Bookkeeping Businesses for sale in Australia

If it provides BAS services for a fee or reward, the relevant individual and entity registrations must be checked with the Tax Practitioners Board. Confirm supervisory arrangements, expiry dates, conditions and how the acquisition structure affects registration.

Review assignment, consent, fee, scope, termination and records clauses in each engagement. Obtain client approval where required, confirm software authority changes, and identify clients tied personally to the seller or receiving services outside the written scope.

Restrict due-diligence access and verify secure transfer of accounting files, payroll data, credentials and document storage. Confirm ownership of subscriptions, partner portals, integrations, backups and multifactor authentication, then remove seller and former staff access after completion.

Examine file reviews, missed deadlines, corrections, complaints, regulator correspondence and professional indemnity notifications. Confirm current insurance meets TPB requirements where applicable and quantify unpaid remediation or claims arising from work performed before the sale.

Check qualifications, BAS supervision, employment status, confidentiality, client allocation and retention. Test award coverage, superannuation, leave and contractor independence, and confirm written intellectual-property and data-security obligations continue after the ownership change.

Reconcile timesheets, recurring invoices, software records and bank receipts by client. Calculate margin after bookkeeper hours and subscriptions, then adjust for owner work, underpriced files, seasonal lodgements, overdue accounts and clients unlikely to approve the transfer.