The architecture of ownership, compensation, and succession.
A business is a structure. How it is incorporated, how ownership is distributed, how principals are compensated, and how the enterprise will eventually transition — these are architectural decisions with consequences that compound across decades. They deserve the same rigour applied to any load-bearing structure: precise engineering, full visibility, and the foresight to anticipate what comes next.
Axial provides the structural, tax, and advisory analysis that informs these decisions — from initial incorporation through to eventual succession or sale.
Incorporation & Entity Selection
Choosing the right entity structure — sole proprietorship, partnership, or corporation — is the first consequential decision a business owner makes. Axial evaluates the tax implications, liability considerations, and long-term flexibility of each option, ensuring the choice supports not just current operations but anticipated growth and transition.
Corporate Reorganisation
As businesses evolve, their structures must evolve with them. Reorganisations — including estate freezes, holding company establishment, and share restructuring — are designed to align corporate architecture with the current needs, tax positions, and succession intentions of the principals.
Shareholder Agreements & Ownership Design
Multi-owner businesses require clear structural agreements governing decision authority, profit distribution, dispute resolution, and exit mechanisms. Axial provides the financial and tax analysis that informs these agreements — working alongside legal counsel to ensure the structure is sound from every angle.
Succession & Transition Planning
Transitioning a business — whether to family, partners, management, or a third-party acquirer — is among the most complex undertakings an owner will face. Axial builds transition plans that address valuation, tax exposure, timing, and the structural mechanics of transferring ownership with minimal erosion.
Owner-Manager Compensation Architecture
Salary, dividends, shareholder loans, and benefit structures must be designed as an integrated system. Axial models the tax-optimal compensation mix based on the owner's personal income position, corporate retained earnings, and long-term wealth accumulation objectives.
Structure is not paperwork. It is the framework within which every subsequent decision is either enabled or constrained.