Plan Managers

17/04/2023

PLAN MANAGER TRUST ACCOUNTS?
There are many businesses who are required to keep a client's money in statutory trust in order to meet their industry governing bodies’ legislation. Professions such as solicitors, real estate agents Conveyancers and Public Accountants are covered by such a requirement.
Why shouldn’t plan managers also be required to hold such a trust account? How much more comfortable would you be if your plan manager held such a trust bank account that was required to be audited every year?
We at Plan Managers are once again pleased to be able to advise that we are one of the plan managers who carry such a trust account which is independently audited annually to ensure compliance with the CPA Public Practice Client Monies Trust Account requirements. Our recent audit is complete and successfully met the requirements of Accounting Professional & Ethical Standards Board (APES) Standard APES310 for public practices client monies accounts.
This additional layer of compliance we undertake gives clients further comfort that their NDIS package funding is being managed in a professional and compliant manner. Does your plan manager operate a trust account that is independently audited annually? Maybe you should ask the question?

29/12/2022

HOLIDAY PERIOD
As we head into the New Year, we want to advise it is business as usual for Plan Managers aside from the gazetted public holidays. For those lucky enough to be able to get away, the attached photos from the Rye Front Beach show the accessibility option.
Wishing everyone all the best for 2023!

22/06/2022

SELF EMPLOYED NDIS PROVIDERS
The ATO has recently reported an increase in fake websites offering to provide tax file numbers (TFNs) and Australian Business Numbers (ABNs) for a fee.
NEVER EVER pay anyone for either a TFN or ABN. Instead please use the free, quick and easy to use government services to apply for a either TFN through the ATO, or an ABN through the Australian Business Register (ABR).

14/05/2022

BANK ACCOUNT AUDIT
Plan Managers have again successfully passed the annual independent audit of it’s bank account where all NDIS funds pass through from the NDIS and paid out to providers.
Plan Managers has an extra layer of compliance obligation by being part of a professional accounting practice which gives everyone added confidence in our professionalism, processes, internal reconciliations, procedures and controls. We know most intermediaries don’t have this extra professional compliance requirement. Does your NDIS financial intermediary have its bank account independently audited? Do you think they should?

26/04/2022

THERAPY POST COVID
We are noticing a reticence of Allied Health Professionals to return to face-to-face therapy services with tele-therapy now embedded in their business models.
The Covid19 related surge in the use of tele-therapy has enabled therapists to conveniently host online back-to-back therapy sessions with clients without the need to travel, which has also meant therapists have taken on more clients, seeing clients remotely via platforms such as Zoom. Now that basically all Covid restrictions have been lifted, if you were a therapy provider why would you be keen to return to face-to-face therapy when you have grown your business around a tele-therapy offering?
From our side, there is nothing as effective as face-to-face therapy: reading cues, seeing nuances, engaging and generalising skills in a real person-to-person setting, as opposed to via a screen.
Will therapy providers come back to face-to-face sessions or is the Zoom therapy session the new normal?
It will be interesting how things evolve over the next 6months...

27/03/2022

THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS
A feel good story from the weekend.
A 12 y/o NDIS participant obsessed with the renovation of a nearby shopping centre decides to write a letter to the construction workers asking about their work on the site.
The boy presents the letter to the site foreman who unsolicited immediately decides to take the boy and his family on a tour of the site and the equipment to discuss the works with the boy. This is an entirely unplanned outcome of the letter but as you can imagine, that made the boys day.
But that wasn’t the end of it, as the family walked toward the remaining part of the shopping centre that is still open to the public, to do some shopping, one of the other work site workman stops the family and presents the boy with a hard-hat and hi-vis vest and welcomes him to the Scentre Group family. The boy proudly walks around the shopping centre in his newly minted ‘work-gear’.
One cannot put into words the impact of the kindness shown by the Scentre foreman Paul and his team, including Les. Thanks for the kindness shown. The family can’t thank you enough!
Westfield

24/01/2022

SCHOLARSHIPS FOR ASPIRING DIRECTORS WITH A DISABILITY
We read with interest the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) are offering 15 full-fee scholarships and mentoring for any leaders with a disability who might be seeking board positions.
The is a great initiative to encourage inclusion and diversity at the top decision making level of business for all.

The AICD’s scholarship program gives promising directors the opportunity to develop their skills and capabilities to be our board leaders into the future.

06/12/2021

PROVIDER ABN’s
The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has announced that it is continuing to review inactive Australian Business Numbers (ABNs). ABN’s that have not reported business activity via a tax return or activity statements will be the focus, which may also include legitimate businesses that may have overdue tax returns.
As you would be aware, we can only pay providers that have an ABN as they are the only legitimate businesses that can generate a tax invoice under the tax regime so providers please ensure you don’t lapse into ‘inactive’ ABN status.

15/10/2021

GOOD NEWS FRIDAY
These are the kind of messages we receive that explain why we do what we do, and that is to help people.

‘We have found the services of Plan Managers to be nothing other than a joy to deal with. The service is professional, communication is easy and has a personal touch. It is actually quite difficult to suggest any improvement to an already exceptional service’. Nick 15/10/2021

21/09/2021

We like to keep abreast of new research into autism here at Plan Managers. The attached ABC story demonstrates the impact early intervention therapy for children showing ASD traits can have. The NDIS Early Intervention supports are so important.

Early intervention with infants at risk of autism through parent-led therapy improves the child's social development to such an extent they are two thirds less likely to meet the clinical criteria for an autism diagnosis, world-first research finds.