From planning and design to construction, surveyors play an integral role in measuring, mapping, and developing our physical world. In an environment of rules and regulations, accuracy is paramount and that’s what McDonald Surveys delivers
In this piece, Nexia Perth Business Advisory Director Wendy Davies, introduces you to the award-winning Belmont-based McDonald Surveys.
The Client
It’s an organisation built on passion, one where energy is infectious, enthusiasm in abundance and where collaboration and clarity walk hand-in-hand: it’s McDonald Surveys. Specialising in rail and metro, road, built environments and dilapidation services, the organisation extends a bespoke offer, one tailored to meet individual client needs. Whether it’s delivering a platform extension, re-sleepering project, track construction works or providing engineering survey support, McDonald Surveys is appropriately skilled and suitably qualified to perform the job.
Their Story
An award-winning surveying, engineering and technology company, McDonald Surveys has built an enviable reputation, one predicated on accountability and honesty. With nearly three-decades of international experience, in 2011, the organisation established a Perth office and by introducing a combination of proprietary software, third-party vendor collaboration and a highly skilled team, expeditiously ingrained itself as a market force.
ISO 9001 certified, McDonald Surveys was recently announced as the Irish Australian Chamber of Commerce National Business Awards – Established Business category winner. Having performed major infrastructure projects for Rio Tinto, John Holland, Arc Infrastructure, Laing O’Rourke and rail maintenance projects for BHP, Downer, Calibre, and Fluor Australia, McDonald Surveys quality extends beyond award recognition and into the real-world environment through delivered and usable projects.
Their Competitive Advantage
Melding rich technical and industry insights with intelligent analysis allows McDonald Surveys to blend and adapt, that is, deploy high-class and scalable teams who can meet the client’s needs. To maintain their industry-leader status, the organisation heavily invests in technology, human resources and subscribes to a best practice Occupational Health and Safety approach.
Driven by excellence, McDonald Surveys is committed to establishing new industry standards, fresh norms helping clients reduce operational costs, improve safety and ensure critical milestones and compliance requirements are met.
Nexia’s Role
Nexia Perth provides McDonald Surveys with three specialist services: business advisory, standard compliance and ad hoc project work. All three act as information funnels, designed to streamline administrative functions and inform executive decision-making. How does Nexia Perth achieve this? By identifying key performance indicators, understanding key business drivers and recognising the organisation’s pathway to success.
Business advisory focuses on monthly management reporting with benchmarks including measuring actuals against budget, actuals against prior year, 3-way cash flow forecasting, rolling cash flow forecasting and projected annual profit and loss. The financial position of the company and observed items of note are presented at the monthly meeting discussing the management report. Nexia Perth recognises changes in McDonald Surveys’ outlook may necessitate strategic amendments and thus, the organisations maintain open communication channels. This two-way dialogue promotes informed and timely decision-making.
Standard compliance work comprises of year-end financial statements and associated tax returns, BAS, FBT and tax planning. Ad hoc project work includes supporting the organisation’s finance function with payroll and day-to-day bookkeeping assistance, supporting the implementation of McDonald Surveys’ updated job management process through Xero’s WorkflowMax project management suite (including training) and providing strategic options by performing a Business Horizon Review and business valuation.
In Their Own Words
"We have been in business for over 25 years and our experience with Nexia Perth has been a unique one from the start. Our successful relationship is built on the continuous efforts from Nexia Perth to understand not only our financial accounts but our overall business, our culture and our future goals.
In particular our relationship with Wendy Davies, Director, and her team, ensures that all our future strategic planning is financially sound and that any decisions we make regarding the day to day running of the company match the long-term financial goals. We feel very confident that Nexia Perth 'has our back'; they support our business in many other ways including us in their networking efforts, introducing us to mutually beneficial companies and suggesting tactics for future business success.
I can’t recommend them highly enough."
Sally Ann McDonald
CEO
MBA McDonald Surveys
