It all depends on what the softwares are used for. I am still...

It all depends on what the softwares are used for. I am still using Microsoft Word 2010 at my workplace and it's still working perfectly alright and does all the job that I need to. This was released 9 years ago...and I believe that it can easily last me to 2025...coz I only need it for word processing.

So, the key question on this should be: What softwares are they talking about? Membership management software and promotional algorithm that promotes products to customers based on their historical purchases? Or animals database that is used for their vet services? If Forager is really interested in tearing down Greencross so they can profit from this should actually reveal all of the relevant information rather than just throwing things out there.

One thing that the article has been misleading is to say 'they have increased the useful life from 10 to 15 years', which suggests GXL is amortising for all their software expenses for an extra 5 years, when the report actually said "10-15 years" which is a range. Check the annual report for yourself.


I had a look at Qantas' policy of amortisation of software in their annual report and found that they do 3-15 years. So, maybe Qantas is hiding their numbers as well? Don't forget Qantas has many millions of members to manage as well and their softwares are catered to serve these members. Look at Harvey Norman, they have it as up to 9.5 years. Metcash has it 5-10 years. Synlait 3-10 years. Breville and Wesfarmers has it up to 7 years. Kogan does it to 3 years. Myer does it 5-10 years. Treasury Wine 2 to 10 years. Freedom Food, Kathmandu, Specialty Fashion all up to 5 years.

So, you see the spread of the years over which companies amortise for their softwares. Yes, Greencross may be on the high end like Qantas, but to suggest that it's doing it 5 times longer (i.e. 15 years versus 3 years) than the rest of what companies out there are doing can be misleading.