FY27 Business Planning Planning for the year ahead shouldn’t feel like piling more onto an already stretched business. Yet that’s exactly where many plans go wrong. New products and services get added. More campaigns get approved. Extra goals creep in. On paper, it looks like progress. In reality, it often creates friction. The businesses that break through aren’t the ones doing the most. They’re the ones doing the right things – deliberately, consistently and well. The hidden cost of expansion without direction There’s a tipping point where adding options starts to erode performance: Every additional service requires delivery capacity Every new initiative demands attention Every extra priority competes for resources. Individually manageable. Collectively overwhelming. Over time, this shows up as slower execution, inconsistent outcomes for customers, teams unsure where to focus effort and revenue that grows – but margins and energy don’t. It’s not a capability issue. It’s a concentration issue. Reframing focus as a growth strategy Focus is often misunderstood as restriction. In practice, it’s a commercial decision: choosing where the business will win and where it won’t compete. That clarity creates leverage. Instead of spreading effort across multiple directions, focused businesses channel it into areas that produce measurable results. Key areas where focus drives immediate impact Tighten your positioning. Strong businesses are easy to understand. If a prospective customer asked, “What do you do best?”, the answer should be immediate and specific. When positioning is broad, marketing becomes harder and sales cycles lengthen. When it’s tight, both accelerate. Rationalise what you offer. Service creep is common, especially in established businesses. Over time, offerings expand to accommodate requests, opportunities, or internal capability. Not all of them remain commercially viable. A sharper portfolio typically means fewer services delivered at a higher standard, better alignment with profitable customers, and less operational strain. Remove operational drag. Most inefficiency isn’t obvious – it’s embedded in the way work flows. Repeated manual steps, duplicated effort and unnecessary approvals all slow a business down. Cleaning this up doesn’t just save time – it improves consistency and frees capacity for higher-value work. A more effective planning framework Instead of building next year’s plan by adding layers, start by stripping back: Start with subtraction. List everything currently consuming time, budget or attention. Then ask: if we were building this business today, would we choose to include this? If the answer is no, it’s a candidate for removal. Choose a primary commercial outcome. Whether it’s improving profitability, strengthening cash flow or building a specific capability, clarity matters. Multiple competing objectives dilute progress. A single priority concentrates it. Align effort to that outcome. Time, capital and team capacity should reflect what matters most. Anything sitting outside that direction needs a clear justification. Protect capacity for high-value work. Most businesses don’t lack ideas; they lack uninterrupted time to execute them properly. Creating space for meaningful work is often the difference between movement and measurable progress. What changes when focus improves Customers better understand your value. Marketing becomes more direct and effective. Internal decision-making speeds up. Teams operate with greater confidence. Growth becomes more controlled and predictable. Rather than chasing momentum, your business builds it. Planning with discipline, not volume As you map out the next 12 months, resist the instinct to expand first. Start with sharper questions: What is delivering the strongest return today? What is adding complexity without meaningful benefit? Where would a narrower focus improve performance? Often, the most effective plan is not the one with the most initiatives, but the one with the clearest intent. If your planning process needs more clarity and less clutter, Collins Hume’s Strategy360 advisory framework helps you identify where to concentrate effort, what to remove and how to align your business for stronger results. Start a conversation with Nathan McGrath and build a plan that delivers without adding unnecessary complexity. ​STRATEGY360° Inspiring, Powerful, Meaningful Advice for Your Business

When was the last time you worked ON your business? New workshop series for Northern Rivers Business Operators: The Business of Doing Business. Starts on Thursday 4 June. THE BUSINESS OF DOING BUSINESS A practical workshop series for Northern Rivers business owners and operators. Most business operators are caught in the crossfire between competing demands and dealing with the everyday business challenges that take you away from strategy: Staff issues Cash flow Customers Operations The next thing that lands on the desk Very few get the chance to step back and work on the business properly, which is exactly what is called for right now to stay ahead of the curve. That’s why we created The Business of Doing Business Series. Sometimes a single idea, a strategic shift, or a moment of clarity can completely change the trajectory of your business. We have created a practical workshop series designed by business operators for business operators, delivering on the BNSW mission of maximising the opportunities and potential of every Australian business. Clearer thinking. Strategic decision making. Stronger business. Across four half-day workshops throughout 2026, local business leaders, operators and advisers will work through the real challenges businesses are dealing with. Attend one session based on what your business needs most right now or attend the full series as the sessions build from direction, to dollars, to demand, to delivery. THE FOUR SESSIONS 4 JUNE Strategy, Growth & Transition Where is your business actually heading? * 2 JULY Money, Numbers & Funding Can we actually afford it? * 10 SEPTEMBER Customers, Brand & Digital Content Do they get it? 12 NOVEMBER Enhancing Business Performance Can we deliver it? WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT Real business examples and discussion Practical tools and frameworks Peer learning with other Northern Rivers businesses Time to work on your own business during the session Clear actions to take back into the business immediately LOCATION AND BOOKING DETAILS Starts Thursday 4 June 2026 Hosted at Southern Cross University, Lismore (easy parking and venue access) 8:30am to 12:30pm. Ticket options Individual sessions → $34 + GST & booking fees Full series pass → $99 + GST & booking fees Tickets now available via Humanitix: https://events.humanitix.com/the-business-of-doing-business-series * Nathan McGrath, Senior Adviser at Strategy360 By Collins Hume will be company-presenting two of the four Business of Doing Business Workshop sessions

What 2026–27 Federal Budget tax reforms mean for you The 2026–27 Federal Budget, released on 12 May 2026, has received more attention than most Budgets in recent years. With proposed changes to negative gearing, the CGT discount and the taxation of trusts, this is a Budget that has the potential to materially impact on property investors, business owners and families using discretionary trusts. However, it is important to remember that the proposed changes are not yet law and we might yet see further developments with some of these key proposals. For example, even though legislation has been introduced into Parliament in relation to some of the measures, there is no guarantee that the Bills will be passed in their current form. While don’t yet have certainty on how this will all play out, we understand that the proposals are causing some confusion and concern and so we have set out below some comments on what we know so far. Negative gearing – changes to apply from 1 July 2027 The Government is planning to tighten up negative gearing on established residential properties. For properties purchased after 7:30pm AEST on 12 May 2026: Rental losses can only be offset against rental income or capital gains from other residential properties. Any remaining losses must be carried forward and applied only against future residential rental income or residential property capital gains. Grandfathering applies. If you already own an established property—or had exchanged contracts before Budget night—nothing changes in terms of negative gearing. You can continue to deduct losses against salary, business profits and other income sources until you sell the property. The explanatory memorandum released with the legislation indicates that existing negative gearing rules will apply to properties that were acquired before Budget night, even if they weren’t used as rental properties at that time. For example, if you own a property that is currently used as your private residence but you later move out and start using it to generate rental income then the Government is indicating that existing negative gearing rules can still be available. However, the position is more complex than this and there is a technical issue that could potentially change this outcome. As a result, please contact us to discuss this further if you are thinking about converting your private home into a rental property. The new restrictions only apply to residential property, so losses relating to commercial property, shares and other asset classes should not be impacted. There are also carve-outs for commercial residential properties such as hotels, motels and boarding houses. ‘New builds’ remain fully eligible for current negative-gearing rules both before and after 1 July 2027, but final details of what will qualify as a ‘new build’ haven’t been released yet. Additional carve-outs apply to build-to-rent projects and certain government-supported housing. CGT discount - changes to apply from 1 July 2027 Individuals who hold an asset for more than 12 months often qualify for a 50% discount to reduce the taxable gain made on sale of the asset. A similar outcome can arise when a trust makes a capital gain and this is distributed to an individual beneficiary. However, from 1 July 2027 the CGT discount will be replaced for individuals and trusts with: Cost base indexation (inflation adjustment), and A 30% minimum tax on capital gains. This change will apply across all CGT asset categories—including residential and commercial property, shares, business assets and even pre-CGT assets. Importantly, gains that accrue up to 1 July 2027 will still receive the existing CGT discount or benefit from the existing exemption for pre-CGT assets. It will be necessary to determine the market value of assets at that date so that CGT calculations can be performed. For new residential properties, investors can choose either the existing CGT discount or the new indexation / minimum tax method. Companies won’t have access to indexation and complying super funds will continue to enjoy the benefit of the existing 1/3 CGT discount. Indexation won’t be available to individuals who have been classified as a foreign resident or temporary resident for tax purposes during the ownership period of the asset. Example Michael owns an investment property purchased before Budget night that is currently negatively geared. He can continue offsetting rental losses against his salary. When he sells: The portion of the gain attributable to ownership before 1 July 2027 receives the 50% CGT discount. The portion accruing after that date is subject to indexation plus the 30% minimum tax. Michael’s overall tax outcome will depend on his marginal rate and how long he holds the property, but in a situation like this we would typically expect Michael to pay more tax overall as a result of these changes compared with the current rules. Practical issues While it isn’t time to panic, a review of your investment portfolio is essential. Existing assets bought before Budget night will typically receive more favourable tax treatment compared with newer assets, but the overall impact of the proposed changes will vary depending on your situation. Discretionary trusts – changes to apply from 1 July 2028 The introduction of a 30% minimum tax rate on the taxable income of discretionary trusts would represent a fundamental change to the way the tax system operates at the moment. The Government is indicating that the 30% tax would initially be paid by the trustee, with beneficiaries (other than companies) receiving a non-refundable tax credit for the tax paid at the trust level. This measure is aimed at curbing income splitting to lower-taxed family members and corporate beneficiaries (often known as bucket companies). Some exemptions would apply, including for fixed and widely held trusts, superannuation funds, special disability trusts, deceased estates, charitable trusts, primary production income and some other specific trust types. While the Government has indicated that existing discretionary testamentary trusts would be exempt from these changes, concerns have been raised about the application of the changes to testamentary trusts that come into existence after Budget night. However, reports in the media suggest that the Government is open to reconsidering this aspect of the changes, but we will have to wait and see how this plays out. To assist with transitions, three years of roll-over relief will be available for restructures into companies or fixed trusts. Example (adapted from Budget materials) Kurt operates his business through a discretionary trust and makes a profit of $300,000. Kurt pays himself a salary of $100,000 and distributes the remaining $200,000 to four family members who have no other income. In total, Kurt and his family members pay around $42,000 in tax on this income. If the 30% minimum tax rate rules are introduced then Kurt and his family members would pay around $86,000 in tax on this income. This is a significant increase in the total amount of tax paid on the same level of profit. In situations like this there might be scope to restructure the business into a company to potentially access a lower 25% tax rate or pay salary / wages to some family members who are genuinely working in the business. Practical issues Many business and investment structures will face higher effective tax rates under the proposed changes, although the Government is planning to undertake a consultation process to refine the rules. It is possible that the final version of the rules will look a bit different to the proposals announced in the Budget. While the start date for this measure isn’t until 1 July 2028, now is the time to start modelling scenarios and comparing the pros and cons of other options. In some cases the overall impact of the changes might be minimal and no material changes will be required. In some cases it might still make sense to continue utilising discretionary trust structures, but with some alternative distribution strategies in place. In other cases it will make sense to explore whether a restructure might provide better long-term outcomes. Other measures worth noting $250 Working Australians Tax Offset (from 2027–28) – increases the effective tax-free threshold for wage earners and sole traders. $1,000 standard deduction for work-related expenses (from 2026–27) – simplifies tax time for many employees. Small business measures – a permanent $20,000 instant asset write-off for plant and equipment. What to do next The proposed reforms are significant, but the practical impact will depend on your situation. While we are still waiting to see how this all plays out, if you have concerns in the meantime feel free to contact Collins Hume on 02 6686 3000. We can review your situation, run tailored projections and help you make informed decisions. We will also keep you up to date as further details emerge and legislation progresses.

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