Mark Beyer

STARTRACK Communications is hoping that a move from satellite technology to medical technology will provide a better future for the company.

SENIOR managers at Perth's largest advertising agency Marketforce are negotiating to acquire 100 per cent ownership of the business.

In the first of a four-part series on business tax planning, Mark Beyer passes on some end-of-financial-year tips. EVERY good accountant will explain that tax planning should commence at the start of the financial year.

THE dreaded fringe benefits tax has finally caught up with West Perth businesses providing parking bays to their staff. Employers caught by the tax now face an extra cost of about $700 per car bay.

MID-SIZED accounting firms with between three and nine partners have outpaced their larger rivals in the profitability stakes, a new industry survey has found.

ANZ Banking Group has established a private equity service in Perth, providing an alternative source of capital for Western Australian businesses.

A TAX ruling designed to clarify the GST treatment of vouchers has left some uncertainty about the treatment of certain types of vouchers.

FORMER deputy premier Hendy Cowan has been appointed chairman of the Institute of Natural Resource Management at Notre Dame University.

MG Kailis Group is slowly but surely laying the groundwork for the establishment of sea cage tuna farms off of the coast of Esperance.

A POLITICAL stand-off over payroll tax changes threatens to derail the State Government's planned business tax reforms.

In the final part of a six part series on corporate superannuation, Mark Beyer looks at organisations that have resisted the outsourcing trend.

A PIG farmer from Northam has fallen foul of the Australian Tax Office, copping a two-and-a-half-year jail term for GST fraud totalling $109,000.

WESTERN Australian Government plans to accelerate the collection of stamp duty have been vigorously criticised by business brokers, property agents and settlement agents.

AUSTRALIAN companies are among the fastest payers of sales invoices, an international survey has found. The average payment period by Australian firms was 36 days, according to accounting firm Grant Thornton's International Business Owners Survey.

THE State Government has given the union movement a bigger role in developing local content policies for major projects.

WESPINE Industries has completed a $13 million upgrade of its Dardanup sawmill, confirming its position as one of the State's major pine processors.

MASTER trusts have been one of the fastest growing segments of the funds management industry over the past decade. For many employers they provide an easy and effective solution to all of their superannuation needs.

Australia's biggest fabrication hall is the centrepiece of a $200 million infrastructure project south of Perth. Mark Beyer asks if this is an astute investment that will foster industrial growth or an extravagant use of taxpayers' money?

NOT-FOR-PROFIT organisations have been told they should improve reporting standards to meet the needs of donors and funding providers.

PERTH company GRD is poised to become a major player in the waste management industry through its 50 per cent-owned Global Renewables. After many years of technical and commercial development, Global Renewables is on the brink of commencing its first UR-

IN a field dominated by interstate and overseas companies, Perth-based Organic Resource Technologies stands out as a homegrown developer of waste treatment technology.

SUPERANNUATION administration and consulting firm NSP Buck officially launched its new office and new name in Perth last week.

LAW firm Jackson McDonald is facing a mini partner exodus, with one partner having left recently and four more about to depart.

A SPATE of new contracts has provided a welcome boost for Perth company Environmental Solutions International.

IMAGINE spending $35 million on a new factory then asking the State Government for a handout so you can create a market for your product. Sound crazy? That is exactly what the ratepayer-funded Southern Metropolitan Regional Council has done.

WHILE many companies have completely outsourced their superannuation to master trusts and industry funds, others have chosen to keep their funds in-house.

THE world of local government may be slow moving but the direction it is heading is unmistakable.

A SURVEY of small and mid-sized tax practices has found a sharp increase in average working hours over the past three years, from 47.4 hours a week to 54.6 hours.

PLANS by UK banking group HBOS to move to 100 per cent ownership of BankWest have overshadowed another ‘takeover' battle involving the bank.

Carmichael Capital Markets Pty Ltd, the corporate finance arm of stockbrokers D.J. Carmichael Pty Ltd, has named Robert Klug director of corporate finance.

THE two top positions at Home Building Society are due to change this year, with long-serving chairman Bernard Wright announcing that he would retire.

PAUL Wright is one of several winners in the Legal Elite 2003 survey who left work at a big national firm to establish his own practice. He formed Wright Legal in July 2000 after 17 years as a partner at Freehills and one of its predecessor firms