Our team have specialised capabilities for every step of your journey, with long-term experience working with both high-growth businesses and successful entrepreneurs.

Our business advisory team will work with:

• to ensure your IP is secure
• your regulatory compliance is in place for your chosen sector
• you have a solid business plan that is practical, includes all required areas including marketing and budgets
• assist with a supportive network of advisors
• work with our R&D team to put in place an appropriate structure and have the right financial substantiation in place to access R&D and other tax incentives
• work through the process of appropriate business software to support your growth requirements
• work with you to build your KPIs and margins, with transparency of expenditure
• engage with potential investors or future board members
• when required, work through your exit strategy
• act as a mentor/coach on your journey and ask you the critical questions along your entire journey.

How we can help you:

Financials

• customised reporting & dashboards​
• budgeting & cash flow forecasting​
• finance management​
• finance team support​
• financial strategy​.

Tax considerations

• Federal Taxes (Income Tax & GST)​
• Statement Tax (Payroll Tax & Duties)​
• employment matters​
• tax advice​
• R&D and grant incentives​.

Financial data

• general purpose financial statements​
• quarterly cash flow statements​
• technical disclosures & papers​
• audit management​.

Governance, compliance and outsourced solutions

• automation & streamlining​
• internal controls & approvals​
• best practice processes​
• payroll & team management​
• reporting software​.

Specialised outsourced solutions

Cloud accounting​

The cloud is a platform to make data and software accessible online anytime, anywhere, from any device. Working in the cloud will give you a better overview of your finances and improve collaboration with your team and advisors and support applications for finance via provision of timely information. We can assist with financial management and reporting, software and processes, and regulatory compliance.​

The post Business advisory appeared first on SW Accountants & Advisors.

He regularly assists foreign businesses and investors on their move to Australia, providing initial structuring and set up advice, strategic tax planning, ongoing operational advice, as well as full accounting, tax and corporate secretarial compliance outsourcing services.

Andy’s skills include assisting both locally and foreign owned businesses across a range of industries including hotels and hospitality, financial and professional services, start-ups, information technology, property and construction and wholesaler and distributor.

In addition, Andy has developed expertise in providing strategic business and outsourcing services for major hotels and hospitality groups in Australia. His experience includes assisting these clients with due diligence assignments, cross border structuring advice, funding negotiation, post-acquisition settlement review and acting as outsourced CFO with the responsibility of managing the full finance and compliance functions.

His multilingual speaking skills (English, Chinese, Malaysian and Indonesian) together with his ability to bridge the language and cultural barriers have been invaluable in his dealings with businesses from all around the world including China, USA, Europe and other South East Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

Andy’s experience includes:

• Assisting with the successful acquisition of a major five star hotel for AUD$85m
• Assisting with the divestment of the business operation of a multinational group in Australia for $45m
• Assisting with the delivery of strategic tax restructuring solutions including asset protection and succession planning for a high net wealth family group
• Assisting start-ups with strategic planning, structuring as well as Research & Development and Early Stage Investors Tax Incentives considerations.

Andy is a Partner of SW Audit and a Director of SW Accountants & Advisors Pty Ltd.

The post Andy Lau, Partner appeared first on SW Accountants & Advisors.

Start-up tax concessions were introduced to the ESS rules in 2015, and companies that qualify for the ESS start-up concessions are finding that ESS can help with both their cash flow hurdles and staff remuneration.

Additionally, while a formal market valuation for the share price can be costly and time-consuming, companies qualifying for ESS start-up concessions can utilise an alternative, ATO-approved method for valuing unlisted shares, based on the Net Tangible Asset (NTA) position of the company.

This is great news in times of cash flow issues, but it doesn’t come without risk. The ESS plan you choose and the underlying tax structuring is essential to making the ESS work for everyone.

How ESS benefits staff

Once the business eligibility requirements are met, the primary advantage of an ESS start-up plan for employees is that the taxing point for any options or shares granted will be deferred to the date that the underlying share is sold.

This prevents employees from being subject to upfront taxation in Australia. The ESS interest falls into the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) regime, so the employee will not pay taxes until the ultimate disposal of the underlying share. This means, no income tax for employees:

• at time of grant
• when options or shares vest
• on exercise or disposal restrictions lifting.

Eligible employees will also be able to apply the CGT 50% discount to any gains made between the time of grant and sale, where they held the ESS interest for greater than 12 months. For employees, this is a very attractive offer, as it removes any potential risk of the share value dropping between the date of grant and disposal (i.e. where they would potentially be in the situation of upfront taxation followed by a subsequent loss).

There are several advantages for companies implementing and using ESS plans:

• companies can use an ATO-approved ‘safe-harbour’ valuation method for valuing unlisted shares
• attraction of new key talent, engagement and retention of key employees
• rewards past performance but geared with a future focus
• provides an improved and tax effective remuneration package
• offers tax deferral opportunities.

ESS plans – structure is vital

To ensure business objectives are met, it is critical to seek professional advice before setting up an ESS plan. We have worked with several companies that have not, and there are complex issues to work through retrospectively.

One of these is a failure to meet the business’s reporting obligations, and unexpected income tax consequences for employees, such as upfront taxation. Unexpected upfront taxation is something that we often see when an ESS plan has been poorly drafted, and can result with employees being left to fund a tax liability before they are able to access the underlying shares or receive any sale proceeds.

ShineWing Australia has assisted companies at various stages of the business cycle to navigate ESS requirements and implement effective ESS plans, including:

• Choosing the right ESS plan (e.g. shares, options, rights, start-up, etc)
• Facilitating the drafting of the ESS plan rules and the offer letters to employees
• Understanding the employer and employee tax implications and reporting obligations
• Communicating with the employees to obtain maximum engagement
• Assistance with annual compliance and ensuring that ATO reporting obligations are met.

Professional experience in implementing and managing ESS plans for companies, in particular ESS start-up plans, is absolutely key to creating benefits for both the business and the employee.

Contact us

To ensure you get the essential elements right, from the start, contact our team to arrange a discussion on how an ESS plan may benefit your company.

The post Employee Share Schemes for start ups appeared first on SW Accountants & Advisors.