I was asked by the Chairman of a very large listed company a very straightforward question, “What is a good risk manager and what do they do?”. Here’s what I thought he wanted to hear....
Readmore »Shaking Up Insolvency I was reading with great interest, the article entitled “Investors win in insolvency shake-up” in the AFR on 3 June 2011. The article discusses the Federal Government’s proposals to change the way liquidators, administrators and insolvency firms are appointed, termi...
Readmore »We recently met with the owners of a business that had been making losses for a number of years. They had been holding on for a couple of years hoping to ride out the storm, not wanting to admit the business was in trouble. I think many business owners can empathise with this situation at the moment...
Readmore »Following my previous blog on the subject of the Government’s proposed financial planning reforms, I have been asked to identify who will be the winners and who will be the losers if the changes proceed....
Readmore »I was interviewed last week regarding the stories of Sri Lankan-born Raj Rajaratnam, head of the Galleon Group in the US or young Sydney equities dealer John Hartman, both found guilty of insider trading. The journalist wanted my opinion on whether I thought these high profile convictions will affec...
Readmore »Last week I had a great discussion with a group of business owners about the best skill or attitude a business owner or leader should have. We had the usual comments like "honesty", "integrity", "empathy" and "strength". We also generally agreed that the leader or owner needed to adopt a "helico...
Readmore »We have recently been approached to comment on the costs, benefits and risks of taking on additional debt or equity. Before going on to examine the specific questions we were asked, we need to quickly examine the difference between debt and equity....
Readmore »Investors are often infuriated with entrepreneurs that don't understand what they have and where what they have fits in. If you want to attract investment then you'd better know where you fit. Last week I met an entrepreneur who at first told me that he had an original idea for a new business co...
Readmore »I was reading the interesting Chanticleer article in the Easter edition of the Australian Financial Review on Friday entitled “Big Banks’ days in the sun could be numbered”. The basic premise of this article is that the current run of high bank profits which are benefiting from reducing lev...
Readmore »There is a big battle going on between some parts of the financial planning industry and the Federal Government (Financial Services Minister Bill Shorten) about the need to reform the financial planning industry. Firstly, I need to admit that I have operated on all sides of the wealth management ...
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