Chris will oversee the wholesale and intermediary business in Australia and lead Columbia Threadneedle’s continued growth into the Australian Wholesale Intermediary sector, focusing on implementing a strategy for future growth into new segments of the market.

Chris King has significant experience in wholesale distribution in Australia. Prior to joining Columbia Threadneedle, Chris was Head of Investment Sales and Key Accounts with First Sentier Investors before joining Pallas Capital as Head of Wealth Distribution.

Glen Giddings, Head of Distribution, Australia & New Zealand at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, said: “We are excited Chris has joined Columbia Threadneedle, he is a strong leader with a passion for delivering on client needs. With over 20 years of experience in developing strong client relations across a wide range of strategies, I know his drive to deliver successful outcomes for clients will help us to build on and expand our business in the region.” 

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Chris King

Businesses are seriously underestimating the time, cost and effort it will take to get ready for the new Lease Accounting Standard, warns a leading corporate accounting expert.

Chris King, a partner in Pilot Chartered Accountants Corporate Advisory team, said upcoming changes to the Lease Accounting Standard could substantially impact the financial statements for all businesses with operating leases, including their ability to borrow funds.

The new standard, which comes into effect on 1 January 2019, will require operating leases to be recognised on the balance sheet instead of being the current rental or lease payment expense. According to Mr King the changes aim to create more transparency around lease commitments. He said the new standard would impact any businesses that rent premises and lease equipment or motor vehicles, most notably affecting businesses in the construction, not-forprofit, childcare and education, retail and manufacturing sectors.

“These changes will seriously impact key financial metrics such as gearing ratios, current ratios and EBITDA,” said Mr King.

“As an example anyone dealing with contracts that have earnouts based upon an EBITDA multiple or employee bonuses based on EBITDA achievement, could potentially pay a lot more than they anticipated based upon the new standard. “Current ratios, which for many organisations are close to 1:1, may drop below this benchmark threshold, potentially leading others to question their financial viability.

“The benchmarks you use will need to be adjusted to account for the changes, particularly if they have been set covenants by external parties like banks, financiers and regulators. “The term of the lease will have a significant impact on the value of the lease asset and lease liability.”

Mr King also warned that the changes to the leases standard had the potential to turn a small company into a large company under the Corporations Act 2001.

“This would trigger auditing and reporting obligations for companies that previously had no ASIC obligations,” he said. “Businesses should be talking to their advisors now to understand the impact the new standard will have on your business to reduce any potential issues and minimise implementation and compliance risk.”

The new changes will most likely impact:  existing licensing arrangements;

• key profitability measures;
• balance sheets;
• banking covenants; and
• contractual arrangements (including performance bonuses) which are linked to financial performance.

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