How It Works

In a nutshell, what is ABN Tax?

ABN Tax is a fully staffed firm that provides accounting and taxation services exclusively to Australian Bookkeepers Network (ABN) members and their clients. ABN Tax has a unique business model which differs to most accounting and taxation firms in five key areas. These points of difference are explained in depth on our Overview page. Above all, our business model relies on us working closely with competent, professional bookkeepers.

As a bookkeeper, how do I get involved?

Bookkeepers wishing to making use of ABN Tax - either as their own accountant or to be their clients' accountant - need to be ABN members in the first place, and then need to become an ABN Tax Client Manager.

Becoming an ABN Tax Client Manager is a three step process that involves, firstly, completing an application form, secondly, passing a 40-question online exam, and thirdly, attending an ABN Tax Induction Training. This three step process is explained in depth on our Become A Client Manager page.

Once I've become an ABN Tax client manager, what then?

At this point, it is all about identifying which of your clients would be best suited to utilise our services. This might include clients that:

  • Are new in business and have sought your advice on who to use as an accountant;
  • Are not completely satisfied with their current accountant and are looking for an alternative;
  • Are eager for you, as their bookkeeper, to manage their overall financial reporting function by not only attending to their bookkeeping, but also by facilitating their accounting and taxation requirements.

Once you have identified prospective clients, you can complete a form which enables us to provide you with an obligation free quote to attend to your client's accounting and taxation requirements. This form, together with a suite of other resources, are available to ABN Tax Client Managers in a secured section of our web site.

What if a client finds the quote satisfactory and wishes to proceed?

As the ABN Tax Client Manager, you would then complete a form setting out all of your client's particulars. Your client signs this form to acknowledge their decision to appoint ABN Tax. We then send an ethical letter to your client's outgoing accountant and commence to act for your client.

What's involved in ABN Tax attending to my client's work?

We ask you to supply us with your client's accounting software file and collate any other information that we require to attend to their year-end work. You can send this information to us via Bookkeeper-Client Connect, email, fax or post.

There is also a specially designed Excel template designed for the ABN Tax Client Manager to complete. This ensures that when we receive the work, all of the fundamental bookkeeping checks and balances have been attended to.

We then attend to your client's accounting and tax requirements. If we have queries, we send them to you in the first instance to either solve or speak to your client about. We will of course speak to your client ourselves if there are any queries you are unable to solve or unwilling to discuss with your client.

Once the work is complete, we supply you with a PDF version of your client's financial statements and tax returns, together with a re-alignment journal for you to enter into your client's accounting software. You then arrange for signatures from your client and we then lodge their tax returns.

How do I get rewarded?

ABN Tax Client Managers greatly assist the year-end compliance process through the preparation of a range of workpapers and the collation of key client information.

In recognition of this assistance, ABN Tax Client Managers receive 15% of the total fee that is charged to clients for their year-end compliance services. This provides an opportunity for ABN Tax Client Managers to derive a significant additional income stream.

Importantly, this comes out of ABN Tax's profits and is not an additional cost borne by your client. For example, if ABN Tax billed a client $1,500 for year-end compliance services, the ABN Tax Client Manager would receive a payment of $225 from ABN Tax.

Do you do more for the client than just financials and tax returns?

Absolutely. We provide the full suite of services that you would come to expect from any top line accounting firm. The Our Services page of our web site describes in detail the full breadth of our service offering.

What should I do now?

Read through the many other pages on this web site. There are sections written with the bookkeeper in mind, and sections written with the client in mind.

There are an enormous number of benefits of the ABN Tax business model for both bookkeepers and clients alike and we invite you to learn more about these.