• Admin is eating into billable or sales time
• You are close to the GST threshold, or have just crossed it
• You are about to employ someone
• Your tax bill keeps surprising you
• You are unsure whether you are claiming everything you should
• You are wondering whether a company would suit you better

You do not need to outsource everything at once. A sensible order is:

1. Tax returns and tax planning. Often the best value, because a good plan can change the outcome.
2. BAS. Once registered for GST, accuracy and timing matter.
3. Bookkeeping. When invoicing, receipts and reconciliations start to take too long.
4. Payroll. When you hire your first employee.
5. Advice. Pricing, cash flow and structure as the business grows.

GST. Most medical services are GST-free, but not everything a practice supplies is. Some services and products are taxable, and the mix affects your BAS and the GST credits you can claim. Coding this wrongly is a common and costly error.

Practitioner arrangements. Doctors may work as employees or as independent contractors, often under a service or facilities agreement where the practice charges a fee for rooms, staff and equipment. The way these are structured, priced and documented affects tax, super and payroll obligations.

Payroll tax. State revenue offices have taken a close interest in payments between practices and contracting practitioners, so the arrangement needs to be assessed properly in your state.

Superannuation. Payments to contractors who are engaged mainly for their labour can still carry super obligations, even where they are treated as contractors for other tax purposes.

Service entities. Where a service entity or trust is used, the ATO expects the fees charged to reflect real, commercially reasonable arrangements, supported by documentation.

Complex payment flows. Patient fees, Medicare and other rebates, merchant fees, practitioner distributions and locum payments all pass through the books and need clear reconciliation.

Assets. Medical equipment, fit-outs and vehicles raise depreciation, instant asset write-off and fringe benefits questions.

• Bookkeeping and monthly reconciliations, including patient fee income and rebates
• Payroll, super and STP for clinical and administrative staff
• BAS, with attention to GST-free and taxable supplies
• Practitioner payments and reporting
• Tax returns and financial statements for each entity
• Management reports, such as income by practitioner and by service
• Advice on structure, service arrangements and planned purchases

1. Do you work with medical or health practices, and with which types of arrangements?
2. How do you code and check GST-free and taxable supplies?
3. How do you assess contractor, employee and service entity arrangements, including payroll tax and super?
4. How is patient and staff data protected?
5. Who will be my contact, and how often will we meet?

Ask for a review of how GST is coded, how practitioner arrangements are documented and whether payroll tax and super have been assessed. It often surfaces issues before they turn into a bigger problem.

RBizz works with medical and professional practices and provides outsourced accounting, payroll, compliance and CFO support. Book a free discovery call to talk through your practice's set-up.

Agree the scope in writing. What is included, what is not, who does what and by when.

Set up authorisations. Your new provider needs to be appointed as your tax agent and given access to the relevant ATO services. This is usually done through your business's ATO access, and it is also how deadlines and lodgment history become visible to them.

Request the handover. Your provider can ask your previous accountant for prior returns, working papers and key records, so you do not have to chase them yourself.

Collect the essentials. Prior tax returns, BAS history, payroll records, loan and finance statements, bank access, and your current accounting file.

Before changing anything, your provider reviews what is there:

• Are the bank accounts reconciled, and where are the gaps?
• Are lodgments up to date, including BAS, STP and any other reporting?
• Are there ATO debts, overdue super or other issues?
• Is the GST coding correct?
• What needs cleaning up, and how long will it take?

You should come out of this week with a clear list of what is in good shape, what needs fixing and what it will cost to fix.

• Bank feeds and rules set up properly
• Receipt capture and an approval path for bills
• Payroll linked to the accounting system
• A compliance calendar covering BAS, super, payroll tax, tax returns and any other due dates
• Access and security reviewed, with multi-factor authentication on

• Provide access and documents promptly
• Answer queries, particularly about unclear transactions
• Tell your provider about anything unusual, such as disputes, loans between you and the business, or planned purchases

• No written scope
• No health check before work begins
• No named contact
• Nobody asks about deadlines coming up
• Your data stays in the provider's system, with no access for you

Clean-up work on messy records is often separate from ongoing fees. Ask for a clear quote on both.

RBizz provides outsourced accounting, bookkeeping, payroll and CFO support. Book a free discovery call and we will walk you through what a switch would involve for your business.

There is no single formula. Common approaches include:

• Earnings-based. The business's sustainable profit is multiplied by a figure that reflects risk and growth prospects.
• Cash flow-based. Future cash flows are forecast and discounted to a present value.
• Asset-based. The value of the net assets, often used for asset-heavy or struggling businesses.

In practice, valuers compare methods and test the result against how similar businesses sell. The answer depends heavily on what profit is counted, which is why the next step matters.

1. Get the books clean and reconciled well before you go to market.
2. Document add-backs and one-off items with evidence.
3. Reduce dependence on yourself by documenting processes and building the team.
4. Spread revenue across more clients where you can.
5. Fix tax and compliance gaps in advance, since buyers will find them.
6. Think about structure and timing early, as they affect your tax outcome.

Some businesses restructure before a sale or investment round. This can have tax and stamp duty consequences, so it should be planned, not rushed, and timed separately from the sale itself.

RBizz provides business valuation, due diligence support and restructuring advice for buyers, sellers and owners planning an exit. Book a free discovery call to talk through your situation.

• Sole trader: register for an ABN using your own name.
• Partnership or trust: needs its own agreement or deed first, then its own ABN and tax file number.
• Company: registered with ASIC, with a registered office and at least one director. Every company director also needs a Director Identification Number.

• Tax file number for the entity
• GST registration, which becomes compulsory once your GST turnover reaches the threshold, and is optional below it. Registering voluntarily can make sense if you want to claim GST credits on start-up costs.
• PAYG withholding, required once you employ staff or make certain payments
• Other registrations depending on industry, such as fuel tax credits or wine equalisation tax

• Registering as a sole trader and moving to a company later without planning for the tax cost
• Mixing personal and business money
• Registering for GST late, or not at all, once over the threshold
• Employing someone before payroll and super are set up

RBizz helps new and growing businesses with structure advice, registrations, compliance set-up and bookkeeping systems from day one. Book a free discovery call before you register.

• Only one person knows how invoicing, payroll or month-end really works
• The process lives in someone's head, a personal spreadsheet or a long email thread
• Tasks get done late or in a rush every month
• The same errors keep coming back
• Nobody can answer "where does this number come from?"
• Approvals happen over text message or not at all

The common mistake is buying software first. Start with the work:

1. List the recurring finance tasks: invoicing, bill payments, payroll, expense capture, reconciliations, BAS, reporting.
2. Note who does each one, how long it takes and where it goes wrong.
3. Pick the two or three that cost the most time or cause the most errors.

Fixing those first delivers the biggest gain for the least disruption.

Bank reconciliation. Bank feeds with sensible rules cut manual entry, as long as someone reviews the results.

Invoicing and collections. Automated invoice delivery, payment links and reminder schedules bring cash in faster.

Expense and receipt capture. Capturing receipts at the time of purchase removes the end-of-month hunt.

Bill approval and payment. A clear approval path reduces errors and fraud risk.

Payroll and super. Integrating payroll with the accounting system removes double entry.

Reporting. A monthly dashboard built from the same data stops reports being rebuilt by hand each time.

Change one process at a time, document it as you go, and check it works before moving to the next. A system that people follow beats a perfect one that they bypass.

RBizz helps businesses map, document and automate their finance processes and set up cloud accounting that fits how the business really runs. Book a free discovery call to find where time is leaking.

1. Choose the structure. Most foreign businesses use either an Australian subsidiary company or register as a foreign company with a local presence. The right choice depends on liability, tax and how you plan to operate.

2. Register the company. This is done through ASIC, with a registered office address in Australia and a nominated company name.

3. Appoint directors. At least one must be ordinarily resident in Australia. Every director, including overseas ones, needs a Director Identification Number.

4. Get the tax registrations. An ABN and tax file number come first. GST registration becomes compulsory once turnover reaches the threshold, and PAYG withholding applies once you employ staff.

5. Check foreign investment rules. Depending on what you are acquiring and from where, foreign investment approval may be needed.

6. Open a bank account. This can take time for overseas-owned companies, so start early.

If you do not already have someone suitable in Australia, a professional resident director service can fill the requirement. It is worth treating this as a real appointment, not a formality: a director carries legal duties and personal liability under Australian law, so the provider needs real experience, proper insurance and clarity about their role.

Ask any provider:

• What exactly will the director do, and what will they not do?
• How do they get information to meet their duties?
• What cover do they hold?
• How does the arrangement end if your own team takes over?

• Residency. A company's tax residency depends on where it is incorporated and where it is managed and controlled.
• Related-party dealings. Loans, management fees and charges between the Australian company and its overseas parent need to be priced on arm's length terms and documented.
• Withholding tax. Dividends, interest and royalties paid overseas may attract withholding tax, which a tax treaty can reduce.
• Thin capitalisation. Rules can limit interest deductions on related-party debt.

An accountant reports on what has happened and keeps you compliant. A CFO uses the numbers to decide what happens next. The work typically includes:

• Forecasting and budgeting so you can see the year ahead, not just the year behind
• Cash flow modelling to anticipate gaps weeks or months early
• Margin and pricing analysis by product, service or client
• KPI reporting built around the numbers that actually drive your business
• Scenario planning for a hire, a new location, a lost client or a price change
• Funding preparation, including the financials a lender or investor will want to see
• Strategic input into decisions where the numbers matter

You get the CFO function without the full-time role. The work is delivered remotely or part-time, usually on a regular rhythm such as a monthly review and a quarterly planning session, with access between meetings when a decision comes up.

For many small and medium businesses, this is the practical way to get senior financial thinking without carrying the cost of a full-time executive.

• You are making large decisions on instinct because the numbers are not available in time
• Profit looks fine but cash is always tight
• You are planning to borrow, raise capital or sell
• Growth has made the business more complex than the books reflect
• You want someone to challenge your assumptions with data

• Pay runs depend on one person who is also doing other jobs
• You have staff on different awards, shifts or employment types
• You are unsure your award rates are current
• You have had to fix an underpayment
• Payroll is the task you keep putting off