Business and Personal Audit
Business Audit
The life blood of a business is cash flow:
- Revenue protection
- Managed costs
- Shareholder / Partner certainty
Protection of Revenue
- Do you own/manage/protect your intellectual property and confidential information in a secure manner with enforceable agreements?
- If your customer is a company:
- Does it have sufficient net assets to pay your invoice.
- Have the Directors given an appropriate guarantee?
- Have you “retained title” to goods you sell until they have been paid for? If not, your client claims back the goods even if there’s non-payment.
- Have you done the following checks against your customers:
- credit check
- business name search
- company search
- These checks will enable you to:
- know precisely which legal entity you’re dealing with.
- take effective action to recover unpaid invoices.
- When your invoices are months past due without reasonable cause or arrangement we recommend that clients complete and send to us a debt recovery instruction sheet and that:
- We send a Letter of Demand giving 14 days to pay.
- After 14 days we send a Letter of Demand attaching a Statement of Claim which will be filed and sent in 10 days if no payment.
- After 10 days filing and serving a statement of claim.
We find that in 60% of cases the commencement of the above steps result in payment.
Contact Peter Colquhoun or his assistant, Tracey Cunliffe, for further information regarding any of these business audit issues.
PERSONAL AUDIT
We recommend that:
- Wills be reviewed at least once every 5 years or if circumstances change.
- Powers of Attorney be considered:
- when absence interstate or overseas is likely;
- when mental capacity might become an issue.
Wills Review Check List
- Title particulars and tenancy of real estate
- Whether other assets are held solely or jointly.
- Whether superannuation benefits form part of your Estate.
- Whether assets are controlled by family companies or family trusts.
- Who controls those family companies or trusts.
- Who is the appointer of the Trustees.
- Whether it is now appropriate to consider a T Family Trust to help preserve assets and create a more tax effective income stream.
Contact Peter Colquhoun or his assistant, Tracey Cunliffe, to arrange a review of your Will and personal circumstances.
Author: Peter Colquhoun
Date: 28 January 2005
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