With more than 35 years experience in finance, Henry, who is part of the Corporate Finance group, has been dealing with Antons customers since 2000. In that time he has come to understand a lot about the framing industry.

“When you are looking at financing new equipment, it’s important to keep things at a comfortable level of commitment. There’s no point in setting up payments that are so high you can’t jump over them,” Henry said.

“I talk with all my clients, one-on-one, and discuss where they are right now, and where they are going. In any matter of finance it is important to understand the industry the client is involved with, and exactly how that industry works.”

The best method of financing new equipment varies from case to case, but speaking in broad terms, there are some general rules. Up to $10,000, Henry would usually advise a two to five year lease with a small residual at the end of the agreement. The residual is basically determined by Tax Office guidelines.

For equipment purchases of more than $10,000 there are more effective arrangements. A chattel mortgage enables a business on a cash method of GST, to claim GST up-front. On the other hand, anyone operating their GST on an accrual basis, is going to be better served by a hire-purchase arrangement, in most instances.

“Advice can vary from one business to the next, so it is important to remember that there are no hard and fast rules. Working out what is best for a particular business is what happens in personal consultations,” he said.

Once the issues of cost, duration and conditions have been addressed, the next most pressing concern for most businesses is the information they will have to provide with their application for finance. Generally, this involves pretty run-of-the-mill details - name and address of the business, owners or directors, ABN, and other standard information; plus up-to-date financial statements such as balance sheets, and profit and loss statements.

Most finance agreements for Antons customers fall within the $5,000 to $60,000 range, and run from two to five years on a fixed rate of interest.

The good news is that Henry believes there is unlikely to be any sharp movement in economic conditions in the immediate future.

“I think the introduction of the GST represented something of a learning-curve for a lot of people, but things have settled down now. I don’t see any major changes down the track for business finance,” he said.