The new year is now well and truly under way. Knowing what to expect will give you a head start. The problem is that no one has a crystal ball good enough to be certain of the future.

If you thought reaching an agreement on price was difficult, wait until you get to the fine details of buying or selling a business.

The last 12 months have been a difficult period in business. With the Australian economy slowly recovering from the GFC, and being lead by the buoyant mining sector, many other industry sectors have struggled to keep pace. With the rising price of the Australian dollar making many of our exports non competitive on the world market, the fear of increasing interest rates and the lack of capital to fund investment and growth, many Australian businesses have had disappointing results for 2010/2011.