Issue 22 - July 15, 2004

Editor: Lynne Bullen
lynne@associatedsecretarial.com.au

Publisher: Associated Secretarial
Copyright © 2004 Associated Secretarial

In this issue:

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1. Editorial

When was the last time you took a look at how your business has been performing?

Are you turning a profit? Are things are running smoothly?

Have you taken steps to insure that you keep your business healthy and protected?

If you've been in business for some time, one of the really important things to check on is your current Insurance. If you've added more to your plant and equipment, office furniture and supplies, computers or other business equipment during the last few years, you will probably be UNDER INSURED.

If you're just starting out, what measures have you taken to insure your business interests?

There's a mountain of information about insurance available from various providers. You'll need to be discerning about whom you choose. If a friend or business acquaintance recommends the provider they use, it's usually safe to bet that they are happy with their choice.

No one wants to find himself/herself loosing everything because appropriate steps have not been taken to adequately insure business interests.

In most countries, the fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30, so NOW is a good time to look at what insurance you have (or don't have) and take stock ... literally.

If you're already insured you should seriously consider revisiting your current policy. Make an appointment with your provider.

If you have not yet taken out a policy, make time in your work schedule to choose and visit several providers, gather information so you're ready to make an informed choice.

You can't afford to leave it any longer! Do it this week!

Lynne
lynne@associatedsecretarial.com.au

2. Article: "To Insure Or Not To Insure: There Is No Question"

Reviewing and updating Business Insurance will always be one of your most important business tasks.

Insurance is an absolute necessity and one of the business expenses you need to consider carefully. It seems that every time we turn around, there are new ways or new laws.

It certainly is difficult to keep up with all of them. Most insurance companies or agents will be happy to sit down with you and go through what you have and what you need. They will point out any changes needed in your current policy.

So ... where do you start?

Make a list of all items pertaining to your business. Your list should include the following:

The building that houses your business
Tools of trade
Motor vehicles
Plant & Equipment
Office furniture and equipment
Stationery supplies
Security alarm system if you have one. Many insurers these days will offer substantial discounts if you have a monitored (back to base) security system. Some insurers insist on this facility before they will consider insuring your business.

If you've done any renovations or added on extra rooms, etc., you should mention that to your chosen insurance provider.

Let's look some key factors:

Home Business

Many very successful businesses operate from home. The SOHO (Small Office - Home Office) is one of the fastest growing types of business, and it seems to be a worldwide phenomenon.

You will already (or should) have an Insurance Policy known as Building & Contents for your home. These policies cover the physical structures of your home and usually include sheds, garages, granny-flats, etc., as well as the house, household contents and personal effects in those buildings.

Here in Australia, "... research on the issue of under insurance has shown that as many as one in five homes may be under insured by as much as 30% for home building insurance, and one in three households will be under insured by more than 30% for their contents insurance." (*Source: Insurance Council of Australia, Report on Under-Insurance, published in October 2002).

Many business owners who operate from their homes think that their current House & Contents covers anything and everything, including their business tools of trade, office equipment and furniture, etc.

Not so!

Whether it's the room in your house which is used as your office, a normal household item or an item used in the course of your business; anything to do with your home business, those items are generally NOT covered by your normal House & Contents Insurance.

"The 2001 ABS Small Business Survey estimated just under 200,000 uninsured small businesses were operating in Australia. Approximately 17% of all registered small businesses employing up to 20 people had no insurance. This equates to one in six businesses with no insurance protection." (*Source: Insurance Council of Australia - Non-Insurance & Under-Insurance Survey).

Two factors within your Business Insurance policy, over and above those covering your home office and business items, are Public Liability and Professional Indemnity.

Public Liability

If one of your clients should trip over a child's toy, the garden hose, or have an accident of any kind whilst on your premises for the purpose of "business", the Public Liability clause is there to protect you against claims such as medical or other costs a client may incur as a result of an accident on your property. This applies whether you run your business from home or elsewhere.

Professional Indemnity is part of your Business Insurance Policy. This is designed to protect you if your client has taken and acts upon your advice and suffered a loss as a result. Again, this applies whether you run your business from home or elsewhere. If you would like more detailed information on this item, visit:
http://www.ica.com.au/hotissues/briefnote.asp

Most countries have a body that will help you to locate Insurers who look after small business. The phone book or your local council are good places to start.

Businesses such as retail or wholesale outlets, research and development companies, manufacturing, storage, motor vehicle sales and/or service, any business not operated as a Home Business will have clauses within their Business Insurance Policies, specific to their needs and to Insurance Laws.

How Do You Know If You Have the Right Cover?

In Australia, there is what is known as The General Insurance Code of Practice. It was developed by the Insurance Council of Australia to raise standards of practice and service across the insurance industry. For more information on the Code of Practice, visit the website of the Insurance Council of Australia
Limited. http://www.ica.com.au/

Where ever in the world you live, there are probably similar bodies which have information specific to your country.

The type of cover for your Business Insurance will be determined by several things:

Location of your business premises
The type of business
Whether you operate as a Home business or commercial business on premises specifically for business purposes
Whether you use or store hazardous materials
Whether you're a Solo enterprise
Whether you're an Employer
Number of employees
Revenue - turnover, profit, loss.

What are some of the things you can insure against?

Personal accident
Illness
Disability
Interruption to business
Breakdown of equipment
Workers compensation
Theft
Burglary
Employee dishonesty
Fire/Water damage
Malicious damage
Damage or loss to goods in transit
Product recall
Bad debts

* The information above is presented as a guide only. You need to speak with a qualified and accredited Insurance Broker or Insurance Company or Agent.

For those who want to know more about the way the Insurance Industry operates and why, click on the following: http://www.insuranceandrisk.com.au/about/ Take a look at some recent issues affecting businesses and their insurers: http://www.insuranceandrisk.com.au/

Lynne Bullen is a successful businesswoman whose talents include Public Relations; Editorial and Commercial Copywriting; Design and Facilitation of Seminars, Forums and Workshops, Secretarial and
Administrative support including Digital Transcription. Lynne is also the Founder of Associated Secretarial ...the perfect solution. http://www.associatedsecretarial.com.au Lynne is happy to share her knowledge to help others achieve their goals. Contact her via email: lynne@lynnebullenstrategies.com.au or visit her website at http://www.lynnebullenstrategies.com.au

3. Resources

Australian Securities and Investments Commission http://www.asic.gov.au/asic/asic.nsf

Insurance Commission of Australia: http://www.ica.com.au/

USA, Canada, UK - lots of information and links available here http://www.homeworkersexpats.com/insurance.htm

Canada. Great information and resources for Canadians. Not just Business Insurance! http://www.insurance-canada.ca/index.php

[Editor's Note: While we're talking about Insurance let's think about another type of Insurance, something you should take as seriously as insuring your business.

Do you have a system in place to ensure safety of your data? The next article, prepared by Dawn Darwent will give you food for thought, and another angle on Insurance. It will cost you nothing but planning and a little time each week.

All of your precious data is stored on your computer, but what if it crashes? What if the computer is stolen? What if there's a fire? It took you months, or even years, to input your data and carefully file your records.

It will take only a few moments to have it stolen or destroyed].

4. Article: Is Your Electronic Data Secure?

The almost total reliance of most businesses today on Computer Technology means that significant consideration needs to be given to securing a reliable back-up system. It is important that in the event of loss of information, you can restore data quickly, reliably and accurately.

The issues that need to be considered when implementing a back-up system include:

Data to be backed up

In general, the larger and more diverse the business, the more data that will need to be backed up. This will determine the type of back-up strategy to be used and the hardware necessary for effective back-ups.

Operating system in use

Different operating systems require different software and possibly different hardware to enable back-ups to take place. This becomes more complicated if there is more than one type of system in place (i.e. Macintosh and IBM).

What should be backed up

In principle, you should back up information that you MAY wish to refer to again. This can include:

accounts
correspondence
internal correspondence
emails
internal documents - ie advertising, graphics etc
work related information - ie databases, spreadsheets, client records etc.

Depending on the system implemented, you may wish to back up just the server, or server and individual workstations.

Back-up Strategy

Issues that need to be addressed include:

what data will be backed up?
how often back-up will be carried out?
how will back-ups be archived?
where will back-ups be stored (on-site or off-site)?
how often will back-up media be recycled?
who will be responsible for back-ups?
will all files be backed up or only those that have changed?

Back-up Method

There are several methods to choose from, depending on cost, amount of information to be backed up, and time constraints. Back ups can be either automated or done manually. Generally speaking, the more information to be backed up, the more automated the process should be.

The most common methods of backing up include:

Floppy disks - generally only used nowadays for small amounts of data, such as accounts, correspondence etc. This method can be time consuming, but cheap.

CD Burner - for larger amounts of data - this is usually a manual process taking anywhere from a couple of minutes to up to an hour depending on equipment and amount of data to be backed up. Whilst this process can be automated, some of the burning software is not reliable and back-ups could fail.

Back-up Tape Drives - used for backing up high volumes of data and across networks using sophisticated back-up software.

Testing

Any back-up system should be set to report any inaccuracies in its back-up so that remedial action can be taken when necessary. In addition to this, the veracity of the system should be tested on a regular basis by doing a restore of selected files.

As a final fall-back, there is the option of insuring data to cover costs of re-entering information into your computer system.

For taxation purposes, you need to keep records for up to seven years.

Dawn Darwent is a Director of IPD System Services Pty Ltd, a South Australian company that specializes in providing computing support and secretarial services to small/medium businesses and
individuals. She has worked with both Windows and Macintosh technology for many years. Dawn is especially interested in sharing her knowledge and using her experience to enable clients to become masters of their computing technology - rather than slaves to it! Contact Dawn at dawnd@ipdsys.com or visit her website at http://www.ipdsys.com

5. Sponsors

Lynne Bullen Strategies provides Virtual Business Solutions For reliable secretarial support including digital and/or taped transcriptions. http://lynnebullenstrategies.com.au

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Need to convert MAC files to PC or the reverse? Don't know how to do it? IPD System Services does! Need one-on-one training in use of Microsoft Products or MYOB? Contact IPD. Also on offer are Computer sales and support (hardware and software), Internet installations and set-ups (Dial-up, Broadband - ADSL). If you
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JR Executive Services Specialising in MYOB and Minute taking as well as offering other secretarial services. Contact Jan. http://www.jrexecutiveservices.com.au

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From the Eagle's Nest: Copyright © 2004 Lynne Bullen and Associated Secretarial (articles by other individuals copyrighted as indicated). Prior to using Lynne's articles please e-mail her at lynne@associatedsecretarial.com.au - she will provide her bio and a URL link. Thank you.

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