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accountants and strategic advisors – generation after generation.
About Lowe Lippmann
Our clients have been turning to our high-calibre team of chartered
accountants and strategic advisors – generation after generation.
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Our Services
We offer smart strategic advice to help you grow your business, structure it effectively and adapt to change over the long term.
As auditors with integrity and acute attention-to-detail, we'll ensure you stay compliant by meeting every standard.
Using our expertise and intuition, we'll help you navigate tough financial times with smart, swift and timely recommendations.
Our expert accountants will attend to all your tax and compliance needs – while upholding a strong relationships focus.
Whether it's starting a company or complying with ASIC requirements, let Lowe Lippmann oversee all your corporate secretarial affairs.
We can help you navigate the complex world of international tax planning – while supporting you through the administrative hurdles you'll face.
Property Audit & Assurance is our specialty service division born out of our focus and growing reputation in expert audit & assurance services for Owners corporations and managed properties.
Our financial planning aims to provide individual and corporate clients with high quality personalized financial advice and services, covering all aspects of financial planning.
Latest News
Costs incurred in acquiring / forming a business. Further to the recent blog about capitalisation of costs when acquiring an asset, we have received a number of questions in relation to costs incurred in setting up / purchasing a business. Formation costs on establishing a business: These costs would include: Incorporation fees ASIC registration fees Legal fees Business name registration Pre-operating costs Pre-opening costs. The relevant standard for these costs is AASB 138 Intangible Assets and paragraph 69a confirms that these start-up costs are expensed when incurred. There is no identifiable asset controlled by the entity when the costs are incurred as the entity does not exist. Business acquisition costs These costs would include: Legal and accounting fees Due diligence and valuation costs Stamp duty Advisory or brokerage fees Project management costs related to the acquisition Internal costs allocated to the transaction In contrast to the asset acquisition discussed previously, AASB 3 Business Combinations requires all acquisition costs to be expensed as incurred. This means that they are not included as part of the consideration paid and therefore do not affect calculated goodwill. Entities purchasing businesses should be aware that these costs are not able to be capitalised as they can often be substantial, and purchasers often do not expect the costs to be taken directly to the income statement
ATO to include tax 'debts on hold' in taxpayer account balances From August 2025, the Australian Taxation Office ( ATO ) is progressively including 'debts on hold' in relevant taxpayer ATO account balances. A 'debt on hold' is an outstanding tax debt where the ATO has previously paused debt collection actions. Tax debts will generally be placed on hold where the ATO decides it is not cost effective to collect the debt at the time. The ATO is currently required by law to offset such 'debts on hold' against any refunds or credits the taxpayer is entitled to. The difficulty with these debts is that the ATO has not traditionally recorded them on taxpayer's ATO account balances. Taxpayers with 'debts on hold' of $100 or more will receive (or their tax agent will receive) a letter before it is added to their ATO account balance (which can be viewed in the ATO's online services or the statement of account). Taxpayers with a 'debt on hold' of less than $100 will not receive a letter, but the debt will be included in their ATO account balance. The ATO has advised it will remit the general interest charge ( GIC ) that is applied to 'debts on hold' for periods where they have not been included in account balances. This means that taxpayers have not been charged GIC for this period. The ATO will stop remitting GIC six months from the day the taxpayer's 'debt on hold' is included in their account balance. After this, GIC will start to apply.
How do we account for the costs incurred when acquiring an asset? When we acquire an asset such as property, plant and equipment, intangibles or inventory there are often significant other costs incurred as part of the purchase process, including delivery, stamp duty, installation fees. Whether we capitalise these to the value of the asset or expense them as incurred can make a significant difference to an entity’s reported position or performance. Since we have accounting standards for specific assets, the treatment can vary depending on the asset and the relevant standard. A summary of some common expenses and their treatment under four accounting standards has been included below. The four standards considered are: AASB 102 Inventories AASB 116 Property, Plant and Equipment AASB 138 Intangible Assets AASB 140 Investment Property.
What are contract assets and contract liabilities that arise under the revenue accounting standards? Deferred revenue, accrued revenue, revenue received in advance, contract assets, contract costs asset, contract liabilities and receivables are all line items we see in the balance sheet in relation to revenue. It can be confusing to understand what these terms mean and whether different words are being used for the same thing. We have provided a guidance to these and similar terms to enable you to use them confidently and understand their meaning in a balance sheet.
Paid parental leave changes have now commenced As from 1 July 2025, the amount of Paid Parental Leave available to families increased to 24 weeks, and the amount of Paid Parental Leave that parents can take off at the same time has also increased from two weeks to four weeks. Superannuation will now also be paid on Government Paid Parental Leave from 1 July 2025, at the new super guarantee rate of 12%, paid as a contribution to their nominated superannuation fund. Parents will also benefit from an increase in the weekly payment rate of Paid Parental Leave, increasing from $915.80 to $948.10 (in line with the increase to the National Minimum wage). This means a total increase of $775.20 over the 24-week entitlement.
Contracts often include price variations relating to bonuses / penalties / rebates – why do we need to consider these early? Many revenue streams are covered by AASB 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers. The core principle of this standard is ‘that an entity shall recognise revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services.’ [emphasis added]. To determine what we expect to receive, all elements of the contract that are not fixed need to be reviewed. We need to review contracts for: Volume discounts Rebates Refunds Performance bonuses Penalties Price concessions Once we have identified variable consideration then we need to estimate the amount expected to be received using either: the expected amount using a probability weighted average of the likely outcomes or the most likely outcome. The method chosen is the one deemed to be the best estimate of the expected consideration, and the amounts may be updated at each reporting date. Once the consideration has been determined, the entity recognises only the revenue that is highly probable will occur – this is known as the constraint on revenue recognition. Practically, the requirements discussed above for variable consideration are relevant only where an entity satisfies the requirements for revenue recognition over time and contract crosses a reporting date. As the estimate of the variable consideration changes, there may need to be a catch-up adjustment on previous revenue recognition for that contract.
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