Government & Public Sector
Australia’s public sector is held to a standard of transparency no other sector faces. Local councils, state agencies and Commonwealth entities operate under legislated financial frameworks, mandated reporting timetables and the ongoing oversight of Audit Offices, parliamentary committees and the public. Capital programs are long-dated and politically visible, funded from constrained budgets, with delivery performance, probity and value for money assessed continuously rather than at completion.
We work with local, state and federal agencies on the governance, assurance and delivery of publicly funded programs, from capital works portfolios to ICT transformation. Our engagements typically sit between the audit and risk committee, the executive and the program delivery team — providing the independent evidence base each requires.
Post-amalgamation capital programs, tightening Audit Office expectations and heightened scrutiny of procurement probity have raised the assurance bar, often faster than internal governance capability has grown to meet it. Agencies are simultaneously managing ageing asset bases, complex grant acquittal obligations and delivery workforces stretched across concurrent programs.
Infrastructure advisory, internal audit, governance reviews, capital works oversight, program delivery and financial oversight for local, state and federal agencies.
Transport & Infrastructure
Transport and infrastructure assets carry the longest commitment horizons in the economy. Capital is committed years ahead of the benefit it funds, and accountability is distributed across asset owners, delivery authorities, consortia, contractors and financiers — each operating to different reporting obligations and risk appetites. Assets must then be maintained, renewed and eventually replaced across a lifecycle measured in decades, not budget cycles.
We support owners and operators of capital-intensive, long-lifecycle assets across the investment, delivery and assurance lifecycle — from business case and investment planning, through commercial and financial oversight during delivery, to independent evaluation at completion. Our reporting is directed to the parties accountable for the decision: boards, steering committees and funding bodies.
Cost and schedule exposure on long-duration programs compounds quietly and surfaces late, usually once the options for correcting it have narrowed. Escalation in materials and labour has moved solvency risk down the supply chain, a congested national pipeline is drawing on the same finite pool of delivery capability, and variation and extension-of-time positions are increasingly contested at a level of evidence many project teams are not structured to produce.
Advisory across complex infrastructure programs, asset lifecycle management, capital investment planning and major works delivery — including program and project assurance, gateway and health-check reviews, cost and contract review, commercial oversight of alliance and PPP arrangements, and independent reporting to boards and funding bodies.
Property, Real Estate & Construction
Property, development and construction sit where capital, planning and execution risk converge. The decisions that determine a project’s return — feasibility assumptions, ownership structure, funding terms — are made years before that return is realised, and almost always under different market conditions to those prevailing at completion. The sector spans developers, investors, builders and construction groups, each carrying a distinct tax, financing and compliance profile.
We advise developers, investors and construction groups from feasibility and acquisition through delivery and disposal. That includes testing the numbers before commitment, holding governance in place during delivery, and providing independent analysis where a project, a partner or a counterparty is not performing as modelled.
Feasibility assumptions that hold at acquisition frequently fail at delivery — construction cost movement, infrastructure contribution obligations and funding covenant timing are the three that most often move together. Layered over these are contractor and subcontractor solvency risk on fixed-price contracts, GST and margin scheme complexity, and land tax and duty exposure that varies materially with structure.
Development feasibility, project governance, due diligence, commercial analysis, structuring and delivery advisory across residential, commercial and mixed-use projects — supported by tax advisory, valuations, financing support and solvency assessment where required.
Professional Services & SMEs
Owner-managed businesses, professional practices and financial services licensees make up the bulk of Australian enterprise, yet operate with a fraction of the financial infrastructure available to listed peers. In these firms the commercial, tax and succession positions are inseparable: ownership structure determines the tax outcome, the tax outcome shapes the remuneration position, and both constrain what an eventual exit can look like. Licensees carry an additional layer — obligations that must be evidenced, not merely observed.
We act for owner-managed businesses, professional practices and financial services licensees — getting the structure right, keeping compliance clean, building reporting that supports decisions rather than merely records history, and preparing the business for transition. Continuity matters here: the same senior people stay across the relationship, so context does not have to be rebuilt each year. We act for licensees; L&A does not hold an AFSL.
Key-person dependency is usually the dominant risk and the least managed — value concentrated in one or two individuals, with no documented plan for their absence or departure. For licensees, the additional pressure sits on governance evidence, conduct risk and oversight of outsourced functions. Across both, succession without a ready internal buyer, tightening cash flow, and closer scrutiny of contractor and practice arrangements are recurring themes.
Strategic financial advisory, tax structuring, governance, growth planning, internal audit, regulatory compliance and risk management frameworks — alongside business valuations, succession and exit planning, and a complimentary initial consultation.
Not-for-Profit
Charities, community organisations, licensed venues and owners corporations share a defining characteristic: they hold and account for other people’s money under committee governance. Funding arrives as grants, donations, member contributions, levies or trading income, each with its own conditions and acquittal requirements — and the people ultimately responsible for it are usually volunteers serving in an honorary capacity alongside their own work. The obligations, however, are the same ones that apply to paid directors.
We work with charities, community organisations, licensed venues and owners corporations on audit, governance and financial reporting. Because committees are volunteer-based, we report in plain terms: what the numbers show, what the obligation is, and what the committee needs to decide.
The accountability expected of member-funded and donor-funded bodies has risen sharply, while the governance capability available to them has not. Committee turnover erodes institutional financial knowledge, restricted and unrestricted funds must be tracked separately with a defensible position on reserves, and small teams with limited segregation of duties carry a structurally higher fraud and error risk than their size suggests.
Audit and assurance, ACNC compliance, grant acquittals, governance and financial reporting for community organisations, licensed venues and owners corporations — including internal control and fraud risk reviews, and board and committee reporting support.