Family Business Matters

What's keeping family businesses awake at night? Insights for Australian Family Businesses

Drawing on a survey of more than 2,600 family-owned business leaders in 80 countries,?Unlocking legacy – the path to superior growth in family businesses explores the nature of family business legacies and the important link between legacies and long-term business performance.

The survey’s findings show that family businesses in Australia are well placed to capture long-term benefits and thrive as new generations step in. Key to achieving this is to view family business legacies through a future-focused lens as intentional and essential ingredients for sustainable growth.

Along with this year’s report, KPMG has introduced the Legacy Matrix — the outcome of extensive STEP Project Global Consortium research, brought to life through the 2024 Global Family Business survey data, which measured business families’ levels of transgenerational entrepreneurship and legacy scores.

By exploring the Legacy Matrix assessment tool, family businesses can identify themselves in one of four legacy types: Static, Preservative, Evolving and Dynamic. Each of these legacy types differs in terms of the level of transgenerational entrepreneurship and legacy score of the family business, and the matrix is designed to help family businesses reflect on their current legacy and understand where it may lead them in the future.

Applying the legacy matrix to your family business may be an important first step in assessing the strength of your legacy, identifying practical actions to take and how it may be impacting the performance of your business.

You can access KPMG’s Legacy Matrix and download a copy of the results from this survey here!

In our latest Private Insights Webinar where I was delighted to be joined by?Daniel Trimarchi, KPMG Director – Family Enterprise Advisory, discussing how Australian family businesses look to be well placed to capture the benefits of their ‘legacy’ and thrive as the next generations drive future sustainability through innovation and entrepreneurship. ? If you missed this webinar here is a link to our recording?and slide pack?from this session.

If you are interested in discussing your legacy challenges and opportunities in your family business, please reach out to Daniel Trimarchi - KPMG Director, Family Business & Private Clients & Director, Global Centre of Excellence for Family Business.

I highly recommend listening to this podcast with KPMG’s Turnaround & Restructuring Partner Jock Foster, Associate Director and? Daniel Trimarchi, Director in our Family Business Advisory team where they discussed? the challenges and opportunities facing Australia's farming families when it comes to succession of the family business. The face of farming in Australia is changing rapidly and it's important that families are considering and planning for the future and during this podcast Tim, Jock and Daniel deep dive into ? The transition of management duties; ? Transition of ownership; ? Family governance frameworks and agreements ? Where to start when it comes to succession planning.

The full episode can be found here.

Jacqui Tucker (KPMG’s Head of Employment Taxes & Reward) and her team have developed a comprehensive employment taxes health check program.? This is designed to assist companies to identify areas of risk and opportunity that an employer faces in respect of its employer obligations.

Why is an Employment?Taxes check-up?relevant???

Simply it?is?a pathway to demonstrate?good tax governance?and effective?'risk' management?in an era?of increasing ATO scrutiny.?As an example, in?the ATO's?2022/23 Super Insights, the ATO?advised it had finalised?approximately?14,000?Superannuation Guarantee cases culminating in around $447m in SG penalties. ?

It is also a demonstration of?an awareness of?ESG?responsibilities?and a basis for?ameliorating?future?reputational and?compliance risks?within?your People management function.

The image above is a snapshot of this service – if your feel this program would be useful in supporting your business, please reach out to Jacqui Tucker .

Enterprising Cities provides a snapshot and insights into twelve of Australia’s fast-growing centres, the new engine rooms of our economy.

It provides analysis of the economic upsurge seen in the cities – the ways in which they are attracting people from the major capitals of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane – as well as capturing the growth of local businesses and future investment opportunities.

Each of the enterprising cities analysed in the report has its own individual character and strengths while at the same time, sharing common pathways towards achieving sustained prosperity.

You can find out more about this in KPMG Australia's report Enterprising Cities.? Read about how they are shaping future growth - looking at the population, jobs and industry trends for 12 of Australia’s rapidly expanding cities.

Download the report here.

This year's Inside Retail Australian Retail Outlook 2024 Powered by KPMG, shares many insights into the current and future retail landscape across areas like cost out and productivity, cyber and technology, supply chain, working capital and beyond.

As we settle in to 2024, we are expecting more of the same from last year, particularly with interest rates continuing to put pressure on customers. Yet adversity can be a catalyst for innovation and positive change. There is a chance now for retailers to turn today’s challenges into opportunities by differentiating themselves through investment in technology, product innovation and customer experience.

The report also offers commentary from some of Australia’s leading retail CEOs and bespoke insights into the New Zealand retail market. Download the report here.

James Stewart Toni Jones

KPMG Australia and Family Business Association (AU) have joined together to create a series of articles celebrating and acknowledging the contribution that this family?business has made to creating a positive footprint for Australia’s family business footprint.

Here is a link to one of our articles in the series with A.H. Beard.

Catherine Sayer

Our next webinar is scheduled for Thursday, 15 August and we will be joined by Julie Dolan for her quarterly superannuation and estate planning update.? Registrations for this webinar will be open in the next few weeks.