The survey, commissioned by EMC Australia with analysis provided by independent IT industry analyst firm Hydrasight, found that the group studied, which consisted predominantly of records managers, also estimated that individually they spent, on average, more than three hours per week searching for records that are difficult to find.

EMC senior marketing manager for content management and archiving, Fiona Sims said Australian businesses are spending far too much time looking for information.

“It has never been more important to be demanding the highest levels of efficiency from all areas of the business and this is an area where there is a significant opportunity for serious improvement, where businesses can drive higher productivity with new document discovery tools, which are proven to maximise resources,” she said.

The study was conducted in September 2009 and 60 information governance professionals were interviewed about particular strengths and pain points in their organisation’s current information governance processes.

The Home Loan Calculator App for the iPhone and iPod Touch is the first of its kind to be released by an Australian bank and allows users to calculate how much they can borrow and what their monthly home loan repayments will be, along with information on which suburbs they can afford to buy based on median house and unit prices of suburbs across Australia.

The app’s release comes as the popularity of iPhone banking continues to increase, with more than 60,000 individual customers using St.George Bank’s mobile banking service since it launched on iPhone and iPod Touch devices in March this year.

Commenting on the launch of the app, St.George Bank’s head of eDistribution and internet, Travis Tyler said: “The number of customers using mobile banking is increasing by more than 20 percent each month and we are increasingly seeing customers use their iPhone for more of their banking needs.”

The St.George Home Loan Calculator App is now available to download for free from Apple’s iTunes or iPhone App store.

Cadbury management has agreed to an improved takeover offer worth 840 pence per share, the companies announced in a statement, valuing the British group at about STG11.5 billion ($A20.28 billion).

The friendly takeover marks the end of a prolonged and bitter battle for control of Cadbury. The confectioner had previously knocked back repeated offers by Kraft for the business, with Cadbury’s board chairman Roger Carr claiming in a statement some months ago that the previous bids “did not come remotely close to reflecting the true value of our company,” and regarded it as “derisory.”

Commenting on the now accepted and much improved takeover bid, Carr said: “We believe the offer represents good value for Cadbury shareholders…. we will now work with the Kraft Foods’ management to ensure the continued success and growth of the business for the benefit of our customers, consumers and employees.”

The funding is being provided from the Rudd Government’s $10 million Small Business Online program which has been boosted by another $4 million to extend it to more tourism small business operators.

Currently 95 percent of small businesses are connected to the internet but only 57 percent have a website. The funding is expected to assist small businesses by helping them install and upgrade their company websites.

Small Business Minister Craig Emerson and Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson announced that grants ranging from $50,000 to $700,000 had been offered to 47 small business support groups including industry associations.

The groups will use the grants to help small businesses develop the skills to go online or upgrade their existing internet operations so they can better engage in e-business to reduce costs and improve market opportunities.

A list of successful applicants and more information on the Small Business Online program can be found at www.ausindustry.gov.au

Speaking on ABC Radio this morning, Ridout said more needs to be done if we are to meet Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s target of improving average productivity by 40 percent over the next 40 years in order for Australia to maintain living standards.

“ On the productivity side, we need to look at areas like our education and training levels, we need to look at how healthy we are, we need to be able to remain in the workforce for longer,” she said.

“We need to encourage women at work who are having children to get back into the workforce through better childcare, more flexible work arrangements,” she added.

Ridout said lifting the pension age to 67 has gone part of the way to achieving the goal set out by the government, and getting more women into the workforce will also be vital.

The Greenhouse Indicator Annual Report, released by the Climate Group, shows overall emissions were 5.3 million tonnes lower in 2009 than in the previous year, with greenhouse gas emissions from energy use in Australia’s eastern states falling by 1.8 percent.

The biggest declines were recorded in South Australia, with a 4.2 percent reduction, followed by New South Wales, with a 3.1 percent reduction.

The Climate Group’s Rupert Posner said this is good news and if it is maintained, could mean big cuts to emissions by 2020.

“If we had the same amount of cut in greenhouse gas emissions as we had last year for the next 10 years then we would be on track for a 20 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions from energy. And that’s the sort of magnitude that we need to see,” he said.

The Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) – a survey which compares business expectations regarding access to finance, with how supportive they feel their lenders are being in the current climate – found that over three-quarters of Australian privately held businesses are feeling supported by their lender, while 41 percent are expecting finance to be much more accessible over the next 12 months.

However, red tape is still holding back businesses back, with 31 percent of Australian businesses stating that they are still challenged by the availability of skilled personnel and over one-third (35 percent) by increased government regulation, with red tape currently the greatest concern for entrepreneurs looking to expand.

According to Tony Markwell, national head of privately held business at Grant Thornton Australia, government intervention through stimulus activity, as well as a number of key tax reforms meant that businesses were required to adhere to stricter guidelines during the financial crisis.

He added that “as the as the banks begin to feel more confident in the economic direction of the market, PHBs will have the ability to grow their businesses even further.”

The findings – which examine the more than nine million current accounts receivable records contained on the D&B database – reveal that a deterioration in payment terms (2.1 days) in the December 2009 quarter has taken terms to 53.9 days and largely reversed the gains made in the September quarter 2009.

According to D&B CEO, Christine Christian, the decline in payment terms and expected further deterioration are cause for concern.

“If payment terms continue to deteriorate in the months ahead firms may find themselves battling the cash flow pressures that impacted business growth and stability during the height of the credit crisis,” she said.

However, despite this decline in payment terms, smaller firms continue to be quicker to settle their accounts than their larger counterparts. Those with 500+ employees averaged 56.8 days to settle accounts in the December quarter, while medium-sized firms (50- 199 employees) were the quickest to pay at 49.2 days, making them the only group to record terms below 50 days.

As the Federal Government considers the recommendations of a comprehensive review of the tax system by the Treasury Secretary, Ken Henry, the survey findings suggest the tax system favours the wealthy.

The survey found 53 percent of the 1,000 respondents aid high-income earners paid too little tax, while 95 percent said low- and middle-income earners paid too much tax.

“The unequivocal finding is that respondents believe the tax system favours wealthy taxpayers at the expense of lower-income ones. In short, Australians want a more progressive tax system,” the survey’s authors conclude.

The survey also found that the majority of respondents want the tax system to be made simpler. The most popular option was to centralise federal, state and local taxes (34 percent). This was followed by reducing the number of taxes (24 percent), a simplification of deductions, rebates and exemptions (20 percent) and a streamlining of personal tax returns (13 percent).

The co-author of the survey and executive director of Per Capita, David Hetherington, said high-income earners had access to a range of deductions and concessions that reduced the amount of tax they paid.

‘These things tend not to be available to lower-income earners,” he added.

TD Securities senior strategist Annette Beacher said the latest unemployment figures show the economy is speeding up, putting upwards pressure on inflation and therefore on interest rates.

“As data like (the jobs report) starts flowing through, there is a higher probability of them lifting to six percent cash rate than there is of four percent,” she said.

Beacher added that there is a risk the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will push the cash rate from its current setting of 3.75 percent, through the “neutral” range of 4.5 to 5.0 percent, and into restrictive territory by the end of the year.

According to economist at financial markets research group 4Cast, Michael Turner, low unemployment, or low capacity, at the start of an economic growth cycle could push inflation higher.