Our latest insights

As we come to the end of the financial year, its timely to review your upcoming tax compliance obligations. For multinational entities, the disclosures and complexities of tax compliance generally have never been more complex or challenging. Here are some of the main IDS issues to be aware of.

Last week, APRA Deputy Chair John Lonsdale delivered a speech at the COBA CEO and Director Forum. Reflecting on the history of the mutual banking sector, Lonsdale highlighted APRA’s recent review of mutuals exiting the industry and their performance 12 months prior to their exit. It brought to the fore several issues that could lead to potential future mutual exits, such as poor performance on cost management, lending growth and profitability. APRA highlighted three core priorities to “support a strong, stable mutual sector”, being: • Cyber risk, including CPS 234 reviews • Risk culture • Contingency and continuity frameworks

We explore the different market segments in the construction industry during the COVID building boom to better understand the profile of industry participants most likely to feel the sting of continuing supply chain pressure.

On 3 November 2021, the High Court of Australia handed down a landmark decision, ruling that the “backpacker tax” imposed on a UK national who was deemed to be an Australian tax resident was in breach of the non-discrimination clauses in the Australia-UK Double Tax Agreement.

While COVID-19 presented a challenge to companies that few could have anticipated, it also acted as a catalyst. Companies were forced to review legacy structures to allow for more agile decision making, and to test their purpose and role in wider society. This report provides salient insights for Boards in Australia, as despite having a different Code in place that we report against, the key themes resonate with what we’re seeing here – purpose, culture, emerging risk management, stakeholder engagement, board effectiveness, remuneration, ESG, diversity and succession planning. It is also a strong indicator of what companies should be focusing on in the coming year.

Demographic forecasts indicate that the demand for aged care services will continue to outstrip supply for the foreseeable future

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) recently published its plans to significantly scale up its efforts to raise the standards of governance, culture, remuneration and accountability (GCRA) across financial institutions.

Corporate governance has been a hot topic of discussion in Australia for many years – spearheaded by Royal Commissions, drilled home by corporate law changes to charge company directors with more responsibilities, and demanded by consumers and shareholders holding companies to a higher standard of behaviour and transparency.

Last month, the Government released its implementation roadmap accepting all 76 of the Royal Commission’s recommendations plus committing to an additional 18 actions.

In December 2018 APRA released a suite of prudential reforms to support its long standing priority of improving member outcomes.

The Leading Age Services Australia (LASA) Congress in Adelaide last week could not have better timed following the announcement in October of the Royal Commission into aged care quality and safety.

For a change, the focus of the recent Royal Commission hearings has been on superannuation and how funds' structures and governance arrangements may lead to poor retirement outcomes for members.