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Reckon Limited

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Employees 501-1000
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FY2008 Annual Report · Reckon Limited
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2008 Annual Report

Reckon Limited Annual Report 
ACN 003 348 730
for the Financial Year Ended 31 December 2008

Contents

Our results at a glance 

Message to shareholders from the Chairman and the Group CEO 

Directors’ Report 

Corporate Governance Report 

Auditor’s Report 

Financial Report 

Directors’ Declaration 

Income Statements 

Balance Sheets 

Statements of Recognised Income and Expense 

Cash Flow Statements 

Notes to the Financial Statements 

Additional Information  

2

3

5

15

18

21

21

22

23

24

25

26

54

Reckon | 1

Our results at a glance

Revenue

Group revenue was up 
8% to $60.8 million from 
$56.2 million.

$m

% Growth

EBITDA

Group EBITDA was up 15% 
to $19 million from $16.5 
million.

$m

% Growth

NPBT

Group NPBT was up 14% 
to $15.1 million from $13.3 
million.

$m

% Growth

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

-

20

15

10

5

-

16

12

8

4

-

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

$60.8m

16%

8%

23%

8%

$19m

29%

29%

26%

15%

$15.1m

26%

19%

21%

14%

2 |  Reckon

Message to shareholders from  
the Chairman and the Group CEO

Overview

Acquisitions

It is with pleasure that we present the Reckon Limited results 
for the year ending 31 December 2008. The results once again 
testify to the underlying soundness of the Company’s business 
model and execution of its long term strategy with increases 
across all key metrics, as shown below.

2008

2007

% Change

$60.8 million

$56.2 million

8% increase

$19.0 million

$16.5 million

15% increase

Group 
Revenue

Group 
EBITDA

Group NPAT $11.3 million

$9.9 million

14% increase

EPS

8.5 cents 

7.5 cents 

13% increase

On 10 February 2009 the board declared a final dividend for 
2008 of 3.5 cents per share, fully franked. The final dividend for 
2007 was 2.5 cents per share.

Future Outlook

The success of the Company in 2008 in the context of current 
global and Australian economic conditions is especially 
pleasing and positions it well for future growth in 2009. The 
Company has advised the market that it expects revenue 
growth in the Reckon Group to be approximately 50 percent 
over 2008. This growth will cement the Company as a leader in 
practice management, accounting and financial management 
software and services and will enable further success in the 
short to medium term. We remain cautiously optimistic about 
future performance given current economic conditions.

We are delighted to advise that in January 2009 the Company 
completed the acquisition of the Corporate Services and 
BillBack businesses from Espreon Limited. This transaction 
is an exciting step in the development of the Company and 
will enable it to achieve synergies and revenue growth in the 
near to medium term. BillBack presents opportunities in the 
cost recovery and cost management market for professional 
services firms, while Corporate Services gives significant scale 
to our existing Reckon Shelco business.

The underlying strength of the Reckon Group places it in 
an optimal position to consider future acquisitions. Our 
traditional approach has been to carefully identify acquisitions 
which match our selection criteria, including the realisation 
of hard and soft synergies, positive EPS results and effective 
integration into the overall Reckon strategy. This careful 
approach has in the past ensured that the Company has grown 
at a sustainable rate and we intend to continue to apply our 
high standards to any acquisitions which are identified during 
the course of 2009.

Operations

The Reckon Group operations are divided into two main 
divisions: a Professional Division and a Business Division.

Results of Professional and Business Divisions

The Professional and Business Divisions each contributed to 
the strong growth experienced by Reckon in 2008. The table 
below illustrates the performance of each division.

Operating Revenue

% change on 2007 
Revenue

EBITDA

% change on 2007 
EBITDA

Professional Division

Business Division

$21.3 million

$38.6 million

15% increase 

5% increase

$5.3 million

$13.7 million

46% increase

7% increase

3

Message to shareholders from  
the Chairman and the Group CEO (continued)

Professional Division in 2008 and 2009

The Professional Division continues to experience strong 
growth by positioning itself as a market leader in the provision 
of practice management systems to large accounting 
practices. Highlights from the 2008 financial year include:

•	

•	

•	

Strong organic growth both from new clients and increased 
product uptake from current clients.

Increases in revenue from consulting arising from expanded 
implementation capacity built in the 2007 financial year.

APS software awarded “Practice Management Software of 
the Year” in the UK “Accountancy Age Awards”.

We expect that the strong performance of the Professional 
Division will continue into the 2009 financial year based on both 
continued organic growth and expansion from the BillBack 
acquisition. Focuses of the Professional Division in 2009 
include:

•	

Integration of the BillBack operations and leveraging 
cross-selling opportunities.

•	

Expansion of the APS product offering into new markets.

•	

Expansion into new territories.

•	

New product releases to complete the comprehensive 
practice management offering from APS, including Advance 
Company Register, .Net Tax and Workflow and Resource 
Planning.

Business Division in 2008 and 2009

The Business Division experienced many successes in the 
2008 financial year. A few of the highlights were:

•	

i series. QBi is 

Release of QuickBooks 2008/09 QB
designed to make accountants’ and customers’ lives 
easier. It contains a raft of new features to achieve this 
goal, including: a past transactions memory, an always 
on audit trail, simultaneous use and synchronisation with 
accountants with a secure dividing date, portable company 
files, and only one accountants version required to support 
different customers versions. The use of an SQL database 
also means the product enjoys efficiencies of scale to 
accommodate small businesses of virtually any size; a 
higher magnitude of processing speed; and a fully scalable 
product for virtually unlimited multiple simultaneous users.

•	

Strong growth from the QuickBooks customer base 
especially in the Enterprise product, with growth of 21 
percent.

•	

Significant enhancements to the Quicken personal finance 
software being incorporated in the Quicken 2009 release.

4

In 2009 the Business Division will build on its performance in 
2008 by:

•	

•	

•	

Leveraging off the momentum generated from the 
QuickBooks 2008/09 QBi series software with the 
QuickBooks 2009/10 QBi series release.

Further expansion into the enterprise market with the 
QuickBooks Enterprise product.

Integration of Espreon Corporate Services into the broader 
Business Division and leveraging cross-selling opportunities 
through the Reckon partner network.

Opportunities for the Reckon Group

The broad product offering of the Reckon Group places it in the 
enviable position of being able to leverage its range of products 
and services off one another, resulting in not only stronger 
sales but in tangible benefits for a growing customer base. 
The APS and QuickBooks brands are complementary and 
enable Reckon to service any size accounting practice. APS 
sells practice management, tax and client accounting software 
and allied products to professional accounting firms with full 
service requirements whilst the Business Division services the 
rest of the accounting market with Elite labeled products. With 
the expansion of Reckon’s corporate service offering through 
Reckon Espreon and the addition of cost recovery and cost 
management products and services through BillBack, the 
Reckon Group is now able to offer accounting and professional 
service organisations not only software but also services such 
as trust documentation, company incorporation and cost 
recovery.

Partners

The continued growth of Reckon is due in no small part to the 
support of Reckon’s ever growing network of partners amongst 
accountants, bookkeepers and business and IT consultants. 
The number of new partners continued to increase in 2008 
and this trend is expected to continue as recognition of the 
QuickBooks, Elite, Reckon Shelco, Reckon Espreon and 
APS products as the pre-eminent packages in their market 
continues to grow.

We also extend our thanks to the support of all our employees, 
customers and suppliers who contributed to our success in 
2008.

John Thame
Chairman

Clive Rabie
Group CEO

Directors’ Report

The Directors of Reckon Limited submit these 
financial statements for the financial year ended 
31 December 2008.

Board of Directors

John Thame AAIBF FCPA

Clive Rabie

Age 67, Non-Executive Chairman

Age 49, Group Chief Executive Officer

Clive was Chief Operating Officer of Reckon from 2001 until 
February 2006 and in that time played a pivotal role in its 
turn-around. In February 2006 Clive was appointed to the 
position of Group Chief Executive Officer. He has extensive 
management and operational experience in the IT and retail 
sectors as both an owner and Director of companies.

Myron Zlotnick LLM, GCertAppFin 

Age 44, General Counsel and Company 
Secretary

Myron Zlotnick has over 15 years experience as a general 
and corporate counsel, and as a Director of companies in 
the information, communications and technology sector. 
Myron also assumes responsibility for some aspects of the 
management and operations of the Reckon Shelco and 
Reckon Espreon businesses.

John Thame has over 30 years’ experience in the retail financial 
services industry. He was Managing Director of Advance Bank 
Limited from 1986 until it merged with St George Bank Limited 
in January 1997 and held a variety of senior positions in his 
career with Advance. John was Chairman of St George Bank 
Limited until April 2008 and a member of the St George Bank 
Limited board until 1 July 2008. He is also Chairman of Abacus 
Property Trust Group Limited, where he has been a Director 
since 2002. John was appointed to the Board on 19 July 1999.

Ian Ferrier FCA

Age 68, Non-Executive Director

Ian Ferrier is the founder of Ferrier Hodgson. He is a Fellow 
of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia.  He 
has more than 40 years experience in company corporate 
recovery and turnaround practice.  He is also a Director of a 
number of private and public companies.  Ian was appointed 
Chairman of InvoCare Limited in 2001 and was Chairman 
of Port Douglas Reef Resorts Limited until April 2006. Ian is 
a Director of McGuigan Simeon Wines Limited since 1991, 
Macquarie Goodman Group Limited since 2003 and Australian 
Oil Company Limited since 2005. He has significant experience 
in property and development, tourism, manufacturing, retail, 
hospitality and hotels, infrastructure and aviation and service 
industries. Ian joined the Board on 17 August 2004. In 
January 2008 Ian assumed the Chair of a new accounting 
practice, Ferrier Green Krejci & Silvia, which after merging with 
insolvency practice BRI, now trades as BRI Ferrier.

Greg Wilkinson

Age 53, Deputy Executive Chairman

Greg Wilkinson has over 20 years experience in the computer 
software industry. Greg entered the industry in the early 1980s 
in London where he managed Caxton Software, which became 
one of the UK’s leading software publishers. Greg co-founded 
Reckon in 1987 and was the Chief Executive Officer until 
February 2006. He was appointed to the position of Deputy 
Chairman in February 2006 and became a member of the 
Board of the listed entity on 19 July 1999.

5

Principal Activities

Reckon Limited conducts business predominantly across 
complementary business areas: (1) the sales and support of 
small and enterprise business accounting and personal wealth 
management software under the QuickBooks and Quicken 
brands (2) the sales and support of professional accounting 
practice management and allied software under the APS 
brand to larger professional accounting firms, and to smaller 
professional accounting firms under the Elite brand; (3) the 
sales and support of corporate services such as company 
incorporations and SMSF documentation under the Reckon 
Shelco brand.

Through strategic acquisition of businesses and technology, 
Reckon continues to broaden its scope of operations to 
provide complementary products and services across these 
business areas.  The main products and services are principally 
organised into two operating units, the Business Division and 
the Professional Division.

In the Business Division, under the QuickBooks and Quicken 
brands, Reckon develops, localises, distributes and provides 
after sales technical support for the accounting software needs 
of small to medium sized and enterprise businesses and in the 
personal finance and wealth management sector. 

Under the Reckon Tools brand, Reckon develops applications 
that enhance these products, for example: electronic data 
interchange (“EDI”) functionality, bill payment solutions, super 
choice management solutions, online backup, and online 
trading. In addition, Reckon independently develops and 
distributes a payroll and point-of-sale solution.

Reckon operates its QuickBooks and Quicken business 
under an exclusive evergreen licence from Intuit Inc. Intuit is 
the leading US-based accounting software house with over 
25 million customers worldwide, annual sales of over US$2 
billion and a market capitalisation of close to US$10 billion. 
Intuit’s annual research and development budget exceeds 
US$300 million. Reckon is able to leverage off this extensive 
research and development spend without the usual associated 
development risk. The licence from Intuit has an effective 
continuing rolling term of 10 years. 

The Reckon Elite business develops and distributes tax return 
preparation tools, practice management tools and related 
solutions for accountants and tax agents in public practice. 
Reckon Elite focuses on sales to smaller accounting firms 
compared to APS which pursues the top tier firms. 

In the Professional Division the APS business develops, 
distributes and supports a suite of practice management, tax 
and client accounting software for professional accounting 
firms in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. A 
majority of the major accounting firms in Australia and New 
Zealand use APS products. APS also delivers complementary 
applications for practice management such as document 

6

management, customer relations management and business 
intelligence solutions. Desktop Super is a tool for the 
professional administration of self managed superannuation 
funds. With the acquisition of BillBack by Reckon in January 
2009, APS now has the ability to offer its client base 
technologies for the capture, reporting and billing of client 
expenses (including: scanning, network printing and faxing, 
telephone and mobile calls, online searches, courier and taxi 
usage).

Shelco which was acquired in March 2007 consists of two 
main revenue streams, a services business and a data 
business. Espreon Corporate Services, which was acquired 
by Reckon in January 2009, has similar revenue streams to 
Shelco and increases Reckon’s presence and market share 
in the corporate services and growth opportunities in the data 
supply market. Espreon Corporate Services also adds depth to 
the product offering in the market for documentation for trusts 
and self managed superannuation funds.

The services business comprises the technology and 
established client base for the registration of companies and 
other business structures using the traditional full service 
method. This business provides clients with an online company 
registration service available 24 hours a day, seven days a 
week.  It also provides services for the establishment of unit 
trusts and family trusts (discretionary trusts), as well services 
for constitution updates, domain name registrations and self 
managed super funds. Espreon Corporate Services brings with 
it a compliance team that manages certain company secretarial 
functions on behalf of companies and thus also widens the 
range of services offered by Reckon Shelco.

The data business provides comprehensive accredited 
business name and ASIC information electronically combined 
with a highly personalised client relationship. A full range of 
sophisticated information services to assist customers with the 
provision of financial, corporate and statutory information is 
also offered. 

Through its New Zealand subsidiary Reckon distributes 
QuickBooks and Quicken products as well as IBankData; 
Intrepid Payroll, Bit Defender and IBackup solutions.

Review of Operations

Overview of financial performance 

Group Operating Revenue: 

Up 8% to $60.8m from $56.2m

Group EBITDA: 

Group NPAT:

Basic EPS:

Final Dividend: 

Up 15% to $19m from $16.5m

Up 14% to $11.3m from $9.9m

Up 13% to 8.5 cents per share from 7.5 cents

3.5 cents per share  
100% franked with a dividend payout ratio of 71%

Operating cash flow: 

Up 12% to $16.3m with a cash balance of $16.1m at 31 December 2008

Growth in revenue, strong management of costs, and the benefits of a sustainable customer base has resulted in strong group 
performance from both the Professional Division and Business Division.

Dividends

On 10 February 2009, the Board declared a final dividend of 3.5 cents per share (100% franked) payable to shareholders recorded 
on the Company’s Register as at the record date of 20 February 2009. Reckon does not have a dividend re-investment plan 
currently in operation. On 11 August 2008, the Board declared an interim dividend of 2.5 cents per share (100% franked) payable to 
shareholders recorded on the Company’s Register at record date of 25 August 2008. 

The Future

Reckon’s overall strategy continues to be one of expanding the product and service offering to its customer base, leveraging 
cross-selling opportunities across its customer base of small businesses and accountants, generating recurring revenue streams 
through subscription products, generating recurring revenue through consulting and technical support, seeking new complementary 
products and services, enhancing relationships with sales channels, including retailers and professional partners, maintaining 
operating efficiencies resulting in increasing margins.

Reckon announced to the market on 10 February 2009 that, as a consequence of the acquisition of the Corporate Services and 
BillBack businesses, it expects revenue growth in the 2009 financial year to be approximately 50 percent over 2008. However, the 
nature of the businesses will result in some reduction in EBITDA margin percentages in the short term.

Reckon continues to maintain an excellent relationship with Intuit Inc.

The APS business will continue to expand in 2009 on the back of ongoing maintenance revenue and market share growth together 
with growth resulting from expanding the uptake of additional modules by existing clients.

Over the next 12 months Reckon will concentrate on assimilating the operations of the Corporate Services and BillBack 
businesses purchased from Espreon Limited in January 2009 into its existing business and realising the synergies and cross-selling 
opportunities that the acquisition of those businesses provides the broader Reckon Group.

Significant Changes in State of Affairs

There were no events in 2008 that represented material changes to the state of affairs of the Company but Reckon entered into 
binding documentation to acquire the Corporate Services and BillBack businesses of Espreon Limited in November 2008. This 
transaction completed after the end of the financial year (see below).

7

Future Developments

Other than as outlined above, disclosure of information 
regarding likely developments in the operations of the 
consolidated entity in future financial years and the expected 
results of those operations is likely to result in unreasonable 
prejudice to the consolidated entity. Accordingly, this 
information has not been disclosed in this report.

Directors’ Shareholdings 

As at the date of this report, the Directors held shares and 
options in Reckon Limited as set out in the Remuneration 
Report immediately below.  All options were granted under the 
Executive Share Option Plan.

Matters Subsequent to the 
End of the Financial Year

Acquisition of Corporate Services and BillBack 
Businesses

On 2 January 2009 the acquisition of the Corporate Services 
and BillBack businesses by Reckon from Espreon Limited for 
$18 million was completed. The acquisition of the businesses 
was funded through a mix of Reckon’s cash reserves and debt 
funding.

The Corporate Services business of Espreon Limited is a 
provider of documentation for company formations, secretarial 
services, trust and self managed superannuation fund trust 
deeds. This business is similar in nature to Reckon’s existing 
Shelco business.

The cost recovery (BillBack) business of Espreon Limited is a 
provider of technologies for the capture, reporting and billing 
of client expenses (including: scanning, network printing and 
faxing, telephone and mobile phone calls, online searches, 
courier and taxi usage) for professional services suppliers such 
as accountants and lawyers.

Dividend

A final dividend for 2008 was declared on 10 February 2009 as 
disclosed above.

Options

Since balance date 153,058 shares were issued after exercise 
of options under Share Option Plan 2. See Note 19 for the 
details of this plan.

Since 31 December 2008 206,672 options have lapsed.

Effective 31 December 2005, the Company terminated Share 
Option Plan 2. Going forward the Board will continue to 
assess the merits of incentive based schemes pursuant to 
the share scheme approved at the Special General Meeting 
on 20 December 2005 or such other plan that the Company 
may lawfully put in place from time to time. The Remuneration 
Report in the Directors’ Report contains details of the relevant 
long term incentive plans approved by shareholders at the 
Special General Meeting of the Company held on 20 December 
2005.

Other matters

Other than as disclosed in this Directors’ Report no other 
matter or circumstance has arisen since 31 December 2008 
that has significantly affected, or may significantly affect:

•	

the consolidated entity’s operations in future financial years, 
or

•	

the results of those operations in future financial years, or

•	

the consolidated entity’s state of affairs in future financial 
years

8

Remuneration Report

Key management

The key management personnel include the directors and 
group executives who have responsibility for planning, 
directing and controlling the activities of the company and the 
consolidated entity. Key management personnel details are set 
out on page 11 below.  

Policy for determining remuneration of key 
management personnel

Policy for determining remuneration of key management 
personnel, including the directors, the deputy Chairman, 
Group CEO, Group CFO, divisional MD’s and other Company 
officers is the ultimate responsibility of a remuneration 
committee comprising the Chairman of the Board and the 
other independent non-executive director. The Chairman 
of the remuneration committee is Ian Ferrier. There is no 
formal charter for the remuneration committee but policy is 
set with due consideration for the need to motivate directors 
and management to pursue the long term growth and 
success of the Company as well as to tie remuneration in 
with performance as contemplated in the ASX Corporate 
Governance Principles and Recommendations (“ASX 
Guidelines”). It is the view of the Board that the Company 
complies with the substance of the aims and aspirations of the 
ASX Guidelines in the context of the size of the company, the 
size of the Board, the size of the senior management team and 
the size of the business.

Policy for determining remuneration of other management 
personnel has been delegated to the Group CEO, Group 
CFO and divisional MD’s by the Board to be exercised in 
accordance with the same broad principles as apply for the 
Group CEO, Group CFO, other company officers and divisional 
MD’s. The Board approves all remuneration in its review of the 
Company’s annual budget process. 

The policy is to pay the relevant officers and employees’ 
remuneration consistent with market comparisons suited to the 
unique features of the company, the competitive landscape, 
the scale of the business, the responsibilities of the individual 
directors and employees, and internal relativities. The Board 
is conscious of the need to attract and retain talent. The 
remuneration policy takes account of striking the right balance 
between short term benefits and long term incentives. All 
remuneration is reviewed annually. Generally increases, if 
justified, will not exceed comparable market increases. 

Terms of employment for key management 
personnel

Executive directors and group executives are all appointed on 
standard employment terms that are not fixed term contracts. 
These contracts include a notice period of between 1 – 3 
months to be provided by either the executive or the company. 
No contract provides for termination payments except where 
the employee is to receive payment in lieu of notice.

For 2008, remuneration for key management personnel 
including the Group CEO, Group CFO, other company officers, 

divisional MD’s and other senior executives, comprises a 
fixed element, a short term incentive element and a long term 
incentive element.

Short term incentive payments

The short term incentive element of remuneration is dependent 
on satisfaction of performance conditions. A pool representing 
varying percentages of the combined fixed remuneration of the 
relevant employees is the total potential amount in which they 
can share if the performance conditions are met. There are 
three weighted elements to the performance conditions, viz: a 
revenue target, a net profit after tax (NPAT) target, and earnings 
per share (EPS) target measured against the budgeted 
performance of the Company. The Board retains a discretion 
regarding the allocation of the pool between employees as well 
as regarding weightings. Short term incentives are paid in cash 
as bonuses usually in about February or March of the following 
year.

Long term incentive payments

The long term incentive element is intended to round off 
the mix of remuneration elements. It is aimed at retaining 
the long term services of the key management personnel 
to whom it applies and to align their remuneration with the 
longer term performance of the Company. The substance 
of the long term incentive element for key management was 
approved by Special General Meeting on 20 December 2005. 
In general terms, the long term incentive element comprises 
three possible methods of participation: an option plan, a 
performance share plan and a share appreciation plan. The 
Board has discretion to make offers to applicable employees 
to participate in any of these plans. Options granted and/or 
performance shares awarded (all in respect of the Company’s 
ordinary shares) and/or share appreciation rights do not 
vest before three years after their grant date. Vesting is also 
conditional upon the Company achieving defined performance 
criteria. The performance criteria are based upon a total 
shareholder return (TSR) target.  A TSR is the return to 
shareholders over a prescribed period, being the growth in 
the Company’s share price plus dividends or returns of capital 
for that period.  The Company’s initial TSR target will be the 
Company achieving a median or higher ranking against the 
TSR position of individual companies within a ‘comparator 
group’ of companies (i.e. a group of comparable ASX listed 
companies pre-selected by the Board) over the same period. 
The initial comparator group was determined after taking 
advice from independent advisers and was set out in the 
Chairman’s speech at the Special General Meeting on 20 
December 2005.

The Board will review the suitability of the comparator group on 
an ongoing basis. During 2008 some of the entities comprising 
the comparator group were delisted either as part of merger 
and acquisition activity or for other reasons. This was factored 
into the calculation of the Company’s performance by the 
independent valuers who undertook the exercise on behalf of 
the Company. The comparator group of companies used in the 
current year assessment included Adacel Technologies Limited, 
Firstfolio Limited, Altium Limited, Amcom Telecommunications 

9

Remuneration Report (continued)

Limited, ASG Group Limited, CPT Global Limited, Eftel Limited, 
Eservglobal Limited, Hansen Technologies Limited, Infomedia 
Ltd, Integrated Research Limited, Melbourne IT Limited, 
Lifestyle Communities Limited, Newsat Limited, Objective 
Corporation Limited, Oakton Limited, Powerlan Limited, Queste 
Communications Limited, Rea Group Ltd, MYOB Limited, 
Sirius Corporation Limited, Asian Pacific Limited, Technology 
One Limited and Talent2 International Limited.

Only 50 percent of options or performance shares become 
exercisable or vest if the initial performance criterion is satisfied.  
The extent to which the balance of options or performance 
shares become exercisable or vest will depend on the 
extent to which the initial performance criterion is exceeded 
(i.e., the extent to which the Company exceeds a median 
ranking against the TSR position of the comparator group of 
companies). 

The share appreciation right plan represents an alternative 
remuneration element (to offering options or performance 
shares) under which the Board can invite relevant employees to 
apply for a right to receive a cash payment from the Company 
equal to the amount (if any) by which the market price of the 
Company’s shares at the date of exercise of the right exceeds 
the market price of the Company’s shares at the date of grant 
of the right. The right may only be exercised if performance 
criteria are met. The performance criteria are fixed by the Board 
in the exercise of its discretion. At present these are the same 
as the TSR target set for the right to exercise options or for 
performance shares to vest.

Balance between salary, short term and long 
term incentives

It is the Board’s opinion that an adequate balance is 
struck between the three elements comprising the relevant 
remuneration. For short term incentives, the performance 
targets reflect, in part, the key factors that the Company 
pursues in measuring its performance: volume of sales; profit 
generated; and value returned to shareholders in terms of 
EPS. The targets also represent a measure of an incentive to 
encourage commitment to the business and to its growth. The 
audited financial results for the year are used to assess whether 
the performance conditions are satisfied. Audited results 
represent an independent accurate method of determining 
the attainment of the conditions. For long term incentives, the 
additional targets comprising TSR reflect a further assessment 
of value to shareholders before the remuneration is earned. As 
stated above the comparator group to which reference will be 
had will be subject to review. 

The remuneration committee is satisfied that to date, the 
remuneration of the relevant employees accords with the 
general upward trend of the performance of the Company and 
returns to shareholders, as set out in the table below; and also 
takes into account the imperative to retain their services so as 
to avoid the business and opportunity costs associated with 
replacing them as well as the need to be commensurate with 
market rates. 

Consequence of performance on shareholder wealth

NPAT

EPS

Return of 
Capital

Reduction of 
Capital

Dividend

Changes in Share Price between the 
beginning and the end of the year

$’000

10,1511

7,0342

8,169

9,893

11,312

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

(cents per share)

(cents)

Beginning of January

End of December

7.41 

5.12

6.2

7.5

8.5

3.5

–

–

–

-

–

4

–

–

-

–

2

4.5

5.5

6.0

68

85

76

102

139

85

76

102

139   

105

1 
2 
3 

Result positively impacted by one off booking of unutilised tax losses. 
Result impacted by tax expense booked for the first time.
The company adopted AIFRS with effect from 1 January 2005 which results in various changes in accounting policies from that date. Results for the year ending 31 December 2004 have been restated.

The Company’s “Trading Policy” prohibits directors, key management personnel and employees from entering into a transaction 
with securities which limit the economic risk of any unvested entitlements awarded under any Reckon equity-based remuneration 
scheme.  Prior to presenting full-year results Reckon equity plan participants are required to confirm that they have not entered into 
any transactions which would contravene the Company’s “Trading Policy”.

10

Remuneration Report (continued)

Remuneration 2008

Fixed 
component

Short term Incentive 
component

Other 
compensation

Long term incentive 
component

2008

Office

Salary

Bonus1

term benefits5 Superannuation

Other short 

Equity settled 
share based 
payments-
Performance 
shares3

Cash settled  
share based 
payments-
Appreciation 
rights4

Total 
remuneration

Directors

John Thame

Chairman, Non-
executive Director

$86,000

Greg Wilkinson

Deputy Chairman, 
Executive Director

$75,000

0

0

Clive Rabie

Group CEO, 
Executive Director

$460,000 $164,095

Ian Ferrier

Non-executive 
Director

$66,000

0

Executives

Brian Armstrong CEO, APS 

$320,000 $109,400

Chris Hagglund

CFO

$280,000

$70,900

Paul James

GM, APS Australia

$193,806

$21,448

Myron Zlotnick

General Counsel 
& Company 
Secretary

$210,540

$31,400

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

$7,740

$6,750

$41,400

$5,940

0

0

0

0

$31,488

$65,828

$25,200

$52,576

$19,373

$9,124

$18,949

$27,005

Brian Coventry

MD, APS United 
Kingdom

$194,003

$34,117

$17,794

$9,649

$9,124

Gavin Dixon

CEO, Quicken 
Australia

$310,000

$75,200

Michael 
Donnelley8

MD, APS New 
Zealand

$172,501

$68,160

0

0

$27,900

$50,584

$17,107

$9,124

Grant Linton9

MD, APS New 
Zealand

$36,277

0

$11,497

$4,051

0

Nigel Boland

GM Development, 
APS

$161,366

$20,047

0

$12,103

$9,124

0

$93,740

$5,000

$86,750

$34,088

$699,583

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

$71,940

$526,716

$428,676

$243,751

$287,894

$264,687

$463,684

$266,892

$51,825

$202,640

TOTAL

$2,565,493 $594,767

$29,291

$227,650

$232,489

$39,088

$3,688,778

1 

2 

3 

The potential amounts payable for the short term cash performance bonuses are determined 
at the beginning of the year and are earned based upon the performance criteria for the year 
described in more detail on pages 9 and 10.
No options were granted to any person during the year as part of their remuneration. No options 
vested during the financial year. All options issued in previous years as set out in Note 19 in the 
financial statements are fully vested. 82,333 options were exercised during 2008.
Mr Armstrong (58,656 shares), Mr Hagglund (51,324 shares), Mr Dixon (56,823 shares), Mr 
Zlotnick (27,018 shares), Mr Donnelley (7,332 shares), Mr James (7,332 shares), Mr Coventry, 
(7,332 shares), and Mr Boland (7,332 shares) are participants in the 2008 performance share 
plan. The date of grant for each of these participants was 1 January 2008. The value of the 
long term incentive is obtained by reference to the market price of the shares on the grant date 
allocated over each year of the 3 year performance period. If the performance criteria are met, 
then the shares are released at no consideration. The fair value of the performance shares at 
grant date was $1.36. The performance shares are exercisable on 31 December 2010 at zero 
cents. The performance shares expire on 31 December 2017. The fair value of performance 
shares which vested and were forfeited during the financial year are set out in the table below.

4 

5 
6 

7 

8 
9 

Mr Rabie is a participant in the share appreciation plan. 495,356 rights were issued under the 
plan on 1 January 2008.The value of the rights was 32.3 cents determined using a Monte Carlo 
simulation with a Black Scholes based valuation model to determine the value as at hurdle 
dates. The fair value of appreciation rights which vested and were forfeited during the financial 
year are set out in the table below.
For Mr Coventry and Mr Linton this reflects a sales commission.
To the extent that any of the above are directors of any wholly owned subsidiaries of the 
Company listed on page 45, no additional remuneration is paid. 
Mr Donnelley resigned effective 15 October 2008 and Mr Linton was appointed MD on 1 
September 2008.
Mr Donnelley’s salary includes accrued leave paid out on resignation.
Mr Linton received remuneration of: salary $55,544, commission $61,901 and superannuation 
of $9,956 in the period 1 January 2008 – 31 August 2008.

11

 
Remuneration Report (continued)

Remuneration 2008

Percentage 
of total 
remuneration 
that is 
performance 
related

Percentage 
of available 
bonus which 
vested in the 
year

Percentage 
of available 
bonus which 
was forfeited 
during the 
year

No of 
performance 
shares vested 
in 2008

Value  of 
Performance 
shares vested 
in 2008

Value of 
Performance 
shares 
forfeited  in 
2008

Value of 
Appreciation 
shares vested 
in 2008

Value of 
Appreciation 
shares 
forfeited in  
2008

0%

6%

28%

0%

33%

29%

13%

20%

16%

27%

29%

0

0

0

100%

0

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

75%

0

14%

100%

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

25%

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

46,762

$37,557

21,802

$17,511

0

0

16,873

$13,551

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

$20,912

0

0

0

$18,750

$93,750

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

85,437

$68,619

$20,912

$112,500

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2008

Directors5

John 
Thame

Greg 
Wilkinson

Clive Rabie

Ian Ferrier

Executives5

Brian 
Armstrong

Chris 
Hagglund

Paul 
James6

Myron 
Zlotnick

Brian 
Coventry

Gavin 
Dixon

Michael 
Donnelley8

Grant 
Linton9

Nigel 
Boland

TOTAL

12

 
Remuneration Report (continued)

Remuneration 2007

Office

Salary

Bonus1

Super-
annuation

Value of 
options2

Long  
term 
incentive 
plan3

Other 
short  
term 
benefits4

2007

Directors5

John Thame

Chairman, Non-
Executive Director

$81,500

Greg Wilkinson

Deputy Chairman, 
Executive Director

$130,000 

0

0

$7,335

$11,700

Clive Rabie

Group CEO, 
Executive Director

$415,001 

$164,096

$37,350

Ian Ferrier

Non-Executive 
Director

$62,501

0 

$5,625

Executives5

Brian Armstrong

CEO, APS

$300,000

$109,397

$27,000

Chris Hagglund

CFO

$260,001

$70,859

$23,400 

Paul James6

GM, APS Australia 

$107,241 

$21,000

$9,652 

Myron Zlotnick

Brian Coventry

General Counsel 
& Company 
Secretary

MD, APS  
United Kingdom

$190,000 

$31,408 

$17,100 

$207,637 

$40,000 

$9,649 

Gavin Dixon

CEO, Quicken 
Australia

$275,001

$75,211 

$24,750 

Michael Donnelly MD, APS 

New Zealand

$178,707 

$43,860 

$14,268 

Nigel Boland

GM Development, 
APS 

$157,714 

$19,824 

$12,850

TOTAL

$2,365,304 

$575,655 

$200,679 

0

0 

0 

0 

0

0

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0

TOTAL

$88,835

$184,060

$901,280

$68,127

$496,674

$394,302 

$137,893 

$261,082 

Percentage 
of total that is 
performance 
related

0%

23%

50%

0%

34%

28%

15%

21%

17%

25%

22%

16%

0

$42,360

$284,833

0 

$60,276

$40,042 

 0

$22,574 

0

0

0 

0 

0

0

0 

0 

$11,788 

$40,274

$309,348 

$27,014

$11,788 

$11,788 

0 

0 

0 

$401,976 

$248,622 

$202,176 

$512,463 

$40,274  $3,694,375 

1 

2 

3 

The potential amounts payable for the short term cash performance bonuses are determined 
at the beginning of the year and are earned based upon the performance criteria for the year 
described in more detail on pages 11 to 13.
No options were granted to any person during the year as part of their remuneration. No options 
vested during 2007.
Mr Armstrong (72,451 shares), Mr Hagglund (63,630 shares), Mr Dixon (67,539 shares), Mr 
Zlotnick (28,204 shares), Mr Donnelley (9,823 shares), Mr Coventry (9,823 shares) and Mr 
Boland (9,823 shares) are participants in the 2007 performance share plan. The date of grant 
for each of these participants is 1 January 2007. The value of the long term incentive is obtained 
by reference to the market price of the shares on the grant date allocated over each year 
of the performance period. If the performance criteria are met, then the shares are released 
at no consideration. The fair value of the performance shares at grant date was $1.02. The 
performance shares are exercisable on 31 December 2009 at zero cents. The performances 
shares expire on 31 December 2016. Performance shares that vested in 2007 are referred to in 
Note 27 to the financial statements. Mr Rabie is a participant in the share appreciation plan. The 
date of grant of this participation 1 January 2007.

4 
5 

6 

For Mr Coventry this reflects a sales commission.
To the extent that any of the above are directors of any wholly owned subsidiaries of the 
Company listed on page 52 no additional remuneration is paid.
Appointed 4 June 2007.

Options and shareholding for directors and relevant employees can be found at note 27 to the accounts.

13

 
 
Remuneration Report (continued)

Indemnification of Directors and Officers and Auditors

During the financial year, the Company paid a premium in respect of a contract insuring the Directors of the Company (as named 
above), the Company Secretary and all executive officers of the Company, and of any related body corporate, against a liability 
incurred as a Director, secretary or executive officer to the extent permitted by the Corporations Act 2001. The contract of insurance 
prohibits disclosure of the nature of the liability and the amount of the premium.

In addition, Rule 12 of the Company’s constitution obliges the Company to indemnify on a full indemnity basis and to the full extent 
permitted by law, every Director, officer or former officer for all losses or liabilities incurred by the person as an officer.  This obligation 
continues after the person has ceased to be a Director or an officer of the Company or a related body corporate, but operates only 
to the extent that the loss or liability is not covered by insurance.

The Company has not otherwise, during or since the financial year, indemnified or agreed to indemnify an officer or auditor of the 
Company, or any related body corporate, against a liability incurred as an officer or auditor.

Directors’ Meetings

The following table sets out the number of Directors’ meetings held during the financial year and the number of meetings attended 
by each Director.

Reckon Limited – Attendance Tables

Directors

JM Thame
I Ferrier
G Wilkinson
C Rabie

Board

B
10
10
10
10

A
10
10
10
10

Meetings

Audit Committee
B
A
2
2
2
2
NA
NA
NA
NA

Remuneration Committee

A
2
2
NA
NA

B
2
2
NA
NA

Key:  A – number of meetings eligible to attend;  B - number of meetings attended

Non audit fees

Details of the non-audit services can be found in Note 4 to the financial statements.

Rounding of Amounts

ASIC Class Order 98/0100 applies to the Company, and in accordance with that Class Order, amounts in the Directors’ report and 
the financial statements have been rounded off to the nearest thousand dollars.

Auditors’ Independence Declaration

The auditors independence declaration for the year ended 31 December 2008 has been received and can be found on page 19 of 
the directors report.

Signed in accordance with a resolution of the Directors made pursuant to Section 298 of the Corporations Act 2001.

On behalf of the Directors

Mr J Thame

Chairman
Sydney, 27 March 2009

14

Corporate Governance Report

Governance of the Company in general is in accordance with the ASX Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations, 
2nd Edition (“the ASX Governance Principles”). Substantial compliance with the ASX Governance Principles is always pursued 
by the board. Any departure from the ASX Governance Principles is purely formal and generally justified on the basis that formal 
compliance is not applicable to the size of the Company and the resources available.

1. Management and Oversight

The Company is governed on behalf of the shareholders by 
its board of directors who in turn oversee the Company’s 
management team. The board is responsible for ensuring 
appropriate risk management, accountability, and control 
mechanisms. The board also provides advice and input into 
development of the businesses generally, overall corporate 
strategy, performance objectives, and appointment of senior 
executives. The board monitors and reviews the performance 
of the Company, financial reporting and implementation of 
strategy. The board approves the annual budget, material 
capital expenditure and large acquisitions.

The Company departs from the requirements of Principle 
1 of the ASX Governance Principles only to the extent that 
there is no formal charter. The board is of the opinion, given 
the relatively small size of the composition of the board, 
the relatively flat structure of management, the size of the 
management team and open and frequent channels of 
communication between management and the board that the 
board has sufficiently appropriate close oversight of operations 
and material decisions to ensure compliance with principles of 
good corporate governance.

Because of the relatively small size of the board, an Audit 
Committee and Remuneration Committee are the only 
committees of the board. The board is able to efficiently deal 
with issues which in other larger enterprises may normally be 
delegated to committees.

The Company undertakes an annual performance evaluation of 
key management personnel. The nature of the review varies as 
follows:

•	

•	

In the case of key management personnel other than 
head of divisions the review process is managed and 
administered by the Group Human Resources Manager. It 
generally involves a 360 degree feedback review in which 
selected peers and reporting staff assess the performance 
of relevant executives and managers according to a set 
of questions benchmarked against key performance 
indicators. The process also includes a series of reviews 
with the Divisional CEO’s in which the 360 degree feedback 
review is discussed with the relevant executive or manager 
and remedial steps and coaching, if applicable, are 
implemented. There may be further additional reviews 
undertaken through the year if necessary. 

In the case of head of divisions and head office 
management (CEO, General Counsel and Company 
Secretary) the review process is managed and administered 
by the Group Chief Executive Officer. The review involves 
a one-on-one interview in which performance against key 
performance indicators is assessed and discussed and 
feedback from peers (where relevant) is reviewed. Where 

necessary remedial steps are identified and coaching is 
implemented. There may be additional reviews undertaken 
through the year if necessary.

Performance evaluation for key management personnel 
was undertaken in 2008 and it was in accordance with the 
processes disclosed in this report.

In addition, a portion of remuneration for key management 
personnel is tied into the financial performance of the Company 
as set out in more detail in the Remuneration Report section of 
the Directors’ Report.

The independent non-executive directors also generally 
informally monitor and review the ongoing performance of 
senior executives.

The Group Human Resources Manager is also responsible for 
managing and administering an induction process for newly 
appointed senior executives. In addition the Group CEO and 
divisional CEO’s undertake a rigorous process of briefing new 
senior executives.

2. The board

At present, the board comprises four members: John Thame, 
Ian Ferrier, Greg Wilkinson and Clive Rabie. Mr Thame is 
Chairman of the board and he, together with Mr Ferrier, are 
independent non-executive directors. 

Further details of the directors, including a summary of their 
skills and experience and period of office, are set out in the 
Directors’ Report.

While there is not strictly an independent majority in the sense 
described in ASX Governance Principle 2, because there 
are only four directors, the non-executive directors ensure 
that all issues that come before the board are considered in 
an impartial manner and from a variety of perspectives. The 
Chairman, who is independent, has a casting vote where 
necessary. The independent non-executive directors oversee 
the nomination of any potential directors.

The criteria for directorship and the election process are set out 
in the Company’s constitution.  The directors periodically review 
the composition of the board to ensure that members have 
the desired breadth of experience and expertise to govern the 
Company effectively. The size of the board dictates that there 
is no efficiency obtained in establishing a formal nomination 
committee. 

Directors are entitled to seek independent professional advice 
at the Company’s expense to assist them in fulfilling their duties 
in order to comply with all applicable laws and regulations. 
There is no formal procedure for the board to agree when to 
take independent advice at the expense of the Company, but 
given the size of the board there is no efficiency to be obtained 

15

Corporate Governance Report (continued)

in formalising this process. The independent non-executive 
directors exercise their judgment to call for such advice when 
they deem appropriate. The Chairman also has frequent 
contact with internal legal counsel to assess the need for 
external advice. 

The board met ten times during 2008. The details of 
attendance at these meetings are set out in the Directors’ 
Report.

The independent non-executive directors monitor and review 
the ongoing performance of the executive directors and 
key executives. The independent non-executive directors 
occasionally meet informally without management being 
present to generally discuss the affairs of the Company and the 
overall performance of key executives.

The independent non-executive directors are subject to 
the Company’s constitution and their continuity of tenure is 
dependent on re-election by shareholders in accordance with 
the constitution. 

Any decision regarding the appointment of new directors 
is taken cognizant of the need to appoint someone who is 
technically qualified and as far as possible familiar with the 
Company’s market sector.

While there is no formal induction process in place, the 
Chairman, Deputy Chairman and Group CEO undertake a 
rigorous process of briefing new board members. 

Given the size of the Company there is also direct informal 
communication on a regular basis between the Chairman and 
the Company Secretary on governance matters.

3. Ethical and Responsible Decision Making

The Company operates in accordance with appropriate laws, 
regulations, principles and ethics to fulfill its responsibilities.

The board’s policy is that the Company, the directors and 
employees in addition to their legal obligations must maintain 
high ethical standards in their dealings with the public and 
other members of the industry.

A pro forma Directors’ Code of Conduct was formally 
adopted in 2003 in order to meet the requirements of the ASX 
Governance Principles.

In 2007 the Directors’ Code of Conduct was expanded to 
apply to all employees, with the relevant changes.

The Company’s Human Resources Policy and Procedures, 
binding on all employees, also collectively embraces the 
substance of the ASX Governance Principles in a Code of 
Conduct, including expectations regarding behaviour in the 
workplace, disciplinary processes, grievance processes, 

discrimination and harassment, occupational health and 
safety, ethical business practices, conflict of interest, corporate 
opportunity and the like

A Trading Policy is accessible to the public at the Company 
website.

The Company is committed to training employees and 
maintaining employees’ relevant product expertise and 
undertakes trade practices training from time to time for 
relevant staff.

4. Integrity in Financial Reporting

The board assumes the responsibility to ensure the integrity 
of the Company’s financial reporting. Consistent with the 
requirements of the Corporations Act and Principle 4 of the 
ASX Governance Principles, the Group CEO and the Group 
CFO state in writing to the board that the Company’s financial 
reports present a true and fair view, in all material respects, of 
the Company’s operational results and are in accordance with 
relevant accounting standards.

The Audit Committee consists of John Thame and Ian Ferrier, 
independent, non-executive directors, to ensure independent 
review of financial reporting over and above formal audit 
processes. The Audit Committee also meets informally to 
discuss matters including risk management and reporting. The 
terms of reference of the committee are to review and monitor 
all financial, risk management and compliance policies. The 
terms of reference for the Audit Committee were formalised 
in a Charter in 2003 to meet the requirements of the ASX 
Governance Principles. Because there are only four directors, 
the Audit Committee cannot comprise of three members as 
required by Principle 4 of the ASX Governance Principles. 
Again the size of the board dictates that the role of the Audit 
Committee can operate efficiently and in accordance with the 
requirements of the ASX Governance Principles with only two 
members.

The independent non-executive directors comprising the Audit 
Committee collectively have considerable technical expertise in 
the market sector of the Company and in the area of so-called 
“financial literacy” as set out in the ASX Governance Principles.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, the Company’s auditors, report 
directly to the Audit Committee on the appropriateness of 
the Company’s internal accounting policies and practices. 
The board reviews the adequacy of existing external audit 
arrangements each year, with particular emphasis on the scope 
and quality of the audit.

Although not formally chartered, at each Audit Committee 
meeting, the independent non-executive directors meet 
separately with the auditors without management being 

16

Corporate Governance Report (continued)

present to review any concerns that the auditors may have 
regarding the financial management of the Company.

The Audit Committee met twice during 2008. The Audit 
Committee reports back to the board after each Audit 
Committee meeting. The details of attendance at these 
meetings are set out in the Directors’ Report.

5. Timely and Balanced Disclosure

The board remains conscious of the Company’s disclosure 
obligations under the Corporations Act, the ASX listing rules 
and the ASIC guidance principles. All required disclosures are 
also made in accordance with the Continuous Disclosure Policy 
which is accessible to the public at the Company website. 

6. Rights of Shareholders

Given the size of the Company, there is no formally 
documented communications strategy but the board is 
conscious of the requirements of Principle 6 of the ASX 
Governance Principles and acts in accordance with them. The 
Company communicates with shareholders through its ASX 
disclosures to the market. The Company also communicates 
with shareholders through the posting of statutory notices to 
shareholders and at the general and special meetings of the 
Company. The Company keeps recent announcements and 
general Company information on its website with a dedicated 
investor relations section which is accessible to the public. 
The website contains a link to the ASX website for older 
announcements.

The Company’s auditor attends the Annual General Meeting 
and is available to answer shareholder questions about the 
conduct of the audit and the preparation and content of the 
Auditor’s Report at the meeting.

7. Recognise and Manage Risk

As stated above in paragraph 1, the board is responsible for 
ensuring appropriate risk management, accountability, and 
control mechanisms. As stated above also in paragraph 4 
the Audit Committee meets to discuss matters regarding 
risk management and reporting. The efficiency that might be 
enjoyed by larger companies does not apply to the Company 
and hence there are no additional committees formally 
established and policies chartered for risk management.

The Group CEO and Group CFO monitor and review the 
financial performance of the Company and monitor any 
potential risk virtually on a daily basis. While there is no formal 
risk management system documented there is substantial 
compliance with the requirements of ASX Governance Principle 
7.

The board is responsible for the Company’s system of internal 
controls. It constantly monitors the operational and financial 

aspects of the Company’s activities and, through the Audit 
Committee, considers the recommendations and advice of 
auditors and other external advisers on the operational and 
financial risks that face the Company.

The Group CEO and Group CFO state in writing to the board 
which is included in the declaration referred to under paragraph 
4, that due consideration is given to budgets, cash flows, 
realisation of current assets, continuity of terms of trade, and 
consideration of contingencies in the day to day operations 
of the Company and in the monthly management financial 
reporting and statutory reporting of the Company.

Through the Audit Committee and meetings with the auditors, 
the board is also positioned to be informed of any changes to 
the general regulatory environment.

At present the nature of operations and scope of business is 
reasonably well established and understood by management 
and the board. Hence the need for formalising business 
risk management policies has not arisen. However, as the 
Company grows, consideration will be given to expanding the 
formal structures in place for risk management.

As set out above in paragraph 3, the Company and the board 
and management and employees are bound to observe all 
legal and ethical principles in the conduct of their activities in 
the Company.

8. Remunerate Fairly and Responsibly

The Company remunerates directors and key executives in 
accordance with the aspirations set out in ASX Governing 
Principle 8. Accordingly the board has adopted a remuneration 
policy designed to attract and maintain talented and motivated 
directors and senior employees so as to encourage enhanced 
performance of the Company. There is a clear relationship 
between performance and remuneration and a desire to strike 
the correct balance between the various components making 
up remuneration. The remuneration committee supervises 
the development and implementation of the Company’s 
remuneration policy including the operation of option plans, 
and reviews the performance of the executive directors 
and senior executives. There is no formal charter for the 
remuneration committee, but it does fix policy and reward in 
accordance with ASX Governance Principle 8. The full detail of 
the policy and remuneration is contained in the Remuneration 
Report.

The Remuneration Committee met twice during 2008. The 
details of attendance at these meetings are set out in the 
Directors’ Report.

17

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu 
ABN 74 490 121 060

Grosvenor Place 
225 George Street 
Sydney  NSW  2000 
PO Box N250 Grosvenor Place 
Sydney NSW 1220 Australia

DX 10307SSE 
Tel: +61 (0) 2 9322 7000 
Fax: +61 (0) 2 9322 7001 
www.deloitte.com.au

Independent Auditor’s Report to the  
Members of Reckon Limited

Report on the Financial Report

We have audited the accompanying financial report of Reckon Limited, which comprises the 
balance sheet as at 31 December 2008, and the income statement, cash flow statement and 
statement of recognised income and expense for the year ended on that date, a summary of 
significant accounting policies, other explanatory notes and the directors’ declaration of the 
consolidated entity comprising the company and the entities it controlled at the year’s end or 
from time to time during the financial year as set out on pages 21 to 53.

Directors’ Responsibility for the Financial Report

The directors of the company are responsible for the preparation and fair presentation 
of the financial report in accordance with Australian Accounting Standards (including the 
Australian Accounting Interpretations) and the Corporations Act 2001. This responsibility 
includes establishing and maintaining internal control relevant to the preparation and fair 
presentation of the financial report that is free from material misstatement, whether due 
to fraud or error; selecting and applying appropriate accounting policies; and making 
accounting estimates that are reasonable in the circumstances. In Note 1,the directors 
also state, in accordance with Accounting Standard AASB 101 Presentation of Financial 
Statements, that compliance with the Australian equivalents to International Financial 
Reporting Standards ensures that the financial report, comprising the financial statements 
and notes, complies with International Financial Reporting Standards.

Auditor’s Responsibility

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the financial report based on our audit. We 
conducted our audit in accordance with Australian Auditing Standards. These Auditing 
Standards require that we comply with relevant ethical requirements relating to audit 
engagements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance whether the 
financial report is free from material misstatement.

An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts 
and disclosures in the financial report. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s 
judgement, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the 
financial report, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the 
auditor considers internal control relevant to the entity’s preparation and fair presentation 
of the financial report in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the 
circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the 
entity’s internal control. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting 
policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates made by the directors, as 
well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial report.

We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide 
a basis for our audit opinion.

t
r
o
p
e
R
s
’
r
o
t
i
d
u
A

18

 
Auditor’s Independence Declaration

In conducting our audit, we have complied with the independence requirements of the 
Corporations Act 2001.

Auditor’s Opinion

In our opinion:

(a) 

the financial report of Reckon Limited is in accordance with the 
2001, including: 

Corporations Act 

(i)   giving a true and fair view of the company’s and consolidated entity’s financial  
  position as at 31 December 2008 and of their performance for the year ended on  

that date; and 

(ii)  complying with Australian Accounting Standards (including the Australian  
  Accounting Interpretations) and the Corporations Regulations 2001; and

(b) 

the financial report also complies with International Financial Reporting Standards as 
disclosed in Note 1.

Report on the Remuneration Report

We have audited the Remuneration Report included on pages 9 to 14 of the directors’ 
report for the year ended 31 December 2008. The directors of the company are 
responsible for the preparation and presentation of the Remuneration Report in accordance 
with section 300A of the Corporations Act 2001. Our responsibility is to express an opinion 
on the Remuneration Report, based on our audit conducted in accordance with Australian 
Auditing Standards.

Auditor’s Opinion

In our opinion the Remuneration Report of Reckon Limited for the year ended 31 
December 2008, complies with section 300A of the Corporations Act 2001.

DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU

Michael Kaplan

Partner

Chartered Accountants
Sydney, 27 March 2009

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

19

 
 
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu 
ABN 74 490 121 060

Grosvenor Place 
225 George Street 
Sydney  NSW  2000 
PO Box N250 Grosvenor Place 
Sydney NSW 1220 Australia

DX 10307SSE 
Tel: +61 (0) 2 9322 7000 
Fax: +61 (0) 2 9322 7001 
www.deloitte.com.au

27 March 2009

The Board of Directors

Reckon Limited

35 Saunders Street

Pyrmont NSW 2009

Dear Board Members

RECKON LIMITED

In accordance with section 307C of the Corporations Act 2001, I am pleased to provide the 
following declaration of independence to the directors of Reckon Limited.

As lead audit partner for the audit of the financial statements of Reckon Limited for the 
financial year ended 31 December 2008, I declare that to the best of my knowledge and 
belief, there have been no contraventions of:

(i)  the auditor independence requirements of the Corporations Act 2001 in relation to the  

audit; and

(ii)  any applicable code of professional conduct in relation to the audit. 

Yours sincerely

DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU

Michael Kaplan

Partner

Deloitte Growth Solutions Pty Limited

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation

20

Financial Report

Directors’ Declaration

The Directors declare that the financial statements and notes set out on pages 22 to 53: 

•	

•	

 comply with Accounting Standards, the 
mandatory professional reporting requirements; and

Corporations Regulations 2001 and other 

 give a true and fair view of the Company’s and consolidated entity’s financial position as 
at 31 December 2008 and of their performance, as represented by the results of their 
operations and their cash flows, for the financial year ended on that date.

In the Directors’ opinion:

•	

•	

 the financial statements and notes are in accordance with the 
and 

Corporations Act 2001; 

 there are reasonable grounds to believe that the company will be able to pay its debts 
as and when they become due and payable; and

This declaration is made in accordance with a resolution of the Directors and after receiving 
a declaration from the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer as contemplated in 
section 295A of the Corporations Act 2001.

On behalf of the Directors

Mr J Thame

Chairman

Sydney, 27 March 2009

21

Income Statements

for the year ended  
31 December 2008

Note

Consolidated

2008
$’000

2007
$’000

Parent

2008
$’000

2007
$’000

Revenue 

2

60,775

56,153

44,788

42,135

Product and selling costs

Royalties

Employee benefits expenses

Employee related expenses

Expense of share-based payments

Marketing expenses

Premises and establishment expenses

Depreciation and amortisation

Telecommunications

Legal and professional expenses

Finance costs

Other expenses

Profit before income tax 

Income tax expense

Profit for the year

Loss attributable to minority interest
Profit attributable to members of Reckon Limited

Basic Earnings per Share

Diluted Earnings per Share

The above income statements should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes.

(5,358)

(4,211)

(19,145)

(906)

(301)

(4,467)

(1,771)

(4,663)

(809)

(441)

-
(3,580)

15,123

(3,811)

11,312

–
11,312

(5,010)

(4,081)

(17,432)

(835)

(571)

(4,275)

(1,593)

(3,839)

(748)

(672)

-
(3,763)

13,334

(3,441)

9,893

–
9,893

Cents
8.5

Cents
7.5

8.5

7.4

3

22

23

23

(3,728)

(4,200)

(10,430)

(597)

(301)

(3,736)

(1,144)

(4,511)

(530)

(350)

(93)
(1,991)

13,177

(2,214)

10,963

–
10,963

(3,548)

(4,062)

(9,674)

(596)

(571)

(3,571)

(1,022)

(3,636)

(500)

(554)

(21)
(1,865)

12,515

(2,358)

10,157

–
10,157

22

Balance Sheets

as at 31 December 2008

ASSETS
Current Assets
Cash and cash equivalents
Trade and other receivables
Inventories
Other assets
Total Current Assets
Non-Current Assets
Receivables
Other financial assets
Property, plant and equipment
Deferred tax assets
Intangible assets
Other assets
Total Non-Current Assets
Total Assets
LIABILITIES
Current Liabilities
Trade and other payables
Current tax liabilities
Provisions
Other liabilities
Total Current Liabilities
Non-Current Liabilities
Borrowings
Deferred tax liabilities
Provisions
Other liabilities
Total Non-Current Liabilities
Total Liabilities
Net Assets
Equity
Issued capital
Reserves
Retained earnings
Parent entity interest
Minority interest

Total Equity

The above balance sheets should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes.

Note

Consolidated

2008
$’000

16,134
4,993
440
855
22,422

-
629
2,543
426
24,088
905
28,591
51,013

4,918
1,742
808
3,076
10,544

-
640
605
841
2,086
12,630
38,383

17,566
816
20,003
38,385
(2)

38,383

2007
$’000

14,141
4,205
349
846
19,541

-
380
1,714
387
23,326
324
26,131
45,672

5,038
937
727
2,688
9,390

-
732
720
178
1,630
11,020
34,652

18,203
513
15,938
34,654
(2)

34,652

28
6
5
7

6
8
9
10
11
12

13

14
15

16
17
14
18

20
21
22

29

Parent

2008
$’000

14,889
1,161
280
401
16,731

1,029
15,069
1,613
-
13,062
905
31,678
48,409

3,036
1,569
351
2,010
6,966

3,052
210
432
733
4,427
11,393
37,016

17,566
958
18,492
37,016
–

37,016

2007
$’000

11,037
1,489
196
461
13,183

527
14,820
811
-
12,269
324
28,751
41,934

3,098
1,205
367
1,690
6,360

1,395
302
437
-
2,134
8,494
33,440

18,203
461
14,776
33,440
–

33,440

23

Statements of Recognised Income and Expense

for the year ended 31 December 2008

Note

Consolidated

Parent

Exchange differences on translation of foreign subsidiaries

21

Net income/(loss) recognised directly into equity

Profit for the year
Total recognised income and expense for the year

Attributable to:

Members of Reckon Limited

Minority interest

The above statements of changes in equity should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes.

2008
$’000

(194)

(69)

11,312
11,118

11,118

–
11,118

2007
$’000

(69)

(130)

9,893
9,824

9,824

–
9,824

2008
$’000

–

–

10,963
10,963

10,963

–
10,963

2007
$’000

–

–

10,157
10,157

10,157

–
10,157

24

Cash Flow Statements

for the year ended 31 December 2008

Note

Consolidated
Inflows/(Outflows)

Parent
Inflows/(Outflows)

2008 
$’000

2007 
$’000

2008 
$’000

2007 
$’000

Cash Flows From Operating Activities

Receipts from customers

Payments to suppliers and employees

Interest received

Dividends received

Income taxes paid

Net cash inflow from operating activities

28(c)

Cash Flows From Investing Activities

Payment for purchase of business, net of cash acquired

Payments for purchase of intellectual property

Payment for deferred acquisition costs

Expenditure on capitalised development costs 

Payment for property, plant and equipment

Increase in loans from subsidiaries

Payments for security deposits 

Net cash outflow from investing activities

Cash Flows From Financing Activities

Proceeds from issues of equity securities

Payments for treasury shares

Dividends paid to Company’s shareholders

Net cash outflow from financing activities

Net Increase in cash and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the 
financial year
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the 
financial year

28(a) 

The above cash flow statements should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes.

65,180

 (46,548)

804

-

(3,137)

16,299

(366)

(40)

(905)

(4,634)

(664)

-

(249)

(6,858)

113

(314)

(7,247)

(7,448)

1,993

14,141

16,134

60,496

 (43,889)

721

-

(2,711)

14,617

(2,315)

(100)

-

(3,745)

(537)

-

(79)

(6,776)

203

-

(6,629)

(6,426)

1,415

12,726

14,141

41,236

(27,405)

626

3,312

(1,942)

15,827

(366)

(40)

(905)

(4,841)

(309)

2,183

(249)

(4,527)

113

(314)

(7,247)

(7,448)

3,852

11,037

14,889

39,094

(26,137)

401

3,150

(2,005)

14,503

(2,315)

(100)

-

(3,900)

(235)

1,632

(94)

(5,012)

203

-

(6,629)

(6,426)

3,065

7,972

11,037

25

Notes to the Financial Statements

for the year ended 31 December 2008

1.  Summary of Significant Accounting Policies 

(c) Depreciation and Amortisation

The principal accounting policies adopted in the preparation of 
the financial report are set out below. Unless otherwise stated, 
the accounting policies adopted are consistent with those 
of the previous year. The financial report includes separate 
financial statements for Reckon Limited as an individual entity 
and the consolidated entity consisting of Reckon Limited and 
its subsidiaries.

Basis of preparation

This general purpose financial report has been prepared 
in accordance with Australian Accounting Standards and 
Interpretations and the Corporations Act 2001, and complies 
with the other requirements of the law.

Australian Accounting Standards include Australian equivalents 
to International Financial Reporting Standards. Compliance 
with AIFRS ensures that the consolidated financial statements 
and notes of Reckon Limited, complies with International 
Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs).

The financial report has been prepared in accordance with the 
historical cost convention, except for the revaluation of certain 
non-current assets and financial instruments.

Significant Accounting Policies

(a) Trade Payables

These amounts represent liabilities for goods and services 
provided to the consolidated entity prior to the end of the 
financial year and which are unpaid.  These amounts are 
unsecured and are usually paid within 30 days of the month of 
recognition. Trade payables are recognised initially at fair value, 
and subsequently at amortised cost.

(b) Acquisition of Assets 

Assets acquired are recorded at the cost of acquisition, being 
the fair value of the purchase consideration determined as at 
the date of acquisition plus costs incidental to the acquisition.   
Where equity instruments are issued in an acquisition, the value 
of the instruments is the weighted average of their closing 
market price for the total of the five business days either side of 
the acquisition date.

In the event that settlement of all or part of the consideration 
given in the acquisition of an asset is deferred, the fair value of 
the purchase consideration is determined by discounting the 
amounts payable in the future to their present value as at the 
date of acquisition.  However, where the deferred component 
is subject to certain criteria being met, the amount deferred is 
recognised based on an estimate where it is probable that the 
relevant criteria will be met. If the amount is not probable or 
cannot be reliably measured, no amount is recognised.

Depreciation is provided on plant and equipment.  Depreciation 
is calculated on a straight-line basis. Leasehold improvements 
are amortised over the period of the lease or the estimated 
useful life, whichever is the shorter, using the straight-line 
method.  The following estimated useful lives are used in the 
calculation of depreciation and amortisation:

Plant and equipment 
Leasehold improvements   

(d) Employee Benefits 

3 – 5 years 
3 – 6 years

Provision is made for benefits accruing to employees in respect 
of wages and salaries, annual leave and long service leave, 
when it is probable that settlement will be required and they are 
capable of being measured reliably.

Provisions made in respect of wages and salaries, annual 
leave, and other employee entitlements expected to be settled 
within 12 months are measured at the amounts expected to be 
paid when the liabilities are settled.

Provisions made in respect of long service leave which are not 
expected to be settled within 12 months are measured as the 
present value of the estimated future cash outflows to be made 
by the consolidated entity in respect of services provided by 
employees up to the reporting date, using the projected unit 
credit method. Consideration is given to expected future wage 
and salary levels, experience of employee departures and 
periods of service.

The Group recognises a liability and an expense for the long 
term incentive plan for selected executives based on a formula 
that takes into consideration the ranking of total shareholder 
return measured against a comparator group of companies. 

Contributions are made by the Group to defined contribution 
employee superannuation funds and are charged as expenses 
when incurred.

(e) Contributed Equity

Transaction Costs on the Issue of Equity Instruments

Transaction costs arising on the issue of equity instruments are 
recognised directly in equity as a reduction of the proceeds of 
the equity instruments to which the costs relate.  Transaction 
costs are the costs that are incurred directly in connection with 
the issue of those equity instruments and which would not 
have been incurred had those instruments not been issued.

(f) Foreign Currency Translation

Functional and presentation currency

Items included in the financial statements of each of the 
Group’s entities are measured using the currency of the primary 

26

Notes to the Financial Statements
Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008
for the year ended 31 December 2008

economic environment in which the entity operates (“the 
functional currency”). The consolidated financial statements 
are presented in Australian dollars, which is Reckon Limited’s 
functional and presentation currency.

Transactions and balances 

All foreign currency transactions during the financial year have 
been brought to account in the functional currency using the 
exchange rate in effect at the date of the transaction.  Foreign 
currency monetary items at reporting date are translated at the 
exchange rate existing at that date. Exchange differences are 
brought to account in the income statement in the period in 
which they arise.

Group companies

The results and financial position of all the Group entities (none 
of which has the currency of a hyperinflationary economy) 
that have a functional currency different from the presentation 
currency are translated into the presentation currency of the 
consolidated entity as follows:

•	

•	

Assets and liabilities for each balance sheet presented are 
translated at the closing rate at the date of the balance 
sheet;

Income and expenses for each income statement 
are translated at average rates (unless this is not a 
reasonable approximation of the cumulative effect of the 
rates prevailing on the transaction dates, in which case 
income and expenses are translated at the dates of the 
transactions); and

•	

All resulting exchange differences are recognised as a 
separate component of equity.

On consolidation, exchange differences arising from the 
translation of monetary items forming part of the net investment 
in foreign entities, and of borrowings and other currency 
instruments designated as hedges of such investments, are 
taken directly to reserves. When a foreign operation is sold or 
borrowings repaid, a proportionate share of such exchange 
differences are recognised in the income statement as part of 
the gain or loss on sale.

Goodwill and fair value adjustments arising on the acquisition of 
a foreign entity are treated as assets and liabilities of the foreign 
entity at the closing rate.  

(g) Goods and Services Tax

Revenues, expenses and assets are recognised net of the 
amount of goods and services tax (GST), except:

i. 

where the amount of GST incurred is not recoverable from 
the taxation authority, it is recognised as part of the cost of 
acquisition of an asset or as part of an item of expense; or

ii. 

for receivables and payables which are recognised inclusive 
of GST.

The net amount of GST recoverable from, or payable to, the 
taxation authority is included as part of receivables or payables.

(h) Intangible assets 

Goodwill

Where an entity or operation is acquired, the identifiable 
net assets acquired are measured at fair value.  Goodwill 
represents the excess of the fair value of the cost of acquisition 
over the fair value of the identifiable net assets acquired. 
Goodwill is not amortised, and is tested for impairment annually 
or more frequently if events or changes in circumstances 
indicate that it might be impaired. Following initial recognition 
goodwill is measured at cost less any accumulated impairment 
losses. 

Goodwill is allocated to cash-generating units for the purpose 
of impairment testing. Each of those cash-generating units 
represents the Group’s investment in each country of operation 
by each primary reporting segment which represents the 
lowest level within the Group at which the goodwill is monitored 
for internal management purposes. If an impairment has 
been identified, the goodwill is written down and an expense 
recognised in the income statement. Impairment losses 
recognised for goodwill are not subsequently reversed.

Intellectual Property

Acquired Intellectual Property is recognised at cost, less 
accumulated amortisation and any impairment losses, and is 
amortised on a straight-line basis between 3-5 years.

Research and development costs

Research and development expenditure is recognised as an 
expense when incurred, except in the undernoted instances.

Development costs in respect of enhancements on existing 
APS and Elite suites of software applications are capitalised 
and written off over a 3-year period. Development costs on 
technically and commercially feasible new APS and Elite 
products are capitalised and written off on a straight-line basis 
over a period of 3 years commencing at the time of commercial 
release of the new product.

Development costs include cost of materials, direct labour and 
appropriate overheads.

At each balance sheet date, a review of the carrying value of 
the capitalised development costs being carried forward is 
undertaken to ensure the carrying value is recoverable from 
future revenue generated by the sale of that software.

27

Notes to the Financial Statements
Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008
for the year ended 31 December 2008

(i) Income Tax

The income tax expense or revenue for the period is the tax 
payable on the current period’s taxable income based on 
the national income tax rate for each jurisdiction adjusted by 
changes in deferred tax assets and liabilities attributable to 
temporary differences between the tax bases of assets and 
liabilities, and their carrying amounts in the financial statements, 
and to unused tax losses.

Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognised for temporary 
differences at the tax rates expected to apply when the assets 
are recovered or liabilities are settled, based on those tax 
rates which are enacted or substantively enacted for each 
jurisdiction. The relevant tax rates are applied to the cumulative 
amounts of deductible and taxable temporary differences to 
measure the deferred tax asset or liability. An exception is 
made for certain temporary differences arising from the initial 
recognition of an asset or liability. No deferred tax asset or 
liability is recognised in relation to those temporary differences if 
they arose in a transaction, other than a business combination, 
that at the time of the transaction did not affect either 
accounting profit or taxable profit or loss.

Deferred tax assets are recognised for deductible temporary 
differences and unused tax losses only if it is probable that 
future taxable amounts will be available to utilise those 
temporary differences and losses. All deferred tax liabilities are 
recognised.

Current and deferred tax balances attributable to amounts 
recognised directly in equity are also recognised directly in 
equity.

Reckon Limited, and its wholly-owned Australian controlled 
entities have formed a tax consolidated group. 

Under the tax consolidation regime, the parent Company is 
responsible for recognising the current tax assets and liabilities 
both for itself and its underlying subsidiaries. Therefore any 
current tax assets or liabilities attributable to the underlying 
subsidiaries are assumed by the parent Company. 

Deferred tax is recognised by each entity within the Group, 
with the exception of deferred tax assets arising from available 
tax losses and tax credits, which are assumed by the parent 
Company.

Both current and deferred tax assets and liabilities are 
calculated as if each entity were a standalone taxpayer.

All the wholly-owned Australian subsidiaries in the Group 
have entered into a tax funding agreement, which requires 
that all balances assumed by the head entity are settled in 
full. Furthermore, in the event that the head entity defaults in 
its obligations under the tax consolidation system, each entity 
in the Group is limited in its obligation to fund the income tax 

28

obligation of the head entity to the proportion that the tax 
liability to which the entity would have been liable had the 
Group not elected to become a tax consolidated entity bears to 
the total taxation liability of the head entity.

(j) Inventories

Inventories are stated at the lower of cost and net realisable 
value.  Costs are assigned to inventory on hand on a weighted 
average cost basis.

(k) Investments in subsidiaries

Investments in subsidiaries are recorded at cost.  

Dividend revenue is taken to income on a receivable basis. 

(l) Leased Assets

A distinction is made between finance leases which effectively 
transfer from the lessor to the lessee substantially all the risks 
and benefits incident to ownership of leased assets, and 
operating leases under which the lessor effectively retains 
substantially all the risks and benefits.

The consolidated entity does not have any finance leases in 
force.

Operating lease payments are recognised on a straight-line 
basis over the lease term, except where another systematic 
basis is more representative of the time pattern in which 
economic benefits from the leased assets are consumed. 
Contingent rentals arising under operating leases are 
recognised as an expense in the period in which they are 
incurred.  Lease incentives are initially recognised as a liability 
and are amortised over the term of the lease on a straight-line 
basis.

(m) Principles of Consolidation

The consolidated financial statements have been prepared 
by combining the financial statements of all the entities that 
comprise the consolidated entity, being the Company (the 
parent entity) and its subsidiaries. Subsidiaries are all entities 
over which the Group has the power to govern the financial 
and operating policies.

The consolidated financial statements include the information 
and results of each subsidiary from the date on which the 
Company obtains control and until such time as the Company 
ceases to control the entity.

In preparing the consolidated financial statements, all inter-
company balances and transactions, and unrealised profits 
arising from transactions within the consolidated entity are 
eliminated in full.

Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

(n) Receivables

Interest and Other Revenue

Trade receivables and other receivables are recorded at 
amortised cost, less impairment.

(o) Impairment of assets

Interest revenue is recognised on a time proportional basis 
taking into account the effective interest rates applicable to the 
financial assets.  Other revenue is recognised when the right to 
receive the revenue has been established. 

Assets that have an indefinite useful life are not subject to 
amortisation and are tested annually for impairment. Assets 
that are subject to amortisation are reviewed for impairment 
whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that 
the carrying amount may not be recoverable. An impairment 
loss is recognised for the amount by which the asset’s carrying 
amount exceeds its recoverable amount. The recoverable 
amount is the higher of an asset’s fair value less costs to sell 
and value in use. For the purposes of assessing impairment, 
assets are grouped at the lowest levels for which there are 
separately identifiable cash flows (cash-generating units). 

(p) Revenue Recognition

Sale of Goods and Disposal of Assets

Revenue from the sale of goods and disposal of other assets 
is recognised when the consolidated entity has passed control 
of the goods or other assets to the buyer, the fee is fixed or 
determinable and collectability is probable.

APS software licence fee revenue is recognised at the point 
when the customer is in agreement for a “live operation” (i.e. 
when the customer accepts that all users can use the system 
on a fully functional basis).

Rendering of Services

Revenue from a contract to provide services is recognised 
by reference to the stage of completion of the contract or on 
a time and materials basis depending upon the nature of the 
contract.

Support and maintenance revenue is recognised on a 
straight-line basis over the period of the contract, unless the 
cost of providing the technical support is insignificant. Under 
those circumstances the revenue and the associated cost of 
providing the technical support is accrued upon shipment of 
the goods. In multiple element arrangements where goods 
and services are sold as a bundled product, the fair value of 
the services is recognised as revenue over the period during 
which the service is performed, unless cost of providing 
those services is insignificant. Under those circumstances the 
revenue and the associated cost of providing the services is 
accrued upon shipment of the goods.

Royalty Income

Royalty income is recognised on an accruals basis in 
accordance with the substance of the relevant agreement.

(q) Deferred Revenue

Revenue earned from maintenance and support services 
provided on sales of certain products by the consolidated entity 
are deferred and then recognised in the income statement over 
the contract period as the services are performed, normally 12 
months. Refer note 1(p) for further detail. 

(r) Earnings per share

Basic earnings per share is determined by dividing net profit 
after income tax attributable to members of the Company by 
the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding 
during the financial year, adjusted for bonus elements in 
ordinary shares issued during the year.

Diluted earnings per share adjusts the figures in the 
determination of basic earnings per share by taking into 
account the after income tax effect of interest and other 
financing costs associated with dilutive potential ordinary 
shares and the weighted average number of dilutive potential 
ordinary shares.

(s) Share–based compensation benefits

Equity-based compensation benefits are provided to 
employees via the Employee Option Plan. 

The fair value of options granted is recognised as an employee 
benefit expense with a corresponding increase in equity. The 
fair value is measured at grant date and recognised over the 
period during which the employees become unconditionally 
entitled to the options.

The fair value at grant date is independently determined 
using a binomial option pricing model that takes into account 
the exercise price, the term of the option, the share price at 
grant date, the expected volatility of the underlying share, the 
expected dividend yield and the risk free rate for the term of the 
option.

The fair value of the options granted excludes the impact of any 
non-market vesting conditions. Non-market vesting conditions 
are included in assumptions about the number of options that 
are expected to become exercisable. At each balance date, 
the entity revises its estimate of the number of options that 
are expected to become exercisable. The employee benefit 
expense recognised each period takes into account the most 
recent estimate.

29

Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

Upon the exercise of options, the balance of the share-based 
payments reserve relating to those options is transferred to 
share capital.

(t) Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents include cash on hand, deposits 
held at call with financial institutions and bank overdrafts. 

(u) Other financial assets

Other financial assets represent security deposits held as rental 
guarantees. They are valued at amortised cost.

 (v) Provisions

Provisions are recognised when the Group has a legal or 
constructive obligation, as a result of past events, for which it 
is probable that an outflow of economic benefits will result and 
that the outflow can be reliably measured.

(w) Fair Value estimation

The fair value of financial instruments and share based 
payments that are not traded in an active market is determined 
using valuation techniques. The Group uses a variety of 
methods and assumptions that are based on existing market 
conditions. Other techniques, such as estimated discounted 
cash flows, are used to determine fair value for the remaining 
instruments. 

The Directors consider that the nominal value less estimated 
credit adjustments of trade receivables and payables 
approximate their fair values.

(x) Rounding of amounts

value of the services is recognised as revenue over the period 
during which the service is performed

Significant accounting estimates and assumptions

The carrying amount of certain assets and liabilities are often 
determined based on estimates and assumptions of future 
events. The key estimates and assumptions that have a 
significant risk of causing material adjustment to the carrying 
amounts of certain assets and liabilities are:

Impairment of goodwill – the Group determines whether 
goodwill is impaired on an annual basis. This requires an 
estimation of the recoverable amount of the cash-generating 
unit to which the goodwill is allocated. The assumptions used 
in this estimation, and the effect if these assumptions change, 
are disclosed in Note 11.

Share-based payments – the Group measures the cost of 
equity-settled transactions with employees by reference to the 
fair value of the equity instruments at the date on which they 
are granted. The fair value has been determined using the 
Binomial Option Pricing Model, and the assumptions related to 
this can be found in Note 19.

(z) New accounting standards not yet effective

At the date of authorisation of the financial report, a number 
of Standards and Interpretations were in issue but not yet 
effective.

Initial application of the following Standards will not affect 
any of the amounts recognised in the financial report, but will 
change the disclosures presently made in relation to the Group 
and the company’s financial report.

The parent entity has applied the relief available to it under 
ASIC Class Order 98/100, and accordingly, amounts in the 
financial report have been rounded off to the nearest thousand 
dollars.

Standard

(y) Significant accounting judgments, estimates and 
assumptions

Significant accounting judgments

In applying the Group’s accounting policies, management has 
made the following judgments which have the most significant 
effect on the financial statements:

Capitalisation of development costs – the Group has adopted 
a policy of capitalising development costs only for products for 
which an assessment is made that the product is technically 
feasible and will generate definite economic benefits for the 
Group going forward. The capitalised costs are subsequently 
amortised over the expected useful life of the product.

Revenue recognition - in multiple element arrangements where 
goods and services are sold as a bundled product, the fair 

AASB 101 ‘Presentation 
of Financial Statements’ 
(revised September 
2007), AASB 2007-8 
‘Amendments to 
Australian accounting 
Standards arising from 
AASB 101’

AASB 8 ‘Operating 
Segments’, AASB 
2007-3 ‘Amendments 
to Australian Accounting 
Standards arising from 
AASB 8’

Effective for 
annual reporting 
periods 
beginning on or 
after

Expected to 
be initially 
applied in 
the financial 
year ending

1 January 2009

31 
December 
2009

1 January 2009

31 
December 
2009

30

Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

Initial application of the following Standards is not expected to have any material impact on the financial report of the Group and the 
company:

Standard/Interpretation

AASB 123 ‘ Borrowing Costs’ (revised), 
AASB 2007-6 ‘Amendments to Australian 
Accounting Standards arising from AASB 
123’

AASB 3 ‘Business Combinations’ (2008), 
AASB 127 ‘Consolidated and Separate 
Financial Statements’ and AASB 2008-3 
‘Amendments to Australian Accounting 
Standards arising from AASB 3 and 
AASB 127’

AASB 2008-1 ‘Amendments to Australian 
Accounting Standard – Share-based 
Payments: Vesting Conditions and 
Cancellations’

AASB 2008-2 ‘Amendments to Australian 
Accounting Standards – Puttable 
Financial Instruments and Obligations 
arising on Liquidation’

AASB 2008-5 ‘Amendments to Australian 
Accounting Standards arising from the 
Annual Improvements Project’

AASB 2008-6 ‘Further Amendments to 
Australian Accounting Standards arising 
from the Annual Improvements Project’

AASB 2008-7 ‘Amendments to 
Australian Accounting Standards – Cost 
of an Investment in a Subsidiary, Jointly 
Controlled Entity or Associate’

AASB 2008-8 ‘Amendment to Australian 
Accounting Standards – Eligible Hedged 
Items’

AASB 2008-10 ‘Amendments to 
Australian Accounting Standards – 
Reclassification of Financial Assets’

AASB 2008-13 ‘Amendments to 
Australian Accounting Standards 
arising from AASB Interpretation 
17 – Distributions of non-cash assets to 
owners’

Effective for annual reporting periods 
beginning on or after

Expected to be initially applied in the 
financial year ending

1 January 2009

31 December 2009

AASB 3 (business combinations 
occurring after the beginning of annual 
reporting periods beginning 1 July 2009), 
AASB 127 and AASB 2008-3 (1 July 
2009)

31 December 2010

1 January 2009

31 December 2009

1 January 2009

31 December 2009

1 January 2009

31 December 2009

1 July 2009

31 December 2010

1 January 2009

31 December 2009

1 July 2009

31 December 2010

1 July 2008

31 December 2009

1 July 2009

31 December 2010

AASB Interpretation 13 ‘Customer Loyalty 
Programmes’

1 July 2008

AASB Interpretation 16 ‘Hedges of a Net 
Investment in a Foreign Operation’

1 October 2008

AASB Interpretation 17 ‘Distributions of 
Non-Cash Assets to Owners’

1 July 2009

31 December 2009

31 December 2009

31 December 2010

31

Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

Consolidated

2008
$’000

2007
$’000

Parent

2008
$’000

2007
$’000

2. Profit for the year 

Profit before income tax includes the following items of 
revenue and expense:
Revenue 

Sales revenue

Sale of goods and rendering of services

59,871

55,274

37,026

35,372

Other revenue

Other income

Interest revenue – Bank deposits

Royalty revenue

Dividend income

Expenses

Cost of Sales

Bad debt expense:

  Other Entities

Finance costs expensed: Wholly-owned controlled entities

Net transfers to/(from) provisions:

   Sales returns and rebates

   Employee benefits

   Allowance for doubtful debts

Depreciation of non-current assets:

   Property, plant and equipment

Amortisation of non-current assets:

   Leasehold improvements

   Intellectual property

   Development costs

Foreign exchange losses/(gains)  

Research and development costs

Operating lease rental expenses:
   Minimum lease payments

100

804

-

-

158

721

-

-

904

60,775

879

56,153

163

626

3,661

3,312

7,762

44,788

192

401

3,020

3,150

6,763

42,135

9,569

9,091

7,928

7,610

-

-

55

32

23

552

196

602

3,313

(155)

2,342

20

-

(139)

530

(50)

473

174

748

2,444

39

2,438

1,718

1,480

-

93

55

(19)

43

346

119

602

3,444

4

2,260

1,015

12

21

(139)

450

(84)

308

24

748

2,556

8

2,438

902

32

Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

3. Income Tax
(a) Income tax expense

Current tax

Deferred tax

Under /(over) provided in prior years

(b) The prima facie income tax expense on pre-tax accounting 
profit reconciles to the income tax expense/(income tax revenue) 
in the financial statements as follows:
Profit before income tax

Income tax expense calculated at 30% of profit

Tax effect of:

Effect of higher tax rates on overseas income

Tax effect of non-deductible/non-taxable items:

Dividends

Research and development claims

Share-based payments

Sundry items

Under/(over) provision in prior years

Benefit of tax losses of prior years recouped
Income tax expense attributable to profit

(c)  Future income tax benefits not brought to account as an 
asset: not probable of recovery
Tax losses:

Revenue

Capital

Consolidated

2008
$’000

2007
$’000

Parent

2008
$’000

4,169

(133)

(225)
3,811

3,549

84

(192)
3,441

2,540

(92)

(234)
2,214

2007
$’000

2,337

129

(108)
2,358

15,123

4,537

13,334

4,000

13,177

3,953

12,515

3,755

-

-

(530)

-

29

4,036

(225)

-
3,811

-

2,261
2,261

42

-

(364)

3

27

3,708

(192)

(75)
3,441

-

2,261
2,261

-

-

(994)

(530) 

-

19

2,448

(234)

-
2,214

-

2,261
2,261

(945)

(364)

3

17

2,466

(108)

-
2,358

-

2,261
2,261

33

Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

4. Remuneration of Auditors
During the year, the auditors of the parent entity and its related 
practices earned the following remuneration:
(a) Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Auditing and reviewing of financial reports
Due diligence and other assurance services
Tax compliance and consulting services

(b) Other Auditors

Auditing and reviewing of financial reports

Other assurance services

Tax compliance services

5. Inventories
Finished goods:

Consolidated

2008
$

2007
$

Parent

2008
$

2007
$

164,777
42,750
80,914
288,441

32,181

-

25,139

57,320
345,761

130,158
-
70,296
200,454

45,444

18,520

24,223

88,187
288,641

Consolidated

2008
$’000

2007
$’000

135,915
42,750
80,914
259,579

109,482
-
70,296
179,778

–

–

–

–

–

–

–
259,579

–
179,778

Parent

2008
$’000

2007
$’000

At lower of cost and net realisable value

440

349

280

196

6. Trade and Other Receivables
Current:

Trade receivables1

Allowance for doubtful debts

Other receivables

Non current:

Unsecured loans to subsidiaries2
i. 

The aging of past due trade receivables at year-end is 
detailed as:

Past due 0-30 days

Past due 31-60 days

Past due 60+ days
Total

The movement in the allowance for doubtful accounts in 
respect of trade receivables is detailed below:

Balance at beginning of the year

Amounts written off during the year

Increase in allowance recognised in the profit and loss

Balance at end of year

4,670

(317)

4,353

640
4,993

4,019

(294)

3,725

480
4,205

912

(233)

679

482
1,161

1,292

(190)

1,102

387
1,489

–

–

1,029

527

982

466

504

616

397

417

1,952

1,430

294

-

23

317

364

(20)

(50)

294

168

107

-

275

190

-

43

233

118

158

-

276

286

(12)

(84)

190

1 

The average credit period on provision of services is 30 days.  No interest is charged on trade 
receivable balances overdue. The Group has used the following basis to assess the allowance 
loss for trade receivables and as a result is unable to specifically allocate the allowance to the 
ageing categories shown above: 
- a general provision based on historical bad debt experience; 
- the general economic conditions; 
- an individual account by account specific risk assessment based on past credit history; and 
- any prior knowledge of debtor insolvency or other credit risk. 

Included in the Group’s trade receivable balance are debtors with a carrying amount of 
$1,635,000 (2007: $1,136,000) which are past due at the reporting date which the Group has 
not provided for as there has been no significant change in credit quality and the Group believes 
that the amounts are still considered recoverable.  The Group does not hold any collateral over 
these balances.

2 

The loans to wholly owned subsidiaries have no fixed repayment terms. The loans are interest 
free.

34

Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

7. Other Assets
Prepayments

Other

8. Other Financial Assets
Security deposits

Shares in controlled entities - at cost (note 26)

9. Property, Plant And Equipment
Leasehold Improvements

At cost

Less: Accumulated amortisation

Total leasehold improvements

Plant and equipment

At cost
Less: Accumulated depreciation
Total plant & equipment

Reconciliations

Consolidated

2008
$’000

2007
$’000

740

115
855

629

-
629

2,329

1,119
1,210

(225)

5,417
4,084
1,333

2,543

714

132
846

380

-
380

1,368

937
431

(192)

5,046
3,763
1,283

1,714

Parent

2008
$’000

401

-
401

2007
$’000

461

-
461

629

14,440
15,069

380

14,440
14,820

1,732

835
897

(234)

4,234
3,518
716

1,613

763

716
47

(108)

3,937
3,173
764

811

Reconciliations of the carrying amounts of each class of property, plant and equipment at the beginning and end of the financial year 
are set out below.

Consolidated

Carrying amount at 1 January 2008

Additions

Depreciation/amortisation expense

Balance at 31 December 2008

Parent Entity
Carrying amount at 1 January 2008

Additions

Depreciation/amortisation expense

Balance at 31 December 2008

Leasehold 
Improvements
$’000

Plant and 
Equipment
$’000

431

975

(196)

1,210

47

969

(119)

897

1,283

647

(597)

1,333

764

298

(346)

716

Total
$’000

1,714

1,622

(793)

2,543

811

1,267

(465)

1,613

35

Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

Leasehold 
Improvements
$’000

Plant and 
Equipment
$’000

556

50

(175)

431

64

7

(24)

47

1,177

606

(500)

1,283

815

257

(308)

764

Consolidated

2008
$’000

2007
$’000

Parent

2008
$’000

22

314

-

90
426

387

41

–
426

6,270

(5,138)

1,132
16,573

(8,325)

8,248
14,708

24,088

32

205

75

75
387

158

229

–
387

6,230

(4,536)

1,694
11,894

(5,012)

6,882
14,750

23,326

–

–

–

–
–

–

–

–
–

6,270

(5,138)

1,132
17,255

(8,727)

8,528
3,402

13,062

Total
$’000

1,733

656

(675)

1,714

879

264

(332)

811

2007
$’000

–

–

–

–
–

–

–

–
–

6,230

(4,536)

1,694
12,414

(5,283)

7,131
3,444

12,269

9. Property, Plant and Equipment (cont.) 

Consolidated

Carrying amount at 1 January 2007

Additions

Depreciation/amortisation expense

Balance at 31 December 2007

Parent Entity
Carrying amount at 1 January 2007

Additions

Depreciation/amortisation expense

Balance at 31 December 2007

10. Deferred Tax Asset
The balance comprises temporary differences attributable to:

Doubtful debts

Employee benefits

Deferred revenue

Other provisions

Details of unrecognised deferred tax assets can be found in 
Note 3(c)

Opening balance at 1 January

Credited (charged) to the income statement

Acquisition of businesses
Balance at 31 December

11. Intangibles
Intellectual property – at cost

Accumulated amortisation

Development costs – at cost

Accumulated amortisation

Goodwill – at cost

36

Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

11. Intangibles (cont.)

Aggregate amortisation allocated during the year is recognised 
as an expense and disclosed in note 2 to the financial 
statements.

Impairment test for goodwill 
Goodwill is allocated to the Group’s cash-generating units 
(CGUs) identified according to the business entities acquired, 
as follows:

APS Australia

APS New Zealand 

Reckon Elite

Reckon Shelco

Consolidated

2008
$’000

9,564

1,742

2,536

866

2007
$’000

9,564

1,742

2,536

908

14,708

14,750

Consolidated movements in intangibles

At 1 January 2008

Additions

Adjustment to purchase price

Amortisation charge
At 31 December 2008

At 1 January 2007

Additions

Amortisation charge
At 31 December 2007

Parent movements in intangibles

At 1 January 2008

Additions

Adjustment to purchase price

Amortisation charge
At 31 December 2008

At 1 January 2007

Additions

Amortisation charge
At 31 December 2007

The recoverable amount of a CGU is determined based on 
value-in-use calculations. The calculations use cash flow 
projections based on annual financial budgets for 2009 
approved by the Board. Cash flows beyond the annual budget 
are extrapolated for 5 years using estimated average growth 
rates of 10 percent per annum, which are based on past 
experience. Value in use is calculated based on the present 
value of cash flow projections. A pre-tax discount rate of 
17.9 percent is applied to cash flow projections for all CGU’s 
reflecting similar risk profiles in each. 

No impairment write-offs arose from the recoverable value 
assessments conducted on each of the CGUs during the 
current year (2007: Nil)

Goodwill
$’000

14,750

–

(42)

–
14,708

13,842

908

–
14,750

3,444

–

(42)

–
3,402

2,536

908

–
3,444

Intellectual 
Property
$’000

Development 
Costs
$’000

1,694

40

–

(602)
1,132

1,468

974

(748)
1,694

1,694

40

–

(602)
1,132

1,468

974

(748)
1,694

6,882

4,679

–

(3,313)
8,248

5,553

3,773

(2,444)
6,882

7,131

4,841

–

(3,444)
8,528

5,787

3,900

(2,556)
7,131

Total
$’000

23,326

4,719

(42)

(3,915)
24,088

20,863

5,655

(3,192)
23,326

12,269

4,881

(42)

(4,046)
13,062

9,791

5,782

(3,304)
12,269

37

Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

12. Other assets
Prepayments – deferred acquisition costs

Prepayments - other

13. Trade and Other Payables
Current:

Trade payables and sundry accruals (i)

Payables in relation to acquisitions

Employee benefits (Note 19)

(i) The credit period for the majority of goods purchased is 30 
days. No interest is charged. The Group has policies in place 
to ensure payables are paid within the credit periods.

14. Provisions
Current:

Sales returns, volume rebates

Employee benefits (Note 19)

Commissions and sundry provisions

Non-current:

Employee benefits (Note 19)

Consolidated

2008
$’000

905

–

905

3,885

–

1,033
4,918

190

343

275

808

605

2007
$’000

–

324

324

3,551

504

983
5,038

135

246

346

727

720

Parent

2008
$’000

905

–

905

2,466

–

570
3,036

190

161

–

351

432

Movement in provisions

Movements in each class of provision during the financial year, 
excluding employee benefits, are set out below:

Sales returns, 
volume rebates
$’000

Commissions and 
sundry
$’000

2008 Consolidated

Carrying amount at the start of the year

Additional provisions recognised

Released to income statement
Carrying amount at the end of the year

2008 Parent

Carrying amount at the start of the year

Additional provisions recognised

Released to income statement
Carrying amount at the end of the year

38

135

55

–
190

135

55

–
190

346

–

(71)
275

–

–

–
–

2007
$’000

–

324

324

2,081

504

513
3,098

135

232

–

367

437

Total
$’000

481

55

(71)
465

135

55

–
190

Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

15. Other Liabilities
Current:

Deferred revenue

Deferred rent contribution

16. Borrowings

Unsecured loans from subsidiaries

Loans from related parties are interest bearing at 7% (2007: 
8%) on normal commercial terms with no fixed terms of 
repayment.

17. Deferred tax liabilities

The temporary differences are attributable to:

Withholding tax payable in event of distribution of pre-
acquisition dividend

Doubtful debts

Employee benefits

Sales returns and volume rebates

Deferred revenue

Difference between book and tax value of non-current assets

Other provisions

Details of unrecognised deferred tax assets can be found in 
Note 3(c)

Opening balance at 1 January

Charged (credited) to the income statement

Reclassification of recoverable withholding tax

Acquisition of businesses
Balance at 31 December

18. Other liabilities
Deferred rent contribution

Consolidated

2008
$’000

2,863

213
3,076

2007
$’000

2,617

71
2,688

Parent

2008
$’000

1,868

142
2,010

2007
$’000

1,690

–
1,690

–

–

3,052

1,395

430

(70)

(260)

(57)

(560)

1,634

(477)

640

732

(92)

–

–

640

430

(57)

(226)

(41)

(452)

1,446

(368)

732

430

313

–

(11)

732

–

(70)

(260)

(57)

(560)

1,634

(477)

210

302

(92)

–

–

210

–

(57)

(226)

(41)

(452)

1,446

(368)

302

184

129

–

(11)

302

841

178

733

–

39

Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

19. Employee Benefits

The aggregate employee benefit liability recognised and 
included in the financial statements is as follows:

Accrued annual leave:
Current (Note 13)
Long term incentive:
Current (Note 14)
Non-current (Note 14)
Provision for long service leave:
Current (Note 14)
Non-current (Note 14)

Long term incentive plan 

The long term incentive plan was approved at the Special 
General Meeting on 20 December 2005, and comprises 
three possible methods of participation: an option plan, a 
performance share plan and a share appreciation plan. The 
Board has a discretion to make offers to applicable employees 
to participate in any of these plans. Options granted and/or 
performance shares awarded (all in respect of the Company’s 
ordinary shares) and/or share appreciation rights do not 
vest before three years after their grant date. Vesting is also 
conditional upon the Company achieving defined performance 
criteria. The performance criteria are based upon a total 
shareholder return (TSR) target.  A TSR is the return to 
shareholders over a prescribed period, being the growth in 
the Company’s share price plus dividends or returns of capital 
for that period.  The Company’s initial TSR target will be the 
Company achieving a median or higher ranking against the 
TSR position of individual companies within a ‘comparator 
Group’ of companies (i.e. a group of comparable ASX listed 
companies pre-selected by the Board) over the same period. 
The initial comparator group was determined by independent 
advisers and was set out in the Chairman’s speech at the 
Special General Meeting on 20 December 2005. The Board will 
review the suitability of the comparator group on an on going 
basis.

Only 50 percent of options or performance shares become 
exercisable or vest if the initial performance criterion is satisfied.  
The extent to which the balance of options or performance 
shares become exercisable or vest will depend on the extent 
to which the initial performance criterion is exceeded (i.e. 
the extent to which the Company exceeds a median ranking 
against the TSR position of the comparator group of  

40

Consolidated

2008
$’000

2007
$’000

Parent

2008
$’000

2007
$’000

1,033

119
176

224
429

983

173
254

73
466

570

119
176

42
256

513

173
254

59
183

1,981

1,949

1,163

1,182

companies). The performance shares are held in trust after 
vesting.

The share appreciation right plan represents an alternative 
remuneration element (to offering options or performance 
shares) under which the Board can invite relevant employees to 
apply for a right to receive a cash payment from the Company 
equal to the amount (if any) by which the market price of the 
Company’s shares at the date of exercise of the right exceeds 
the market price of the Company’s shares at the date of grant 
of the right. The right may only be exercised if performance 
criteria are met. The performance criteria are fixed by the Board 
in the exercise of its discretion. At present these are the same 
as the TSR target set for the right to exercise options or for 
performance shares to vest.

No options were issued during the year (2007: Nil).

495,356 (2007; 561,798) appreciation rights and 252,477 
(2007; 300,585) performance shares were issued during the 
year. The fair value of these rights was 32.3 cents (2007; 26.7 
cents) and the shares were $1.36 (2007; $1.02), using market 
price for the shares, and a model that incorporates the Black 
Scholes model for the rights. The expense recognised in 2008 
for appreciation rights/performance shares was $300,666 
(2007; $559,615).

 
 
Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

19. Employee Benefits (cont.)

Performance Shares

Grant Date

Expiry Date

Jan’05

Jan’06

Jan’07

Jan’08

Dec’07

Dec’08

Dec’09

Dec’10

Appreciation Rights

Grant Date

Expiry Date

Jan’05

Jan’06

Jan’07

Jan’08

Dec’07

Dec’08

Dec’09

Dec’10

Shares 
Granted

78,815

85,437

300,590

252,477

Rights 
Granted

302,014

401,785

561,798

495,356

Shares lapsed  
during the year

Shares vested  
during the year

Shares available at the  
end of the year

2008
–

–

–

–

2007
–

85,437

–

–

2008
78,815

–

–

–

2007
–

–

300,590

252,477

2008
–

–

–

–

2007
–

–

–

–

Rights lapsed  
during the year

Rights vested  
during the year

Rights available at the  
end of the year

2008
–

–

–

–

2007
–

401,785

–

–

2008
302,014

–

–

–

2007
–

–

561,798

495,356

2008
–

–

–

–

2007
–

–

–

–

Options are valued using the Binomial Option Pricing Model, 
taking into account the exercise price, the expected life of the 
options (estimated at 4.5 years), the price of the underlying 
shares (range is between $0.29 and $1.00), the expected 
volatility of those shares based on historical volatility, the 
expected dividends and the risk-free rate of interest. The 
weighted average share price during the year was $1.14.

Reckon Limited Employee Option Plans

The Company has previously had two ownership-based 
remuneration schemes:

Executive share option plan

The executive share option plan has been terminated.

Executive share option plan No. 2

The Reckon Limited Executive Share Option Plan No. 2 was 
established on 19 July 2000.  Under the provisions of the plan, 
the Directors may grant options over unissued shares in the 
Company to executives and Directors of the Company (or their 
associates) or subsidiaries of the Company selected by the 
Directors from time to time, subject to the ASX Listing Rules 
and the Corporations Act 2001. 

Options are granted for a five-year period and 50 percent 
of each new tranche becomes exercisable after each of the 
first two anniversaries of the grant date.  The entitlements 
are vested as soon as they are exercisable (i.e. they are not 
conditional on future employment).  Each option entitles the 
holder to one ordinary share.

Amounts receivable on exercise of any options are recognised 
as share capital. Options exercised during the year were 
exercised with an average exercise price of $0.60. 

No further options will be issued under either of these plans. 
The plans have been replaced by the employee incentive plans 
approved by the Special General Meeting on 20 December 
2005.

41

 
Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

19. Employee Benefits (cont.)

Set out below are summaries of options granted under the Executive Share Option Plan No. 2.

Grant date

Expiry 
date

Exercise 
Price

Options 
Initially 
Granted

Options lapsed  
during the year

Options exercised and 
shares issued during 
the year

Options available at 
the end of the year

Jan 02

Feb 02

Mar 02

Jul 02

Sep 02

Dec 02

Jun 03

Sep 03

Dec 03

Jan 04

Mar 04

Jun 04

Sep 04

Dec 04

Mar 05

Jul 05

Sep 05

Dec 05

Jan 07

Feb 07

Mar 07

Jul 07

Sep 07

Dec 07

Jun 08

Sep 08

Dec 08

Jan 09

Mar 09

Jun 09

Sep 09

Dec 09

Mar 10

Jul 10

Sep 10

Dec 10

$0.139

$0.138

$0.138

$0.133

$0.135

$0.176

$0.270

$0.505

$0.619

103,553

7,778

41,666

41,668

16,111

130,553

58,891

115,002

48,890

$0.551

1,061,159

$0.789

$0.960

$0.823

$0.796

$0.743

$0.741

$0.779

$0.722

56,110

76,668

151,166

250,554

75,555

79,999

113,887

144,445

2008
-

-

-

-

-

-

19,001

50,407

24,808

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

2007
38,368

-

10,291

22,168

-

31,929

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

6,860

3,430

15,833

2008
-

2007
-

2008
-

2007
-

-

-

-

-

-

-

7,387

3,789

-

-

-

8,972

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

26,389

12,938

-

-

-

-

-

19,001

84,183

41,535

176,806

233,710

381,937

558,743

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

21,111

35,888

-

15,305

6,861

-

35,889

69,667

87,664

35,889

69,667

87,664

158,596

158,596

57,527

49,876

84,180

81,809

57,527

49,876

84,180

81,809

94,216

128,879

187,982

321,847

1,046,472

1,328,670

Number of shares that can be issued for unexercised options                                                      

1,046,472

1,328,670

42

Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

20. Issued Capital

Fully Paid Ordinary Share Capital

Balance at beginning of financial year
Transfer from share-based payments reserve for options 
exercised during the year

Issue of shares
Balance at end of financial year

Less Treasury shares

Balance at beginning of financial year

Shares purchased in prior periods

Shares purchased in 2008

2008

No.

132,749,825

-

187,982
132,937,807

-

464,842

252,477

$’000

18,203

62

113
18,378

-

498

314

2007

No.

132,427,978

-

321,847
132,749,825

-

-

-

$’000

17,896

104

203
18,203

-

-

-

Balance at end of financial year
Balance at end of financial year net of treasury shares

717,319
132,227,820

812
17,566

-
132,749,825

-
18,203

Fully paid ordinary shares carry one vote per share and carry 
the right to dividends.

Changes to the then Corporations Law abolished the 
authorised capital and par value concepts in relation to share 
capital from 1 July 1998. Therefore the company does not have 
a limited amount of authorised capital and issued shares do not 
have a par value.

187,982 (2007; 321,847) Options were exercised during the 
year with an average exercise price of $0.60.  Details of the 
options that were exercised and further details in respect of 
the share option plans are contained in note 19 to the financial 
statements.

Total consideration for options exercised during the year is 
$112,815.

21. Reserves

Foreign currency translation reserve

Balance at beginning of financial year

Translation of foreign operations

Balance at end of financial year

Share-based payments reserve

Balance at beginning of financial year

Treasury share expense

Option expense

Transfer to share capital (options exercised)

Balance at end of financial year

Nature and purpose of reserves

Consolidated

2008
$’000

2007
$’000

Parent

2008
$’000

2007
$’000

52

(194)

(142)

461

559

-

(62)

958

816

121

(69)

52

554

-

11

(104)

461

513

–

–

–

461

559

-

(62

958

958

–

–

–

554

-

11

(104)

461

461

(a) 

Foreign currency translation reserve 
Exchange differences arising on translation of the financial reports of foreign subsidiaries are taken to the foreign currency 
translation reserve, as described in note 1(f)

(b) 

Share-based payments reserve 
The share-based payments reserve is for the fair value of options granted and recognised to date but not yet exercised.

43

Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

22. Retained Earnings

Balance at beginning of financial year

Net profit

Dividends 

Balance at end of financial year

23. Earnings Per Share

Basic earnings per share

Diluted earnings per share
Weighted average number of ordinary shares used  
in the calculation of basic earnings per share
Weighted average number of ordinary shares and potential 
ordinary shares used in the calculation of diluted earnings  
per share

Consolidated

2008
$’000

2007
$’000

Parent

2008
$’000

14,776

10,963

(7,247)

18,492

15,938

11,321

(7,247)

20,003

12,674

9,893

(6,629)

15,938

2008
¢

8.5

8.5

2007
$’000

11,248

10,157

(6,629)

14,776

2007
¢

7.5

7.4

132,599,634

132,318,888

133,927,248

134,083,502

Earnings per share calculations are based on profit for the year as set out in the income statement.

Potential ordinary shares of 1,327,614 (2006: 1,778,340) are options issued but not exercised as disclosed in note 19.

24. Contingent Liabilities

There are no contingent liabilities as at 31 December 2008.

25. Commitments For Expenditure

(a)  Capital Expenditure Commitments

The consolidated entity has capital expenditure commitments of $53,000 as at 31 December 2008 (2007: $Nil)

(b) Lease Commitments

Operating Leases

Within 1 year

Later than 1 year and not longer than 5 years

Later than 5 years

Consolidated

Parent

2008
$’000

1,720
4,736

1,111

7,567

2007
$’000

1,485
1,725

-

3,210

2008
$’000

1,021
3,803

1,111

5,935

2007
$’000

803
312

-

1,115

Operating leases relate to office and warehouse premises and office facilities with lease terms of between 1 to 7 years.  All 
operating lease contracts contain market review clauses in the event that the consolidated entity exercises its option to renew.  The 
consolidated entity does not have an option to purchase the leased asset at the expiry of the lease period.

44

Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

26. Subsidiaries

Name of Entity

Parent Entity

Reckon Limited 

Subsidiaries

Reckon.com.au Pty Limited 

Reckon Australia Pty Limited 

Reckon Investment Centre Limited

Reckon Online Holdings Pty Limited 

Reckon Pacrim Pty Limited 

Reckon Training Pty Limited

Reckon Limited Performance Share Plan Trust

Reckon New Zealand Pty Limited

Advanced Professional Solutions Pty Limited

Advanced Professional Solutions Limited

Advanced Professional Solutions Limited

All shares held are ordinary shares.

27. Related Party Disclosures

(a) Key Management Personnel Remuneration

Short term benefits

Post-employment benefits

Share based payments

Ownership Interest

Country of 
Incorporation

2008 
%

2007 
%

Australia

Australia

Australia

Australia

Australia

Australia

Australia

Australia

New Zealand

Australia

New Zealand

United Kingdom

100

100

100

100

100

90

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

90

100

100

100

100

100

Consolidated

2008
$

2007
$

Parent

2008
$

2007
$

3,189,551
227,650

2,940,959
200,679

1,829,135
133,879

1,755,579
127,260

271,577

552,737

169,253

416,823

3,688,778

3,694,375

2,132,267

2,299,662

The names of and positions held by the key management are 
set out in note 27(e). Further details of the remuneration of key 
management are disclosed in the Directors’ Report.

(b) Other Transactions with Key Management Personnel

There were no transactions with Directors apart from those 
disclosed in this note.

development services to Reckon Limited at market rates and 
has charged fees for these services of $4,541,519 (2007: 
$3,900,823). The APS Group paid dividends to Reckon Limited 
of $3,311,804 (2007: $3,149,703). Receivables/payables from 
entities within the wholly-owned Group include amounts arising 
under the Group’s tax funding arrangement. These loans are 
interest free and repayable on demand.

(c) Transactions within the Wholly-Owned Group

(d) Other Related Party Transactions

During the financial year, Reckon Limited provided 
management, accounting and administration services, at no 
cost, to other entities in the wholly-owned Group.

During the financial year, Reckon Limited charged royalties 
on intellectual property at market rates to the APS Group of 
$3,660,961 (2007: $3,020,422), and was charged interest 
at normal commercial rates on the intercompany loan with 
Advanced Professional Solutions Limited in New Zealand of 
$93,289 (2007: $21,315). The APS Group has also provided 

Intuit Ventures Inc

Intuit Ventures Inc, a significant shareholder (11.2%) in 
Reckon Limited provides the rights for Reckon to market and 
distribute Intuit software throughout Australasia and parts of 
South-East Asia.  In return for this, Intuit receives a royalty 
payment based on sales made throughout the territory.  These 
royalties amounted to $4,209,212 (2007: $3,991,294) which is 
expensed in the month that the associated product was sold. 
The balance due at 31 December 2008 is $150,843 (2007: 
$154,402).

45

Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

 27. Related Party Disclosures (cont.)

(e) Directors’ and Key Management Equity Holdings

Options and Shareholding 2008

Shareholding 

Shareholding   

Performance 

Performance 

Performance 

Performance 

at start of 

at end of 

Options at 

Options at end 

shares at start 

shares vested 

shares issued 

shares held at 

2008

20085

start of 2008

of 20084

of 2008

in 2008

in 2008

end of 2008

Office

Deputy 
Chairman, 
Executive 
Director

Executive 
Director

MD, APS United 
Kingdom

Non-Executive 
Director

General  Counsel 
& Co Secretary

Non-Executive 
Director

Chief Financial 
Officer

GM, 
Development 
APS

GM, APS 
Australia

CEO, Quicken 
Australia

MD, APS New 
Zealand

MD, APS New 
Zealand

Greg 
Wilkinson

Clive  
Rabie

Brian 
Armstrong

Brian 
Coventry

John  
Thame

Myron 
Zlotnick

Ian  
Ferrier

Chris 
Hagglund1

Nigel  
Boland

Paul  
James

Gavin  
Dixon

Michael 
Donnelly2

Grant  
Linton3

7,450,000

7,450,000

10,508,000 10,508,000

0

0

CEO, APS

728,000

748,222

42,222

287,766

287,766

40,111

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

162,351

46,762

58,656

221,007

9,823

0

0

0

7,332

17,155

0

0

60,642

16,873

27,018

87,660

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

47,500

47,500

105,544

21,802

51,324

156,868

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

9,823

0

67,539

9,823

0

0

0

0

0

0

7,332

17,155

7,332

7,332

56,823

124,362

7,332

0

0

0

19,000

19,000

0

0

0

0

0

0

23,222

23,222

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1 
2 
3 
4 
5 

 Options granted on: 15 December 2004; fair value per option granted: $0.3809; options expire on 15 December 2009. At exercise of options, an exercise price of $0.796 is payable per share.
Mr Donnelly resigned on 15 October 2008.
Mr Linton was appointed MD on 1 September 2008.
All options have vested and are exercisable. No options were issued in 2008.
Shareholdings at the date of the Director’s Report remain unchanged.

46

Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

 27. Related Party Disclosures (cont.)

(e) Directors’ and Key Management Equity Holdings

Options and Shareholding 2007

Shareholding 

Shareholding   

Performance 

Performance 

Performance 

Performance 

at start of 

at end of 

Options at 

Options at end 

shares at start 

shares vested 

shares issued 

shares held at 

2007

20075

start of 2007

of 20074

of 2007

in 2007

in 2007

end of 2007

7,450,000

7,450,000

10,508,000 10,508,000

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Office

Deputy 
Chairman, 
Executive 
Director

Executive 
Director

CEO, APS

814,532

728,000

42,222

42,222

89,900

43,138

72,451

162,351

287,766

287,766

40,111

40,111

40,111

19,000

19,000

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

9,823

9,823

0

0

0

32,438

15,565

28,204

60,642

0

0

0

0

47,500

47,500

41,914

20,211

63,630

105,544

28,261

23,222

23,222

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

9,823

9,823

0

0

67,539

67,539

9,823

9,823

Greg 
Wilkinson

Clive  
Rabie

Brian 
Armstrong1

Brian 
Coventry2

John  
Thame

Myron 
Zlotnick

Ian  
Ferrier

Chris 
Hagglund3

Nigel  
Boland

Paul  
James6

Gavin  
Dixon

Michael 
Donnelly

MD, APS United 
Kingdom

Non-Executive 
Director

General  Counsel 
& Co Secretary

Non-Executive 
Director

Chief Financial 
Officer

GM, 
Development 
APS

GM, APS 
Australia

CEO, Quicken 
Australia

MD, APS New 
Zealand

1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 

Options granted on: 1 January 2004; fair value per option granted: $0.3056; options expire on 1 January 2009. At exercise of options an exercise price of $0.637 is payable per share.
Options granted on: 1 January 2004; fair value per option granted: $0.3056; options expire on 1 January 2009. At exercise of options an exercise price of $0.637 is payable per share.
Options granted on: 15 December 2004; fair value per option granted: $0.3809; options expire on 15 December 2009. At exercise of options, an exercise price of $0.796 is payable per share.
All options have vested and are exercisable. No options were issued in 2007.
Shareholdings at the date of the Director’s Report remain unchanged.
 Mr James was appointed on 4 June 2007.

47

Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

28. Notes to the Statement of Cash Flows

(a) Reconciliation of Cash
For the purposes of the statement of cash flows, cash 
includes cash on hand and in banks and investments 
in money market instruments, net of outstanding bank 
overdrafts. Cash at the end of the financial year as shown in 
the statement of cash flows is reconciled to the related items 
in the balance sheet as follows:

Cash (i)

(i) Cash balance is predominantly in the form of short term 
money market deposits, which can be accessed at call.

(b) Businesses Acquired

Shelco and New Zealand Distributor

     Consideration:

     Cash 

     Direct costs relating to the acquisition

     Consideration yet to be paid

     Fair value of net assets of entity acquired:

     Receivables

     Inventories

     Intellectual property

     Deferred tax assets

     Fixed assets

     Trade payables

     Other current liabilities

     Goodwill

Consolidated

2008
$’000

2007
$’000

Parent

2008
$’000

2007
$’000

16,134
16,134

14,141
14,141

14,889
14,889

11,037
11,037

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–
–

1,170

128

366

1,664

7

88

804

11

119

(42)

(189)

798

866
1,664

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–
–

1,170

128

366

1,664

7

88

804

11

119

(42)

(189)

798

866
1,664

Shelco and New Zealand Distributor

Reckon Limited acquired the Shelco business effective from 1 March 2007 for a total of $1,145,000. The final payment of $395,000 
was made in August 2008. Shelco is a provider of company registration, trust and superannuation fund establishment, ASIC 
searches and other services predominantly to the accounting and legal professions.

Effective 1 March 2007 Reckon Limited also acquired its New Zealand Quicken distributor as well as the intellectual property for a 
complimentary range of products for $420,000. The additional products acquired included an ASP payroll solution, 
an online backup solution and a tool which allows the more efficient downloading and processing of bank data. 

The book value of all of the net assets acquired were equivalent to their fair values, apart from intellectual property. The book value 
of intellectual property was $nil. 

48

    
   
Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

(c)  Reconciliation of Profit After Income Tax To Net Cash 

Flows From Operating Activities

Profit after income tax

Depreciation and amortisation of non-current assets
Non-cash employee benefits expense – 
share based payment
Increase/(decrease) in current tax  
liability/asset

Increase in deferred tax balances

Unrealised foreign currency translation amount

(Increase)/decrease in assets:

Current receivables

  Current inventories

  Other current assets

  Non-current receivables

Increase/(decrease) in liabilities:

    Current trade payables

    Other current liabilities

    Other non-current liabilities
Net cash inflow from operating activities

29. Outside Equity Interests in  
Controlled Entities
Interest in:

Share Capital

Accumulated Losses

30. Dividends – Ordinary Shares
Final franked dividend for the year ended 31 December 2007 of 3.0 
cents (2007: 2.5 cents) per share paid on 7 March 2008

Interim franked dividend for the year ended 31 December 2008 of 
2.5 cents per share (2007: 2.5 cents) paid on 10 September 2008

Franking credits available for subsequent financial years based on a 
tax rate of 30% (2007: 30%)

Consolidated

2008
$’000

11,312

4,663

-

805

(131)

(194)

(788)

(91)

52

324

288

327

(268)
16,299

2007
$’000

9,893

3,839

11

657

84

(69)

(479)

97

(172)

(124)

(104)

744

240
14,617

Consolidated

2008
$’000

2007
$’000

–

(2)

(2)

–

(2)

(2)

Parent

2008
$’000

2007
$’000

10,963

4,511

10,157

3,636

-

(664)

(92)

-

328

(84)

121

324

346

162

(88)
15,827

11

203

129

-

(26)

178

(132)

(124)

(106)

356

221
14,503

 Parent

2008
$’000

2007
$’000

3,983

3,312

3,264

7,247

2,507

3,317

6,629

2,977

49

Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

31. Financial Instruments

(a) Significant Accounting Policies

Details of the significant accounting policies and methods 
adopted, including the criteria for recognition, the basis of 
measurement and the basis on which revenues and expenses 
are recognised, in respect of each class of financial asset, 
financial liability and equity instrument are disclosed in note 1 to 
the financial statements.

(b) Financial Risk Management Objectives

The Board of Directors has overall responsibility for the 
establishment and oversight of the company and group’s 
financial management framework.

The Board of Directors oversees how Management monitors 
compliance with risk management policies and procedures and 
reviews the adequacy of the risk management framework in 
relation to the risks.  The main risk arising from the company 
and group’s financial instruments are currency risk, credit risk, 
liquidity risk and cash flow interest rate risk.

(c) Interest Rate Risk

The group and parent are exposed to interest rate risk on the 
cash held in bank deposits. Cash deposits of $16,134,000 and 
$14,889,000 were held by the consolidated entity and parent 
entity respectively at the reporting date, attracting an average 
interest rate of 4.1% (2007: 6.2%). If interest rates had been 
50 basis points higher or lower and all other variables were 
held constant, the group’s net profit would increase/decrease 
by $81,000 (2007: $71,000) and the parent’s net profit would 
increase/decrease by $74,000 (2007: $55,000).

The parent entity is also exposed to an immaterial interest 
rate risk on interest bearing loan balances due to its overseas 
subsidiaries.

(d) Credit Risk

Credit risk refers to the risk that a counter party will default 
on its contractual obligations resulting in financial loss to the 
consolidated entity.  The consolidated entity has adopted 
the policy of only dealing with creditworthy counterparties 
and obtaining sufficient collateral or other security where 
appropriate, as a means of mitigating the risk of financial loss 
from defaults.

The consolidated entity does not have any significant credit 
risk exposure to any single counterparty or any group of 
counterparties having similar characteristics.

The carrying amount of financial assets recorded in the financial 
statements, net of any provisions for losses, represents the 
consolidated entity’s maximum exposure to credit risk without 
taking account of the value of any collateral or other security 
obtained.

(e) Foreign Currency Risk

The consolidated entity and company undertakes certain 
transactions denominated in foreign currencies that are different 
to the functional currencies of the entities undertaking the 
transactions, hence exposures to exchange rate fluctuations 
arise.  The Board of Directors monitor these exposures and 
does not presently hedge against this risk.

The carrying amount of the consolidated entity and company’s 
foreign currency denominated monetary assets and liabilities 
at the reporting date that are denominated in a currency that 
is different to the functional currency of respective entities 
undertaking the transactions is as follows:

Consolidated

Parent

Liabilities

Assets

Liabilities

Assets

2008
$’000
–

2007 
$’000
–

2008
$’000
96

2007 
$’000
54

2008
$’000
–

2007 
$’000
–

2008
$’000
–

2007 
$’000
–

US Dollar

50

Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

31. Financial Instruments (cont.)

(e) Foreign Currency Risk (cont.)

At 31 December 2008, if the US Dollar weakened against 
the New Zealand Dollar by 10 percent (being the relevant 
volatility considered relevant by Management), with all other 
variables held constant the net profit of the consolidated 
entity would decrease by $9,578. At 31 December 2008, if 
the New Zealand Dollar and UK Sterling weakened against 
the Australian Dollar by 10 percent (being the relevant volatility 
considered relevant by Management), with all other variables 
held constant the net profit of the consolidated entity would 
decrease by $269,151. This latter sensitivity relates to inter-
group loan balances denominated in Australian Dollars, which 
are eliminated on consolidation.

In Management’s opinion, the sensitivity analysis is not fully 
representative of the inherent foreign exchange risk as the 
year-end exposure does not necessarily reflect the exposure 
during the course of the years.  The consolidated entity 
includes certain subsidiaries whose functional currencies are 
different to the consolidated entity presentation currency.  The 
main operating entities outside of Australia as based in New 
Zealand and the United Kingdom.  These entities transact 
primarily in their functional currency and, aside from inter-
group loan balances, do not have significant foreign currency 
exposures due to outstanding foreign currency denominated 
items.  As stated in the company and consolidated entity’s 
accounting policies per Note 1, on consolidation the assets 
and liabilities of these entities are translated into Australian 
Dollars at exchange rates prevailing on the balance sheet date.  
The income and expenses of these entities is translated at the 
average exchange rates for the year.  Exchange differences 
arising are classified as equity and are transferred to a foreign 
exchange translation reserve.  The company and consolidated 
entity’s future reported profits could therefore be impacted by 
changes in relates of exchange between the Australian Dollar 
and the New Zealand Dollar and the Australian Dollar and the 
UK Sterling.

(f) Liquidity

The Group manages liquidity risk by maintaining adequate 
cash reserves and banking facilities by continuously monitoring 
forecast and actual cash flows.

(g) Capital risk management

The Group manages its capital to ensure that entities in the 
Group will be able to continue as a going concern. The capital 
structure of the Group consists of cash and equity attributable 
to equity holders of the parent, comprising share capital, 
reserves and retained earnings as disclosed in notes 20, 21 
and 22. The Board reviews the capital structure on a regular 
basis. Based upon this review, the Group balances its overall 
capital structure through the payment of dividends, issues of 
shares, share buy-backs and returns of capital. This strategy 
remains unchanged since the prior year.

(h) Fair Value

The carrying amount of financial assets and financial liabilities 
recorded in the financial report approximates their respective 
fair values, determined in accordance with the accounting 
policies disclosed in note 1 to the financial statements.

32. Segment Information

(a) Primary Reporting – Business Segments

For management purposes, the consolidated entity is organised 
into two major operating divisions:

Business Division (formerly Quicken products) 
Professional Division (formerly APS products)

These divisions are the basis upon which the consolidated entity 
reports its primary segment information.

The principal activities of these divisions are as follows: 

•	

•	

  Business Division - development, distribution and support 
of personal financial and accounting software, as well as 
related products and services to professional partners.

Professional Division - development, distribution and 
support of practice management, tax, client accounting 
and related software.

51

Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

32. Segment Information (cont.)

(a) Primary Reporting – Business Segments (cont.)

External sales

Inter-segment

2008
$’000

2007
$’000

2008
$’000

2007
$’000

Other

2008
$’000

38,543

21,328

36,658

18,616

6,973

6,170

–

–

633

271

2007
$’000

538

341

Total

2008
$’000

46,149

21,599

67,748

(6,973)
60,775

9,872

5,251

15,123

(3,811)
11,312

Segment revenues

Business Division

Professional Division

Total of all segments

Eliminations
Total revenue

Segment results

Business Division*

Professional Division

Profit before income tax

Income tax expense
Net profit for the year

*  The Business Division result includes royalty income from APS, net of APS development cost and IP amortisation.

Segment assets and liabilities

Business Division

Professional Division
Total of all segments

Eliminations

Unallocated
Consolidated

Assets

Liabilities

2008
$’000

26,569

25,764

52,333

(1,320)

–
51,013

2007
$’000

21,010

25,140

46,150

(478)

–
45,672

2008
$’000

10,012

3,938

13,950

(1,320)

–
12,630

2007
$’000

43,366

18,957

62,323

(6,170)
56,153

9,655

3,679

13,334

(3,441)
9,893

2007
$’000

7,850

3,648

11,498

(478)

–
11,020

Other segment information

Acquisition of segment assets

Depreciation and amortisation of segment assets

Business Division

Professional Division

2008
$’000

1,797

1,244

2007
$’000

3,115

939

2008
$’000

3,907

3,419

2007
$’000

3,196

2,900

Segment revenues from 
external sales

Segment assets

Acquisitions of property, plant and 
equipment, intangibles and other 
non-current segment assets

(b) Secondary Reporting – 
Geographical Segments

Australia

Other countries

Unallocated assets

Total assets

2008
$’000

51,526

8,345
59,871

2007
$’000

47,519

7,755
55,274

2008
$’000

42,782

10,453
53,235

(2,222)

51,013

2007
$’000

36,713

9,652
46,365

(693)

45,672

2008
$’000

3,851

1,853
5,704

2007
$’000

4,600

1,711
6,311

52

Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2008

33.  Economic Dependency

Reckon Limited generates a significant volume of its revenue 
from products supplied by Intuit Inc. under the manufacturing 
and distribution agreement it has with Intuit Inc. The term of 
the agreement is 10 years and is subject to market growth 
objectives. If these objectives are met the agreement is 
automatically extended by one year for each calendar year in 
which Reckon meets or exceeds its market growth objective. 
To date Reckon Limited has exceeded these growth objectives.

34.  Subsequent Events

Estimated Consideration:

Cash consideration

Net debt acquired

Direct costs relating to the acquisition

Consideration yet to be paid

Estimated Fair Value of net assets of 
entity acquired:
Receivables

Subsequent to the end of the financial year:

Inventories

Dividend

The Board has declared a dividend of 3.5 cents per share 
to shareholders on 10 February 2009. The dividend will be 
franked. The record date for the dividend is 22 February 2009. 
The impact on the franking account balance of unrecognised 
dividends is $1,998,000.

Options

Intellectual property – customer contracts
Intellectual property – development and 
software
Intellectual property – trademarks and 
domain names
Deferred tax assets

Fixed assets

Trade payables 

Deferred revenue

206,672 options in the Executive Share Option Plan No. 2 
have lapsed and 153,058 options have been exercised with an 
average exercise price of $0.67.

Other current liabilities

Other non-current liabilities

Acquisition

Goodwill

$’000

18,000

228

1,050

-

19,278

3,437

1,587

4,210

1,793

150

430

728

(773)

(3,361)

(883)

(138)

7,180
12,098

19,278

Reckon Limited acquired the Corporate Services and BillBack 
businesses previously owned by Espreon Limited effective 
from 2 January 2009 for $18m. The acquisition was funded 
predominantly from existing cash reserves. Debt funding was 
used to fund the difference. The two businesses contributed 
$5m to Espreon’s EBITDA result for the year ended 30 June 
2008. 

The Corporate Services business is a provider of 
documentation for company formations, secretarial services, 
trust and self managed superannuation fund deeds. This is a 
range of products and services which is similar to Reckon’s 
Shelco business.

The BillBack business is a provider of technologies for the 
capture, reporting and billing of client expenses by professional 
services suppliers such as lawyers and accountants, and 
hence has a natural fit with Reckon’s Professional Division.

The initial accounting for the acquisition of Corporate Services 
and BillBack has only been provisionally determined at 
reporting date.  The acquisition values set out below are based 
upon the Espreon completion accounts. Reckon Limited 
has lodged a number of claims against Espreon which is 
expected to reduce the consideration paid. The claims are at a 
preliminary stage and at the date of this report no demand has 
been issued. The amount of the claims is yet to be determined. 

35. Company information

Reckon Limited is a listed public company limited by shares, 
incorporated and domiciled in Australia. Its registered office 
and principal place of business is:

Ground Floor, 35 Saunders Street 
Pyrmont NSW 2009

A description of the nature of the consolidated entity’s 
operations and its principal activities is included in the review of 
operations and activities in the Directors’ Report, which is not 
part of this financial report.

The financial report was authorised for issue by the Directors 
on 27 March 2009.

53

Additional Information 
as at 6 March 2009

Twenty Largest Holders of Quoted Equity Securities

Ordinary Shareholder 

National Nominees Limited 

Intuit Ventures Inc 

JP Morgan Nominees Australia Limited 

HSBC Custody Nominees (Australia) Limited 

ANZ Nominees Limited 

Australian Executor Trustees NSW Ltd 

Gregory John Wilkinson 

DJZ Investments Pty Limited 

Mr Clive Rabie and Mrs Kerry Rose Rabie  

Queensland Investment Corporation 

Mr Stephen James Rickwood 

Mr Philip Ross Hayman 

Mr Clive Alan Rabie 

Cogent Nominees Pty Limited 

UBS Nominees Pty Limited 

Rawform Pty Ltd 

Mr Philip Ross Hayman 

Citicorp Nominees Pty Limited 

Citicorp Nominees Pty Limited 

Citicorp Nominees Pty Limited 

Number 

Percentage

17,473,715 

14,828,304 

11,348,200 

10,111,620 

7,951,853 

6,603,266 

6,300,000 

4,750,000 

3,764,071 

2,929,995 

2,751,062 

2,105,384 

1,993,929 

1,258,438 

1,197,502 

1,150,000 

1,000,000 

998,845 

970,442 

911,022 

13.13

11.14

8.53

7.60

5.97

4.96

4.73

3.57

2.83

2.20

2.07

1.58

1.50

0.95

0.90

0.86

0.75

0.75

0.73

0.68

100,397,648

75.43

Number of Holders of Equity Securities

Equity securities include shares, units, options over issued or unissued securities, rights to any one of the former securities and 
convertible securities.

Ordinary Share Capital

133,090,865 fully paid ordinary shares are held by 3,742 individual shareholders as at 6 March 2009.

All issued ordinary shares carry one vote per share.

Options

1,046,472 options were held by 93 individual option holders as at 31 December 2008. These options do not carry a right to vote 
and are not listed on the ASX.

Since 31 December 2008 206,672 options have lapsed.

54

Additional Information as at 6 March 2009 (continued)

Distribution of Holders of Equity Securities

Auditors

As at 6 March 2009

1 – 1,000

1,001 – 5,000

5,001 – 10,000

10,001 – 100,000

100,001 and over

Total

Substantial Shareholders

As at 6 March 2009

National Nominees 
Limited

Intuit Ventures Inc

JP Morgan Nominees 
Australia Limited

Clive Rabie

HSBC Custody 
Nominees (Australia) 
Limited

Ordinary Shares

Options

844

1,801

537

511

49

3,742

1

9

35

22

0

67

Ordinary Shares
(Number)

Ordinary Shares
(%)

17,473,715

14,828,304

11,348,200

10,508,000

10,111,620

13.13

11.14

8.53

7.89

7.60

Principal Registered Office

Ground Floor, 35 Saunders Street 
Pyrmont NSW 2009 
Tel: (02) 9577 5000 

Principal Administration Office

Ground Floor, 35 Saunders Street 
Pyrmont NSW 2009 
Tel: (02) 9577 5000

Share Registry

Computershare Investor Services Pty Limited 
Level 3 
60 Carrington Street 
Sydney NSW 2000 
Tel: (02) 8234 5000 

Stock Exchange Listings

Reckon Limited’s ordinary shares are listed on the Australian 
Stock Exchange Limited under the symbol ‘RKN’.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu 
225 George Street 
Sydney NSW 2000 

Company Secretary

Mr Myron Zlotnick

Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting for Reckon Limited will be held 
on Tuesday 19 May 2009 at 10:00am at 35 Saunders Street, 
Pyrmont NSW. If you are unable to attend, you are invited to 
complete the Proxy Form included with your Notice of Meeting. 
The completed Proxy Form must be received no later than 48 
hours before the Annual General Meeting.

Important Information – Corporate Notices

Securityholders will be aware that recent legislative changes 
have impacted the options to receive statutory corporate 
notices and reports. In the interest of cost saving and the 
environment (every little bit helps), we encourage you to opt 
in to receive all notices and reports electronically. Please go 
to: www.computershare.com.au and follow the prompts to 
register your opting in to receive ALL NOTICE AND REPORTS 
IN ELECTRONIC FORMAT.

To register to be notified by email when the Annual Report and 
other Announcements are available online:

•	

Visit the share registry at www.computershare.com

•	

Click on ‘Securityholders’

•	

Click on ‘Elect to receive eCommunications from your 
companies’

•	

Type ‘RKN’ in the Company Code field

•	

•	

You will need to enter your personal security information: 
Holder Identification Number (HIN) or Securityholder 
Reference Number (SRN); family or company name, 
postcode or country (if outside Australia); and click ‘Submit’

After you have entered your email address and selected the 
publications you wish to receive, a confirmation email will 
be sent to you

Should you have any further enquiries, contact the Registry on 
1300 855 080 or +61 3 9415 4000 (if outside Australia). For 
web enquiries, please send an email to  
web.queries@computershare.com.au. 

Alternatively, email your full name and address of the 
securityholder to shareholders@reckon.com.au to receive the 
Annual Report, corporate and statutory notices electronically.

55

56 |  Reckon

ARRE0903-1