Grant Thornton Australia

In this podcast, partners and family business advisors David Gibson and Kirsten Taylor-Martin speak with us about what makes a family business tick, getting the right skills in the right roles, and whether COVID will be a catalyst for a changing of the guard.

When COVID hit, the combination of JobKeeper, banks deferring principal and interest payments, and temporary changes to insolvency laws gave businesses some much needed breathing space - preventing the immediate tsunami of insolvencies many were anticipating. But these support measures cannot be maintained forever. So what happens when they cease, and how will businesses fare when the safety net falls away? National Head of Restructuring Advisory, Matt Byrnes, says Directors will need to be prepared to make some tough decisions in the next 12 - 18 months. Even if the current measures are extended - and some suggest this could be the case into the New Year - it is clear that businesses will need to stand on their own their own, and they will either be viable or they won't.

During the Global Financial Crisis we saw a tightening of liquidity from traditional sources - which took a period of nearly five years to bounce back. As Australia enters into recession, the banks are still extending credit to existing clients, but their appetite for new customers has already dwindled. To survive and thrive through this period, cash is king. When the big banks pull back, non-bank lenders and alternate debt providers such as Credit Funds and Family Offices could provide that all important bridge. Paul Gooley, National Head of Corporate Finance, and Cyrus Church, Director of Neu Capital sat down to discuss why now is an important time to shore up your balance sheet. There's liquidity in the marketplace if you know where to look and how to access it.

The future of work is being redefined right now. With more and more businesses embracing flexible working, this will have an impact on the commercial property sector. In our podcast, Sian Sinclair, National Head of Real Estate and Construction, and Ken Morrison, Chief Executive of the Property Council of Australia, discuss the future of work and how this impacts commercial real estate - what might this mean for our city skylines?

Our educational institutions aren't just important for our skills of the future. They also play an important role in Australian innovation and research. COVID-19 provides a turning point for higher learning; one with an exciting future. In our podcast, Stuart McDowall, National Head of Education, and Consulting Partner Kristy Fotiadis, discuss how universities and VET providers should be reviewing their strategies, local and international demand, and what they're excited to see in the sector in the years to come.

For the first time in 29 years, Australia is in a recession. The record stimulus and support packages rolled out just in a few short weeks to combat the effects of COVID-19 will leave us with a record deficit that will take decades to pay back. The Tax and Transfer System is really the only mechanism we have to balance the books - and with tax reform on the table, now is the time to look at our tax system with new eyes and split the bill in different ways. In our podcast, National Head of Indirect Tax Tony Windle, and Tax Partner Vince Tropiano discuss how to shake up the tax system and avoid decades long deficit blow outs.

As Australia's economy restarts, the focus has been on the 'return to work'. But the COVID-19 experience has not been the same for every Australian, with many continuing to work throughout the pandemic. What comes next will, and should, be different. Now is the time to redesign the way we work. It's time for a new leadership deal. Hear from Matt Croxford, National Head of Human Capital, and Katie O'Keeffe, Partner in Human Capital, as they discuss the future employee value proposition, the workforce pitfalls to avoid, and what a new leadership deal should look like.

The professional services landscape has changed with COVID-19. The more agile the firm, the better placed they were to ride out the storm. But even with this agility, COVID has brought with it the need to leave cash in your business - and the partnership model used by so many professional services firms doesn't lend itself well to this. Will this mean the end of the partnership model and a move to an incorporated structure for some professional services firms? Hear from National Head of Professional Services, Ben Matthews, as he highlights how those in professional services have adapted to working remotely, and what 2020 and beyond will look like for the sector.

It's been a rough start to the year for our farmers and major food producers. However, our farmers are extremely resilient and are flexing where it counts. Hear from National Head of Agribusiness, Food & Beverage, Tony Pititto as he discusses the resilience of our primary producers, the importance of restaurants and cafes, global rice production and what we need from our government to ensure the industry continues to thrive. For more information visit: https://bit.ly/2WITMcm

COVID-19 has brought to light the schooling version of what has long been referred to as the 'digital divide' - but schools have developed innovative ways over the years to close this gap, which assisted many schools' preparedness for digital and remote learning brought on by COVID-19. With IT helpdesks for students, cyber security education, and digital tools to augment learning, students are engaging in a powerful way while the digital and learning worlds converge. Stuart McDowall, National Head of Education, discusses the ways schools are innovating around technology, fees and the way we learn, and new the points of difference that can drive enrolments in future.

Spray and pray, script kiddies, phishing, bring your own network, wardriving. Sounds like newfangled Gen Z lingo, but it's actually part of the cybercrime lexicon that you need to be aware of to protect yourself and your business. With the sudden and swift shift to remote working, cyber criminals now have around 40% more "open doors", wifi weaknesses and gaps in security to exploit. If you haven't already experienced a cyberattack, you will. Hear from Matt Green and Chris Watson, Partners and cyber security experts, as they shine a light on the dark web and what businesses (and more importantly, their people) can do now to ensure they have the right security measures and culture in place to protect yourself and your business from becoming a cybercrime statistic.

There has been a dramatic shift in the way we work. While many companies have been slow to embrace flexible and remote working, it has been well and truly brought to the forefront thanks to coronavirus COVID-19. So when you're managing an entirely flexible workforce, how to you maintain engagement and motivation? Hear from Matt Croxford, National Head of Human Capital, and Katie O'Keeffe, Partner in Human Capital, as they dispel some of the myths around remote and flexible working, discuss strategies to maintain morale and motivation, and what we should expect from our leaders.

There is not much we cannot manufacture in Australia - and yet the sector represents just 6% of Australian GDP. For the manufacturing sector, what the coronavirus has created is transparency. For the first time, consumers are starting to understand what we do and don't make here - and are becoming increasingly aware of who made it, what's in it and what went into making a product. Even businesses are looking at their supply networks differently as they work hard to source local alternatives to global supply chains. If Government incentivised and prioritised local procurement we can enhance our long term supply chain security which could provide the catalyst for a manufacturing led recovery. Mark Phillips, National Head of Performance Improvement and manufacturing sector expert, explains how COVID-19 has affected the manufacturing industry, how generations to come will change their consumer behaviours as a result, and how the manufacturing sector could potentially lead the economic recovery of Australia.

The old rules no longer apply. Redundancy, once the norm for businesses trying to stay afloat in a recession, should be the last resort. Workforce restructuring, on the other hand, should be the first option on the table and can be adapted to fit your business. It's increasingly being seen as a key ingredient to come through this period of recession with an engaged workforce prepared to recommence and scale up operations quickly when the time is right. Hear from our CEO Greg Keith, and National Managing Partner of Financial Advisory Said Jahani, as they discuss how businesses are managing their workforces during COVID-19, what we can expect workforces to look like in the future, and the top 10 learnings from our experience in workforce restructuring.

Commercial property has been a key focus for policy makers, with a major component of the Prime Minister's hibernation strategy being rent relief and the recently finalised Commercial Tenancy Code. While we're only just seeing the States and Territories reveal how they will apply the Code, there are already a lot of questions around how landlords and tenants, financiers and Government can keep the balance and share the pain. Listen now as Sian Sinclair, our National Head of Real Estate & Construction, discusses how the property sector is responding, the key components of the Commercial Tenancy Code and what we'd like to see next from policy makers.

Every day has been like Christmas trading for essential retailers like Woolworths and Coles with significant supply and demand issues experienced in the past month - and not just for toilet paper. However, retailers are settling into the 'new normal', and we are already seeing more social distancing in stores and supply chain innovation. And with more of us shopping online for basic essentials than ever before how will we ever go back to the way it was before, what will this mean for the retailer's bottom line? Hear from Luke Ritchie, National Head of Consumer Products and Retail, as he unpacks what's happening behind the roller doors - from the increased shift to online, to automation innovations and how efficiencies created now will be adopted in the future.

National Managing Partner of Private Advisory, Tony Markwell explores the importance of evaluating your business model so you can hit the ground running when we're on the other side, engaging your people as your biggest fans, and embracing changes in consumer and customer behaviour to enhance the client experience.

Our National Head of Retail and Consumer Products, Luke Ritchie, discusses what we're seeing in the retail sector at the moment - from big leaseholders shutting doors, to innovation and doing things differently. What will consumer behaviour look like in 12 months? Listen to our podcast now to find out.

Grant Thornton Australia Partner Madeleine Mattera spoke about the current COVID-19 crisis and the role of the banks in supporting the economy. Madeleine discusses the significant moves we've seen from the RBA recently, what we can expect in the coming months from the financial services sector and 'pandemic plans'.

The business impacts are widespread, across all industries and sectors - and for those experiencing distress prior to the pandemic, COVID-19 could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. However, not all is lost. In this time of change and uncertainty in the business community, hear from Said Jahani, National Managing Partner of Financial Advisory at Grant Thornton as he discusses how COVID-19 is impacting the business world, diversification versus sticking to your knitting, investor appetite and the light at the end of the tunnel.