Our latest insights

Following on from the ATO’s guide to professional services firms’ allocation of profits in PCG 2021/4, the ATO has now further tightened its compliance scrutiny of individual professionals’ ability to assign or stream income away from themselves to family members by releasing its compliance approach to so-called Everett assignments.

Professional service firms have experienced growth and increased profitability over the last two years. The issue of succession – promoting, attracting and managing the retirement of equity participants – has never been more challenging.

There have been some recent developments from the ATO which are set to impact those using a discretionary trust as part of their financial family arrangements.

Released on 16 December 2021, the ATO has finally released its final Practical Compliance Guideline PCG 2021/4 for the allocation of professional firm profits.

The ATO recently published the long-awaited final Practical Compliance Guideline PCG 2021/4 for the allocation of profits by professional firms.

The office of Local Government has proposed new minimum standards for risk management and internal audit.

Modern Australia has a vibrant knowledge economy. Highly skilled lawyers, accountants, engineers, architects, consultants and business managers contribute not only to our own economy but to the global one as well.

The professional services landscape has changed with COVID-19. The more agile the firm, the better placed they were to ride out the storm.

For the professional services industry, it seems as though we are on a growth trajectory. Work resulting from the Royal Commissions is keeping law firms at all levels on their toes and the infrastructure boom means our architects and engineers are more than busy.

Every year, we spend time interviewing our clients to better understand their business and the trends most impacting on them.

Ben Matthews recently met with the Managing Partner of a mid-tier legal firm to discuss the struggles he was facing in trying to build a successful partnership, including attracting and retaining great people, optimising working capital, maximising tax efficiencies, retiring debt and funding investment.

The professional services industry faces a growing threat of cyber-attacks, making it more important than ever to be able to respond, particularly given Australia’s new privacy laws.