Client Profiles
Our clients come from many industries and every single one requires a unique approach.
Red Dirt Personnel Group
We’re proud of the longevity of our business relationship with Red Dirt Personnel Group (Red Dirt), and Greg and Lesley Hobbs.
GeersSullivan has worked alongside Red Dirt from when it first launched and it’s been very rewarding to see the business flourish over the years.
Background
Red Dirt is a recruitment company that specialises in supplying temporary and permanent labour to the resources sector. Amongst Red Dirt’s clients are Barto Gold Mining Pty Ltd, St Barbara Limited, Millennium Mineraly Pty Ltd, Regis Resources Limited, Wiluna Operations Pty Ltd and Steinert Australia Pty Ltd.
A family-owned business, Red Dirt was founded by Greg and Lesley Hobbs in 2002 and they’ve been personal and professional clients of ours since GeersSullivan was established in 2003.
Our Approach
GeerSullivan is always available to act as an honest sounding board for Greg and Lesley, offering proactive advice and working with them to maximise the financial and tax outcomes of any decisions they make for themselves and the business.
Our role has evolved from when we were first engaged to produce Red Dirt’s quarterly accounts and provide financial and tax advice as they needed.
In 2004, Greg started looking into purchasing the office that Red Dirt operated from. Through a considered process, Managing Director Andrew Sullivan determined that the most financially beneficial method was to establish a self-managed super fund and purchase the property via contributions to the fund.
To this day, Andrew remembers the exact sizeable sum that this approach saved Greg and Lesley in taxes both immediately and annually. It also marked the point at which GeersSullivan began advising on Red Dirt’s broader structure, including the financial systems and self-managed super fund.
Nowadays, Greg and Lesley’s son, Justin, and daughter, Nicole, take care of Red Dirt’s day-to-day operations while Greg oversees the finances.
Our personal work with Greg and Lesley has also transitioned towards retirement planning, superannuation and investment advice.
Outcomes
GeersSullivan has worked with Greg and Lesley throughout the lifecycle of their business and careers – from initially setting up Red Dirt to creating financial stability and, more recently, transitioning into planning, preparing and funding their eventual retirement.
The longevity in our business relationship, as well as our expert teams for business-related finance, taxation, superannuation and systems advice, has meant that GeersSullivan has:
- Advised Greg and Lesley on the best structure for establishing the business
- Ensured a significantly favourable tax outcome at the time the office was purchased by advising Red Dirt to form a self-managed super fund
- Continued to maximise the tax benefits of managing investments through the self-managed super fund (especially when considering the accumulative impact over more than 15 years)
- Transitioned Red Dirt to Xero, which enables a much more efficient and comprehensive snapshot of the business’ financial position
- Helped contribute to the success and increased financial stability of the business from when it started to now
“GeersSullivan are approachable forward-thinkers who have given us excellent advice during Red Dirt Personnel Group’s different business phases. They always put things in layperson’s terms, so we know we’re making informed decisions about what’s best for us and the business.
“We’ve built up a lot of trust with GeersSullivan over the years, and Andrew is even the executor of our estate. GeersSullivan is the all-round package for personal and business advice – and I sleep a lot better knowing things are taken care of!” – Greg Hobbs, Director
RM Surveys
We developed a tailored strategy to allow the company founders to exit through a gradual management buyout.
Background
Our relationship with RM Surveys began as an independent company accountant. (Both owners have their own personal accountants.) In addition to handling the company’s Tax Compliance, we would meet quarterly to look at their results, define KPIs and talk about where the business was going. A couple of years ago the conversation turned to succession and both owners were looking to exit the business with slightly different timeframes.
Our Approach
There were a number of good young people in the business who the owners wanted to develop into a strong management team and give them the opportunity to take over the business gradually. Along with the owners, we created a bespoke funding model for each individual to show how they could generate funding and buy into the business over time—something that made everybody happy.
Outcome
As the company accountant, our role is to ensure continuity and the best result for all shareholders of the company. Three people from the management team bought in a year ago and are now looking at their next buy-in. The owners now have a succession model in place timed over 7 years to allow them to phase out their involvement and sell their equity in the business.