Author: roymorgansocial

KPMG review into bungled census ‘compromised’, says whistleblower

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman, Edmund Tadros
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 29-Jun-18

Harmers Workplace Lawyers is taking legal action against KPMG and three of its senior executives on behalf of former associate director James Eldridge. KPMG has been accused of taking adverse action against Eldridge; he was dismissed as a result of complaints he made about KPMG’s review of the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ IT systems following the flawed 2016 census. Eldridge is said to have told KPMG that he felt that the review was not accurate or independent. KPMG has denied his allegations, and has stated that his dismissal was for "appropriate reasons".

CORPORATES
KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, HARMERS WORKPLACE LAWYERS, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Toughened laws take a bite from Apple and co

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Original article by Adam Creighton, Andrew White
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 29-Jun-18

Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Apple collectively paid Australian taxes of $A616 million in the most recent financial year. This represents an increase of 160 per cent over the previous corresponding period. Anthony Ting from the University of Sydney says the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law appears to have resulted in the large US technology firms booking more of their revenue in Australia. However, he believes that there is scope for more tax to be recovered from them.

CORPORATES
MICROSOFT CORPORATION, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, APPLE INCORPORATED, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, ONE NATION PARTY

DIY super is built on dodgy advice

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Original article by Caitlin Fitzsimmons
The Age – Page: 20 : 29-Jun-18

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission’s deputy chairman Peter Kell says the financial planning industry needs to lift its game when it comes to providing advice to the $A697bn self-managed superannuation fund sector. Kell was commenting on an ASIC report which contends that nine out of every 10 SMSFs are "underpinned" by sub-standard financial advice. The number of SMSFs grew by an average of 5.2 per cent a year between 2010 and 2017, while there were over 590,000 SMSFs at the end of June 2017.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION

Crucial port project given no value

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Original article by Darren Gray
The Age – Page: 23 : 29-Jun-18

Access to two shipping berths to be built at Port Hedland under the long-mooted North West Infrastructure project is considered to be at the heart of the takeover battle for Atlas Iron. Fortescue Metals Group and Hancock Prospecting are vying for control of Atlas, which has been a member of NWI for some years, although the berth project is yet to come to fruition. Atlas noted in an ASX release on 28 June that the Western Australian government’s public policy is that the berths flagged under the NWI project should be set aside for junior miners. Neither Fortescue or Hancock could be considered as falling into this category.

CORPORATES
ATLAS IRON LIMITED – ASX AGO, FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, HANCOCK PROSPECTING PTY LTD, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET

Banks to stick with advice charges

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Original article by Anthony Klan
The Australian – Page: 8 : 29-Jun-18

Westpac-owned BT recently stated that it will abolish so-called "grandfathered" advice charges for customers with legacy investment products. AMP, National Australia Bank, ANZ, and the Commonwealth Bank have indicated that they will still impose the charges. The Productivity Commission noted in a recent report that around 630,000 superannuation accounts are subject to trailing commissions, with such charges having a detrimental impact on their balances.

CORPORATES
WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, BT FINANCIAL GROUP PTY LTD, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION

Disney’s Fox bid wins US approval

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Original article by Edmund Lee, Cecilia Kang
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 29-Jun-18

Walt Disney’s proposed $US71bn deal to acquire the bulk of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets has been cleared by the US Justice Department, only six months after it was initially proposed. However, the Justice Department has ruled that ESPN owner Disney must divest Fox’s regional sports to satisfy competition concerns. Jefferies media analyst John Janedis says the Fox board will probably be obliged to see if rival suitor Comcast makes a revised bid, but he notes that any such offer would take at least six months to receive approval from the DoJ.

CORPORATES
21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF JUSTICE, ESPN INCORPORATED, JEFFERIES AND COMPANY, HULU LLC, AT&T CORPORATION, TIME WARNER INCORPORATED, CNN, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, SKY PLC, STAR INDIA, MARVEL ENTERPRISES, LUCASFILM, PIXAR, FOX NEWS CHANNEL

Divided Labor to test Shorten

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Original article by Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 29-Jun-18

Some members of the shadow cabinet are expected to urge Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to back down on his plan to reverse company tax cuts at a meeting on 29 June, amid a growing internal rift over the issue. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has advised that the Federal Government will not pursue its full company tax cuts package in the Senate until after the five upcoming by-elections, which he says will be a referendum on Shorten’s tax policy. Shorten in turn has accused the Coalition of having a secret deal with One Nation to pass the tax package after the by-elections.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, ONE NATION PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. PARLIAMENTARY BUDGET OFFICE

Optus lets SBS simulcast rest of World Cup

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Original article by Jennifer Duke
The Age – Page: 5 : 29-Jun-18

Optus CEO Allen Lew says the telco is confident that it has resolved the technical issues that plagued its live streaming coverage during the first week of the FIFA World Cup. However, Optus has agreed to allow SBS to broadcast all remaining matches in the tournament, including ones that were initially to have been exclusive to Optus Sport. SBS MD Michael Ebeid notes that the public broadcaster’s World Cup coverage has attracted eight million viewers to date. Meanwhile, Tunisia has won 2-1 against Panama in the latest World Cup match.

CORPORATES
SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), WORLD CUP, FEDERATION INTERNATIONALE DE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION, ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

ASX sails to 8pc return with BHP leading the pack

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Original article by Vesna Poljak
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 29 : 29-Jun-18

Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index has posted a gain of 8.6 per cent prior to dividends so far in 2017-18, after rising 9.3 per cent in 2016-17. BHP Billiton, CSL and Macquarie Group have been the biggest contributors to the local market’s gains in the current financial year. Citigroup has forecast that the ASX 200 will rise to 6,500 points in 2018-19, while the consensus of analysts is for earnings-per-share growth of eight per cent in 2018-19.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, CSL LIMITED – ASX CSL, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, XERO LIMITED – ASX XRO, WISETECH GLOBAL LIMITED – ASX WTC, AFTERPAY TOUCH GROUP LIMITED – ASX APT, ALTIUM LIMITED – ASX ALU, APPEN LIMITED – ASX APX, BLOOMBERG LP, STANDARD AND POOR’S 500 INDEX, WILSON ASSET MANAGEMENT, ATLAS FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, BIS OXFORD ECONOMICS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY

GST crackdown looms for online sales

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Original article by Nick Tabakoff
The Australian – Page: 7 : 28-Jun-18

The goods and services tax will apply to purchases of up to $A1,000 via overseas-based online marketplaces from 1 July. The Australian Taxation Office has signalled that it will use all of the tools at its disposal to ensure that multinational e-commerce groups comply with the new GST rules, including targeted audits and financial penalties. The ATO’s Tim Dyce says that about 3,200 international online marketplaces will have to be registered to collect and remit GST when the changes take effect.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED