World-renowned neurosurgeon, Dr Charlie Teo congratulated Boyce Chartered Accountants for their efforts in raising almost $30,000 for brain cancer research. 

For the past two years, Boyce has used one of Australia’s most well-known events, the annual City to Surf race, to raise funds to support the Cure For Life Foundation. 

The Foundation was established by Dr Teo in response to the increasing incidence of brain tumours and the lack of research being conducted into the disease in Australia. 

“The City to Surf is an amazing event and provides participants like the team from Boyce Chartered Accountants with a significant challenge”, said Dr Teo. 

“It is pleasing that this challenge is also able to deliver benefits that far outlast the day of the event and that their fundraising, on behalf of the Cure For Life Foundation, will enable us to continue our efforts into finding a cure for brain cancer so that one day patients may be told that they have a manageable condition.” 

The Managing Director of Boyce, Bernard Kennedy (pictured at right presenting a cheque to Dr Teo) said that the firm had recently established a corporate social responsibility program which was being driven from within by the firm’s employees. 

“The Boyce team take their responsibilities in the community seriously and are committed to making a difference in many ways, across many different areas.” said Mr Kennedy. 

“They again elected Dr Teo’s Foundation in 2010, as one of two major causes to support.” 

Mr Kennedy said that it was extra special for the team to have Charlie Teo running alongside them in a Boyce t-shirt. 

“It kept us focused on the reason why we were putting ourselves through the pain,” he said. 

The firm’s fund-raising efforts started well before the actual event with clients, professional colleagues, family members and friends, all encouraged to join in the fun. 

“Even if people didn’t want to enter the race, they were encouraged to contribute by making donations and offering messages of support for the participants.” 

It obviously worked because the Boyce Team managed to raise more than $16,000 this year alone and finish in the “top 10” fund-raising teams alongside Steve Waugh’s “Team Waugh” and a team fielded by the Commonwealth Bank. 

“Not a bad result for a team from the bush”, said Mr Kennedy. 

For more information about The Cure For Life Foundation visit www.cureforlife.org.au.

Now that we have passed another 30 June employers are busy preparing their employees’ PAYG payment summaries. What many employers may not be aware of is that the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) now requires further information to be disclosed on these summaries.

Where an employer pays extra superannuation for an employee over and above the 9% super guarantee charge, then these extra amounts need to be reported on the payment summaries. Sounds simple – it isn’t. 

Calculating the amount to be shown 

Most employers know how much super they have paid for their employees in total but it is not this amount that needs to be reported. Often these extra contributions are known as salary sacrifice contributions but sometimes employers may simply be obliged under certain agreements to pay super at a higher rate than 9%.

The calculation can be tricky as the amount is not total super less 9% of wages; it is necessary to work backwards from what the original salary would have been.

So why does the ATO want this information? From 1 July 2009 Centrelink changed the definitions for many of their benefits to ensure extra super contributions were added on to reported incomes. Centrelink are making use of the ATO to collect the information they require. 

Impact on self-employed superannuation contributions

Unfortunately, there has been a flow on impact to many individuals who had small amounts of wage income but also wanted to claim self employed superannuation contributions. There is a limitation known as the 10% rule whereby if an individual receives 10% or more of their income from wages, they can not then claim self employed superannuation. For many self employed business people who also had a small salary this would be prohibitive so they may have elected to salary sacrifice more of their wage income into super to stay under the 10% rule.

With the change of definition from 1 July 2009 the extra salary sacrificed into superannuation is now added on to wages and so many more taxpayers will now fail this rule and limit how much of a tax deduction they can claim personally.

This combined with restrictive caps on contributions may lead to unexpected tax consequences for those who have not caught up with the rule changes and result in a problem claiming tax deductions. They may also receive a nasty shock with an excess contributions tax assessment if they exceed their contribution caps.

Please contact your local Boyce Director or Accountant for further information about these changes.

“Growing our own people” is central to the Boyce recruitment philosophy and our Cadetship programme plays a major role in helping the firm realise this aim. Cadets have the opportunity to combine valuable practical experience with tertiary study. 

Abbey Johnson is one of the current “crop” of Boyce cadets. You can read Abbey’s take on the cadetship programme in an interview with Boyce HR Manager, Gabrielle McFarland, below. 

Abbey's Cadetship Story

Abbey Johnson (pictured left with Janelle Byrne, Boyce Senior) commenced with Boyce Cooma in January 2008 and started her cadetship in July 2008, when she enrolled in a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Canberra. Two years on, Abbey has reached the half–way point in her cadetship and I recently caught up with her to find out her thoughts about the programme. 

Congratulations Abbey on reaching the half-way mark, how does it feel? 

It’s great! The past two years have just flown by and reaching the half-way point of my cadetship is really satisfying. 

How have you found the university programme? 

The uni programme has been good. I’ve been getting the best of both worlds by studying part-time one semester and full-time the next, this breaks it up. I’m really enjoying the Commerce degree because we’re not just studying plain accounting; we learn about all aspects of business. 

What’s your favourite subject so far? 

I have really enjoyed two subjects so far – Statistics, which happens to be a subject most people dislike intensely, and Company Accounting. 

What’s the best part of the Cadetship? 

The best part is all the learning, sounds like a cliché I know, but that’s what I like. I learn so much from Janelle Byrne (a Senior Accountant) - and it’s not always just about accounting! I also like the team environment within the office, everyone’s really friendly. 

Tell me about the down-sides - there must be some? 

Well luckily there are not really any downsides—apart from having to meet a budget every month. It can get a tiny bit stressful when I don’t think I’m going to reach my budgeted hours. It’s never a good feeling letting the team down. 

What about having to balance work and uni? 

This has been a bit tough; getting the balance right is probably one of the hardest things about the cadetship - besides the uni exams! So far I think I’ve been managing well, I’ve passed all my subjects to date. The travelling between Cooma and Canberra though is tiring - I feel like I know the road like the back of my hand. 

Have you managed to also maintain some sort of social life outside of work whilst studying? 

Social life, what social life?? I’m just joking; I actually think that my social life has improved as I’ve made some great friends both at work and uni. 

Do you think the practical work experience has assisted your learning? 

The practical work experience has been great because I’m not just reading about skills or theories from a text book. I’m experiencing them first-hand and putting them into practice. 

What support have you had since commencing your cadetship with the firm? 

I’ve had great support. The team structure within Boyce means that there’s always someone willing to help me if I’m not sure about something. Financially, the firm has also been really supportive by providing generous exam and study leave and also a text book allowance. 

What has been great …or not so great about working for Boyce? 

Well as I’ve already said, the people at Boyce are great. I’ve made some wonderful friendships and I’m always having a laugh. That makes work fun. I’m not sure about what’s not so great... actually all the chocolate biscuits in the kitchen! They’re a killer - I blame Boyce for all my post-school weight gain! 

Gabrielle McFarland—Boyce HR Manager with Abbey Johnson—Cadet, Cooma