Posted: 05 August 2020

Fund Raising is a Great Business Advisory Service

Accountant's Minute 243

The latest developments in Victoria, where Level 4 restrictions have now been imposed in Melbourne and Level 3 in Regional Victoria, have really highlighted the challenges that can confront businesses all over Australia if COVID–19 coronavirus is allowed to become established in a particular location.

Victorian businesses are going to confront many challenges and we know that the accountancy profession in Victoria will do its utmost, whilst working from home, to service the requirements of small businesses and medium-sized enterprises.

Our theme for this week’s edition of Accountants' Minute is “Fund Raising”. We believe that access to finance will be a very important, for thousands of businesses, once we get beyond that 30th September 2020.

Whilst the government has announced a continuation (at a lower level of support) of JobKeeper from 1st October onwards and there is now the possibility that there could be some further changes, because of the spread of COVID-19 in Victoria, there will still be many businesses that need to obtain additional funding. Unfortunately, many financial experts are predicting that it will be difficult for SMEs to borrow from banks after 30th September.

The Federal government has announced the extension with some changes of the “Coronavirus SME Guarantee Loan” which, from 1st October 2020, will be a loan of up to $1 million that is available for small businesses and medium-sized enterprises with up to 200 employees for a period of 5 years, 50% guaranteed by the Federal government with the loan funds being able to be utilised for any business purposes, not just the working capital purpose restriction that applies to the current $250,000 loan which is due to be phased out at 30th September.

Another very important consideration for businesses is to examine the practicalities of the business (which will have to be incorporated as a company) to raise capital direct from the public utilising Crowd Sourced Funding Equity Raising or Early Stage Innovation Company status or raising capital utilising Section 708 of the Corporations Act.

In this week’s COVID-19 Survival Panel webinar for accountants, business advisors and bookkeepers, our special guest presenter is Anna Guenther, Director, PledgeMe, a Crowd Sourced Funding Intermediary, with business operations in New Zealand and Brisbane.

Anna will give an overview of the opportunities that are available for accountants to implement a very strong business advisory service to assist SMEs to be able to raise funds for their business without having to pledge personal assets as securities, issue personal guarantees and enter into monthly repayments of principal and interest.

Another important opportunity for accountants to consider, relative to fund raising for clients, is the early Stage Innovation Company status, which can be obtained by a young company that has developed a new product, process or service and has annual income of under $200,000 and annual expenditure of under $1 million. There are significant advantages for investors if they invest in a company which has the status of “early Stage Innovation Company”. Peter Towers, Managing Director of ESS BIZTOOLS will discuss the processes for a company to be deemed to be an Early Stage Innovation Company and the advantages that this status can convey to arm’s-length investors in the company.

You can register to participate in the free webinar on Friday 7th August at 12 noon AEST by clicking here.

In last week’s COVID-19 Survival Panel webinar, Peter Towers discussed various funding opportunities that are available for companies. If you would like to listen to the recording of last week’s webinar, please click here.

You can access the PowerPoint slides that we utilised in that presentation by clicking here.

The situation in Victoria is highlighting the very serious position that many SMEs could encounter, especially if COVID-19 coronavirus flares up again in various parts of Australia. Unfortunately, the government and small business organisations are expecting significant numbers of businesses to fail.

Many businesses are going to need assistance from their accountants to be able to navigate these challenges. The prediction by the accountants who were surveyed in the Commonwealth Bank “Accountants' Market Pulse” Report that Business Advisory Services would be the “practice area expected to be most in demand in the next 6 to 12 months” will probably be proved correct in their forecast.

This will mean that many of your clients are seeking advice on their strategies, business plans, budgets and cashflow forecasts, especially if they wish to apply for the “Coronavirus SME Guarantee Loan of up to $1 million” or seek to raise equity capital direct from the public utilising Crowd Sourced Funding Equity Raising, Early Stage Innovation Company status or Section 708 the Corporations' Act.

Whilst there are a lot of challenges for you and your firm at this stage, this is going to be a major one as your clients seek assistance to remain viable within their businesses.

ESS BIZTOOLS can assist you to get started or to expand the development of Business Advisory Services as a significant product range for you to assist your clients through this difficult time.

Would you like to know more? If so, we invite you to register for a free no obligation 30 day guest trial of ESS BIZTOOLS by clicking here.

If you'd like to have a better understanding of how ESS BIZGRANTS operates you can obtain a 14 day free trial by clicking here.

As an alternative, we are happy to present to you and your colleagues in your accounting firm a free no obligation webinar overview of ESS BIZTOOLS and ESS BIZGRANTS. This presentation will last for 60 minutes and will give you a good overview of the wide range of products and services that are available for you to then use to supply your clients with Business Advisory Services.

If you would like us to present a free webinar to your firm, please contact us – telephone 1800 232 088 and we will arrange a mutually convenient time for the presentation.

You can also obtain additional information by going to ESS BIZTOOLS' website è Survival In Difficult Times è Learn More.

We look forward to hearing from you on any of these options that suit your accountancy firm.

You might like to read a testimonial that one of our happy subscribers has provided.

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Angelo Coco

“I've been familiar with Peter since the mid-80s when he was operating his accounting practice. The tools and papers prepared by ESS are so helpful. Instead of trying to create my own, they are already there, ready to go, and they just work.

Some of the tools I've referred to and used in serving my clients over one hundred times.

I recommend the ESS tool kit to other practitioners at any opportunity I get."

Angelo Coco - Chartered Accountant & Owner, Family Business Support.

If you would like to view the recordings for the past sixteen COVID–19 Survival Panel webinars presented by ESS BIZTOOLS and our Affiliates including Andrew Geddes, Amanda Gascoigne, Paul Barnaby, Mark Holton, Priscilla Bea Smith, Trent Butler, Kevin Thiele and representatives of Crowd Sourced Funding Intermediaries, please click here.

A reminder…. ESS BIZTOOLS and our Affiliates are presenting this special webinar series “COVID-19 Survival Panel” each Friday at 12-noon AEST until 6th November 2020. If you'd like to register in advance for upcoming webinars please click here.

If you'd like to view the recordings for the past fifteen webinars (click here) and scroll down to the COVID-19 Survival Panel section.

If you would like to contact us about any aspect of ESS BIZTOOLS' or ESS BIZGRANTS' products and services, please do not hesitate to contact us: