Australian Business News and Times

Business News ,Reports and Times of Australia

World

Woolworths and Wesfarmers in GLOBAL top 250 Retailers list

by Leave a Comment

Article updated:

Australian  favourite retail giants, Woolworths and Wesfarmers ( Coles Supermarkets), are now listed in the world’s top 25 retail companies list.

Top Australian Retailer in Global Rankings

 

coles against woolworths

The report brought out by research agency Deloitte , identifies the “250 largest retailers by revenue globally” for the fiscal year 2010, lists Woolworths in 20th (26th last year) and Wesfarmers in 23rd position (28th last year).

While the global downturn and economic slowdowns have seen many  top retailers companies going down the list , The Australian retail companies both Woolworths and Wesfarmers both  have jumped up by the list by six and five places  respectively.

The global Retailers list

 

The top Global retailers rankings also included other top global retail companies like WALMART ( No .1 From USA ) , CAREFOUR S.A. ( No.2 – From France ), TESCO PLC ( No. 3 – From UK)

wesfarmers top retailer list

Among the top 30 were also other companies like Costo , Best Buy Co,  Safeway , Ikea and Amazon. Brazil another rapidly growing economy has topped the “top 10 Latin Americas retailer  list”  with its “Grupo Pao De Acucar” taking the top honours.

So what is the big giants Woolworths and Wesfarmers made up of ?

Below is a listing of  the different divisions and businesses that make up the two Goliath’s of  australia

Wesfarmers

§ Retail – Coles, Bi-Lo, Liqourland, Coles express, Coles.com.au, First Choice Liquor, Vintage Cellars, Target, Target Country, K Mart, Kmart Tyre and Auto Services

§ Home Improvement – Bunnings, Bunnings Warehouse, Bunnings Trade

§ Office Supplies – Officeworks

§ Insurance – Lumley, WFi, Oamps, Crombie Lockwood

§ Resources – Urragh, Bengalla

§ Chemicals and Fertilisers – CSBP, QNP (Queensland Nitrates) and AGR (Australian Gold Reagents)

§ Gas/Energy – Kleenheat Gas, Evol LNG, Premier Power (electricity)

§ Industrial and Safety – Blackwoods, Protector Alsafe, Bullivants, Total fasteners, Coregas, Blackwoods Protector, Packaging House, Gotstock.com.au, Safety Source

§ Others, and stakes in – ModWood wood-plastic products, 50% stake each in Gresham Partners (Barminco, Silk Logistics Group and Tasmanian Walking Company) and Westpine Industries and a 24% stake in BWP warehouse retailing properties.

Woolworths

§ Retail – Woolworths Supermarkets, Woolworths Petrol, Big W, BWS, Dan Murphy’s, Wine market, Cellarmasters, Ezibuy, Countdown, Thomas Dux.

§ Home Improvement – Masters

§ Hospitality – ALH (Australia Leisure and Hospitality) group and its brands including Great Food Great Value, Live At Your Local, 28s, Function Venue Finder and Graziers beef.

§ Finance – Woolworths Money credit cards, Reloadable MasterCards and Gift cards.

§ Others – Woolworths Mobile, Langton’s

More details  about the top global retailers can be got from the Deloitte website

Download Global Powers of Retail 2011 Read and download the full report ‘Global Powers of Retailing 2011’ in PDF format.

4 Ways to Save Money on Your Federal Taxes

by Leave a Comment

Here are four easy things you can do right now to reduce your federal tax bill in the US. The idea here is to pay as little as you can in taxes, and we do this by reducing our taxable income. The way federal taxes work, you take your annual salary, then subtract from it …and arrive at your Adjusted Gross Income. Naturally we want to subtract as much as we can to make that AGI as low as possible. Subtractions are called deductions. That brings us to the 4 ways to save money on your federal taxes.

pay taxes or save

The 4 deductions are

  1. Put more money into your 401(k) if you have one. The money you put into your pension plan at work will not be taxed. For example, if you put $10,000 into your 401(k) then your AGI will be that much lower. The added benefit is that some employers will match what you contribute up to a certain amount. Nice!
  3. If you volunteer, keep track of transportation. That’s because you can deduct the mileage at $0.14 per mile, parking, tolls, and other ways you may have gotten to the volunteering work.
  5. If you give to charity, keep records. If you donate clothes, furniture, or anything else make sure it’s to a qualified charity. That way, you can deduct the amount you give off your taxes, thus reducing your Adjusted Gross Income.
  7. Plan your medical and dependent care. If you have a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) then make sure you use it. Contribute to it through your employer…money is taken out pre-tax so you are reducing your AGI even before it hits your Federal Tax Return.
  9. Set one up, put the right amount into it, and make sure you spend it by the end of the year.

       Christina Davis CPA at Large

    Selfies goes viral with oscars

    by Leave a Comment

    Well most certainly this selfie  has pretty much won an oscar in the online world due to going viral and becoming humongous’ly popular , as many people would vouch for.

    oscar winning selfie 1

     

    selfie of 2014

     

    the oscar world famous selfie

    This wasnt the first  time a celebrity selfie went viral  as  we can  see from this selfie  with Obama ,  British Prime Minister David Cameron and Denmark’s Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt

    obama uk prime minister selfie

    They are also many other me too amusing selfies

     

    Pope Francis Takes a Selfie (http://parade.condenast.com/)

    Have you ever snapped a selfie only to hurriedly delete if before anyone else sees it? It’s OK. We’re all guilty of it.

     

    Justin bieber

    (businessinsider.com)

    How to find accountants in Hemel Hempstead

    by Leave a Comment

    accountant in uk hemel hempstead

    If you are self-employed you’ll likely need the assistance of an accountant to help you with your tax and financial affairs if you live in Australia or then UK. Having an accountant can be invaluable as they’ll free up hours of your time each month to enable you to focus your time on developing your business. There are a number of accountants in Hemel Hempstead who can help.

    When searching for the right accountant for you, there are a number of things you need to consider such as whether or not they offer the services you require and if they are fully qualified. The following paragraphs will cover the main points that you need to consider and should help to make your search for an accountant in Hemel Hempstead that bit easier.

    How to find an accountant in Hemel Hempstead

    There are a number of different ways you can find an accountant in Hemel Hempstead, one of which is recommendations from a friend. You can read all the promotional material you want about a company but nothing is better than a solid recommendation from a friend. Therefore, if you have any friends who are self-employed and have an accountant, make sure you ask them about their experiences and whether or not they would recommend you go with the same firm or person.

    Another way of finding an accountant is probably the easiest and most obvious… a Google search! These days everyone has a website, be it a large firm or an accountant who works out of their bedroom, so if you type in “accountants Hemel Hempstead” on a search engine, you should be presented with a wealth of results.

    Make sure that any accountant on your initial shortlist (if you are going to shop around) is located in an area that you are happy to travel to should you ever need to meet face to face with your accountant.

    How much do they charge?

    Accountancy fees will vary and sometimes the cost quoted each month isn’t actually what you end up paying. Many firms will charge you each time you pick up the phone or write them an email. However some firms, such as Express Accountancy, offer tailored fixed fee packages which allow clients to speak to their accountant as often or as little as they need. After all, why should you have to pay each time you have a question? Therefore, it is suggested that you try to find an accountant who works on a fixed-fee so that you won’t have to worry about any unexpected charges at the end of the month.

    Are they qualified?

    Not all accountants in the UK have official qualifications; in fact, anyone can call themselves an accountant. Now that doesn’t mean that any accountant who doesn’t have an official qualification isn’t good at their job, but it’s always worth getting a good accountant who has qualifications as you know that they are the cream of the crop.

    Australia: One of the greatest places in the world to live but at what cost?

    by Leave a Comment

    New Cost of Living Comparison data reveals exactly what prices people are paying across the UK, America and Australia and shows just how expensive Australia’s cost of living is.

    numbeo compariosn cost of living by budget direct us uk australia

    Whether it’s surfing the net, grabbing a bite out with friends after work or going to see the latest blockbuster movie, on average Australians are paying some of the highest prices in the world.

    Cost of living – World  and Australia comparison

    One of the standout differences was the cost of a pre-paid mobile phone tariff. Australians are paying on average nearly four times more for this than the US and nearly three times more than they are in the UK. When comparing the individual cities LA costs $0.11 per minute compared to Sydney, which is nearly 9 times more at $1.00 per minute.

    Clothing prices also set an expensive trend in Australia with Aussies paying on average 57 per cent more for clothes and shoes than they are in the US or the UK. One particular price comparison that stood out from this was a pair of Nike trainers. In the US and UK these would sell for approximately $90 where as in Australia they would cost approximately $150, a staggering 60 per cent more. No wonder Aussies like to go online to stock up on their favorite wardrobe essentials.

    An individual bottle of your favourite soft drink, like Coke or Pepsi, may not go down as smoothly knowing that it costs less than half price in some parts of the US than it does in Australia.

    The comparison tool, which uses data collected primarily from Numbeo; the world’s largest database of user-contributed data, allows users to compare three cities across a number of key categories including their Weekly Shop, Living and Getting Around.

    Aussies will be pleased to know that one of their beloved simple pleasures, coffee, was cheaper on average than the UK and the US.

    To see how much your weekly shop costs in Sydney compared to London or to see how much a night out would cost in Melbourne compared to Los Angeles please visit the cost comparison tool which can be found here.

    Corrupt PNG politicians steal Australian Aid money

    by Leave a Comment

    Australians people are generous in nature when it comes to charity and donating for charity  and to poor countries , including the Australian government that  helps and supports developing countries.

    A recent scandal has shocked many Australians, who believe the government  is supporting our neighbours PNG when infact  large sums of aid money is being  swallowed by corrupt  PNG officials , businessmen and corrupt politicians

    ausaid png scandal with corruption

    Dirty money and corrupt PNG officials

    Media agencies  and TV channels have put  a spin on the scandal highlighting banks who have the said  money transferred too  in Australia  as being involved , when in fact  it is the corrupt politicians who have let down the poor people of papa new guinea who actually deserve this AID

    Australian foreign aid is being lost to corruption, with an estimated $1.7 billion being stolen from Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) budget annually.

    The stolen aid money is said to come back in Australia  via the banks and also the corrupt people investing in property and assets in australia.

     

    As per yahoo.com.au

    Professor Sharman along with Sam Koim, head of PNG’s Anti-Corruption Task Force, are on a mission to lift the lid on billions of dollars of dirty money leaving PNG to be laundered in Australia.

    "Corrupt politicians, and senior officials are buying houses and gambling. Obviously they need bank accounts to do so, and setting their families up here (in Australia) as well," Professor Sharman said.

    Mr Koim and his task force informed Australia’s money laundering agency Astrac, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Attorney General’s department in August last year that Paul Paraka – a lawyer who allegedly sent $2.5 million dollars to his family – was a person of interest in their investigation into corruption.

    More on this article and dirty money scandal can be found here

    Datsun car by Nissan reborn in India

    by Leave a Comment

    Most aussies know  “the datsun brand”  an iconic reliable car  that just worked. It has been an aussie favourite for ages  and now its getting released in india.  In the year 1981 in the U.S. it was badged as the DeLorean DMC-12.

    Datsun GO Engine and Performance

    Nissan has chosen India to introduce the Datsun Go, a super-inexpensive hatchback. (It will cost just  $7,000. putting this car in the budget affordable category in india). The Datsun Go will go on sale in India early next year, followed by sales in Russia, Indonesia, and South Africa. The four-door hatchback has a 1.2-liter engine and a five-speed manual transmission

    The Indian price tag is Rs 4.00*lakh

    Datsun was the company’s flagship auto brand in the U.S. until it was killed off in favor of the Nissan name in the U.S. in 1984 (and everywhere by 1986)

     

    Datsun (DAT-GO), one of the oldest car manufacturing companies in the world was first started almost a century ago in the year 1914. Nissan changed the name to Datson from DAT-GO, which was later changed to Datsun.

    good old aussie datsun

    Tata, the Indian automaker, flopped badly with its Nano minicar that sold initially for $2,000.

    Get $ 1 Million to solve a maths puzzle

    by Leave a Comment

    A billionaire Dallas banker will give out  USD 1 million  as prize to anybody who can solve a mathematical problem that has baffled geniuses for years.

    theorem prize 1 million

    1 million prize for solving Beal conjecture  theorem

    The American Mathematical Society (AMS) in Rhode Island has announced that the prize for the solution to the Beal Conjecture, a number theory problem, has been changed AND increased to USD 1 million.

    The  Beal conjecture :

    http://www.bealconjecture.com/

    The conjecture is named for D Andrew ‘Andy’ Beal, (the Dallas banker) who has a strong interest maths and who provided the funds for the Beal Prize and is looking forward  to solution to his number theory.

    The prize will be given

    For a proof of solution

    or a counterexample to, the Beal Conjecture.

    An other previous maths  theorem that baffled geniuses “Fermat’s Last Theorem theorem” was proved in the 1990s by Andrew Wiles, together with Richard Taylor.

    A  prize (USD 1,00,000.)for a solution to the Beal Conjecture was announced in 1997. To date, no correct solution to the problem has been found.

    Andrew Beal Math Problem

    The famous  Poincare Conjecture, was solved by Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman in works he made public in 2003 and he went on to turn down the monetary prize.

     

    To earn this 1 Million Beal Prize

    A  proposed solution must be published in a refereed mathematics publication which is respected and, in the opinion of the prize committee (selected by the AMS), maintains the highest editorial standards.

    Rat disguised as lamb meat sold in china

    by Leave a Comment

    In a new  meat scandal  after the UK horse meat scandal china has been rocked with a incident where  rat meat has been used instead of lamb.

    According to  Indian newspaper  NDTV that has reported on this incident

    A criminal ring in china was accused of taking meat from rats and foxes and selling it as lamb in china  the country’s latest food safety scandal.

    china food scandal rat meat scandal uk

    http://w3.xs.edu.ph

    63 people were supposedly  involved in this food scandal  in which  they ran an operation in Shanghai and the coastal city of Wuxi that bought fox, mink, rat and other meat that had not been tested for quality and safety, processed it with additives like gelatin and passed it off as lamb.

    Guess whih is fake lamb?

    Ref: http://www.tealeafnation.com/ via weibo

    The top one is fake

    This fake meat scandal in china has embarrassed the Chinese government once again. China has  food scandals before with – milk contaminated with an industrial chemical to the use of industrial dyes in eggs  and other similar scandals.

    After a baby food scandal rocked the country , Adulterating baby food so that it severely lacks nutrition is also punishable as a crime under the guidelines. Negligent government food inspectors are also targeted for criminal punishment. Many people have resorted  to buying baby products from the internet and overseas

    Crime linked to Asylum seekers by Liberal Party ad

    by Leave a Comment

    "Under Labor, crime is out of control in western Sydney," the ad states.
    "If Labor can’t even control our borders, then how can they control street crime in our suburbs?"….Liberal ad links asylum seekers to street crime – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

    racism in australia or politics

    The banner was posted on the Liberal Party of Australia’s Facebook page yesterday and was ‘liked’ by more than 680 people.

     

    What this liberal ad did ?

    • "Putting boat people and crime in the same sentence”
    • Accompanying the text is an image of a boat at sea and a picture of police crime scene tape

    The majority of the more than 430 comments on face book were critical of the ad, but others showed support or sought to explain the ad’s meaning.

    While on other forums  questionable comments have been made that  will offend many people

    Related links

    http://www.racismnoway.com.au/teaching-resources/factsheets/9.html