Business Lifecycle

How you set up your business matters. It will impact your ability to realise your investment because different structures come with different risks and processes for ending the business. It will also define the liability you face, the tax consequences or tax relief you are entitled to and will also define your rights and obligations to your business partners for years to come. As a business owner, you must choose your form of enterprise carefully. When deciding what structure is right for you, you should also be considering the size of the business, your risk appetite, the purpose of the business, the requirements for capital and the anticipated lifetime of the business.

At BAL we work closely with accounting and taxation professionals to ensure the right structure is chosen for each business, and for each stage of a business – remembering that the structure of the business can (and might need to) change as it grows.

Selecting the right structure for your business in its early stages and at critical growth moments defines how it will run in the future. In the same way that creating business plans and marketing strategies paves the future of your operations, so does a clearly defined ownership structure.

Our Business & Corporate lawyers have significant experience working with a range of different ownership structures including partnerships, trusts, joint ventures, companies, not-for-profits, co-operatives and mutuals. We create ownership documents that provide fairness and transparency to you as the business owner, which provide dispute resolution mechanisms if relationships break down, and which allow your investment to be realised.

Have you considered the potential benefits of setting up a trust to manage your business’s income? There are different types of trusts that minimise tax and provide other benefits to you and those you pool your income with. There are many types of trusts that provide different benefits to businesses, individuals and families, including:

• Discretionary trusts

• Unit trusts

• Charitable trusts

• Testamentary trusts

• Special disability trusts

At BAL we will work with you to ensure your desired trust structure protects your business assets while creating an ownership document that provides clear direction to the trustee, and fairness and transparency to the business owners.

Robust corporate governance practices are a crucial requirement for any business, ensuring compliance with fundamental legal obligations and facilitating effective management and oversight of business operations.

Our Business & Corporate lawyers have extensive experience and broad expertise across the full range of corporate governance matters. We have advised businesses of all sizes, including the boards and executive management teams of many public and proprietary companies. Our expertise and experience puts us in good stead to help your business meet its legal and regulatory obligations and ensure your core duties to your members are carried out effectively.

Would your business be ready to deal with the resignation, retirement, illness or death of a party in the business? Every business should have a business succession plan to ensure that unforeseen circumstances do not spell the end of the road for your business. If the right structures and mechanisms are not in place, the retirement, illness or death of a party can have disastrous impacts.

A business succession plan involves business owners and other interested parties agreeing on a strategy for the smooth transition through changes in circumstances. It provides a level of certainty for stakeholders and their families and minimises the potential for conflict and overall disruption. Our dedicated team will work with you to develop a business succession plan that is realistic and achievable.

Our Business and Corporate lawyers work together with a variety of Insolvency Practitioners to ensure that our collective technical expertise and commercial insight are utilised to prevent risk and to assist businesses to actively manage the risk of insolvency. We can assist you in managing your business’s solvency including terms of trade, credit applications, personal guarantees and security documents, and advice on enforcement action against potentially insolvent creditors.

We have built solid working relationships with liquidators, administrators and receivers and work collaboratively with such advisers to ensure you receive well considered solutions. We can advise on your duties as a director and the options available if your business is at risk of insolvency.