People & Payroll

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Superannuation Payments: Cut-Off Planning for EOFY 2025

As the end of the financial year approaches, it’s important to start thinking about your superannuation obligations – especially if you’re hoping to claim a tax deduction for those contributions this year. Timing Matters for Super Payments To ensure your Super Guarantee (SG) contributions are deductible for the 2024–25 financial year, they need to be […]

Minimum Wages Set to Rise: What Business Owners Need to Know

Minimum wages are set to rise with the Fair Work Commission handing down its Annual Wage Review decision for 2024–2025 – announcing a 3.5% increase to the National Minimum Wage and minimum award wages. This change will come into effect from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2025. If you’re a […]

Business Record Keeping Obligations: What You Need to Know

Running a business comes with many responsibilities – one of the most critical (and often overlooked) is your record keeping obligations – maintaining complete, accurate, and compliant records. Good record keeping isn’t just a requirement under Australian tax law – it’s essential for tracking your business’s performance, ensuring you can meet your reporting obligations, and […]

What Small Business Employers Need to Know About Pay Day Super – And How to Prepare Now

If you’re a small business owner and employing staff, there’s a big change coming your way – and it’s called Pay Day Super. While it’s not scheduled to be mandatory until 1 July 2026, forward-thinking businesses (like our clients) are already preparing – and in some cases, already using it. So, what is Pay Day […]

Wage Theft: What Australian Businesses Need to Know and How to Stay Compliant

Wage theft is now a criminal offence in Australia, marking a pivotal shift for businesses of all sizes. At Blackwood Bookkeeping, we understand that navigating these changes can feel overwhelming, but ensuring compliance is essential – not just to avoid penalties, but to build trust and maintain integrity. As your trusted financial partner, we’re here […]

Superannuation Compliance: Essential Tips for Employers

As a small business owner, keeping up with superannuation compliance is more important than ever. With the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) tightening its monitoring systems, staying on top of super payments isn’t just good practice – it’s essential! Here’s a rundown of what’s changing, why it matters, and the steps you can take to stay […]

New beginnings

Reflecting on 22 Years of Growth, Challenges, and Exciting New Beginnings After 22 years of running Miss Efficiency, we’re excited to announce a new beginning – Miss Efficiency has been acquired by Blackwood Advisory and has become Blackwood Bookkeeping. It’s been a remarkable and challenging ride, filled with ups and downs, milestones, and countless lessons […]

Preparing for End of Financial Year

Do you want to successfully navigate year end? I hope so! In this webinar we’ll give you essential insights and strategies for optimising your business’s financial health. Learn how to accurately close your books, maximise opportunities, and set your business up for success in the coming year. Don’t miss this opportunity to ensure your books […]

Strategies to Improve Financial Operations

As a small business owner, it’s a constant juggling act between how you can improve financial operations, increase revenue, improve profit, grow the cash. I recently returned from a business development week in Hobart that was full of learning, discussions, brainstorming, and invaluable insights into strategies for growth and improvement. The energy of the event […]

Balancing Your Books and Family Time This Easter

Growing your business often means long hours and what seem like endless responsibilities. When family holidays like Easter roll around, stepping away to create memories with loved ones may seem like a luxury you can’t afford. But what if I told you that good financial management and systems might just be the hidden egg you […]

Essential Guide to Financial Resilience

Understanding financial stress As a business owner, financial stress may be familiar. The cash flow that is the lifeline of your business can sometimes feel like a rollercoaster, full of unexpected turns and stomach churning drops. How can small business owners ride this economic rollercoaster? Here’s our top tips on building your business resilience while […]

4 tips for hiring staff

Hiring staff can be an exciting time, because it means expansion and growth in a business. Sometimes, however, businesses grow before they’re ready to. Small business owners think their businesses look more professional with more staff so they hire people when they don’t need to. Here are four tips for hiring staff, and being certain […]

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Tips on creating personal development plans for your team

Hopefully you have long – and short-term plans for your business and you may even have a strategy for your own personal development, but have you considered having a personal development plan (or individual development plan) for your team? A team member personal development plan is an action plan that focuses on helping your team […]

The ins and outs of performance reviews

Operating a small business involves engaging in various aspects of the business, such as sales, accounting, marketing, and human resources. Managing human resources encompasses more than just hiring and terminating team members, although these are significant components of the role. It entails overseeing the individuals who work for your business during their employment. One crucial […]

Public holidays & payroll

The trees are up, the presents are wrapped, the food prep is underway, and many of us are in a downward roll towards the holidays. With a number of public holidays coming up, it’s important to be across the rules around public holidays and payroll. Here’s what you need to know. Public holidays When public […]

Directing employees to take annual leave over Christmas

It is coming to that time of year again where Christmas is around the corner and the New Year follows shortly thereafter. While it is commonly a time for celebration and an annual vacation, it can be a complex time for us bookkeepers. The complexity comes when working with varying awards or working conditions and […]

A simple way to build team culture

As a team of seven spread across four different states, maintaining strong connections and team culture is paramount. Initially, I considered meeting each person individually for catch-up sessions in person. However, I soon realised that fostering these connections shouldn’t be limited to one-on-one interactions; it’s about all of us connecting with each other. This realisation […]

Outsourcing payroll – 5 ways it can help you

When you start a business, you’re typically your only employee and payroll is about as simple as it gets. But as you grow, you hopefully find yourself in the position of needing to take on more team members. Before you know it, what was once a very straightforward task becomes a giant undertaking that’s sucking […]