On 17 April, Inland Revenue made changes to streamline business taxes. It’s part of the department’s commitment to create a modern tax system which is simple to use, makes it easy for everyone to get their taxes right, and fits as seamlessly as possible into people’s lives.

You will have seen and heard about the changes over the last few months, but here’s a reminder of what’s now in place:

• The new ‘My Business’ section in myIR, where you can now manage tax types like Fringe Benefit Tax and Gaming Machine Duty. For help navigating myIR, visit http://cdn-au.mailsnd.com/50257/va-tsulCRK-su8H9RAifesKwCPCrPv_Gq9Lf0KnijSI/1922576.pdf
• The ‘Accounting Income Method’ (AIM), a new ‘pay-as-you-go’ method for managing provisional tax, is now available. Talk to your tax agent or software provider about whether AIM is right for your business, and go to www.ird.govt.nz/aim for more videos and information.
• Parliament has recently passed legislation which will require employers to file PAYE information every payday rather than monthly. This is voluntary from April 2018 and mandatory from April 2019. Find out more at www.ird.govt.nz/payday

As always, we will be working closely with Inland Revenue to support you and answer any queries about the changes.

Visit http://www.ird.govt.nz/transformation/businesses/ for more information.

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Innovation, collaboration and financial control are key to ensuring strong, sustainable not for profits in today’s world, writes Community Sector Banking CEO Andrew Cairns.

Australian not for profits never cease to amaze me. I hear countless stories of incredible programs and passionate people making a real impact. They are on the front-lines, empowering the most vulnerable people in our society, advocating for our rights, and protecting our environment. Not for profits are essential for strong, sustainable and happy communities.

Yet, today’s not for profits face a mountain of challenges. Some 3,000 new charities pop up each year, jostling for the same decreasing pool of funding and grants, according to The Australian. At the same time, the demand on not for profits is only mounting.

Australia is facing social crises that are complex and on a massive scale – from domestic violence to unaffordable housing pushing people into homelessness. Not for profits are increasingly being asked to step in for governments to address these problems.

How can we ensure strong, sustainable not for profits in today’s world? This is a question I genuinely work to answer every day. Community Sector Banking was formed 15 years ago, when a group of not for profits came together with a plan to take control of their financial destiny. It’s an ongoing project and much as it genuinely excites me, I won’t bang on about it – I know you’re waiting for the answer to that question.

How can we make not for profits strong and sustainable? There’s no one silver bullet. Innovation, collaboration and financial control are key.

These are all fairly lofty concepts, so I’ll give you some concrete examples of collaboration strengthening a not for profit.

Mission Australia Housing has teamed up with the private and government sectors to deliver what’s billed as Australia’s largest social housing project: the redevelopment of Sydney’s Ivanhoe Housing Estate. Mission Australia will have onsite offices to provide support programs for social housing tenants, creating a pathway to empower people into the private housing market.

Haven; Home, Safe in Bendigo is another great example. Their award-winning Sidney Myer Haven project pairs housing and education to build resilience and long-term capability in its residents. Collaboration between government, and the private and philanthropic sectors has made this program possible, enabling people to turn their lives around.

These projects show the power of collaboration to generate sustainable not-for-profit programs, and make a positive impact in our communities. In my position, I’m privileged with great insight into Australia’s not-for-profit sector. I know of countless projects and initiatives, which offer lessons that go towards answering that burning question.

There’s no one silver bullet to make each and every not for profit strong and sustainable. Every organisation is unique and as such, they require a unique solution. Yet, all must take the first step on the path to sustainability. And that step is questioning: what are your unique challenges, and goals? How can you innovate, collaborate and gain financial control, to ensure long-term sustainability and impact in our communities?

Originally published in Pro Bono News

An accomplished leader in the health field has joined the organisation to lead its policy and advocacy, the PSA has announced.

Outgoing CEO of the Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association (GBMA), Belinda Wood, has been appointed to the role of General Manager, Policy and Advocacy of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA).

Ms Wood has over 23 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry, having worked constructively with policy makers and political decision-makers, and built trusted relationships with stakeholders over the past three years in her role as CEO of GBMA.

She led negotiations of the GBMA’s first ever Strategic Agreement with government in 2015, and again in 2017.

Prior to holding the role of CEO, Ms Wood was the organisation’s policy director.

She has also previously worked as a policy manager for the Pharmacy Guild of Australia.

Ms Wood holds a medical science degree in pharmacology from the University of Sydney, and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

PSA National President Dr Shane Jackson welcomed Ms Wood’s appointment on behalf of the Board.

“The PSA Board recognises that as this is an important time for PSA and for the profession, we need the right team to deliver tangible improvement in the recognition of the role of pharmacists in the healthcare system,” he said.

“I am confident that Belinda will drive the PSA agenda of expanded roles for pharmacists, improved recognition of the expertise of pharmacists and will also lead our work on improving remuneration for pharmacists.”

Ms Wood said, “I am excited to take on this important leadership role with PSA and look forward to working with a dedicated team led by incoming CEO Graham Catt.

“The PSA Board has set a clear strategic direction to secure the organisation as a leader in health policy while continuing to set high-quality practice standards and ensuring pharmacists are supported to be the very best healthcare professionals they can be.

“My focus will be to represent PSA as the leading professional body for Australian pharmacists, advocate for pharmacists to be fully utilised in medicines management and develop opportunities for pharmacists regardless of where they practise their profession,” she said.

This article originally appeared in the Australian Journal of Pharmacy

By Nicki Hauser, Director, FineHaus

By definition, membership associations exist to serve their members – so ensuring your members are satisfied and engaged is a key strategic priority for every association.

It seems obvious that, in order to deliver on this strategic priority, you need to know how just how satisfied your members are with what you are doing. As the saying goes, if it’s not measured, it’s not truly managed.

Even more importantly, you need to understand what makes your members satisfied. Understanding the relationship between your members’ satisfaction with what you are doing and what your members value most is critical if you want to develop a strategy to improve member satisfaction and engagement.

If you can’t answer these questions definitively, you are not certainly alone!

So what can you do to find this out?

1. Satisfaction Indicators

There are a number of indicators that can be used to infer member satisfaction and engagement. These include:

- Renewal rates: If your membership renewal rates are declining, this is a good indicator that something is going wrong with your association. Conversely, if they are increasing, this indicates you are doing something right. However, the big question that tracking renewal rates doesn’t answer is ‘what’ – what are you doing that is right or wrong – and what do you need to do to improve your renewal rates?

- New member growth: Likewise, if your new member numbers are growing, this tells you that you are doing something right and are offering something that members’ value. Again, the unanswered question is – what?

- Participation rates: Participation rates for your individual events and other programs show whether members are engaging with your offerings. - If you also survey member satisfaction with each offering, this data can provide valuable insight into member engagement. The missing piece then understands the relative value of your key programs to members – and how this impacts overall member satisfaction and engagement.

- Open rates on newsletters and emails, website visitation, engagement with social media etc: This data can provide useful insights into how engaged your members are with your communications. What it doesn’t tell you what they value most.

The other thing to remember is that these are all lag indicators of satisfaction (for example, after your unsatisfied members fail to renew) – which is often too late to do much about it.

2. Ask your members!

Perhaps not surprisingly, the best way to determine member satisfaction and to understand what is important to them is to actually ask your members!

The key areas to cover in your member satisfaction research include:

- Member satisfaction with your services, communications touch-points and governance

- What are the key drivers for member engagement

- What do members value and how do they perceive membership value for money

- What are member’s renewal intentions

- How likely are they to recommend your association to others

- Why new members join.

How to ask

You can survey member satisfaction via qualitative research (for example, by running focus groups with representatives from key member segments) or by conducting quantitative membership satisfaction surveys, where you survey all members and analyse the responses to provide insights.

Quantitative research has the advantage in terms of time and effort to conduct, reach to your whole membership, statistical reliability of results and the ability to compare results over time.

A word of warning - think carefully if you are planning on saving money by whipping up your own research in-house and sending it out using a tool like survey monkey – particularly if you do not have access to in-house research expertise.

Designing membership satisfaction surveys that provide sound data that you can rely on for decision-making takes expertise and experience. It can be hard to know what questions to ask and how to ask them to get the insights you need. You also risk perceptions of - or actual bias - in the survey design or results analysis.

A badly designed and conducted satisfaction survey can actually do more damage than conducting no research at all.

There are a number of respected companies that can conduct independent membership satisfaction research for your association. And it doesn’t have to cost the earth. As an example, the cost to participate in the beaton/FineHaus Member Satisfaction Benchmarking research, to be conducted between October and November 2018, is just $1,500 (ex GST) for small associations.

Overcoming the common excuses about member research

Finally, don’t let these common excuses prevent you from understanding just how satisfied your members are and what makes them happy – and then developing data-driven strategies to improve your results each year:

- Excuse # 1 – Member survey fatigue: Some associations argue that their members are over-surveyed and that they don’t want to burden members with yet another survey. If you think this is the case for your association, then it is time to step back and ask how these surveys support the achievement of your strategic priorities. If one of your strategic priorities is to have satisfied, engaged members, then you simply have to make room for this research in your member survey program. And, by the way, research amongst association members that beaton has conducted over the years, shows the vast majority of members when asked whether they are surveyed too much, about the right amount or too little, answer the right amount or too little! No association should listen to a few squeaky wheels.

- Excuse # 2: ‘We know how our members feel’: Sometimes boards and committee members take the view that a member satisfaction survey is unnecessary because their level of satisfaction is indicative of how all members feel. This is patently untrue – your board and committee members are your most engaged members and potentially the most biased about their experience! They are not a representative sample of your membership.

- Excuse #3: Lack of money and expertise: Access to independent, expert research doesn’t have to cost the earth (see beaton/FineHaus Member Satisfaction Benchmarking program as an example!).

- Excuse #4: We surveyed members recently and don’t need to do it again: Even if you are offering exactly the same programs, to exactly the same members, member satisfaction with and expectations of your association can (and do) vary year to year for a whole range of reasons - and you need to be on top of this. It is important to track satisfaction and engagement each year to measure your performance and so you can continuously tweak your strategies. No association is perfect – there will always be room to improve.

- Excuse #5: Fear of the results: Sometimes, association leaders are concerned that results of the member satisfaction research might be poor and reflect badly on them and their team. If you are afraid this might be the case for your association, then this is actually a very strong indicator that you need to bite the bullet and undertake independent member satisfaction research forthwith! Only when you definitively know what is going on, can you develop robust strategies to improve your association’s performance moving forward.

Performance boosting

Finally, member feedback to an association is like oxygen is to the body.

Without enough, performance is compromised. With a good supply of oxygen (member feedback), the body (your association) can be trained to function at the highest level. Makes you think, doesn’t it!

If you would like to learn more about participating in the 2018 beaton + FineHaus Member Satisfaction Benchmarking, download the information kit now or contact Nicki Hauser.

The Australasian Corrosion Association (ACA) has appointed Richard Reilly to the position of Chief Executive Officer for the organisation.

Based in Melbourne, Reilly was CEO of the Federation of Automotive Products Manufacturers for over six years. He also spent nine years at professional services firm Deloitte in the Global Investment and Innovation Incentive group, delivering tax services to clients.

“Corrosion is an enormous cost to the national economy. I’m looking forward to working with members to help address this challenge and ensure that the association continues to meet the needs of it’s members and of the industry through training, membership, communication and governance,” Reilly said.

Reilly has experience working with stakeholders in a membership-based organisation, providing advocacy and liaising with key industry and government bodies. His professional background and experience are an excellent fit for the organisation, according to ACA chair, Dean Wall.

“Richard will be responsible for delivering key outcomes contained in the ACA’s strategic plan and I am sure you will enjoy working with him to further the interests of companies and individuals in the Australasian corrosion mitigation sector and related industries," Wall said.

Reilly has Bachelor Degrees in Arts and Commerce from the University of Melbourne and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne.

He is also a graduate of the Company Directors’ course from the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

To view the original news story, click here.

The Australasian Society of Association Executives (AuSAE) is calling for nominations from members interested in serving as a Director of the Board.

Following the recent vote of members to change the constitution there are currently 4 positions available. Members are invited to express their interest in appointment to fill these vacancies for a two-year term commencing in May 2018.

The culture of the AuSAE board is one of a working board with a current focus on supporting organisational growth. Our current Strategic Plan can be found here.

The board is seeking candidates with the following technical skills and attributes:

• Leadership – Knowledge and experience in leadership including the management of change and providing leadership as part of a governance team. An understanding of leadership in associations and an appreciation of the board / CEO relationship.
• Corporate governance – knowledge and experience of the governance function.
• Commitment - A demonstrated commitment to AuSAE
• Strategic ability – The ability and experience to understand the needs of members and to envision a range of future actions and opportunities to further the interests of AuSAE and its members.
• Financial management – an understanding of the financial analysis and management necessary to provide appropriate stewardship of AuSAE.
• Risk Management – knowledge and experience in understanding and managing risk.
• Commercial experience – experience in the business activities of associations.
• Knowledge - A sound knowledge of association management issues.

In addition to the above technical skills and attributes, the board are also seeking persons with personal qualities of Integrity, highly developed interpersonal and communication skills, a passion for Associations, Acumen and the willingness to contribute.

The board of AuSAE value and seek diverse leadership as defined by gender, ethnicity, age, role and level of experience and encourage applications from all eligible members.

Appointment to the board will be determined by election from the membership. Please note that the nominee must be a current financial member, in an eligible category of the association on application.

To express an interest for the Board position you will need to provide:

• a completed nomination form, which includes a declaration of eligibility
• a completed candidate statement addressing key questions for circulation to all members.
• A current headshot

All nominations must be received by 5pm Australian Eastern Standard Time on Monday, 23 April 2018.

Please click through for a copy of the AuSAE Constitution, By-Laws and Governance Manual.

Warm regards,

Graham

GRAHAM CATT

President

Australasian Society of Association Executives

E president@ausae.org.au W www.ausae.org.au

T +61 1300 764 576 F +61 (0) 7 3319 6056

Suite 19, 101 Wickham Terrace, Spring Hill QLD 4000 Australia

The ASA Board is delighted to announce the appointment of their new Chief Executive Officer Jodie Long, effective Monday 26 March 2018.

Jodie is a highly accomplished executive healthcare leader with over 25 years’ experience in the allied health sector. She has the ideal mix of both business and clinical experience, plus the drive to take the ASA to the next level of growth and operational excellence for our members.

In announcing this appointment, The ASA President Dr Jennifer Alphonse has said “I am personally very pleased that we have been able to attract someone of Jodie’s calibre to this role. I look forward to working with her in advocating for the sonography profession.”

Her experience includes the role of Interim Managing Director for the ASA as well as over 10 years’ experience in senior management roles. Previous roles include Principal Management Consultant, Business Manager Ultrasound and Business Manager Service for Siemens Healthcare across Australia and New Zealand, where the emphasis was on strong strategic direction, leadership and customer service.

In addition, Jodie is a qualified sonographer and has been a member of the ASA for over 14 years.

Independent recruitment specialists were engaged by the ASA to assess many high calibre candidates. Jodie’s strong in-depth healthcare knowledge and executive business leadership were considered invaluable to the ASA, in achieving continued operational excellence and growth as the peak body and leading voice for sonographers.

In accepting this role Jodie said “I am passionate about sonography and understand the challenges faced by Australasian sonographers. I look forward to working with the team to lead the ASA into the next stage of its strategic development."

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Entries are now open for the 2018 Women in Governance Awards.

The Women in Governance Awards recognise and celebrate innovation, excellence, creativity and commitment to diversity by both organisations and individuals.

Women on Boards believes that greater gender diversity at the executive and board level will enhance business excellence in New Zealand. We are dedicated to developing the next generation of board-ready women by providing empowerment to assist women to achieve their governance career goals.

Many New Zealand organisations have diversity as a key strategic imperative and are doing far more than merely ticking the box for corporate social responsibility.

For organisations, the 2018 Women in Governance Awards offers three separate categories to recognise gender diversity programmes and initiatives.

As a nation, we are well represented by individual women making a contribution to improving our governance capability.

For individuals, the 2018 Women in Governance Awards offers four categories to recognise our women gender diversity champions.

Finalists are invited to the Awards Gala Dinner at the Pullman Hotel, Auckland on Thursday 10 May where the winners will be announced.

Entries close 6 April - click here to apply. 

Women on Boards NZ and Governance New Zealand Incorporated