Getting off the ground

I had worked in the child care field in different roles for over 20 years. Two years ago I started my own greenfield site with a 90-place centre in a fast growing area. The occupancy level at this centre grew rapidly and within 6 months the centre was already 75% full. 

Some 12 months ago, I had the opportunity to get involved in opening a second greenfield site with 50 places not too far from my first centre. We financed the development and fit-out of the second centre with a construction loan, and then the global financial crisis impacted the lending appetite of our former bank. 

Guild Accountants were introduced to me by a colleague in the sector as the child care “specialists” at a time when I needed refinancing assistance. They were able to prepare a comprehensive business plan and detailed financial modeling which incorporated industry benchmarking analysis. This was the foundation for a successful refinancing process. Without Guild Accountants’ help, it is doubtful that I would have been able to obtain refinance to keep the centres running. The simple fact was most banks were extremely wary of lending to the sector and saw Greenfield startups as highly speculative. The reality was that Guild Accountants could demonstrate the clear potential of the centres and persuade my new bank that it was a very sustainable proposition.

Succession Planning

I own and operate, with my wife, a successful and growing child care group. Over a period of 10 years, we have now grown to 4 sites. Guild Accountants have been my professional advisers since the outset, and approached me early on to review succession planning for the future. 

Guild Accountants sat down with us and through our discussion came the realization that we need to put in place plans and strategies to address key person dependency issues at both management and centre levels. Guild Accountants then devised a long term succession plan addressing the organizational, structural and financial imperatives to ensure our investment in the business was protected and maximized. Some of this work was quite complex and I am certain that without their expertise we would not enjoy the same level of security we now have.

Due Dilligence

I recently purchased my second centre having been involved directly as a carer and owner in the sector for 15 years. I thought after that period of time, I pretty much knew everything I needed to assess the viability of a centre. So when the second centre came up for sale I was not concerned about my ability to manage the transaction and thought I could do it by myself with some minor help from a lawyer to settle the contract. How wrong I was! 

After the purchase and much to my dismay, there were a number of undisclosed liabilities attaching to the centre which threatened to bring my business to its knees. I was becoming extremely stressed about how I was going to continue operating. I sought out expert assistance and engaged Guild Accountants to sort out the financing issues I had inherited as part of the sale. Thankfully, this is now being resolved satisfactorily and I wish I had the service of Guild Accountants to conduct proper due diligence in the first place.