AHEAD of International Women’s Day on Sunday, March 8, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell said the gender gap in superannuation "needs to be addressed".

“It’s staggering that in 2020, one in three women are retiring with zero superannuation,” Ms Carnell said. “The average super balance for women aged between 45 and 54 is about $114,000 versus $180,000 for men in the same age bracket.

“Women have an average retirement fund of $196,000 while men finish up their working lives with more than $310,000. While the number of women becoming small business owners has grown significantly in recent years, many are still not making regular contributions to their super.

“We know that small business owners tend to rely on their business to be their super, putting money into their business instead of their super funds," Ms Carnell said. 

“The strategy is often to ultimately sell the business and use the proceeds to fund retirement, but that’s very risky – particularly for women who statistically speaking, are less likely to grow their business.

“Our Small Business Counts report shows more than half of Australia’s small business owners have reported taxable incomes of less than the minimum wage, which makes it tough to pay super," Ms Carnell said.

“But even a small amount put away now – with compounding interest – is better than later in life.

“This International Women’s Day, let’s celebrate the fact that women are fantastic entrepreneurs but it is critical women consider their future now and make regular contributions to superannuation.”

www.asbfeo.gov.au

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THE Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell said fresh data reveals small and medium sized businesses are waiting far too long to get paid.

A survey of 1200 SME owners across the nation, conducted by East and Partners on behalf of Scottish Pacific, has found SMEs are waiting an average of 56 days to be paid.

“The smaller the business, the harder they are hit by late payment times,” Ms Carnell said.

“While businesses with $10-$20 million revenue wait an average of 40 days to get paid, smaller businesses with $1-$10 million revenue are waiting an average of 66 days.

“The research shows that at any given time, SMEs have a third of their revenue tied up in outstanding invoices. That’s money they could be spending on growing their business.

“The bottom line is that all businesses should be paid within 30 days," she said.

“Over the past few weeks we have seen both Telstra and Rio move to 20-day payment terms for their small business suppliers and there is no reason why other big businesses can’t do the same.

“Our Supply Chain Financing Review has revealed the voluntary Supplier Payment Code is just not working.

“Formal recommendations will be made in the final report to be handed down in the coming weeks," Ms Carnell said.

“In the meantime, the Federal Government is consulting on its draft Payment Times Reporting Framework legislation that will require big businesses to be more transparent about their payment times.

“Businesses and interested parties have been given the opportunity to provide their feedback on this proposed reform which is designed to drive cultural change in business payment performance in Australia.”

www.asbfeo.gov.au

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AUSTRALIA's largest accounting body, CPA Australia has released tips for small businesses facing the possibility of significant disruption from the likely spread of coronavirus or COVID-19.

CPA Australia spokesperson Paul Drum said COVID-19 will be a shock to many businesses that could place their immediate future in serious jeopardy, and there is no way of knowing how long this pending crisis will last.

“For many businesses, likely moves by governments to contain the public health risk may result in a sudden fall in demand for products and services, labour shortages and supply disruptions," Mr Drum said.

“Businesses must assume that health authorities will ask people to stay home to contain the spread of COVID-19, or that large numbers of people will voluntarily stay home. This will result in people consuming less and purchasing in different ways. It will also impact staff availability, especially for businesses where employees cannot work from home.

“As part of a comprehensive risk management strategy there are a range of actions small businesses should consider taking now to prepare them for COVID-19, to place them in the best possible position to navigate through the crisis and prepare to take advantage of the recovery,” Mr Drum said.

Small businesses should consider the following advice:

• Keep up to date with official information on COVID-19 and any directions public health authorities may issue
• Update your financial statements
• List possible impacts on your business of COVID-19, estimate the financial impact and develop mitigation strategies
• Perform a financial health check on your business
• Re-do your budgets with new assumptions
• Act now to improve cash flow
• Increase online sales
• Put in place a contingency plan
• Talk to key suppliers
• Identify employees with critical skills for your business and make sure they can continue working or can be replaced
• Do a reality check on your business
• If you find yourself in financial difficulty, seek professional advice early.

The full list of CPA Australia’s tips, including additional detailed information can be found here:

https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/~/media/corporate/allfiles/document/training/detailed-tips-for-small-business-on-covid-19.pdf

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REDUCING workforce disincentives facing professional, university educated women could add up to 12 million working hours to the economy annually -- the equivalent of an extra 6,500 highly talented women in the Australian workforce.

A report prepared by the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM), to coincide with International Women’s Day, identified eight imperatives for improving gender equity in senior industry levels.

It found that reforming federal government childcare policy would encourage many female executives to stay in the workforce full-time after starting a family – boosting gender equity and the GDP.

The reform is crucial, said  AIPM CEO Elizabeth Foley, because six in 10 Australians still work in industries that are dominated by one gender.

“AIPM’s membership comes predominantly from project-based organisations in male dominated industry groups, such as mining, construction, manufacturing, information, media and technical services,” she said..

“Women represent just 22 percent of our members. This reflects the male dominance of project management-based industries, and doesn’t reflect the available female skills and talent out there.”

Ms Foley said childcare reforms introduced in 2018 by the Federal Government presented significant disincentives to women from professional backgrounds returning to work after having children.

“Under the current settings, if combined family income exceeds the set upper limits by just one dollar, the amount provided by the Child Care Subsidy Scheme plunges by at least half and in some circumstances by more than half,” she said.

“These built-in financial cliffs really exacerbate the work disincentives facing younger working mothers, dissuading them from working more than three days a week.

“And that’s a real pity, because it’s only by working full time that they can properly achieve career mastery.”

The AIPM’s report identifies changes required to bring gender equity to the workplace.

As well as childcare reform, they include building a work culture that values women, closing gender-defined gaps in pay and superannuation, and breaking down the gender dominance (both male and female) that characterise many industries.

“In Australia, only 25 percent of the ASX-listed executive leadership team are women,” Ms Foley said.

“At that level, the gender pay gap averages 21.3 percent – meaning women are being paid almost $26,000 less each year than men filling identical roles and carrying identical responsibilities.”

https://www.aipm.com.au/resources/reports/gender-equity-in-the-workplace

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