Noel Dyson

TWO police officers turned lawyers have set up a firm to specialise in criminal prosecutions.

FORENSIC accounting is emerging as one of the growth areas within the accounting profession.With increased changes to Australia’s tax system forcing accountants to specialise, forensic accounting is becoming one of the specialisations of choice.

A NUMBER of WA business owners have been caught in a credit card scam perpetrated by criminal interests believed to be from Malaysia.

SINCE the Machinery of Government taskforce changes came into place, some people have had difficulty finding the Government departments they used to deal with.

THE number of new bankruptcies for the September quarter has fallen 9 per cent on the previous quarter.Provisional bankruptcy statistics show the number of new bankruptcies was 6,504. In the June quarter there were 7,169.

A KEY test to prove workers are bona fide contractors for income tax purposes is being proposed as an option for defining contractors under WA’s extended payroll system.

A WA company is building a reputation as the Red Adair of the underwater welding industry.And, like the internationally renowned extinguisher of oil fires, the company’s name is being built on doing the jobs others have failed to complete.

WA wildflower exporters are hoping to recover the lost ground caused to their industry by the terrorist attacks on the US.

JUST days after it entered into an agreement with Greek telecommunications giant OTE, WA-based public company SmartWorld Corporation has gone into voluntary administration.

AFTER more than a year of dealing with numerous tax changes, weary small businesses have another tax bogey to fear.

THE future of a privately owned ambulance service run in competition to St John Ambulance is looking grim due to the WA Govern-ment’s opposition to competitive tendering.

which comes into effect on December 21, will have a smaller impact than first thought.

MARTIN Langridge has been appointed to head accounting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmat-su’s Perth forensic practice.

FRAUD costs businesses more than $1 billion a year and most indications show it is on the rise, thanks to the increased pace of business and greater reliance on computers.

BUSINESSES setting up websites for promotional purposes have been dealt a blow by a recent Australian Tax Office ruling.Websites were traditionally treated like advertising for tax purposes.

THE potential consequences from the repeal of the Workplace Agreements Act are proving a major hurdle for the WA Government’s rewrite of industrial relations laws.

THE State Government is running out of time to make good on its promise to supply extra rail services to Clarkson by late 2003.

STATE Government moves to run seminars helping regional builders apply for home indemnity insurance may not be as successful as it hopes.

WHILE the WA Government has come under fire for breaking its election promise to not raise business taxes, it has kept a promise it made to small business.

FOLLOWING the collapse of Ansett it has become cheaper to charter a plane than to pick up a full economy-class seat.

A WA-BASED plumbing equipment supplier has won an epic legal battle against US industrial giant General Electric.

SMALL business’ hopes of gaining exemption from unfair dismissal laws in either the state or federal jurisdiction seem remote.WA’s unfair dismissal laws are under review as part of the Government’s rewrite of its industrial laws.

BUSINESS has given the Labor Government’s first budget a cool reception, angry about the increased taxes and uncertain the $852 million in public sector savings can be delivered.

TWO Government documents have been released that threaten to have major ramifications for business.

A PERTH City Councillor is trying to use National Competition Policy to get car parking approved on land that he owns.

PERTH phone users have become the first in Australia to try a new-look White Pages format that puts all business listings at the front of the book.The new-look phone books will not be released in the eastern states until next July.

AFTER spending many years in small business, Hospitality Accessories owner Diane Miskelly believes she has some hands-on experience to bring to the Small Business Development Corpor-ation’s board.

WA’S two major accounting bodies are introducing mentoring programs to improve their members’ career development.

THE State Government’s plan to treat “employee-like” contractors as employees for payroll tax purposes threatens to open the home building sector to unionisation.

A WAR of words is likely to erupt over whether Government spending on education has been increased or cut in Treasurer Eric Ripper’s first budget.

TWO days before the budget was handed down, WA Treasurer Eric Ripper told Business News the Government had no intention of killing the goose that laid the golden egg.

COLLECTIVE marketing is proving a way for small businesses to break into overseas markets.