THE Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman has welcomed the introduction of shorter, plain English loan contracts by National Australia Bank for small business borrowers.

The bank announced yesterday that more than 130,000 Australian business owners would benefit from a complete overhaul of its existing business standard loan form contract.

Ombudsman Kate Carnell said this was a positive step.

“My small business loans inquiry recommended this in December last year and called for implementation by July 2017,” Ms Carnell said.

“It followed unfair contract terms legislation coming into force last November.

“The inquiry report recommended that where a small business had met loan payments and acted lawfully, the bank must not default a loan for any reason.

“The report also said conditions must be removed where banks could unilaterally value existing security assets during the life of a loan; and not invoke financial covenants or catch-all ‘material adverse change’ clauses.

“I applaud NAB for being first off the mark and urge other banks to follow.

“It shouldn’t have taken so long, but we finally have a situation where banks will be treating small business clients as partners and share some of the risk. Currently the contractual relationship is one-sided and unfair.”

The NAB statement says: “The changes come after NAB announced financial indicator covenants will no longer be used in most loan contracts for new and existing small business customers with total business lending of less than $3 million in April 2017.”

However, Ms Carnell said it would be disappointing if changes such as these were not applied by all lenders to loans above $3 million.

“The banks’ own independent expert adviser on the ABA Code of Banking Practice review, the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Government’s response to the Ramsay review on external dispute resolution have all identified a credit facility of at least $5 million is an appropriate threshold,” she said.

“I’ll continue talking to the government, opposition, crossbench MPs and the banks about raising the threshold to $5 million.”

www.asbfeo.gov.au

Ends

LOGILITY Inc., a provider of collaborative supply chain optimization and advanced retail planning solutions, today announced the company became a corporate sponsor of the Australasian Supply Chain Institute (ASCI).

As a corporate sponsor, Logility is better positioned to provide the vibrant Australasian supply chain community with new opportunities to enrich their supply chain knowledge and learn from the best practices of Logility’s more than 40 years helping to optimize some of the world’s leading supply chains. 

The Australasian region has experienced significant growth that has led to increasingly more complex supply chains. Visibility, efficiency and integrated planning have become crucial for companies to stay ahead of this changing market. Companies across the region have turned to Logility Voyager Solutions to transform these challenges into opportunities for profitable growth. Today’s announcement further strengthens Logility’s commitment to and helping to shape the region’s supply chain of the future.

“Logility will add value to ASCI members with their 40 years’ worth of knowledge on supply chain optimization,” said Dr. Pieter Nagel, CEO, ASCI. “We welcome Logility into our community and look forward to the solutions and programs that can help our members in a time when optimization is key to moving forward.”

“Optimizing supply chain performance is an increasingly vital component of a company’s success in today’s rapidly evolving global market,” said Allan Dow, president, Logility. “Fierce competition, rising customer expectations and volatility in both supply and demand are driving the need for supply chain professionals to employ resilient business processes and advanced planning solutions such as Logility Voyager Solutions to drive more profitable growth and boost efficiencies. Logility is excited to partner with ASCI to help elevate the role of supply chain in the region.”

Under the sponsorship, Logility will provide opportunities for members to explore new educational resources including white papers, eBooks, webinars, and more.

About ASCI

Established in Australia in 1963 as a not for profit organisation, apicsAU, now trading as Australasian Supply Chain Institute (ASCI), facilitates and enables the development and professionalisation of the Australasian Professional Supply Chain Community. ASCI provides formal education programs, site visits, research, industry presentations and peer learning to its members with a range of opportunities to enrich and grow professional supply chain performance and competence. ASCI is a Premier Channel Partner of APICS and offers APICS certification programs in Australia, as well as other international supply chain management certifications. ASCI membership is available to individuals and provides access to educational programs, a network of industry professionals, real-world learning opportunities, resources and social media networks.

About Logility

With more than 1,250 customers worldwide, Logility is a leading provider of collaborative supply chain optimization and advanced retail planning solutions that help small, medium, large, and Fortune 500 companies realize substantial bottom-line results in record time. Logility Voyager Solutions is a complete supply chain management and retail optimization solution that features a performance monitoring architecture and provides supply chain visibility; demand, inventory and replenishment planning; Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP); Integrated Business Planning (IBP); supply and inventory optimization; manufacturing planning and scheduling; retail merchandise planning and allocation; and transportation planning and management. Logility customers include Abercrombie & Fitch, Big Lots, Fender Musical Instruments, Parker Hannifin, Verizon Wireless, and VF Corporation. Logility is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMSWA), named one of the 100 Most Trustworthy Companies in America by Forbes. For more information about Logility, call 800-762-5207 USA or visit http://www.logility.com.

ENDS

THE Australian Retailers Association (ARA) strongly urges the Senate Education and Employment Committee’s recommendations in the Penalty Rates Report be rejected, as the ARA believe the Labor majority on the Committee have no understanding of the Penalty Rates Decision’s positive impact on employment in the retail industry.

ARA Executive Director, Russell Zimmerman said the Committee’s recommendations to overturn the Penalty Rates Decision would severely damage the pathways and opportunities for employees within the retail sector.

“It baffles us how the Labor Members of the Committee want to overturn the Fair Work Commission’s Penalty Rates Decision, as for more than a century the Government have entrusted this expert industrial body to fairly balance the interests of employers and employees” Mr Zimmerman said.

“It should be noted that the current Fair Work Commission was set up by past Prime Minister Julia Gillard, whilst she was Minister for Employment, to be the independent umpire in determining significant employment conditions such as penalty rates.”

“We are extremely shocked that the Labor Members on the Senate Committee did not refer to the ARA for any questions about the Penalty Rates Decision, as we have been the peak body association leading this case and its positive impact on employment within the retail industry.”

The ARA and its members have previously called on all sides of Government to implement the Productivity Commission's recommendations on Penalty Rates and wage agreements to improve efficiency for retailers and employees across the sector.

“As Enterprise Bargaining Agreements (EBA’s) in the retail industry have fallen to drastic levels, the ARA congratulate the Committee in recognising the ineffectiveness of the current EBA system and the Better-off Overall Test (BOOT),” Mr Zimmerman said.

“However, the ARA also note that the Committee has not given any recommendations on how to improve the EBA system andhow to get bargaining back on track.”

The ARA and its members want to see the Productivity Commission's recommendations enacted to create a fairer, more effective EBA system to guarantee a bright and prosperous future for retail employees.

“The current EBA approval system is too inflexible and we urge the Committee to provide a more practical bargaining system for the retail industry and its employees,” Mr Zimmerman said.

The ARA have been the only retail association that has participated in the inquiry, and continues its strong tradition of advocating for wage fairness in the retail industry.

About the Australian Retailers Association:

Founded in 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) is the retail industry’s peak representative body representing Australia’s $310 billion sector, which employs more than 1.2 million people. The ARA works to ensure retail success by informing, protecting, advocating, educating and saving money for its 7,500 independent and national retail members throughout Australia. For more information, visit www.retail.org.au or call 1300 368 041.

ends

THE Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) is inviting submissions on a draft information sheet which provides recognised professional associations with further guidance on corporate governance, operational procedures and accountability requirements in the Tax Agent Services Regulations 2009 (TASR).

Chair of the TPB, Ian Taylor, said the development of this guidance reflects the TPB’s ongoing commitment to assisting existing recognised professional associations, and associations seeking recognition, to understand and demonstrate they meet their legislative obligations.

"An association that is a TPB ‘recognised professional association’ gives their voting members an additional pathway to meet the tax practitioner registration requirements with the TPB," Mr Taylor said.

"This draft information sheet outlines best practice for associations in demonstrating their processes and structures meet the requirements for recognition under the TASR."

"The draft information sheet is designed to provide these associations with additional support in clarifying the legislative obligations for recognition, adopting a principles-based and pragmatic approach rather than being too prescriptive."

"It is recognised that there is no one-set formula and that concepts of good corporate governance are contemporary in nature and will necessarily evolve over time as an organisation’s legislative environment and community expectations develop," Mr Taylor said.

"While corporate governance, operational procedures and accountability are just some of the requirements that professional associations need to meet for recognition, we have expanded our guidance on these requirements as corporate governance models differ depending on the nature, size and structure of operations," Mr Taylor added.

"Where an association needs to make changes to meet the TPB’s requirements, the TPB appreciates that these changes may take time to implement and, if this is necessary, the TPB will take a pragmatic approach in assessing an association’s ongoing compliance with requirements in the TASR," he said.

"However, we will expect associations to provide undertakings to the TPB that a relevant processes would be in place for the purpose of effecting any relevant changes where required, with the TPB kept informed in relation to progress."

This draft guidance also complements the TPB’s annual declaration process for recognised professional associations. In April 2016, the TPB introduced an annual declaration for recognised professional associations to demonstrate that they continue to meet all of the ongoing eligibility requirements associated with recognition (as set out in the TASR).

"The TPB implemented the annual declaration process to require all recognised professional associations to demonstrate that they continue to meet the ongoing eligibility requirements," Mr Taylor said.

Further information about eligibility requirements for recognised tax agent associations, including examples of the types of evidence that may demonstrate requirements are being met, is available at www.tpb.gov.au/recognised-professional-associations  

The TPB will consider all submissions and may undertake further consultation before finalising the information sheet exposure draft.

The exposure draft is available on the TPB website and the closing date for submissions is Friday 17 November 2017.


About the Tax Practitioners Board:
The Tax Practitioners Board regulates tax practitioners in order to protect consumers. The TPB aims to assure the community that tax practitioners meet appropriate standards of professional and ethical conduct.

ends