The accountant who served you well at $200k may not be the right advisor at $1M. It's not that they're bad at what they do — it's that what you need has changed. A business at $1M with employees, growing profits, a company or trust structure, and contractors needs an accountant who is proactive, benchmarked, and thinking about the next 18 months as much as the last 12.
Sign 1: You Only Hear From Them at Tax Time
If the only contact you have with your accountant is when they call to say the return is ready, that's compliance accounting. Valuable accounting at the growth stage means at least one mid-year conversation: a review of year-to-date profit, a discussion of planned purchases or structural changes, a check on super contributions and Division 7A positions before EOFY.
A tax return lodged in October for the previous June is useful, but it's a history lesson. The proactive conversations — the ones that happen in March or April before EOFY — are where tax is actually saved and structural issues are caught early. If those conversations aren't happening, you're not getting advisory value.
Sign 2: They've Never Suggested a Structure Review
Business structure — sole trader, partnership, company, discretionary trust, unit trust, or combinations — is not set-and-forget. The optimal structure for a sole trader at $150k income is rarely optimal at $600k profit. The structure that works well with one owner may not work when there's a second director or when the business has asset value worth protecting.
A structure review considers tax efficiency (income splitting via trust distributions, company tax rate vs marginal rate), asset protection, succession planning, and Division 7A implications. If your accountant has never proactively raised a structure review and your business is growing, that conversation is overdue.
Sign 3: You've Crossed $1M Revenue and Are Still a Sole Trader
Operating as a sole trader at $1M+ revenue exposes the business owner's personal assets to business liabilities without any structural separation. It also means all net income is taxed at the individual's marginal rate — at $600k+ profit, that's 47% including Medicare. A company tax rate of 25% (small business entity rate) creates a significant deferral opportunity. A discretionary trust creates income-splitting capacity across family members. Every year without a structure review at this revenue level is a cost.
Sign 4: Division 7A Has Never Come Up
Division 7A treats loans from a private company to directors or associates, forgiven debts, and the personal use of company assets at below-market rates as unfranked dividends — taxable at the recipient's marginal rate without the benefit of franking credits. For a Melbourne business owner operating through a company, Division 7A is unavoidable as a topic if the accountant is doing their job. Directors take draws from the company's bank account. If those draws aren't treated as salary, dividends, or properly documented loans repaid on ATO terms, they're Division 7A exposures.
Sign 5: Your Balance Sheet Has Never Been Explained to You
Many business owners receive a balance sheet every year and have no idea what it means for their business. The balance sheet contains the most important information in the accounts for a growing business: how much equity has been built, how much working capital is available, what the debt position looks like, and whether the balance sheet supports the next phase of growth. "Your equity is $X" is not the same as "your equity has grown by $Y, which means your borrowing capacity for equipment finance or a premises move is approximately $Z."
Sign 6: Your Super Contribution Caps Have Never Been Discussed
For business owners in their 40s and 50s, superannuation is one of the most tax-effective ways to build wealth. Concessional contributions are taxed at 15% in the fund vs up to 47% on personal income. The concessional cap for 2025–26 is $30,000 per annum. The bring-forward rule allows non-concessional contributions of up to $360,000 in a single year. The Total Superannuation Balance rules affect what contributions are available. If your accountant has never discussed maximising your super contributions, they're leaving money on the table — specifically your money, going to the ATO at your marginal rate instead of sitting in a 15% tax environment.
Sign 7: They Submitted Your Return With No Tax Planning Conversation
Tax planning — the conversation that happens before EOFY about decisions that reduce the year's tax liability — is only useful before 30 June. After that date, the year is locked. Prepaying eligible expenses, maximising super contributions, bringing forward deductible purchases, timing invoices, and reviewing trust distributions are all EOFY decisions. An accountant who calls in September to say "here's your return" is telling you about last year's tax. A proactive accountant contacts you in April or May with a preliminary view and a list of decisions to consider before 30 June.
Sign 8: ATO Benchmarks Have Never Been Mentioned
The ATO publishes small business benchmarks for hundreds of industries — ratios showing the typical cost-of-goods, labour, and overhead percentages for businesses in each sector. If your ratios are materially outside the benchmark range, the ATO's data-matching systems may flag the business for a review. A proactive accountant compares your ratios against the relevant benchmarks at EOFY and either explains and documents legitimate reasons for variation, or addresses the underlying issue. This is also useful business intelligence: if your labour cost ratio is materially above benchmark for your industry, that's a pricing or efficiency conversation worth having.
Sign 9: They Don't Know Your Industry's Specific Rules
A general practitioner accountant can prepare a P&L and lodge a tax return for any business. But industry-specific tax rules — GST-free clinical services vs taxable optical dispensing, trust account compliance for law firms, Medicare income stream rules for allied health, NDIS funding treatment — require an accountant who works with businesses in your sector. If you're an OT practice owner who had to explain to your accountant how NDIS payments work, or a law firm principal whose accountant wasn't sure how trust account interest is treated, you've already found the gap.
Sign 10: You've Raised Staff or Contractor Issues and Been Referred Elsewhere
Payroll tax thresholds, contractor classification post-2024 High Court decisions, superannuation obligations for labour-hire, PAYG withholding for contractors without ABNs, Workcover obligations — these are employment and payroll issues that a Melbourne business at the growth stage navigates in real time. If your accountant's response to questions like these is "you'll need to talk to a lawyer" or "your bookkeeper should handle that," you're not getting the holistic advisory service a growing business needs. An advisory-level accountant works with your bookkeeper and commercial lawyer as a coordinated team.
Your accountant manages the tax. Your bookkeeper manages the numbers.
True Tally works with Melbourne service businesses that want bookkeeping that supports their growth — clean data, current reports, and the financial visibility to make better decisions. Book a free call.
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Read the video transcript
Hi, I'm Tiffany from True Tally Bookkeeping. Today I want to talk about something that comes up a lot with Melbourne service business owners who are growing — the question of whether their accountant is actually keeping pace with where the business is going.
The accountant who served you well at $200k may not be the right advisor at $1 million. It's not that they're doing anything wrong — it's that what you need changes when your revenue, structure, and complexity change. Here are the ten signs I see most often.
One: you only hear from them at tax time. Valuable accounting means at least one mid-year conversation about where the year is heading and what decisions to make before 30 June. Two: they've never suggested a structure review. At $600k+ profit, whether you're in a company or trust makes a significant tax and asset protection difference. Three: you've crossed $1 million revenue and you're still a sole trader — all your net income is taxed at your marginal rate, up to 47%. A company at 25% or a trust with income splitting changes that picture materially. Four: Division 7A has never come up. If you operate through a company and you take drawings, Division 7A is not optional as a topic. Five: your balance sheet has never been explained — not just read out, but explained in terms of what it means for your borrowing capacity and your next move.
Six: super contribution caps have never been discussed. Concessional contributions to super are taxed at 15% vs up to 47% on your income — the opportunity cost of not maximising this is real. Seven: your return was submitted with no tax planning conversation before 30 June. Eight: ATO benchmarks have never been mentioned — if your ratios are outside the ATO's benchmarks for your industry, you want to know before the ATO does. Nine: they don't know your industry's specific rules. Ten: you've raised employment or contractor questions and been referred elsewhere. A good accountant at the growth stage coordinates the team — they don't send you away.
True Tally works alongside accountants and bookkeeping clients across Melbourne and Victoria. Our job is to make sure the numbers are clean and current so your accountant has what they need to do their best work. Book a free call at calendly.com/truetally or call 0468 159 950.
Xero-certified bookkeeper and Registered BAS Agent, working with service businesses, agencies and allied health practices across Melbourne and Victoria. Last updated July 2026.