McKinley Plowman & Associates

UK Pension funds transferred safely and we’re thriving...

Like many newcomers to Australia we were concerned about losing the security of our United Kingdom pension when we moved here from Bridgend Wales in February 2004. We were fortunate that an immigration agent put us in touch with Murray McKinley, a CPA accountant and financial adviser who has specialised in UK pension transfers for almost a decade.

The pension my partner Gareth Thomas contributed to during 20 years as a fitter machinist in Wales was transferred in a timely and tax effective way so that we weren’t faced with a hefty tax bill. We now have a self managed superannuation fund that is invested in a diversified portfolio of blue-chip shares.

Superannuation funds have been subjected to a lot of volatility in 2008, but we are still much better off than we would have been if we’d left our pension in the United Kingdom where the fund was growing at just 4.5 per cent. The long term outlook for us is brilliant and we encourage other newcomers to seek independent specialist advice about transferring this important asset.

Those who don’t get the right advice risk long delays in transferring their pension or paying too much in transfer fees and taxes. We have no hesitation in recommending Murray McKinley to newcomers who would like to transfer their pension assets. For that matter, anyone who would like to grow their wealth has much to gain from consulting Murray.

Debra Rogers, Morley

Finding an accountant that goes the extra miles

I consider myself “a bit lucky” to have chanced upon my accountant Nigel Plowman when I arrived in Australia from Britain on a temporary visa in 2002. I was living in Ocean Reef at the time and after thumbing through the phone book selected two Joondalup based accounting companies.

I felt such an immediate rapport with Nigel and confidence in the way he helped me articulate a vision for Cargo Furniture that I never got around to seeing the other firm. Nigel’s business coaching, investment and taxation advice has played a significant part in the success of my expanding chain of stores at Subiaco, Cannington and Clarkson.

I’m proud to say that Cargo Furniture was among a handful of WA businesses to make BRW’s national list of noteworthy upstarts in 2007. For someone who arrived here without any business or social networks, having the professional support of someone like Nigel, who I’ve since discovered does a lot of very supportive behind the scenes work for myself and other clients, has been invaluable.

Nigel has an excellent team of professionals working for him and it’s been great to be able to pick up the phone and have such high quality advice on tap. It’s like having access to the sort of expertise you’d get from a major city based accounting firm, yet at the same time you receive a more personal service and more competitive fee structure.

I highly recommend McKinley Plowman to anyone seeking an accountant who will go the extra miles for them.

Steve Phillips, managing director of Cargo Furniture

Getting the banks to bid for your business

Our rapidly expanding Malaga-based business, Air Cell Insulation, has benefitted enormously from McKinley Plowman’s (MP) comprehensive business financial consultancy. Air Cell Insulation, which sells an innovative range of insulation products throughout Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East and South East Asia, has maintained a compound growth rate of more than 40 per cent over a ten year period.

MP finance partner Paul Moran encouraged us to explore alternatives to our traditional source of overdraft finance after we consulted him to discuss our growing needs for working capital. Paul, who has extensive commercial banking experience, suggested setting up a competitive tendering process to invite major lenders to bid for our business.

The beauty of this process was that the onus of accountability was placed on the banks to show us what they can do for us. Three major banks responded to the tendering process and this gave us enormous insight into the sorts of facilities and products available to us. The net result is we now have a more flexible debtor financing facility, we pay a considerably lower interest rate, we have a one-to-one relationship with a commercial manager, our fees are lower and we have far better merchant facilities.

It was fantastic to be able to draw on Paul’s extensive experience to negotiate a better deal for us. Business owners who make use of his financial consultancy services can expect a much improved outcome for their commercial lending. I highly recommend the services offered by Paul Moran and his finance team.

Scott Gibson, managing director of Air Cell Insulation

Leading ideas man thrives on MP advice

As a client of McKinley Plowman for the past seven years I have enjoyed watching their business grow, along with my own.

Initially, I was impressed by the fact that being their first advertising agency client, Nigel took the time to not only understand my industry and my aims via interview, he also went to the great lengths of externally studying the sphere including reading a 20 page industry profile.

My tax situation went from bad to brilliant and since inception Nigel has consistently implemented taxation and financial infrastructural systems to aid the company’s growth. Most importantly for me though has been Nigel’s entrepreneurial skills and advice.

As a small business owner it has been invaluable to be able to brainstorm with somebody outside of the immediate business, yet with a keen interest to see it succeed. Lateral Aspect is now one of WA’s leading boutique creative agencies and is in its 14th year of operation.

Via referral, many friends and business associates now use McKinley Plowman and I highly recommend them to any business or individual looking for an accounting practice with a unique competitive edge.

Mark Lucas, Creative Director at Lateral Aspect

Realising the Dream

Having access to McKinley Plowman’s accounting and financing expertise gave my husband Dave and I the know-how, resources and confidence we needed to achieve our dream of successful property development. We recently sold one of the two storey homes we built on a near beachfront development site in Ocean Reef and are now, with the guidance of McKinley Plowman, on the lookout for our next development project.

We discussed the idea of finding a development block and building two homes on it some years ago with our accountant Nigel Plowman. Nigel, who has given us excellent advice for growing our Wangara based business Reef Kitchens and Cabinets, crunched the numbers to see if our proposed development project was achievable and then called in finance partner Paul Moran to source a financing solution for us.

Paul, who has had enormous experience in the finance sector, did far more than simply assess our eligibility for a loan. He was every bit as passionate about our project as us and made sure we had enough funds available for each stage of the development. He also spent a lot of time advising us about what lay ahead. Working towards our dream was a little scary at first, but we’ve learned from past experience with the team at McKinley Plowman that they’ll give you a fairly straight answer about what is and isn’t feasible.

Dave and I have discovered that having access to good professional advice can mean the difference between dreaming about something and actually achieving it. Nowadays, it’s all guns blazing for us and we’ll be heading back to see Paul Moran about financing our next development project.

Paula and David Hume www.reefkitchens.com.au