Steven Bragg

Getting the financials right now sets the basis for the next trading year

This report examines and compares the Australian Listed Dealer Groups financial results for the 12 months to December 2016.
The 2016 calendar year for the Australian Motor Industry was a year of two halves. Sales volumes for the first 6 months grew by 3.2 percent on the previous corresponding period (pcp). Growth for the last 6 months was flat, increasing by only 0.8 percent on the pcp. This report also considers the outlook for the remainder of the 2017 calendar year and the current market… Show more

This report examines and compares the Australian Listed Dealer Groups financial results for the 12 months to December 2016.
The 2016 calendar year for the Australian Motor Industry was a year of two halves. Sales volumes for the first 6 months grew by 3.2 percent on the previous corresponding period (pcp). Growth for the last 6 months was flat, increasing by only 0.8 percent on the pcp. This report also considers the outlook for the remainder of the 2017 calendar year and the current market conditions which are proving to be tough, however, profit remains for better-than-average operators. Show less

TRADITIONAL forms of fraud are bad enough. An employee with their fingers in the till is both costly and damaging to any business. But old school forms of theft and embezzlement pale in comparison to the destruction that can be wrought by a computer hacker.

Traditional forms of fraud in dealerships still happen and are very costly to your business.

In this edition of KPMG's Motor Industry Services Alert, we take a look at dealership fraud. In today's world data protection and security breaches are the new crime of opportunity... is your dealership at risk? Steve Bragg, Director in KPMG Enterprise, shares his experience in this area.

While we are still waiting for finer details, the proposed changes to remove the Statutory Method in calculating the Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) liability on car benefits provided to employees is intended by the Government to give rise to a significant increase in the FBT liability.

In today’s highly competitive used car market it is still possible to achieve both a
solid gross profit margin as well as efficient stock turnover. Dealers who only
focus on one or the other are leaving potential gross profit on the table and are
not gaining their fair share of used vehicle sales.

Throughout the first four months of 2013, benchmark dealers have demonstrated an ability to be proactive and anticipate what’s coming next. They plan for growth and operate their dealerships with a strong focus on processes, people and profit. From our experience, these three P’s are the cornerstones to running a benchmark dealership.

Dealerships who have embraced existing customer touch points have
made significant profit improvements.

Contrary to general perception, upper management account for only a small fraction of the instances of fraud perpetrated by internal dealership employees. However, the scale and collateral damage of frauds caused by upper management are far greater than the average asset misappropriation. Typically, the internal fraudster is a junior staff member with the opportunity and incentive to commit fraud.

The typical Australian dealership’s management compensation is largely based on performance through a variable commission structure.

The Australian retail motor industry has always been and always will be vulnerable to fraud; primarily due to frequent handling of large amounts of cash and its high reliance on human based controls.