Facebook announces search engine

Facebook is urging businesses to increase their proficiency of the social networking site as it announces a new search engine, the Graph Search, which allows users to search their friends, pages and connections for data.

In order to take full advantage of this new update, businesses should make sure their Facebook page is up to date, has active content and contains useful information.

The move is being touted as one that could shake up Google’s ownership of the web search space- potentially completely changing the landscape for business advertising.

As well as being able to search friends and pages connected to them, users can also search through the entire Facebook ecosystem, gathering information from all pages and profiles to bring the results.

Preparing for the second half of the financial year

Businesses should start reviewing whether their accounting systems are keeping track of all revenue and expenses, together with any private use of business assets.

Planning ahead can save significant tax penalties, which start at 25 per cent of the unpaid tax to as high as 75 per cent.

There are a few key areas business owners should focus on.

–       Go through each employee and check whether contractors are actually employees, as the ATO has flagged this as an issue they will be cracking down on.

–       Look at whether any new business equipment needs to be bought in order to take advantage of the new $6,500 instant write off.

–       Review quarterly PAYG instalments. If profit is down considerably from last year businesses may wish to reduce their instalments.

–       Businesses may also wish to review personal loan agreements and trust deeds to make sure they comply with the law and that company distributions to owners are properly treated for tax purposes.

Business Fraud

Last year business fraud over $100,000 hit the courts more than 61 times, totalling more than $131 million.

There are a few ways to minimise the potential of business fraud happening.

–       Start at the recruitment phase. Look for employment gaps in the potential employees history, do an internet search to see whether someone left under improper circumstances.

–       Notice different or anti-social behaviour of employees. Also look for circumstances changing, such as their partner losing their job or an illness in the family. These things happen to everyone, but it can cause a lot of stress and anxiety and may cause them to find risky solutions to their problems.

–       Check on the accounting systems in place. Avoid having all the business asset eggs in one basket. Separate responsibilities for those who record and those who have power to confirm any changes.

– Regularly review bank reconciliations to check for a growing discrepancy between accounting records and actual cash and be aware of who can authorise payments and change accounting records.