How to choose an accountant for your small business

Choosing an accountant for a small business is a decision most owners make without much to compare against — unlike shopping for a physical product, there is no simple spec sheet, and the difference between a good fit and a poor one often only becomes obvious months later. A handful of practical checks upfront make that decision considerably less of a gamble.

Registration status is the first and most concrete thing to confirm. If you are paying someone to prepare or lodge a tax return, they need to be a registered tax agent with the Tax Practitioners Board; if BAS or GST work is involved, BAS agent registration applies specifically to that. The Tax Practitioners Board maintains a public register that can be searched by name, and checking it before engaging anyone takes only a few minutes. Our article on the difference between accountants, tax agents and bookkeepers explains how these registrations relate to each other in more detail.

Relevant experience with businesses like yours is worth asking about directly, rather than assuming a general practice accountant is equally suited to every industry and structure. An accountant who regularly works with sole traders in your industry, or with companies of a similar size and complexity to yours, is more likely to be familiar with the deductions, reporting quirks and cash flow patterns typical of your kind of business, compared with someone whose client base looks quite different.

Fee structure and software compatibility are both practical, everyday considerations. Ask upfront whether the accountant quotes a fixed fee for standard work or bills hourly, since a fixed fee generally gives more certainty before work begins. It is also worth checking which accounting software they work in — if you are already using Xero, MYOB or another platform, an accountant familiar with the same software can generally work more efficiently with your existing records than one who needs to adapt to an unfamiliar system.

Communication and availability matter more than they might seem to at first glance. A business's accounting needs are not limited to once-a-year tax time — questions about cash flow, a new hire's payroll setup, or an unexpected BAS query can come up at any point in the year, and how responsive and accessible an accountant is day to day can matter as much as the quality of their annual work. Asking how they prefer to communicate, and roughly how quickly they typically respond to client queries, is a reasonable question to raise before committing.

Professional body membership — organisations such as CPA Australia, Chartered Accountants ANZ, or the Institute of Public Accountants — is not a legal requirement to practise as an accountant, but membership generally involves meeting ongoing education and ethical standards set by that body, which can be a useful extra signal alongside TPB registration when comparing two options that otherwise look similar on paper.

Ultimately, choosing an accountant works best as a short conversation rather than a single decision made from a website alone — a call or meeting where you can ask about their registration, relevant experience, fee structure and how they typically work with a business like yours will generally tell you more than any of those factors considered on its own.

This article is general information about what to consider when choosing an accountant in Australia, not a recommendation for your specific business. For anything specific to your circumstances, speaking directly with a registered practitioner is the reliable next step. Our directory lists Australian accountants, tax agents and bookkeepers by area if you are ready to start comparing.

Frequently asked questions