The Reserve Bank has warned it may have to cut interest rates in order to ‘counterbalance the pressures’ of the strong Australian dollar according to a senior official at the RBA.
However, the RBA shed doubt on whether it would intervene in a ‘somewhat’ overvalued dollar by selling the currency, and would instead look at other responses. The central bank also warned that cutting interest rates too far could also create problems for the economy- forcing up the prices of assets and generating excess credit expansion.
Guy Debelle the RBA’s assistant governor noted that the RBA’s interest rate cuts had less of an impact on mortgage rates over the years, due to higher banking costs such as competitive pressures in the deposit market.
Posted on 28 February '13 by editor, under News AUS. No Comments.
Australian businesses have lost $373 million dollars due to major fraud in the past 2 years, a three-fold increase in the past 15 years, yet are lagging behind addressing fraudulent behaviour as a serious issue.
There has also been an 82% increase in individual cases of fraud exceeding $1 million, with the finance sector hit the worst, according to an Australia wide survey on fraud conducted by KPMG.
Despite evidence of its continuing problem, only 15% saw fraud as a key risk in their business.
Those most likely to commit fraud tend to have been with the company for a long time, with 91% having a known history of fraud and 82% earning close to $100,000.
The survey also addressed the time it takes fraud to be detected, with an average of 665 days passing before an incident is reported or identified by a business.
The most common fraud methods, according to the survey, included false invoicing, theft of cash and fraudulent tendering. But technology is also playing a bigger part in fraud cases as hackers become more adept at cyber attacking company networks.
1. Australian businesses have lost $373 million dollars due to major fraud in the past 2 years, a three-fold increase in the past 15 years, yet are lagging behind addressing fraudulent behaviour as a serious issue.
There has also been a 82% increase in individual cases of fraud exceeding $1million, with the finance sector hit the worst, according to a Australia wide survey on fraud conducted by KPMG.
Despite evidence of its continuing problem, only 15% saw fraud as a key risk in their business.
Those most likely to commit fraud tended to have been with the company for a long time, with 91% having a known history of fraud and 82% earning close to $100,000.
The survey also addressed the time it takes fraud to be detected, with an average of 665 days passing before an incident is reported or identified by a business.
The most common fraud methods, according to the survey, include false invoicing, theft of cash and fraudulent tendering. But technology is also playing a bigger part in fraud cases as hackers become more adept at cyber attacking company networks.
Posted on 28 February '13 by editor, under News AUS. No Comments.
The Tax Institute has put forward a number of suggestions to the Federal Government in its 2013 budget submission paper. Among the suggestions are reforms in state tax, calls for a new small business entity and tax deductions for childcare.
One of the key proposals is to make childcare costs fully tax deductible, as opposed to the current 30% rebate. The proposed scheme would encourage mothers to return to the workplace.
The Tax Institute also put forward an idea for a new class of small businesses, which would take the best structures of all small businesses, such as a company, or trust, and create a new classification known as a ‘small business entity’.
There were also suggestions to address “the low level and inflexibility of contributions caps” in regards to Superannuation, especially as media reports continue to suggest the Government will be targeting super funds for revenue.
Posted on 23 February '13 by editor, under News AUS. No Comments.
The latest pair of indicators show that the economy moved slowly into the new year, with building approvals falling by 2 per cent for the third month in a row. The weakness of the building and other sectors showed itself in a slowing of job ads , which fell by one per cent on the internet and in newspapers. Although a standalone marginal figure, it was the tenth fall in a row, marking the lowest point of jobs advertised in three years. These economic figures point to a general consensus among some leading economists that the job unemployment rate will rise to 5.5 per cent from 5.4 per cent.
This is a still a relatively low unemployment figure but along with the high Australian dollar points to the economy making a slow start to 2013.
Posted on 6 February '13 by editor, under News AUS. No Comments.
