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Top Quality Wealth Generation, Protection & Succession Advice for Family Businesses
Do you want to avoid seeing hard-earned family wealth – built over generations through successful businesses and investments – slowly eroded due to unforeseen challenges?
Are you in a situation where mishandled tax, the complications of divorce, poor investment decisions or even fraud, are losing you wealth and having a devastating impact on your business and family’s future?
At Munro’s, our Perth-based accountants and business advisors understand these challenges and know how to best overcome them with effective wealth generation, asset protection and succession planning for family businesses.
The Problem
Family wealth can be built over decades by grandparents and parents who worked diligently to create a legacy. However, without proper planning, the wealth generated can erode over time. Common issues include:
- Mishandled Tax: Poor tax planning can lead to unnecessary liabilities that slowly drain your resources.
- Divorce: Legal separations often result in the division of assets, potentially reducing the family’s net worth.
- Poor Investment Decisions: Without sound financial advice, investments may underperform or even result in losses.
- Fraud and Embezzlement: Internal mismanagement or external fraud can take a significant toll on accumulated wealth.
These challenges highlight why many families see their legacy diminished when succession planning is not handled correctly.
Our Solution
Munro’s experienced business accountants take a proactive and holistic approach to protecting and growing your family wealth. Our service is designed to address every aspect of wealth succession with clarity and transparency. Here’s how we do it:
- Detailed Financial Review: We begin with a thorough examination of your current wealth structure. This includes reviewing historical transactions, loans, gifts and investments to establish a clear financial baseline.
- Tailored Succession Planning: We work with you to design a succession plan that addresses key questions:
- Do you require blood-line clauses and binding financial agreements?
- Have all historical and planned future loans and gifts been properly documented?
- What is the fair market remuneration for family members working in the business?
- Specialised Structures and Governance: Our accountants advise on the need for specially designed trusts, trustee and appointor companies, and whether a family constitution or a family board is necessary. We also discuss dispute resolution mechanisms and the possible need for an external financial controller.
- Ongoing Review & Improvement: With periodic reviews, we ensure your financials remain robust and your succession plan stays up-to-date as your circumstances change.
Key Benefits & Outcomes
By partnering with Munro’s business accountants for your family wealth protection, you gain:
- Preservation of Legacy: Safeguard the wealth accumulated over generations so that it continues to benefit your family.
- Clarity: Our clear, experienced advice means there an understandable plan.
- Customised Solutions: Every family’s situation is unique. Our solution is tailored to your specific needs.
- Peace of Mind: With over 100 five‑star Google reviews, our clients highlight our responsiveness and the reassurance we bring during times of change.
- Future-Proofing Your Business: Whether it’s ensuring fair remuneration for family members or setting up dispute resolution mechanisms, we help build a structure that endures and supports long-term growth.
Read Key Points & Transcript
Structuring for Family Business Wealth Succession in Australia
video key points
- Successful business and investment succession within families can be marred by issues like tax mishandling, divorce, and poor financial decisions, leading to wealth erosion.
- Effective wealth succession planning is crucial in protecting family wealth, involving considerations such as blood-line clauses, fair market remuneration for family members, and the necessity of external financial oversight.
- Proper documentation of historical and future loans and gifts, alongside considerations for family governance, such as a family constitution and board, play pivotal roles in succession planning.
- Estate planning is essential for ensuring a smooth transition of assets, helping preserve wealth following the death of a loved one.
- Recognising the complexity of wealth succession, the encouragement to seek professional advice reflects the importance of having affairs in order and optimally arranged for the future.
Presented by: Saul Segal
video transcript
It’s really wonderful to see a successful business, or a group of successful businesses and investments, built-up by grandparents and parents, passed down to their children.
What’s horrible to see is that family wealth eroded over time, of which there can be many different causes. Such as, mishandling of tax, divorce, poor investment decisions, even embezzlement.
We know very well that planning for and executing wealth succession plays a critical role in mitigating the erosion of family wealth.
Things which may come up in the succession planning stage are:
- Do you need blood-line clauses or binding financial agreements?
- Have all historical, and planned future, loans and gifts been properly documented?
- For family members working in the business, what is their fair market remuneration?
- Do you need an external Financial Controller?
- How often should the financials be audited?
- Do you need specially-designed trustee and/or appointor companies?
- Do you need a family constitution?
- What dispute resolution mechanisms do you need in-place?
- Do you need a family board and what external advisors will help enhance future performance?
There are also the matters of estate planning, to help achieve a smooth, asset preserving transition following the death of a loved one.
All of this can be quite daunting, and unfortunately we know all too well that people can choose to put this into the too hard basket. Sometimes until it’s too late. It’s not a situation any family wants to be in.
If you’re affairs aren’t in order, or you’re not sure if they are appropriately optimised, then give us a call. We’re here to help.
Frequently Asked Questions for Family Wealth Protection
- What is family wealth protection?
Family wealth protection involves strategies designed to preserve, grow and successfully transfer the wealth you have built over generations. It encompasses effective tax management, proper documentation of loans and gifts, succession plans and establishing governance structures to prevent disputes. - Why is wealth succession planning important?
Succession planning ensures that your hard-earned wealth is transferred smoothly to the next generation without erosion. It addresses potential challenges like mismanaged tax, disputes among family members and inadequate governance structures, thereby preserving your legacy. - How do I know if my family’s wealth is at risk?
If you’re experiencing issues such as unexpected tax bills, disputes among family members, your financial records lack clarity or you aren’t using the most up-to-date trust structures, these can be signs that your wealth may be at risk. - Are your family wealth protection services available Australia-wide?
While Munro’s is based in Perth, our services have been designed to be effective for businesses and families throughout WA and Australia-wide. - What sets Munro’s apart from other business accountants?
Our clients frequently highlight our responsiveness and the peace of mind we provide, as evidenced by our over 100 five‑star Google reviews. We offer transparent pricing, personalised service and a genuine commitment to preserving your family legacy. Our approach is built on understanding your unique challenges and delivering clear, actionable solutions. - How do I get started with Munro’s for family succession planning and wealth protection?
Simply book a Get To Know Each Other meeting. During this free initial meeting, we’ll discuss your specific challenges and goals, and start to outline how our comprehensive wealth protection and succession planning services can safeguard your family’s future.
Where To Begin
Advanced Tax & Asset Protection Strategies Report
$4,000 (excl. GST)
Tax Minimisation Strategies ReportRequest A Quote For Ongoing Accounting Services
From $3,000 per annum (excl. GST)
Business Tax Return
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Top 2% ranked Australian Accounting Firm
Claims of being a ‘Top 2% ranked Australian Accounting Firm‘ (and similar claims) are based on two separate assessments conducted by Munro’s on 9-10 August 2023 and 1 December 2023. The ranking is derived from a comparison of the total of each accounting firm’s overall star rating multiplied by each firm’s quantity of reviews as shown on Google Maps. A total of 4,235 Australian accounting firms listed on Google Maps were identified for the earlier assessment, and a total of 4,301 for the latter assessment, which may not represent a complete list of Australian accounting firms. Munro’s claims are based on Munro’s best estimation and represent a snapshot collected at the time of each assessment. If the assessment was to be conducted today, then it is likely that Munro’s ranking would have changed – Munro’s may or may not be in the Top 2% today. Also, the methodology does not account for other potentially relevant factors such as quality of service, expertise, or client satisfaction beyond Google Maps reviews.
Read Key Points & Transcript
video key points
- Top 2% ranked Australian Accounting Firm is based on two separate Munro’s assessments of Google reviews for Australian based accounting firms on 9-10 August 2023 and 1 December 2023.
- Both assessments found Munro’s to be in the Top 2% (position 66 out of 4,235 and position 44 out of 4,301 for the assessments, respectively) when a ranking was derived from a comparison of the total of each accounting firm’s overall star rating multiplied by each firm’s quantity of reviews as shown on Google Maps.
- If the assessment was to be conducted today, then it is likely that Munro’s ranking would have changed – Munro’s may or may not be in the Top 2% today.
Presented by: Drew Pflaum
video transcript
In December 2023, we conducted a review of Australian accounting firms on Google Maps, based on star rating and quantity of reviews.
Out of the 4,301 Australian accounting firms we identified on Google, Munro’s ranked number 44, placing us in the Top 2% of Australian Accounting Firms. We’re thrilled to share this fact with you and share those reviews on our website. We’d also like to thank all our clients who left us those wonderful reviews.
Thank you.
Mike assisted with our farm succession planning. Thanks to Mike’s in depth knowledge on this subject, this process has been smooth and amicable. We highly recommend Mike and his team for family business succession.
We wish to thank Mike & his team @ Munros for their professional help & service over the past 20 years . Having just recently sold our franchise business after 14 years, Mike has guided us through those times with success & helped us to achieve our family goals within our business. Congratulations on your 50th Anniversary. Looking forward to continue to work with Mike & the team in the near future.
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- Call Us 1800 818 924
- Email Us hello@munros.com.au
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308 Fitzgerald Street
Perth WA 6000