We want to thank everyone who supported ‘Cate’s Team’ in the RACQ International Women’s Day Fun Run/Walk for 2012!

As a result of the generous donations of our community ‘Cate’s Team’ raised $7,894 (and rising) towards Cate’s favourite charity, Mater Chicks in Pink. The funds raised provide practical and tangible support to breast cancer patients at the Mater while also investing in research to find a cure for future generations.

Whether you realise or not, on Sunday you helped women with breast cancer by making their journey a little bit easier. As Cate said not 10 months ago, “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to support those girls – they’ve been so wonderful to me”.

After completing the run on Sunday, 11^th March ‘Cate’s Team’ was awarded as the highest fundraiser for the year and we were privileged to have Natalie, Cate’s daughter, collect the trophy for our team on the day. ‘Cate’s Team’ raised $7,894 of the total $34,860, nearly 23% of the entire funds raised in 2012. In addition to the generous donations, we had a phenomenal turn out of people who came in support of our Cate, with 40 plus runners and walkers participating in the team.

Thank you to everyone who participated and donated to help make ‘Cate’s Team’ a success – we could not have done it without you.

Kind regards,

Anne and the Team at A B Accountancy

Many of you would have heard the sad news that our much loved Cate (Cathy) Molloy lost her battle with breast cancer on the 21^st October this year.

We were overwhelmed by the response received. So many of you were asking “Is there anything I can do to help?” Well there is!

Join us for the International Womens’ Day Fun Run/Walk as part of ‘Cate’s Team’ on Sunday the 11^th of March 2012 at 7am to raise funds for Cates favourite charity, “Chicks in Pink” who provide support to those diagnosed with breast cancer. Last year Cate who was still undergoing treatment at the time, surprised herself by running most of the 5km.

Just 6 months ago Cate said “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to support those girls – they’ve been so wonderful to me”.

And to the men out there, this includes you too! Even though the event is for International Women’s Day anyone who can help raise funds by participating is encouraged to take part (though you won’t be eligible for any of the prizes).

The course is an easy 5kms from Southbank through the Botanical Gardens and there are as many walkers as runners and plenty of strollers. There is even a 12 week ‘Beginners Training Program’ if you want to get serious (Refer to the link below). For those who would prefer to park at our office in  Stones Corner, we will be organising a bus to and from the event.

We want to have as many people as possible registered before Monday 13^th  of February, 2012 so  that our team bibs will be printed with ‘Cate’s Team’ but why not register now and you’ll be in the running for the early bird prize of a pair of Bakker Diamond earrings.

We can organise registration  for you, just give Bella a call on 3847 9499 or email her on bella@abaccountancy.com.au . If you cannot take part,  you can donate online and all the links and information you need are set out below.

The early bird entry fee is just $30.00. This increases to $35.00 on the 9^th of January, 2012 and to $42.00 on the 27^th of February, 2012. So please participate or donate, and feel free to pass this on to your friends. Chicks in Pink are a very worthy cause and we want ‘Cate’s Team’ to be the biggest fundraiser on the day.

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View the below links for access to the donation page, course map and training guides

To make a donation click HERE

To view the course map click HERE

to access the Beginners Training Guide click HERE

Key Dates for registration to be part of ‘Cate’s Team’

We at A B Accountancy are taking steps towards going green and would like to give you the option of receiving all of your correspondence from us via email.

Just imagine how much time and space you will save by receiving all of your correspondence from us electronically….

• Time saved collecting, opening and filing mail.
• No more envelopes, which means one less item to throw into the rubbish bin.
• No more paper cuts trying to open envelopes.
• The physical space you will save if you don’t have to manually file away hard copies of your documents and reports. You can simply save them all in a file on your hard drive.
• Looking up your records at the click of a mouse as opposed to searching through filing cabinets.

These are just some of the benefits of receiving all of your correspondence from us electronically, while helping to save a few trees!

Send us an email on bella@abaccountancy.com.au  if you would like to receive all of your correspondence from us electronically.

A B Accountancy now accepts Credit Card payments online via a secure link on our website. Instead of waiting for our opening hours to call into the office to make payments, you can now pay your account from the comfort of your home or office, at a time that is convenient for you.

Step 1

Go to www.abaccountancy.com.au

Step 2

Click on the “Westpac Online Payments” link on the left menu

Step 3

You will be lead to a secure payments page.

• Enter your client reference code (this is located on the bottom right hand side of your invoice e.g. Ref: ABCD0001
• Enter your Credit Card details and payment amount
• Click on “Confirm Payment”

The team at A B Accountancy recently attended QUT Business Leaders’ Forum, where we were inspired, motivated and informed by guest speaker Gail Kelly, CEO & Managing Director of the Westpac Group.

Gail is truly an inspiring person to listen to as she has a down to earth approach in communicating powerful and useful life skills which can be applied to your professional and personal life.

Over lunch Gail shared with us an insight into some of the core attributes of a good leader.

According to her the following attributes make a good leader:

• Positive outlook – the ability to look at the glass half full as opposed to half empty
• Love and believe in what you do – if you don’t love what you do than something needs to change, either your attitude towards what you do OR change what you do.
• Embrace change – leaders are expected to have the ability to cope with change… but a good leader has the ability to embrace change.
• Resilience
• Generosity of spirit
• Ability to work in the moment –  Critical to prioritize your work and to be able to clear away the clutter and noise around you to focus 100% of your attention and energy to the task at hand.
• Take a leaf out of the book ‘Good to Great’ by Jim Collins – A good leader should ensure that only the right people are on the ‘bus’ even if the destination of the bus is not clear it is critical that only the right people are on the ‘bus’! Everyone else needs to get off the ‘bus’.

To find out more about QUT Business Leaders’ Forum visit: http://www.bus.qut.edu.au/community/businesslead/

“I think my favourite part was when Gail spoke about changing from something that she was comfortable with to something that was totally out of her comfort zone, which became the turning point in her career. She took a chance and look how far she has come!”
Jenni – Team A B Accountancy

“She was a very engaging and convincing speaker. Her beliefs in the powers of positive thinking I could certainly relate to, if you believe you can achieve the unachievable then anything is possible.

Also, her thoughts on great leaders needing to have a ‘generosity of spirit’, using the example of Nelson Mandela, I thought was very powerful.”
Bella – Team A B Accountancy

Wednesday evening’s seminar on Self Managed Super Funds was a HUGE success!

BUT don’t just take our word for it; this is what one of the attendees had to say in an email she forwarded to us after the event:

Hi Anne & Staff
Just a short note to thank you all very much for a great night last night.
The food, wine & information supplied was great. 
Thanks very much.
G Smareglia.

It was definitely an evening not to be missed, so be sure to book early for the next one!

According to the ATO

There are a number of refund scam emails currently circulating. These emails claim to come from the ATO and offer a tax refund. Generally, they link to a bogus ATO website asking for personal and credit card details. These emails can differ in their appearance and level of sophistication but will generally state that you are eligible for a refund and instruct you to click on a link to submit a form to receive it. The ATO will never email you asking for personal or credit card details and you should never provide this information.

One version of this scam contains an attachment infected with a virus. This email purports to be from the ATO and asks for the recipient to complete the attached form to receive a tax refund. There is zip file attached to the message that contains a malicious program. If you receive an email like this, do not open the attachment.

Under no circumstances should you give personal information including credit card or banking details. Anyone who has received a suspicious phone call or email should contact the ATO immediately.

Key indicators of this scam include:

• the email asks you to provide personal details. You should always be suspicious of this
• it is poorly worded with spelling and grammatical mistakes (though this is not always the case)
• includes an attachment (form) or link to a webpage to lodge a form
• comes from an email address which is not a valid ATO email address
• asks for credit card and PIN numbers

For more information and to view examples of the scam emails visit:

http://www.ato.gov.au/onlineservices/content.aspx?doc=/content/62347.htm&page=6

Last Friday, as a finalist team,  A B Accountancy were out in force at the Quest Business Achiever Awards.

This year the award for our category “Professional Services” was taken out by Davgan Financial Services. A BIG Congratulations to the team at Davgan Financial Services

We would like to thank everyone for your nominations and support as without it we would not have made it this far.

June 30^th marks the end of the Financial Year and a time to recognise and acknowledge the contribution, support, dedication and commitment of the amazing group of people that make up team A B Accountancy.

In recognition of this a BIG congratulations goes to Laurena Reissman for winning A B Accountancy’s 2011 Staff Member of the Year Award!

We all know that networking is a key factor in ensuring your business gains exposure and potential clients. With so many networking events to choose from, unless you have a lot of time on your hands it’s better to focus your attention and time towards participating regularly in a few – as opposed to attending many on a less frequent basis.

Over the years we have been consistently attending the South East Brisbane Chamber of Commerce events and would highly recommend it.

The South East Brisbane Chamber of Commerce make a point to invite high profile speakers who add value to attendees, thus attracting a wide and diverse range of businesses.

The most recent guest speaker at their ‘Business at Sunrise’ event was Hon Anna Bligh MP – Premier of Queensland who spoke about the state budget and small businesses.

To find out more about South East Chamber of Commerce and the events that they hold visit http://www.sebcc.com.au/default.asp