Accountants who know your sector.

Practices carry structural problems most businesses do not: service entity arrangements that have to withstand ATO scrutiny, payroll tax on contractor practitioners after the recent state revenue rulings, and personal services income rules that can push income straight back to the practitioner. We structure practices so the service entity charges a defensible margin, review contractor agreements against the current payroll tax position in Queensland and New South Wales, and handle the equipment depreciation and practice-purchase financing that come with growth.

Software businesses spend before they earn, which makes the R&D tax incentive and correct treatment of development costs genuinely material to survival. Revenue recognition on annual subscriptions, employee share schemes for staff you cannot pay in cash, and GST on overseas customers each need deciding early. We set the chart of accounts so ARR, churn and gross margin are readable from the ledger, assess R&D eligibility with the record-keeping in place from day one, and forecast the runway between raises.

Construction is where GST gets complicated: the margin scheme, GST at settlement on new residential premises, and progress claims that fall in a different period from the cash. Add retentions, work in progress and the taxable payments annual report for subcontractors, and the compliance load is heavier than the turnover suggests. We handle developer entity structuring so each project sits in its own vehicle, track WIP properly, and manage land tax across states for held stock.

Online sellers reconcile against platform settlements rather than invoices, which breaks most standard bookkeeping. Marketplace GST rules, imported goods under the low-value threshold, multi-currency settlement, and inventory sitting in third-party warehouses all need handling before the numbers mean anything. We connect Shopify, Amazon and payment gateways to the ledger, get inventory and cost of goods sold right, and forecast the working capital that stock-heavy growth consumes.

Hospitality runs on thin margins and heavy award complexity, and payroll is where operators get hurt. The Restaurant and Hospitality awards carry penalty rates, split shifts and casual loadings that are easy to apply slightly wrong and expensive to correct across years. Add tips, staff meals as fringe benefits, and weekly cash cycles against monthly supplier terms. We interpret the award, run compliant payroll, and forecast cash week by week rather than month by month.

Consultancies, agencies and firms bill time and carry work in progress, so profit and cash rarely agree. Personal services income rules can attribute income directly to the individual where the results test is not met, which undoes the structure entirely. We test PSI early, structure partner and shareholder profit sharing so it is both efficient and documented, manage WIP and lock-up, and set the pricing and utilisation measures that determine whether the practice is actually profitable.

Trade businesses run on progress payments, retentions and subcontractors, and every one of those has a tax consequence. The taxable payments annual report must be lodged for subcontractor payments, superannuation is often payable to contractors engaged for their labour, and tool and vehicle purchases interact with the instant asset write-off. We keep the books current from job to job, get vehicle and FBT treatment right, and provision for tax so a good quarter is not spent before the BAS arrives.

Manufacturers carry capital equipment, inventory and long production cycles, so the difference between a good year and a bad one often comes down to costing rather than sales. Standard costing, overhead absorption and work-in-progress valuation determine whether your margin is real. We handle plant depreciation and the instant asset write-off on equipment purchases, assess R&D eligibility on process improvement, and model the cash impact of a capital purchase before you commit to it.

Cross-border businesses and individuals face residency questions that are decided on facts rather than paperwork. Permanent establishment risk, transfer pricing on related-party dealings, withholding tax on interest and royalties, double tax agreements and foreign income tax offsets all interact. We determine and document residency, structure inbound investment into Australia, coordinate with advisers in the other jurisdiction through our global affiliations, and keep the reporting consistent on both sides.