There is more to wealth creation than just accumulating it. Retaining wealth is equally important to ensure what you have created is well protected from any inadvertent situation that may leave your business exposed.

Progression Group are well versed in assessing you're likely risks and inherent exposure.

Directors often find themselves working within their business attending to the day to day operational issues. Have you ever considered the consequences to your business if it suffered a serious on-site injury to an employee or the harsh reality of a major customer being placed in Administration?

These are just two common examples of everyday commercial happenings and unless you are protected, the cost to your bottom line could be enormous.

Operating a correct trading structure with little tangible assets in conjunction with an investment structure with minimal risk is instrumental in reducing exposure to events outside your control. The failure to appropriately consider the risks and responsibilities as a Director could be an extremely stressful and costly exercise in the event your business becomes the target of serious litigation.

Progression Group can assist you in complying with the Personal Properties Securities Act by arranging for your Terms and Conditions to be updated, hire agreements to be drafted and provision of in-house training so your staff are competent in operating the Personal Properties Securities Register.

We also implement strategies to tidy balance sheets that may be currently at risk and can provide greater internal control regarding exposure to bad debts and in-house embezzlement.

Let Progression Group drive corporate governance within your business. Clients who utilise this service enjoy structured meetings, real solutions, easy to understand reports and formalised minutes (with follow up action). This guarantees value at each meeting. Whether it is monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly, our Board Advisory Services don't just focus on business performance but include over 40 critical business items required to be reviewed and monitored for guaranteed annual success.

Once we have assisted you in establishing budgets and determining break even points we can work with you in setting realistic targets for the Key Performance Indicators of your business. We have invested in specific financial analysis software which helps clients to assess business performance, monitor trends and identify improvement opportunities. This allows us to produce a range of meaningful reports at each meeting that focus on what targets are being met and just as importantly, which ones aren't.

We now offer bookkeeping training and troubleshooting services. In addition to this, Progression Group now actively assists all clients in converting their existing accounting software into the cloud.

We are actively encouraging as many clients as possible to convert to cloud accounting in (particular Xero and MYOB) which makes tax planning a lot more seamless as your up-to-date and reconciled data is readily available for us to review and provide advice.

Purchasing a business or an interest in a going concern can be one of the biggest decisions an individual can make.

Never let your emotions take control of the homework process – utilise a documented, well researched and proven due diligence process to minimise any risk.

Anyone who is contemplating business investment requires proper due diligence to be performed prior to parting with their hard earned.

Over the years we have prevented many clients from acquiring businesses because our unique and in-house designed checklists have detected serious flaws in what at first glance appeared to be a fantastic opportunity.

The Progression Group Due Diligence service provides you with significant comfort and insurance when acquiring a business.

Should the decision be made to invest in the business, then Progression Group will further assist you in respect to obtaining finance, asset protection, establishment of most appropriate operating structure, development of management reporting, arranging for necessary insurances etc.

As morbid as the subject is, we all need to accept the fact that one day someone else will be responsible for dealing with our affairs once we have passed on.

The distress and trauma placed on loved ones can be kept to a minimum if we address the inevitable whilst we have the ability to do so.

Progression Group can assist with the collation of key data into one complete file to ensure the transition of clients wealth on death is dealt with in the most seamless fashion.

We are often amazed at the peace of mind clients obtain in knowing that they have spent the time preparing a file that is updated annually holding details pertaining to:

• Current Will

• Executor Details

• Lawyer Details

• Life Insurance Coverage and Policy copies

• Superannuation Details

• Corporate Diagrams

• Copy of Family Trust Deeds

• Prepaid Funeral Arrangements

• Other specific request items

In this current environment, obtaining finance is a relatively simple exercise providing serviceability is proven and the borrower has a reasonably clean credit rating.

Choosing the appropriate product and financier however can be a much more complex exercise if the decision is not given due consideration. This is where Progression Group can assist through our wholly owned subsidiary, Progression Finance Pty Ltd.

Any borrower who is interested in spending a few minutes being explained the difference in terms such as "comparison rate", "flat rate" and "effective rate" in reference to computing interest is prudent enough to realise there is a substantial dollar to be saved when approaching any lending deal.

Progression Finance have formed a strategic alliance with a major and well established leading referral based solutions provider. Volume borrowing levels entitle Progression Group clientele to participate in discounted finance products.

Solutions include preferably priced residential, investment and commercial lending through major financiers.

No one wants to nor should have to pay more income tax than what is legally due.

It doesn't matter if you are self-employed or on a salary package, Progression Group have a range of tax planning tools available in ensuring your annual taxation liability is minimised (or refund maximised).

Implementation of strategic tax planning not only saves you money but also frees up cash for you to invest in other activities.

For our business clientele, assessing the vast opportunities prior to the conclusion of each financial year ensures that our clients who utilise this service are not only confident that their taxation debt is minimised, but are also well aware 12 months in advance what any likely liability will be.

As businesses grow and additional staff are engaged, it's easy to overlook implementing the necessary disciplines to ensure that your funds are protected. Having the proper checks and balances in respect to internet banking, segregation of duties and reviewing cash handling procedures is critical.

Progression Group can conduct a full review of your existing systems and controls and provide a comprehensive report identifying potential risk areas with suggested improvements.

The ability to review monthly performance reports that are accurate, timely and appropriate is paramount to the success of any business proprietor.

All business owners should invest in designing and understanding specifically tailored management reports to assess business viability.

Critical decisions can be made on a well informed and pro-active basis as opposed to gut-feel reactive analysis such as when cash flow becomes tight.

Accurate management reports enable you as the business owner to cater for growth more efficiently, predict cash flow requirements, plan for tax minimisation, monitor overheads and enhance internal control.

Our management reporting provides excellent budget versus actual monitoring tools to assist you in achieving predefined business goals.

Progression Group have embraced the dynamic and increasingly complicated world of Superannuation and are proud to promote this as an area of specialisation.

With a dedicated Self-Managed Superannuation Fund (SMSF) division we focus on remaining up to date with the ever-changing superannuation regulations.

Our dedicated SMSF team can provide concise, plain English advice regarding the implications of legislative changes on your SMSF balances and ensure that you are fully up to date with your requirements as Trustee of your SMSF.

Our service includes attendance to all of the compliance requirements of your fund including facilitation of the fund's audit and actuarial certificates where required and lodgement of income tax returns with the ATO.

Changes to legislation means we cannot provide investment product advice, however, where specific investment advice is required we can refer you to our in-house financial planning partner FMD Financial (FMD Advisory Services Pty Ltd AFSL 232977) to provide any assistance required.

Any business Partnership or Joint Venture needs to be well documented to ensure that all parties understand the purpose of uniting forces.

The Shareholder/Partnership document (Agreement) should stipulate from the outset the expectations of respective individuals within the Partnership, the operation of the business within the structure and the formal procedure for allowing future partners to be admitted and existing partners to depart/retire.

All clients in Partnership require a formal agreement. Progression Group have had significant experience in preparing shareholder agreement briefs which are subsequently presented to the Lawyer of your choice (or our preferred Lawyers) for formalisation.

We have an extensive checklist for your consideration with many precedents depicting successful and problematic clauses within Partnership arrangements.

Having a documented Agreement eliminates a significant risk in your business.

Uncertainty in any business creates angst and often leads to feud resulting in dissolution and often unwanted costly litigation. Our agreement briefs cover a range of aspects including:

• Suggested operating structure

• Business objectives

• Business management

• Board meetings/resolutions

• Shareholder meetings/control issues

• Exit strategies and valuation methodologies

• Restraint undertakings

• Funding options

• Solutions for deadlocks and many other Partnership issues that require serious deliberation.

Too many people rely on the value of their business to fill the Superannuation gap on retirement. Come the crunch, when it is the right time to sell, what is your business worth and more importantly who is going to buy it?

It is never too early to work with Progression Group in ensuring your business is presented in a manner that will attract maximum value, substantial interest and suitable candidates.

Our Succession Planning Process involves conducting a market appraisal on your business, collation of a professional overview, arranging for confidentiality deeds to be prepared and interviewing, on your behalf, genuine purchasers who are keen to invest in what you have developed.

Utilising our Succession Planning Services allows you to continue working on your business whilst Progression Group focus on identifying and harnessing potential owners – whether it be an existing employee(s), family or totally unrelated interested parties, we will ensure your after tax proceeds are maximised.