding private company loans? It is important to ensure that private company loans that extend beyond the end of the income year are properly documented, to ensure that a tax liability is not triggered under the tax rules in this area. Adequate annual repayments of a properly documented loan are also required.
• I’ve got a couple of bad debts — can I claim them as a deduction? It you want to claim for bad debts, remember they must be bad and written off before the end of the financial year. To do this, the debt must generally have been brought to account as assessable income and you must have given up all hope, and more importantly, all action for recovery.
• When do the substantiation rules apply? Substantiation rules may apply to motor vehicles and travel expenses. So log books and odometer readings should be kept, as well as other records itemising travel expenses. They also apply to WRE claims by employees.
• Why should I review my assets? Its too easy to carry assets on your books that have no real value, are obsolete or have been scrapped. The only way to get a write-off deduction for them is to review your asset register and take the necessary action before 30 June. The asset register is the list you should be keeping of all plant, equipment, furniture, fittings and any other assets, including all items bought, sold and disposed of during the year. Note also that special advantageous depreciation rules apply to a small business that is taxed under the STS regime.
• Should I elect to be taxed under the simplified tax system (STS)? This is the fifth year of the STS, which is a special regime for very small business taxpayers. Its key attractions are the $1 000 write-off rules and the accelerated depreciation on business assets. More recent improvements to the regime include its extension to businesses that do their accounting on an accruals basis and reducing the audit review period for such taxpayers from four to two years. If you are not already in the STS, you may wish to consider if you qualify and whether to elect into the regime. To obtain the STS benefits for 2006, the necessary election must be lodged with the ATO when you lodge the income tax return for your business for the year ended 30 June 2006.
• Prepayments Most business taxpayers must pro-rata the deduction for prepaid expenses over the period to which the expenditure relates. Restrictions also apply to prepayments by investors in certain agro-forestry investments. However, individual non-business and STS taxpayers can pre-pay some expenses up to 12 months in advance.
• Superannuation Employers must ensure they have made sufficient superannuation contributions (currently 9 per cent) for all of their employees on a quarterly basis throughout the financial year to avoid the risk incurring a penalty under the Superannuation Guarantee Charge (SGC) regime. Eligible superannuation contributions for the June quarter must be paid by 30 June 2006 to be tax deductible and to avoid penalty. Book entries alone are not enough. Even if you miss the 30 June deadline for deductibility, you must make the payment by 28 July 2006 to avoid SGC penalties. If you are substantially self-employed or under age 65 and no longer in the workforce, you can claim a deduction on any superannuation contributions that you have made on your own behalf with a full deduction up to $5000 and a deduction for 75 per cent of the amount above this. As for employees, the maximum deduction available is equal to the taxpayer’s age-based limit, Special concessions are available to low income or non-working spouses and also for low-income employees. Check the ATO’s website for further details. Some additional benefits are also available this year. Splitting of superannuation contributions for married and de facto couples is now available via spreading the total contributions from 1 January across two account names after the end of the financial year. The introduction of transition to retirement pensions allows those over 55 to draw down a tax-effective non- commutable allocated pension income stream from their savings while also adding to it, For example, you can salary sacrifice, say, $20,000 a year and, if necessary, draw down the equivalent amount from your superannuation fund, with the benefit being that the pension income will generally be taxed at a lower rate than your normal marginal tax rate.
• Personal services income (PSI) The PSI measures are designed to limit the level of deductions available to certain contractors whether operating as a sole trader or through a company, trust or partnership, and to also extend the PAYG withholding rules in such cases. A taxpayer that meets certain specified tests such as the “results” test will be treated as carrying on a personal services business and will be able claim a wider range of deductions, but PSBs need to be aware of the ATO’s strict approach to income retention and income splitting (with some exceptions such as for standard “mum and dad” partnerships).
• Non-commercial losses For a business to be commercial under these rules, it needs to meet certain prescribed tests. If the tests are not met, any losses arising from the activities will have to be carried forward and offset in a later year, against future income from the same type of source.
• At-call loans A carve-out from the rules applicable to certain related-party at-call loans is available for small businesses with an annual turnover of less than $20 million. The carve-out or exemption applies from 1 July 2005, which follows the end of the earlier transition period.
• Is there anything else? A commonly overlooked item is interest earned on bank accounts, cash deposits and income earned from other sources, as well as a schedule of nonbusiness deposits. All these should be declared, as must “other expenses”, such as cash payments, including the nature of the payment and how the funds were provided. . Paul Drum FCPA is CPA Australia’s senior tax counsel and Garry Addison FCPA is senior taxation consultant.
P r a c t i c e U p d a t e - June 2006
CPI for March quarter 2006
The CPI indexation factor for the March quarter 2006 was 151.9 (up from 150.6 for the December 2005 quarter).
FBT car parking threshold
The car parking threshold for the fringe benefits tax (FBT) year commencing on 1 April 2006 is $6.62 (up from the amount of $6.43 that applied in the previous FBT year).
Taxi earning rate for 2005
Editor: The Tax Office is moving more and more to calculating averages and applying them to certain businesses to determine what their income, gross profit and expenses should be. One of those is the average earning rate for taxis based on the number of kilometres they travel. Unfortunately, this will be an ongoing trend for other businesses.
The Tax Office has announced that the national taxi earning rate for the year ended 30 June 2005 will remain at $1.01 per km.
A spokesman for the ATO said that "The figure is based on average taxi earnings around the country and is seen by the Tax Office as the most reliable guide to what operators can expect to earn each year.
"Drivers and operators with an earning rate which is less than the national average should review their records to ensure all income has been included."
Individual tax returns here to stay
Editor: Clients concerned about being able to continue to claim deductions and receive healthy refunds often ask if salary and wage returns are likely to be abolished. This report of a radio interview with the Prime Minister will be a welcome relief to many.
In an interview on 19 April with Alan Jones on Radio 2GB, the PM threw his weight behind keeping individual tax returns.
In that interview the Prime Minister stated that:
“I . . . made some inquiries about this issue of not having tax returns and I have been informed that there was quite a lot of research carried out on this and it indicated that a surprisingly large number of people like the idea of putting in their own returns.
"People like getting a cheque from the Government. They like that cheque, that Reserve Bank cheque made out in their favour giving them a tax refund and a lot of people I talk to say, ‘I get my tax return done by a tax agent, it doesn’t cost an enormous amount and he makes sure that I get all of the deductions that I am entitled to and if I didn’t have it done by him then I wouldn’t get as much back.”
Luxury car data matching project
The Tax Office has decided to request details of individuals or entities who have acquired a motor vehicle valued at $70,000 or higher from each of the relevant State/Territory authorities.
These will be electronically matched with certain sections of Tax Office data holdings to identify non compliance with taxation law. Records relating to approximately 600,000 persons or entities will be matched.
Tax Office warns about individuals offering advice
The ATO has warned people in the Townsville* area to beware of individuals offering investment or retirement income advice who claim they are working on behalf of the Tax Office. It said it doesn't employ third parties to provide advice to taxpayers.
These individuals may be approaching people to offer advice for home owners about investing in their retirement and saving on income tax if people invest in their company.
The ATO says that a legitimate tax officer will provide identification and give their own and their manager’s contact details.
Editor(*): Any client who receives a call from someone claiming to be from the Tax Office, and who is concerned about questions being asked, should ask for the person's name, what office they are from and that office's phone number. If still concerned call us or call the ATO on 13 28 61.
ATO "comfortable" with genuine service trust arrangements
The ATO has released its long-awaited ruling on Service Trusts. It is allowing a period of 12 months for people to review their service arrangements, ending on 30 April 2007. Editor: Speak to us if you want to discuss the ruling.
If, at the end of this period, a taxpayer's service arrangement is generally in line with the information provided in the ruling, the ATO states there is little risk that it will audit the arrangements.
What will the Tax Office accept?
The Tax Office advises that it will accept conventional service arrangements where payments are correctly calculated and the services are reasonably connected to the conduct of the business.
Where this is the case, the presumption will be that the service fees and charges are a real and genuine cost of the business and deductible in full.
What will the Tax Office question?
If the payments are grossly excessive or the services are not reasonably connected to the conduct of the business, then the purpose, and the deductibility, of some or all of the service fees is open to question.
ATO warns about year end schemes
The ATO has advised taxpayers not to get caught up in dodgy, end-of-year tax schemes.
“At the end of the financial year people often try to reduce their tax bill through investments that promise large refunds, but it can be hard to tell a good investment from a bad one as they can all come with convincing sales pitches."
The ATO says if you hear sales pitches similar to these, beware . . .
- ‘There’s no risk – we guarantee the returns’.
- ‘The investment is legal but the tax man doesn’t like it – that’s why it’s done offshore'.
- ‘There’s no need to ask the Tax Office if it’s okay – we already have a ruling’.
- ‘A top lawyer has looked at the investment and they think it’s great’ – In many cases the ‘top lawyer’ may have seen a different investment to the one you are being sold.
Investigate before you invest
- Is this a licensed business?
- Is there a product disclosure statement or a prospectus?
- Did you get an independent second opinion? Editor: Have you spoken to us?
Salary sacrificing opportunity!
The FBT rate has been reduced to 46.5% from 1 April 2006, even though the reduction in the top marginal rate, from 48.5% to 46.5%, will not occur until 1 July 2006.
This means that there is a (limited – i.e., 2%) salary sacrificing opportunity for taxpayers on the top rate between April and June 2006.
As any fringe benefits will only be taxed at 46.5% from 1 April 2006, taxpayers can effectively “bring forward” the tax rate reduction by salary sacrificing fringe benefits.
If you require further information regarding the above please contact Dennis Malcolm, Michael Ryan, Greg Cusack or Marita James on (03) 9551 2822 for their expert advise.
Please Note: Many of the comments in this publication are general in nature and anyone intending to apply the information to practical circumstances should seek professional advice to independently verify their interpretation and the information's applicability to their particular circumstances.
Simplify and Streamline your Superannuation and Centrelink
The changes to the Superannuation system that are taking place on 1 July 2007, will potentially impact most retirement planning strategies. A range of Social Security changes will also take effect from 20 September 2007. Not only do these proposals simplify super and retirement planning, but they arguably make superannuation the most tax-effective way to save for your retirement.
If you are employed any super guarantee and salary sacrifice contributions (pre-tax contributions your employer makes to your fund) will be taxed at two rates regardless of your age:
- up to $50,000 per year will be taxed at 15%
- in excess of $50,000 per year will be taxed at 45%
If you are self employed the amount you can claim as a deduction (where you are eligible) will no longer depend on your age. Your contribution will be taxed at two different rates:
- up to $50,000 per year will be taxed at 15%
- in excess of $50,000 per year will be taxed at 45%
You may also be eligible for a co-contribution of up to $1,500 per annum under the new eligibility rules and will be able to claim a deduction for contributions up to age 75.
All employer and personal contributions made by members who are wholly or partially self-employed will be fully tax deductible. This is great news for the self employed who are currently limited to a tax deduction on the first $5000 of contributions plus 75% of the balance of the contribution.
Changes to retirement
Retiring age 60+
All benefits from superannuation will be tax free. This would mean you pay no tax on your benefits whether paid as a lump sum or as an income stream.
Retiring age 55-59
Benefits from superannuation taken as a lump sum will continue to be taxed, but the tax rate rules would be simplified. There will only be two tax components (instead of eight)
- Exempt component – tax free
- Taxed component – tax free up to a low rate threshold and then taxed at a flat rate of 16.5%
Super benefits taken as a pension will be taxed at your marginal tax rate, less a 15% pension tax offset. You may also be entitled to a tax exempt component, which could further reduce your tax.
Additional Changes
- Reasonable Benefit Limits (RBLs) will no longer exist. RBLs basically mean that you are limited to the amount of concessionally taxed super benefits you can receive. The changes mean that, however much you save within super, you would receive it tax free if you retire age 60+.
- The compulsory cashing rules will be abolished. This means you could leave your money in super without being forced to cash it out or to convert it into an income stream once you have retired.
- Currently, pension payments are set between a minimum and maximum amount. The new changes will remove the maximum amount, so you will not be restricted to how much income you receive each year (except for pre-retirement pensions)
Social Security Changes
- The main change to social security is the assets Test Taper Rate, which will be halved. As a result, people who receive the Centrelink Age Pension will only lose $1.50 (not $3.00) in benefits per fortnight for every $1,000 of assets above the relevant Assets Test threshold. This means the assets you can own before you are no longer eligible for a government pension are much higher.
Questions
More money in your pocket or more to invest? You could use the extra money you get from the tax cuts to salary sacrifice or top up your super. Especially since your super benefits will be tax free when you retire (age 60+).
Could your investments be more effective? Once you reach 60, any money you take out of super will be tax free. But you will have to pay tax on any investments you have outside super. Now is a good time to look at your investments and think about whether you would be better off if you move them into super.
Do you need to put off retiring or semi-retiring until after 1 July 2007? If you're over 60 and thinking of retiring within the next year you might want to reconsider. The main reason being that your super would be completely tax free after this date. If you are age 55-59 there may also be tax advantages to delaying starting a pension.
Should I still consider splitting my super with my spouse? The removal of Reasonable Benefit Limits and tax on the payment of super benefits after age 60 makes a super splitting strategy less relevant from a tax saving point of view. However, if you intend to retire and draw super benefits before age 60, then this strategy may still be worthwhile considering.
If you’re self employed do you want to increase your contributions? The new proposals give you similar contribution limits as employed people, as well as access to co-contributions.
Could you be eligible for Centrelink benefits after 20 September 2007? If you don’t currently qualify for an age pension because you have too many assets, this may change after 20 September 2007. A proposed reduction in the Taper Rate means you could have more assets and still qualify for a part pension.
What if I have already retired and started a pension? If you are age 60 or over, your pension will be tax free from 1 July 2007. If you are age 55-59 your pension will continue to be taxed as is until you turn 60 when it will become tax free.
For more information please contact Michael Ryan and the team at Focus Financial Planning.
Tax Time Is Coming - Consider Pre-payments on Motor Vehicles and Plant & Equipment
June 30th is almost here, so now is the ideal time to look at funding new assets.
Did you know that you can make pre-payments (up-front rentals) on motor vehicles and plant & equipment before June 30th as part of a tax planning strategy? For example, if a car is under the luxury car tax limit of $57,009.00, you can pay an up-front rental of up to 15% of the asset value in a lease structure, and claim a tax deduction for this in the current financial year.
By funding your purchases this way you can increase your tax deduction on a vehicle or other business asset in this financial year. You can also make a similar pre-payment in next financial year, and so on.
Contact our office today on:
Phone (03) 9370 9811Fax (03) 9370 9803Email info@armfinance.com.au
or alternatively you can contact one our consultants on:
Graham Lee 0417 115 611 (Commercial, Leasing, Residential) Jeff Messer 0409 217 002 (Commercial, Leasing, Residential) Shane McFarlane 0411 754 091 (Residential, Leasing)
netiquette (Source: Charter Magazine June 2006, Story by Rosemary Ann Ogilvie)
Our reliance on emails and text messaging means a whole new level of etiquette so that the sender, and reciever, get the right messgae accross.
Everyone appreciates the time-saving opportunities offered by email and text messaging, both of which are essential for any business today, whatever its target demographic. However, when using these tools in business, it’s important to recognise that emails, and to a lesser extent text messages, are business documents that reflect and underscore your brand and your reputation. This essentially means adopting a slightly more formal and respectful style than is typically used for sending personal messages. Here are some tips to ensure your messages develop relationships rather than destroy them.
INSTANT RESPONSE
>Email and text are forms of instant communication; so don’t take days to respond to incoming messages, as this shows discourtesy to the sender. Even if you can’t provide an answer to a question, acknowledge the message immediately, and say you’ll respond with an answer as soon as you have it. Ideally, indicate when this is likely to be.
>When you respond to an email, be sure to answer the questions the person asked: always scroll down to ensure there are no postscripts. The ability to deal professionally with email helps give your practice a competitive edge.
FORMS OF ADDRESS
> When contacting people you don’t know, try to identify yourself clearly through the email address you choose. So instead of 643875@fabxmail.com. au, usejayholmes@fabxmail.com.au, or ideally jayholmes@holmesaccountants. com.au, which of course means registering the domain name for your practice. Additionally, introduce yourself in the first couple of sentences in the message. If you’re following up a contact you made, provide a memory jogger such as ‘I enjoyed our chat at the breakfast address last Friday’.
> Write a meaningful subject line that summarises the message so the recipient knows what to expect. So if your message confirms an appointment, write Confirmation of meeting scheduled for 22 August at lOam’, rather than just ‘Meeting’.
> Avoid words such as urgent, free, important, immediate in the subject line, as they can result in your email being consigned to the junk folder. On this subject, check your junk folder daily to ensure critical client communications haven’t been dumped there.
> Don’t use the subject line for the salutation, but do include a salutation in the message whenever you write a new email unrelated to previous correspondence. It’s not necessary to include a salutation when exchanging a string of emails on the same subject.
> Many people are very sensitive about being addressed by their first name only, so for the first communication, use the person’s preferred title unless they’ve indicated that it’s acceptable to use their first name. Be wary about abbreviating people’s first names as they may have a deep aversion to contractions, even those in wide use such as Dave or Pam.
> Insert the email address of the person, or people, you are directly addressing in the ‘to’ line. If you need to send a copy of the email to someone for information only, put their address in the ‘cc.’ line, as this is for people you are indirectly addressing. If you are sending an external email to multiple recipients, use the ‘b.c.c.’ (blind carbon copy) line to list the addresses as each person will see only their own address on the message. Some people don’t like having their addresses disclosed. Don’t broadcast email messages unnecessarily; people receive enough junk mail.
> Use the urgent or high priority function only when the message is truly urgent.
TONE AND LANGUAGE
> Before writing a message, think about the tone you want to convey: whether it is strict business formality with a prospective client; a less formal tone with a long-term but conservative client; a respectful tone to your biggest client; or an approachable tone to a new young business owner who’s coming to grips with the whole taxation thing.
>Clarity and concision are essential when writing messages because the message is not underscored with gestures, facial expressions and tone of voice. When body language is absent from a communication, it’s more difficult to decipher the true message; consequently, it’s very easy to cause offence with an email or text. Be aware of this when reading messages sent to you: try not to take offence at careless wording, unguarded comments or offhand remarks, as there’s a strong chance you’ve misinterpreted it.
> Emoticons such as smiley faces are often used to convey irony and humour, which can be difficult to express in email messages. Use these sparingly in business emails, as many people don’t know what they mean and don’t care.
> Similarly with abbreviations such as URGr8 (you are great) — they’re expected in text, but not necessarily in email.
SIZE MATTERS
> Where possible, match your message length to the tenor of the conversation. So respond to a quick query with a short and to the point message, but ensure it’s not so abrupt that politeness goes out the window, as in ‘Need bnk states 05’. Always make room for please and thank you !
> Ideally, keep longer emails to no more than one page so the recipient doesn’t have to scroll down to read it, but not if it means omitting critical details.
>By restricting yourself to one subject per message, you automatically limit the length of the email.
>Whatever their length, the most effective emails get to the point quickly. Using the inverted pyramid style of writing to format your email makes this easy, as you include your most important statements in the first paragraph and follow up with supporting details.
>Format longer messages for maximum readability: avoid long sentences; keep paragraphs short; use spaces and breaks between paragraphs; and add subheads to highlight separate points.
> If the email ends up longer than normal, include a few words at the beginning apologising for the wordiness.
> If an action is required, be sure to specify it before ending the message.
BODY WORK
> Don’t use a letterhead or a patterned or coloured background as they take up extra storage space.
> Use plain text rather than HTML as not everyone has the option to read HTML.
>Be aware that italics and bold formatting don’t always come through in the recipient’s message.
> Don’t write your message in upper-case, which is the cyber equivalent of shouting, or lower-case. Both are extremely difficult to read. However, it’s fine to use capitals to emphasise a couple of words.
> Use correct grammar and normal punctuation (one exclamation point is sufficient).
> Avoid discriminatory, religious or racist remarks.
> Include enough of the original message only to provide a context.
> Extracting and using text from another person’s message without acknowledgement is plagiarism.
> Proofread and spell check each message before sending it.
SIGNING OFF
> Create a signature that identifies who you are: include your title; your business; the business’ tagline; your email and website addresses; and other contact details including postal address, phone and fax numbers. The typical length for signatures is four to seven lines.
> If you like to add a quotation as part of your signature, keep it short, and ensure it is not offensive to anyone, bearing in mind that definitions of offensive vary widely.
ATTACHMENT PHOBIA
> Attachments, with their propensity to carry viruses and malicious code, have become the bane of many people’s lives. Send them only when essential, and either ask permission first (many companies have a blanket policy banning attachments), or send a preliminary message to let the recipient know an email with an attachment is following.
> Never send unnecessary attachments with emails, such as a Microsoft Word document repeating everything you’ve just said in the message.
> If sending an attachment in anything but basic file types, include a note about the format in your covering email.
> Try to restrict the size of any attachments to one megabyte, especially if the recipient is on dial-up. Even if they’re on broadband, large attachments may fill their mailbox, causing other emails to bounce. So if a large file is unavoidable, warn the recipient beforehand.
ON RECORD
> Emails are public documents that can remain on file for years (they can be retrieved from computer disks and backup media long after being deleted), and are often widely circulated through an organisation, so be very careful about their content. If you’d be embarrassed to see your message reproduced on the front page of a national newspaper, do some surgery before hitting the send key.
>Certain subjects should never be discussed by email. These include complaints, disciplinary action, performance reviews, and concerns about colleagues or employees.
> If an email string somehow degenerates into conflict, call a halt to further online communication and speak to the person by phone or meet with them in person.
> This applies equally to ‘flaming’, which is the cyber term for venting emotion or sending inflammatory emails. When you are upset or angry, the ease of pressing the send button can get you into all sorts of trouble. You can’t take back what you say in an email: it’s there in written form forever. So before you hit the send key, answer these questions:
1. Would you say this to the person’s face?
2. How would you feel if you received such a message?
TEXT EXTRAS
> Don’t ignore clients you are with - whether in a meeting, or at a bar or restaurant — to engage in exchanges of text messages with someone else, even if it’s about business. Switch off your mobile and give each client your full attention.
> Never use a short message service (SMS) to issue formal invitations, or to send a warning to an employee or contractor about performance. The casual nature of SMS diminishes the power and meaning of the message.
> Remember that SMS can be traced.
> Be conscious of other people’s schedules and work habits: someone who gets up at 5am won’t appreciate being woken at midnight.
Finally, don’t assume that when you send a message, whether text or email, that it will be read instantly. Not everyone is glued to their mobile 24/7; has broadband; and even if they do, they may spend long periods away from their computer.
Be tolerant of other people’s mistakes in email messages. This is a whole new medium to many people, who may have never before typed a word in their lives. So if someone writes an odd message, sends it multiple times, or even asks you to resend a message because they accidentally deleted it, be kind.
Changes within Team Member roles
Joke of the Day
A magician worked on a cruise ship. The audience was different each week so the magician did the same tricks over and over again. There was only one problem: The captain's parrot saw the shows each week and began to understand how the magician did every trick.
Once he understood, he started shouting in the middle of the show, "Look, it's not the same hat!" or, "Look, he's hiding the flowers under the table!" or "Hey, why are all the cards the ace of spades?"
The magician was furious but couldn't do anything. It was, after all, the captain's parrot.
Then one stormy night on the Pacific, the ship unfortunately sank, drowning almost all who were on board. The magician luckily found himself on a piece of wood floating in the middle of the sea, as fate would have it ... with the parrot.
They stared at each other with hatred, but did not utter a word. This went on for a day... and then 2 days ... and then 3 days.
Finally on the 4th day, the parrot could not hold back any longer and said. "OK, I give up. Where's the ship?"