The Personal Properties Security Act ("PPSA") commenced on 30 January 2012. The PPSA provides an Australian wide scheme to govern the way secured financial arrangements will operate. If you do not register your security interest rights on the Personal Properties Security Register ("PPS Register") you may be exposing your business to substantial risks.

A security interest is defined as being any interest in personal property which secures the payment of money or the performance of an obligation.

Personal property includes all tangible and intangible property including plant and equipment, inventory, motor vehicles, intellectual property, book debts, receivable and other contractual rights.

A security interest needs to be perfected to preserve priority and ensure that interest is enforceable on insolvency, which can be done by registration of your security interest on the PPS Registrar.

So what do you need to do to protect yourself and your business?

1. Identify what PPSA security interests arise in your business and consider whether you need to take additional steps to protect your position.
2. Review your trading terms and conditions and finance arrangements to ensure they comply with the PPSA.
3. Review the terms of any equipment leases you have, to determine whether you need to register your interest in the equipment.
4. If you hire or lease equipment to customers, ensure that you register your interest in the equipment before you supply it. Your failure to do this may mean that even though you have legal title to the goods, someone else may have priority over you to those goods.
5. Ensure that your staff are trained to conduct searches and lodge registrations on the PPS Register so that your security interest is lodged quickly and correctly. The order that security interests are perfected sets the priority it has in relation to security interests of other parties.

Should you require assistance to address these issues or the effect of PPSA on your business please contact the Commercial Team at Aubrey Brown Partners on 4350 3333.

Whilst some areas of the economy are struggling, Australia is doing better economically than many of the other participant nations in the OECD study. With unemployment rates of just over five per cent, the economy is outperforming many others in the developed world.

In 2009, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that the workforce participation rate of people with disability was 54 per cent, compared to 83 per cent for people with no reported disability.

In 2010, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reported that Australia was ranked 21 out of 29 countries in terms of employment participation for people with disability.

There are still identified skill shortages in a range of different occupational types within Australia and anecdotal evidence indicates there are jobs advertised that are not being filled or gaining limited suitable applicants.

Many businesses are becoming aware of the "untapped" source of new employees and are experiencing the benefits of employing a person with a disability.

To some business owners, this idea may seem daunting, be perceived as "all too hard" or not suited to their business. This is where specialist Disability Employment Services can provide an easy way to make hiring a person with a disability a success. Funded by the federal government, these agencies can provide:

• Applicants suited to the employer's needs
• Support to the employer and co-workers around working with a person with a disability
• Support to the new employee through on- site training and advocacy
• Assistance in accessing wage subsidies, apprenticeships and traineeships and workplace modification funding if required.

It is worth considering having a workforce that reflects the diversity of the community in which we live and at the same time providing an opportunity for someone to contribute positively to that community through valued and useful employment. In the end it really comes down to hiring a person can "do the job". It is as simple as that.

Is your business one of the few that actually has a documented exit strategy?

An exit strategy is about leaving your business on your terms! And the only way to do this is to plan for the known AND the unknown.

Baby Boomers are 'coming of age' (that is retirement age) so many small business owners will be exiting from their business to retire during the next 10 years, and are hopefully already planning for this.

Some business owners, not yet ready to retire, will also be planning to exit their business, sometimes into another business or to take up other opportunities.

An exit strategy is a very important tool for any business to have and should be documented and part of your Business Plan.

The most likely exit strategies considered by business owners are:

• Pass on the business to the next generation
• Sell the business to other partners or employees
• Sell the business on the open market
• Pass on the business to other family members
• Close the business and sell the assets.

You may already have considered all the above strategies and worked through the elements of your most preferred options. You also may have determined the possibilities and success of each option and the preferred timing of the exit. (ie. in the next 12 month, 2 years, 5 years or >10 years).

With all this thought and planning, your main goal of leaving the business on your terms, will probably be achieved.

But what about the UNKNOWN. Sickness, divorce, death, rogue partner and anything else that may affect your business. An exit strategy needs to cover as many of the 'what ifs' that could occur, because leaving a business because of an unplanned situation means that at best, the sale will not be on your terms and at worst, you walk away with nothing.

You should start planning your exit strategy from day one, and this, together with the Business Plan, should guide the processes of how you operate your business. If you are past day one, then tomorrow is a good time to start planning.

Julie Blatch is a partner at MYC Partners, Accountants and business consultants at Woy Woy.