Tech Companies

To be eligible, your company must be an Australian incorporated entity, have eligible R&D expenditure of at least $20,000, and be conducting activities that meet the ATO and AusIndustry definition of core or supporting R&D activities. The activities must involve experimentation aimed at generating new knowledge. We assess your activities against these criteria and help you build the documentation needed to support a successful claim.

For most tech startups, a company structure is the right starting point. It gives you limited liability, a clean equity structure for future investors, and access to the lower company tax rate. If you are planning to raise external capital, we ensure your cap table and shareholder agreements are set up in a way that does not create problems down the track.

The accounting treatment depends on whether the costs relate to the research phase or the development phase. Research phase costs are expensed as incurred. Development phase costs may be capitalised as an intangible asset if certain criteria are met. We ensure your software development costs are treated correctly so your financial statements accurately reflect the value of your product investment.

Investors in tech businesses typically want to see monthly recurring revenue, annual recurring revenue, churn rate, customer acquisition cost, lifetime value, gross margin, and a 12-month cash runway forecast. We produce a monthly management report that covers all of these metrics in a clear, investor-friendly format.

From day one, if possible. Clean books, a proper company structure, and good financial records from the start make everything easier later, from raising capital to claiming R&D incentives to eventually selling the business. The cost of cleaning up messy historical records is always higher than the cost of doing it right from the beginning.