Mark Beyer

THE Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA) has launched a ‘compo kit’ to help its members lodge claims for defective administration by the Australian Tax Office.

BASSENDEAN firm Specialised Welding is one of many local firms to have worked on Woodside’s $1.6 billion Train Four project. However, its client was not Woodside. Instead it was the Japanese pump manufacturer Nikisso.

THE past few weeks have brought good news to about 20 steel fabricators around Perth. Engineering firm Monadelphous has been progressively sub-contracting $30 million worth of work for BHP Billiton’s Area C iron ore mine and port expansion projects.

THE Australian Tax Office has expressed concern about schemes designed to avoid tax by shifting business profits into superannuation.

The State Government announced its long awaited water strategy this week. Mark Beyer spoke to the new chairman of the Water Corporation, who will be a key driver of the strategy.

THE $437 million railcar contract for the planned Mandurah railway highlights the wide gap between rhetoric and reality that sometimes muddies the local content

THE centrepiece of the new local content incentive scheme, which formally commenced on January 1, is Australian Industry Participation (AIP) plans.

A new scheme to maximise local content on major projects formally took effect on January 1. Mark Beyer takes a close look at how major Western Australian projects are performing.

In the third of a six-part series on business lending, Mark Beyer looks at the equipment finance market. THE equipment finance market has witnessed substantial change over the past couple of years, led by the growing popularity of chattel mortgages.

BURRUP Fertilisers has pledged its commitment to maximising local content on its $630 million ammonia project, amid rumours that the company has failed to prepare adequately for local participation.

IF there was an award for companies achieving high local content on Western Australian projects, BHP Billiton would take line honours, while Woodside would be a

COMPANIES hoping to win big contracts from the Western Australian Government are now required to prepare Australian Industry Participation (AIP) plans.

BUSINESSES have been warned to start preparing for new payment and reporting rules for superannuation.

PERTH Glory chairman Nick Tana has agreed to personally guarantee a multi-million dollar loan by the Town of Vincent as a bargaining chip in negotiations over the $11.5 million redevelopment of Perth Oval.

MORTGAGE originators are targeting business lending for future growth following their success in the housing loans market. From a standing start in the mid 1990s, mort-gage originators now arrange about 30 per cent of all housing loans.

FOR most businesses in WA, banking is conducted through the State’s big five – BankWest and the four national banks, ANZ, Commonwealth, National and Westpac.

“RIGHTLY or wrongly, you have to congratulate the guy for having a vision and prosecuting it very competitively. Not many people can do that.”

AUSTRALIAN businesses are renowned for being unhappy with their banks but not doing much about it.

TWO new assignments this month have highlighted Argonaut Capital’s rapid emergence as a prominent player in the corporate finance market.

The Australian economy is constantly changing, with new industries emerging to replace the old. Mark Beyer looks at the forces driving change and identifies sectors with high growth prospects.

THERE is one country that will stand apart from all others in the international tourism market over the coming decade.

OPPORTUNITY through adversity could well be the catchcry of WA’s tree farming industry.

AN innovative fish handling system developed by Perth company McRobert Aquaculture System (MAS) is attracting growing interest around the world.

FIFTY-SEVEN financial institutions currently provide approximately 720 different debt finance products for small business, according to research group Cannex.

THE ageing of Australia’s population has been widely predicted. Less well understood is the commercial and social impact of this change.

ORBITAL Engine Corporation has achieved two major breakthroughs this month, removing dark clouds hanging over the company’s future.

There was a changing of the guard at Perth’s largest stockbroking firm this week. Mark Beyer spoke to the main players at Hartleys. TIM Moore and his detractors are still world’s apart.

PROVIDING seed funding, encouraging better collaboration between universities and industry, and promoting WA as a R&D hub are vital if WA is to make it into the big league.

A small warehouse office in King Street in the city is an unlikely base for an international cosmetics company. Mark Beyer reports on the remarkable success of Becca.

PHARMACEUTICAL developer Chemeq and gold miner Abelle were two prominent companies that managed to raise fresh equity last year without using broking firms. Chemeq raised a total of $18 million in fresh equity while Abelle completed a successful $10m

CORPORATE finance executives have nominated Croesus Mining’s purchase of Central Norseman Gold as WA’s top deal for 2002. The $65 million Croesus-Great Central deal gained high praise from nearly every corporate finance executive surveyed by WA Business

THE large paperwork and compliance load on small businesses has been highlighted by a new tax office report on its compliance program for 2002-03. The report itemises the volume of paperwork facing Australia’s 2.5 million ‘micro’ businesses;