Kiwis ready to dump passwords The leading global payment solution provider said 65 percent of the 500 Kiwis surveyed believed that biometrics was a faster, TECH TALK > BY DAVID HALLETT David Hallett is a director of Hamilton software specialist Company-X. Most Kiwis are ready to replace passwords and pin codes with biometrics, according to a recent survey by Visa. easier and more secure way to access an account than passwords and pin numbers. Nearly as many of those Kiwis surveyed, 64 percent, said they were already familiar with biometrics. Biometrics is the technical term for body measurements and calculations. It refers to metrics related to human characteristics. Biometrics authentication is used in computer science as a form of identification and access control. Visa found 42 percent of those surveyed said they used biometrics on a weekly basis. If you think that biometrics usage number is high, then consider this. When I was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s biometrics was generally considered a thing of the future, showing up in science fiction movies like Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan when Admiral James T Kirk viewed the top-secret and classified Genesis file through a scan of his retina. Similar software is now built into Microsoft Windows. It’s called Windows Hello and uses a webcam to authenticate the person signing in to the machine by scanning their face and comparing their features to a profile stored in its memory. According to Microsoft, Windows Hello logs you into your computer three times faster than a password. That’s faster than Admiral Kirk’s 23rd-century retina scanner which took around 10 seconds to scan Kirk’s retina and compare with to a scan on file! Windows Hello either uses the built-in webcam to recognise your face or logs you in with a touch on your fingerprint scanner. You may be surprised to learn that Toshiba took fingerprint scanners on phones to the mainstream back in 2007. They were used to unlock the phones of the day with the owner’s finger or thumbprint. The Apple iPhone 5s, announced in September 2013, took fingerprint scanners up to the next level by also allowing one-touch purchases from Apple’s iTunes Store and the Apple App Store. Samsung soon followed suit with similar functionality in its flagship phones. By then many business-grade personal computers came with a fingerprint reader. That’s seven years ago, and since then fingerprint scanners have started to appear on even budget phones. While biometrics usage today is much higher than you’d think, there’s still a place for passwords and pins, particularly in the corporate space where contracts between parties insist on older tried and true technologies and two-factor authentication. Corporate governance for small businesses Corporate governance is often associated with large corporates who are led by an established board of directors. However, the principles that underpin good corporate governance can benefit any organisation, irrespective of size. Why is it then that the term governance often raises alarm bells with small business owners? Perhaps it’s the fear of losing control over their business, or the assumption that they must report to someone else. In reality, good corporate governance should lead to business owners feeling more empowered, more supported and more equipped to make good quality decisions. In a nutshell, governance is all about thinking strategically and taking a ‘big picture view’ as opposed to focusing on dayto-day operations. In the context of small businesses, owner-operators are often bogged down with the day-to-day running requirements of the business, leaving little time to devote to long-term strategy and sustainability. One of the key benefits of governance structures is the ability for small business owners to take time to work “on” the business as opposed to work “in” it. This subtle switching of hats is one of the first steps toward building a governance structure. However, there is no onesize-fits-all approach to governance; it will look different for each and every business. The approach will depend on the size and stage of the business, the operating environment, the risk profile and the key stakeholders. It is therefore crucial that all businesses take time to think about their governance practices. Governance is often described as a journey, with the various stages typically falling into one of three categories: no formalised governance structure; an advisory board; or a full board. The idea of a full board may be overwhelming for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or not appropriate given the size and scale of the business, but they may still reap the benefits of establishing an advisory board. At one point or another, TAXATION AND THE LAW > BY ELSA WRATHAL Elsa Wrathall is a PwC Senior Manager based in the <strong>Waikato</strong> office. Email: elsa.n.wrathall@pwc.com SME owners will inevitably need expert advice – that’s where an advisory board might come in. An advisory board offers the benefit of a variety of different perspectives, knowledge, expertise and, most importantly, support. They also ensure overall decision-making authority remains with the owner, removing any apprehension owners may have about loss of control. As businesses move through the business lifecycle, their governance needs are likely to change. Some will eventually grow to the point where a formalised board of directors is most appropriate. There is an abundance of resources available which outline the composition and responsibilities of boards, including guidance issued by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) which includes eight key principles which underpin best practice. The topics include areas such as ethical standards, board composition and performance, risk management, and reporting and disclosure. While it is unlikely that all of the principles will be relevant for small businesses, they provide sound guidance on the fundamental areas and help simplify the underlying objectives of governance. Moreover, the recent release of Inland Revenue’s Multinational Enterprise Compliance Focus serves as a timely reminder of the relevance of governance practices by highlighting tax specific governance as an emerging global trend. Several tax authorities in the OECD have already begun adopting tax governance measures, each agreeing that tax risk management should be a recurring item on the boardroom agenda. The Australian Tax Office (ATO) is among those leading the way, having already implemented an assurance review initiative for the top 1000 Australian taxpayers. Under this regime, the ATO will require evidence that a tax control framework exists, is fitfor-purpose and is operational. While Inland Revenue is yet to introduce something similar, they are set to increase their focus on tax governance and are already investing in new technologies to identify who and where to focus their compliance activity. In the interim, they have released a checklist to assist organisations with implementing their tax governance frameworks. The list sets out 10 principles underpinning tax governance, including those which ensure there is a well-documented tax strategy and that the strategy is followed, senior management are confident in the capacity and capability of systems, procedures and personnel needed to achieve tax compliance, and that management consider whether the reporting of tax payments and provisions is sufficient for stakeholders to gauge an understanding of the company’s overall tax position. Whether it is tax specific or more general, the governance journey is best started sooner rather than later. Fundamentally, governance is all about ‘setting the tone’ which means even small changes have the potential to help your business. Despite this, even the best policies and processes are no match for a board or management team which fail to follow them. At the end of the day, the success of any governance practice boils down to the “tone from the top”. The comments in this article of a general nature and should not be relied on for specific cases. Taxpayers should seek specific advice.
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