In the wake of Tuesday’s Federal Budget in which a small business package was the centrepiece, Business Insight sought the views of a successful local start-up, Social Natives – a specialist social media company servicing a wide range of corporate clients in South Australia and beyond.
Social Natives managing director Louise Kipling, a current participant in Business SA’s SAYES program which supports and mentors young entrepreneurs, said the small business measures would provide tangible benefits.
Q: Will the ability to immediately write off up to $20,000 in asset purchases encourage you to invest in plant and equipment?
A: “The ability for small businesses like Social Natives to immediately write-off up to $20,000 in asset purchases is a welcome and much needed change.
“This will benefit our cash flow almost immediately and increase service efficiency and output, which will help to fast track business growth and new employment opportunities”.
Is the new ability to immediately write off start-up professional costs rather than over five years attractive and a benefit to your company?
“When starting our business, the advice of professional costs such as lawyers and accountants was in majority expensive and crippling on our start-up cash flow. Allowing these costs to be deducted immediately means money can be invested in growing the business when and where it needs it most.”
Do you think the Government’s decision to make crowd-source equity funding more flexible, including being able to access more equity investors, will encourage this form of funding for start-ups?
“It has been disappointing to hear the amount of home grown tech start-ups leaving Australia and relocating overseas as a direct result of modest entrepreneur and start-up funding. This has always been a concern for Social Natives when considering the development of our own social media content software, but the Government’s decision to make crowd-source equity funding more flexible, including greater access to more equity investors locally, has certainly sparked our interest to revisit this new product development.”
How much easier will it be for small companies if registering a business only involves one Australian Business Number rather than an ABN, Australian Company Number and Business Tax File Number?
“Registering a new business can be complex and overwhelming. This will help to provide more flexibility and reduce some of the overwhelming set-up intricacies.”
Do you think a more flexible employee share scheme – where the benefits of receiving shares only require payment of tax when the financial benefit is realised – would be attractive to small companies?
“Flexibility in the employee share scheme will now help us better entice leading corporate professionals to our start up business which was previously out of reach. This is most certainly a big win for all small businesses.”
