Our latest insights

When considering starting a Family Office, it is important to know the potential pitfalls that may affect your wealth position and how every family member has the potential to impact this wealth – positively and negatively. And many are often an untapped resource.

There have been pressure systems gathering momentum along two fronts. Whilst they have largely gone unnoticed by many in the industry, collisions between the two have occurred and left some casualties in the M&A space. Previously, it was regarded by many deal-makers that employer obligations were quite low in risk. However, multiple enforcement agencies are focusing on unpaid employee entitlements and contract hire labour. The uptick in compliance activity has coincided with growth in the M&A space, leading many to believe there are huge levels of unquantified risk in the market – often not covered by warranty and indemnity insurance.

The complex multi-generation relationships in a family business define their success – and often underline their failures

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

Income Tax Assessment Amendment (Digital Games Tax Offset) Bill 2021: Measure for Consultation

In the past few years, we’ve seen increased focus from the Australian Tax Office (ATO) encouraging organisations to be transparent, demonstrate good corporate governance and have strong tax risk management frameworks in place. The ATO is now focusing on the tax governance of high-net-wealth privately owned groups – as part of their Top 500 and Next 5,000 programs.

The uncertainty around availability of fuel has seen fuel prices soar across Australia.

Federal Budget Opposition Reply 2022-23

As a result of COVID-19, international supply chain issues are now affecting businesses across all industries on a scale not seen in the last 50 years.

In this year’s Federal Budget, the Government has allocated $1 billion to the manufacturing sector to supercharge investment with a focus on seven key areas.

Despite the positive economic outlook, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have been far reaching and have had a lasting impression on one of business’s biggest resources – its people.

On 28 March, the ATO sent its strongest message on debt enforcement since the COVID-19 pandemic commenced, advising that it is now issuing letters to taxpayers informing them about their potential personal liability for company tax debts under the Director Penalty Notice (DPN) programme.