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I want to share with you some ideas that make things a easier. Sometimes it’s the little things count! Here are a few ideas to get you thinking…

The National Institute of Accountants (NIA) today announced the appointment of Joanne Parker as General Manager of NIA’s New South Wales divisional office.

EFTPOS transactions continue to surge in Australia, with one billion transactions processed in the six months to the 31st of December 2010.

There has been a 41 percent drop in optimism among Australia’s privately held business owners over the last year, with falls in consumer spending and rising interest rates the cause according to Grant Thornton Australia’s International Business Report (IBR).

Oporto, the Bondi chicken burger institution and franchise continues to spread its wings, rapidly adding a second store and confirming construction is underway on their third restaurant in the world’s most populous nation, China.

Sydney and Melbourne Airports have raised the ire of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for the possibility of charging excessively high prices due to their monopoly status as international airports in each state.

Corporate Traveller has released the top five emerging trends for the hotel sector with new technologies and hotel designs reshaping the accommodation experience. Global hotel program general manager Joe McCormack said more business travellers were getting into bed with hotel chains offering iPads in hotel rooms, mobile phone check-in and pod-style guest rooms.

Small and medium enterprises around Australia are able to learn about the latest business management practices at more than 70 seminars and workshops funded by the Australian Government.

Despite the rally of the Australian Dollar over the second half of 2010, there is good news for the tourism industry with inbound and outbound tourism unaffected and intentions to travel to and from Australia maintaining similar levels to 2010.

The Australian Government’s Small Business Support Line has just received call number 25,000, with the service also receiving more than 3000 emails since September 2009, and more than 400 ‘live chats’ since that online service became available in November 2010.

Australian retailers saw a small uptick in sales during December, with a 0.2 percent increase in retail trade recorded by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the month.

Western Australian wholesalers C.I. & Co Pty Ltd, and Antonio Pisano and Anna Pisano have been found to have misled the public by labelling and selling cartons of eggs labelled ‘free range’ when a substantial proportion of the eggs were not free range.

The second annual Back to Business Survey commissioned by Telstra Business and the Council of Small Business of Australia (COSBOA) found small business confidence in the Australian economy is significantly lower than it was a year ago.

Small and medium business owners in Australia would like to see a ‘Small Business Ombudsman’ established to help deal with problems affecting them, with small business owners rating taxes, interest rates and government red tape the biggest problems they face in a national survey conducted by COSBOA and Telstra released today.

Australian companies are giving social media responsibilities to staff with enthusiasm and an appetite for new technology rather than those with specific social media skills, according to the Future of Content report.

Telstra has announced an assistance package for its residential and small business customers across Queensland who have been evacuated from their homes or whose phone services have been affected by Tropical Cyclone Yasi.

Senior Helpers, already a hit franchise in the United States has launched in Australia with the backing of one of Australia’s most successful franchise developers Paul Wheeler.

The mere thought of publishing a regular stream of content is daunting, particularly when you’re already busy with your day job. It’s something else that needs to be done, in an already busy schedule, however there are ways to make it more manageable.

Yellow Brick Road has announced today the company’s Small Business, Big Ideas competition in an effort to encourage entrepreneurs who are looking to turn their “big idea” into a successful business.

So, did you set yourself some New Year’s resolutions? Was getting a better work life balance one of them? It was for me!