Mark Thompson

Executive summary

Mark is a specialist in R&D and Government Incentives with BDO in Perth, bringing nearly two decades of experience helping organisations across jurisdictions and industries, from start‑ups to multinationals, to obtain government incentives.

In addition to Australia, his experience spans international markets including New Zealand and Singapore, where he has established himself as an expert at identifying opportunities and supporting businesses to access government incentives, including tax benefits and non-dilutive funding. Mark also has a computer science background and deep knowledge of software R&D across industries.

Mark combines technical rigour with a pragmatic, audit‑ready approach, drawing on extensive experience to work through complex government incentive requirements and optimise the scope, preparation and substantiation of audit ready government incentive claims.

Client value is at the core of Mark’s service offering, and he has significant experience in navigating regulator reviews and working closely with clients to maximise incentive benefits while minimising administrative burden.

Mark partners with clients across a number of sectors including technology, media and telecommunications, natural resources and energy, manufacturing, life sciences, food and agribusiness, and financial services. His core focus is supporting clients across R&D tax incentives and state and federal government grant and incentive programmes.

Expertise

• R&D tax incentive compliance and advisory
• R&D tax incentive ATO/AusIndustry reviews and disputes
• State and federal government grant and incentive programmes

Experience

• Nearly two decades of supporting businesses to prepare and structure government incentive claims
• Supported numerous clients to prepare for and successfully navigate regulator reviews
• Prepared advice and reasonably arguable position papers on various complex government incentive issues
• Prepared robust internal governance processes and risk matrices to manage government incentive claim risk for clients in various industries
• Designed various internal policies and procedures to proactively flag government incentive claim opportunities and contemporaneously capture documented evidence
• Reviewed internal structures and processes, and provided numerous recommendations on how to most efficiently scope government incentive opportunities and capture information
• Conducted numerous presentations and workshops to promote awareness of government incentives and claim requirements

Qualifications and affiliations

• Bachelor of Business (Management)
• Bachelor of Science (Computer Science)
• Graduate Diploma of Chartered Accounting
• Member, CA ANZ