While the current pandemic has brought its share of tragedies and certainly made it a tough year compared to much of the world, our luck has continued to be better than most. This remains true even when considering the services provided by accountants in Sydney. Due to our natural resources, weather, history and prosperity, we refer to our country as “the lucky country”.
As of 22 December 2020, Australia has had a total of 28,198 cases, which ranks us 99th in the world. Sadly there have been 908 deaths so far. We currently have an outbreak on Sydney’s northern beaches, with 15 new cases on the 21st and 8 new cases on the 22nd, which has the city on edge and is threatening some of our Christmas plans. We also had a 2nd wave outbreak in Melbourne earlier in the year, which originated from the virus escaping from the quarantined traveller system. This required a lengthy lockdown period in that city, which caused many deaths and pain to the local economy.
Our team, like most other white-collar businesses, have spent much of the year working remotely to do our bit to prevent the spread of the disease. In recent months, we have gradually been returning to the office. We are hopeful that by February 2021, our team will be back to a new normal, with all staff back in the office at least half the time. In the meantime, we’ve been able to use technology to maintain our service standards.
Government support like the JobKeeper subsidy, which continues until 31 March 2021 and helps businesses continue to employ their staff even when revenue has dropped significantly, has helped to keep local businesses operating and the economy turning over despite the lack of foreign visitors to our country. We are cautiously optimistic that the economic outlook for 2021 will be positive. Still, there is a critical period over the next few months as government support programmes wind down.
We have watched with sadness news of the spread of the illness in other parts of the world, and we hope that the rollout of the vaccines over the coming months brings some normality back.
With this in mind, we wish all our colleagues overseas the best of luck in combatting the virus and hope you are all back to normal very soon.
Kreston Stanley Williamson Team
Correct as of 16 December 2020
Disclaimer – Kreston Stanley Williamson has produced this article to serve its clients and associates. The information contained in the article is of general comment only and is not intended to be advice on any particular matter. Before acting on any areas in this article, you must seek advice about your circumstances. Liability is limited by a scheme approved under professional standards legislation.
