Welcome!

Welcome to our PwC Private Business Exchange blog page!  PwC's Private Business Exchange program helps drive long-term success for private companies.

Top 10 things to consider for your will and estate plan

Planning today for your future tomorrow can reduce taxes during your lifetime, lessen income tax and probate fees and help ensure that your estate planning objectives will be met. Do you know the top things you could be doing now to make this happen?

Click here to download this brochure and read more about the 10 steps.

Wealth and tax matters for individuals and private companies

2011, Issue 2

 

Hot off the press, the latest edition of Wealth and tax matters, a periodic publication written by PwC's team of high net worth advisors, is now available. The easy-to-read publication has developed a loyal following of high net worth individuals, business owners, bankers and tax practitioners looking for ways to preserve wealth and minimize tax liabilities.

 

Features in this edition include:

• family matters, such as the basics of will planning and issues that arise during business succession
• new initiatives proposed by the Canada Revenue Agency with respect to high net worth individuals
• changes to the "kiddie tax" regime
• tax traps involving shareholders' agreements
• cross-border tax matters, such as owning a US rental property and considerations for individuals departing Canada

To read the latest edition of Wealth and Tax Matters, click here. To subscribe to receive the publication regularly, or to view previous issues, visit www.pwc.com/ca/wtm.

 

What individuals and owner-managed businesses need to do now to save tax

Year-End Tax Planner 2011 - Now Available!

The Year-End Tax Planner is designed primarily for individuals who have accumulated some wealth or who own their own businesses. This edition is current to November 1, 2011, and provides tax planning tips for owner-managed businesses, employees, investors, parents and spouses, students, seniors and individuals and businesses with international (including US) connections.

Introducing the Business Insights Survey of Canadian Private Companies 2011

Embracing the new

How have private companies fared through the volatile business landscape of the past year? What are they doing to position themselves for growth in the long-term? At a time when uncertain economic indicators are keeping everyone guessing on a daily basis, the seventh annual Business Insights Survey of Canadian Private Companies provides valuable insights for the private company community.

Wonder what it is like to work with PwC?

Archie Campbell is the former Senior VP & Chief Operating Officer of Golden Boy Foods Ltd., a private company and one of North America’s largest manufacturers of private label peanut butter, baking nuts, snacking nuts and dried fruit. He provides an inside view of what it is like to work with PwC and why he takes PwC wherever he goes.

Have a family business? A family council could be the key to success

Here are three things to keep in mind when creating a family council:

• Start with a family meeting to really look at the family’s vision, its values and needs. Why are these important to you, and your family? How will you manage disagreement as a family on business issues?
• Set out very clear objectives and guidelines for each meeting. A facilitator can also help challenge the family to make sure they are adhering to identified values and goals. It is a best practice to have facilitation, for that non-biased support. The goal is to equip the family council with tools and skills and structures to ‘self manage’ effectively
• Keep in mind it’s a long-term process. A good family council doesn’t happen instantly. This is something that needs to evolve and develop over time, and it will grow and evolve as the family and business does.

Read the complete article featuring Sharon Duguid, director, Centre for Family Business and Entrepreneurs at PwC.

Laying the foundation for BRICs

More and more private companies are setting their sights on emerging and fast-growing markets (EFGMs), but don’t know where to start or what the risks might be. The present emerging markets landscape is dominated by the BRICs – Brazil, Russia, India, and China – but a second tier of rapidly developing markets, including Indonesia and Mexico, is catching up. Download the detailed report and country snapshots to read more about the opportunities and challenges of expanding into growth markets.

Is CSR on the radar for private companies?

Results from the latest PwC Pulse Survey found that social responsibility and sustainability are low priorities for Canadian private companies.

• 21% of respondents currently have a corporate social responsibility (CSR) plan aligned to their business goals
• 53% of respondents view a CSR plan as a “nice-to-have”
• None of the private companies that have CSR plans are communicating them through recruitment initiatives


Insights into corporate social responsibility and sustainability provides a summary of the key findings from the latest PwC Pulse Survey and offers advice from Mel Wilson on what private company owners can do to stay ahead of the curve and position themselves for future success.

Also check out our Let’s Talk article, A business case for sustainability, as well as an As I see it piece, Responsible for success, that dive deeper into the issues discussed in the Pulse Survey report and demonstrate how CSR and sustainability can be integrated into your business plan. 

PwC Private Company Services Pulse Survey

We are taking a "pulse" of Canadian private companies to find out if sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are on their radars.

Sustainability and CSR have become key elements of the business strategy for many organizations. In a resource constrained world, sustainability is increasingly important to managing cost and reputation risk, supply chain integrity, and ensuring compliance with laws and regulations. Sustainability has also presented new business opportunities as we see entrepreneurs emerge in the fields of green energy and carbon reduction. Many public companies report on their sustainability and CSR activities in their annual reports and sustainability reports. What are private companies doing? What is motivating them to take action?

This survey is now closed. We will share survey results with participants and post the findings to PwC's Private Company Services website in the coming weeks. 

What does it mean for private companies?

2011 Federal Budget

Yesterday's federal budget did not contain many changes for private business owners. The scheduled corporate tax rate reductions will continue and personal tax rates remain unchanged. There were a couple of positive announcements and several new measures to shut down tax loop holes or planning strategies.

Below we have highlighted some of the changes that we think will be of most interest to you. The PwC 2011 Federal Budget web page provides a more in-depth discussion of the budget.