The Rant – #2
We’ve all watched those old Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns right?…how many times did we watch that part where Clint on his horse (Tinto…..Trigger….ol’ darkie….or was it Sea biscuit?) is in the desert (y’know, just picture Wile E. Coyote country, only real – well, kinda sorta)…here he comes with a trail of dust & pulls up right in front of the camera, chewin’ a cheroot (that’s cigar young fella a teeny weeny cigar), fly’s buzzin’ around (you can feel the heat too) and says…”Think I might prop for a bit n’ have a look around” (or thereabouts).
I wonder if, around this time of the year, for those of us running a small business (y’know, butchers, bakers, candle stick makers (well, I’m tipping that’s the next big thing if the Greenies have their way with renewables!), can find the time to prop for a bit n’ have a look around. We will be in the (bloody) office (I have never heard any office referred to as simply the office, just by the way, always the bloody office) anyway, ‘cause the December BAS will have occupied us (for lack of alternative) for a bit and because it is The Wet (I hope).
Whilst we were doing up the BAS (and a big hello to our wise & learned friends at the ATO) we will have had a bit of a look at the Profit & Loss – that line of figures that tells you how much money/spondees/moola etc you have brought in, how much you have spent (thieving bastards is the more common term used I suspect) and (hopefully) how much is left (which will be different to what you have in the Bank, believe me) for the first 6 months of the fiscal period (financial year, tax year, new shoe box year, you get the drift). So having pulled that bunch of numbers up on the screen (quite by accident in some cases) you see that you are actually in the black (y’know, made a profit), “Bloody hell!” I hear you say “we’re going alright Marg, lets shout ourselves a drink and dinner at the RSL tonight. You little beauty!”
Righto, so you are in the black (the Bank balance will be the subject of a future discussion!), all good and you want to stay there, ‘cause it feels good with a profit on the books and money in the Bank (time to get the Bank Manager in a headlock to lower that interest rate or else! – yep, we will talk about that down the track too), so what has all of this got to do with our Octogenarian cowboy (premiership this year….yeah maybe not…or perhaps I could just stay on task) hero parked up on aforesaid horse waiting for me to deliver the punch line. Well, just like Clint and Tinto/Trigger/Ol’ Darkie/Sea Biscuit, you have got to stay ahead of the posse! By posse, I mean the ATO.
That means you should be planning where you are going and making sure you pencil into your calendar regular checks of your progress along the way. The golden triangle (for most financial advisors being: 1. make a profit 2. have a quid in the Bank 3. all bills paid. However, there is a 4th and that is, if you have to pay tax, make sure it is a teeny tiny amount. Those who know me, know that I am always banging on about the Kerry Packer contribution to a house of Reps select committee review into the media in 1991 where he made reference to needing your head read if you are not minimising your tax.
By the way if you have brackets on your Profit and Loss report down the bottom, I don’t care why, (Houston) you have a problem.
If you do or if you are keen to see some more cash in the Bank, email or ring us for a chat, costs nothing and there just might be something in it for you.
Cheers big ears!
Denis S
