Latest News

Australia's billionaire boom branded 'morally wrong' by Oxfam

ANDREW MCKEAN
The ranks of Australian billionaires have more than doubled over the past decade, accumulating wealth at $137 million per day on average - $95,000 per minute, according to Oxfam Australia. Its acting chief executive Christina Muli described this as "morally wrong."

Ironbark acquires family office firm

ELIZA BAVIN
Ironbark Investment Partners has expanded its wealth business with the acquisition of a high-net-worth and family office firm.

Australian investors loyal to wealth managers - until they're not

ANDREW MCKEAN
Australian investors show a greater willingness to stay with their wealth provider than their global counterparts, according to the 2025 EY Global Wealth Research Report.

Family offices to splash cash in APAC

JAMIE WILLIAMSON
Most family offices intend to boost their allocations to Asia Pacific, excluding Greater China, over the next five years.

Latest White Papers

Ethics & Governance

Small-company governance

MANS CARLSSON, BEYHAN IRMAKO, MERI VUKASIN   There is a common misconception that smaller companies have higher environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks relative to their larger counterparts.

Cultural humility: A leadership virtue

ANN SKEET   This paper provides direction for the development of the workplace virtue known as cultural humility. It defines employee experience, including employee community curation, and proposes committing resources to these efforts. It identifies competencies that can be used to cultivate skills in the workforce and suggests ways these can be woven into the intentional management and integration of corporate culture.

Investment

Seven principles of portfolio resilience

ROSS CARTWRIGHT   The value of portfolio resilience can be underappreciated at times, but it is a critical component of the investment process.

Making sense of emerging market debt in global portfolios

DAMIEN BUCHET   Emerging market debt (EMD) has garnered increasing attention from investors for many years.

Technology

Technologies fighting climate change and biodiversity loss

TOM ATKINSON   The Earth's biodiversity is deteriorating at an alarming rate, causing damage not only to the natural world but to wider society and the global economy, which often relies upon it as a resource used directly by people and business.

Tokenisation: reducing costs and building alpha for tomorrow

ADAM BELDING   Asset managers had a difficult 2022.Calastone's Fund flows: Fighting the bear report found that 2022 saw record fund outflows across the globe, with funds seeing the biggest fall in assets under management (AUM) since the Global Financial Crisis.

Trust & Corporate Services

Setting up a family trust in Australia

ANSHU LUKKA   Family trusts are a powerful legal tool to help protect assets, preserve private family wealth across generations, and provide tax advantages.

Family office: Substance and robust governance

LINDA BEIDLER-D'AGUILAR   Family offices are generally recognised as integral to the cohesive and coherent management of a family's diverse business interests in tandem with its domestic and personal affairs, and this article examines here the opportunities afforded by the establishment of such offices, the substance and ...

Philanthropy

Opportunities for the for-purpose sector

JOHN MCLEOD   This paper comprises an excerpt from JBWere's 'The Bequest Report: Reshaping Australia by passing on more than assets' of July 2024.

Top 10 mistakes of the Australian non-profit investor

DAVID KNOWLES   This paper is intended to help people who have taken up the challenge and responsibility of investing money for the benefit of the others.

Taxation & Estate Planning

Debt deduction creation rules now operative for many taxpayers

LEO GOUZENFITER, ALEXIS KOKKINOS   From 1 July 2024, the debt deduction creation rules (DDCR) permanently deny debt deductions (for instance, interest expenses) for payments arising in connection with certain related-party transactions.

Cultivating innovation

SANDIE BOSWELL   A guide to claiming the R&D Tax Incentive in the agribusiness sector.

Compliance

Understanding Spam Act obligations in financial services

LYNDA DOWLING   The Spam Act 2003 applies to most Australian businesses, including financial services, that send commercial messages for marketing or other purposes.

Closing loopholes legislation: Groundwork done, more to come

ALICIA MATAERE   To assist employers prepare for the proposed changes to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Fair Work Act), this paper highlights the key amendments (from a total of over 80 proposed changes), which will likely have the greatest impact.

Family Office Management

Family charter essentials

HENRY BRANDTS-GIESEN, EDWARD MARSHALL   Family charters are important components to families' governance structure. They are documents that families can use to help them with building guideposts, decision-making rules, and codifying a family's values, mission, and vision.

How to short-circuit family office disputes

ROBIN DODOKIN   Early preventative measures can save time, reduce costs and preserve much-needed family unity.

Communications & Marketing

The startup funding landscape

RACHELLE HARE   This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the startup funding landscape, emphasising the critical role of early stage funding; the impact of adequate capital on business growth; the need to understand the dynamic startup funding landscape; the processes needed to secure startup funding; and common challenges faced by startups.

Growing your HNW client base

NETWEALTH INVESTMENTS   This paper is based on excerpts from Netwealth's The Advisable Australian 2022= The Established Affluent, building your high-net-worth vale proposition report. The report delves into the financial and broader attributes of the "Established Affluent" - those high-net-worth (HNW) Australians ...