The Personal Property Securities Regsiter (PPSR) comes into being today, promising to bring major change to existing business practices. Here’s what you need to do to be ready to take advantage of the new PPR Register.
According to Veda head of commercial risk Moses Samaha, the PPSR delivers great opportunity to businesses, but they must understand what the changes mean for their business practices.
“By registering your security interests on the PPSR, your business will be at a lower risk from the bad debts of partners and suppliers. And, it will better your business’ position in the list of creditors in the event of insolvency or liquidation. Registering your interests on the PPSR should be an integral part of good practices in credit management and will help protect your business,” Samaha said.
Here are 10 tips from the team at Veda for preparing your business for the PPSR:
REVIEW
1. Review your trading activities – Does your business lease or supply goods to partners? The PPSR can help you ensure that your business gets paid if a debtor defaults or goes bankrupt.
2. Review and amend business documentation – Make sure that all company materials are updated in line with the new PPSR legislation. This includes your contracts, terms and conditions and any marketing materials.
3. Evaluate your current credit policies and processes – The PPSR is an opportunity to streamline processes and improve efficiencies within your organisation. You may not want to register and search the PPSR register for all debtors. Take the time to think through your risk strategies and evaluate how you are working to get the most out of the new legislation
4. Train your staff – Make sure that your team understand the new changes and what it means for your business. Whilst a great opportunity lies ahead, to date, the change has been seen as somewhat disruptive: dates have changed, business processes need to be changed, there are greater cost implications, etc. If they will be working with the new PPSR, sign your staff up for a seminar on how to get the most out of it, and work correctly and efficiently with the new register.
5. Check your IT and Credit Management Systems – You may need to make some changes to your internal IT and credit management systems:
- Make sure that they enable the collection and storage of information required for the PPSR such as party details, collateral descriptions and other data required to register and maintain security interests.
- If you use automated credit management software – how do your decision rules change given you have potentially new information at hand?
- Have you thought about how will you connect/interact with the PPSR?
- Consider whether you will manage registrations directly with the PPSR or if you prefer to use the services of a broker. Veda’s PPSR solution is designed to sit on top of the PPSR to help you engage with it more efficiently and cost-effectively.
PREPARE
6. Seek legal advice –The Personal Properties Securities Legislation is one of the most significant changes to the rights of trade creditors in the last 20 years. In order to understand the full effect of what PPSR means it is recommended you obtain your own independent legal advice.
7. Identify which assets need to be registered on the PPSR –A registered interest will have priority over an earlier unregistered one so this will help protect your business assets. Create a list of your current security interests, registered and unregistered, and then identify which of these require action once the PPSR commences.
8. Collect accurate information and validate the data – Inaccurate data can mean that your registrations will have no value in the event of insolvency or default. Accurate information is key to registration. If customers are individuals or sole traders, make sure you have the correct name and date of birth as recorded on their driver’s licence. And try to capture and validate full ABN and ACN details where possible. Working with an external solutions provider can be useful in this respect; for example Veda’s PPSR solution will do an automatic check to help you verify the data you are putting into the PPSR, helping you ensure it is complete and correct.
TAKE CHARGE
9. Take market advantage – For non-financial institutions, the PPSR will have a number of benefits and bring a level-playing field when it comes to registering security assets, putting smaller businesses on par with the big players. The PPSR can better your position in the list of creditors in case of insolvency or liquidation and it will help you take control and manage security from your debtors. So take the advantage!
10. Benefit as a consumer – The PPSR isn’t just for businesses but it also holds a number of advantages for consumers. If you are looking to buy used goods, such as a car or boat, the PPSR can help you verify that there is no security interest registered on it. Searching the PPSR will help protect you from buying goods which could be repossessed.
