Overview
Australia’s 63,865 registered tax practitioners operate across approximately 36,700 accounting practices in a $33 billion industry.
Quality reviews consistently find 25–30% of practices require corrective action for quality management deficiencies, while 30% of tax agents are aged 65 or older. The 2024 Code of Professional Conduct Determination introduced eight new compliance obligations for all registered practitioners — including mandatory documented quality
management systems — now in effect. GNS Strategic Advisory provides principal-led operational consulting drawing on Big Four methodology to help firm principals close compliance gaps, improve operational performance, and build practices positioned for sustainable growth or transition.
PRACTICE OPERATIONS DIAGNOSTIC
A structured review of how the practice operates day-to-day, identifying inefficiencies, capacity constraints, and improvement opportunities. This is the starting point for any practice that knows something isn’t working but hasn’t had the time or objectivity to diagnose it.
Ideal For
- Practices experiencing growing pains, declining margins, or staff capacity pressure
- Firms without documented workflows or operational processes
- Principals who want an independent, objective assessment before making changes
Service Includes
- Financial performance review and benchmarking against industry metrics
- Staff utilisation and capacity analysis across fee earners and support roles
- Workflow mapping from client onboarding through engagement completion and billing
- Identification of bottlenecks, rework loops, and process inefficiencies
- Client concentration risk assessment
Prioritised improvement roadmap with - mplementation timeline
PRACTICE GROWTH & SUCCESSION PLANNING
Forward-looking advisory for principals who need to make strategic decisions about hiring, pricing, investment, or transition — but lack the financial infrastructure to do so with confidence. With 30% of tax agents aged 65 or older and Professional Year enrolments down 95% since 2018, building a practice that can scale or transition is urgent.
Ideal For
- Principals planning retirement, partnership transition, or practice sale within 3–5 years
- Practices seeking to scale beyond current capacity but unsure when to hire or invest
- Firms needing to diversify revenue beyond traditional compliance services
Service Includes
- 3-year financial forecast model linked to cloud accounting data (e.g. Xero, MYOB)
- KPI dashboard development with definitions, targets, and monitoring cadence
- Hiring trigger framework with documented decision thresholds
- Scenario analysis (Base/Growth/Stress) with sensitivity modelling
- Client segmentation, profitability analysis, and pricing strategy
- Succession planning framework including practice valuation, partner buy-in/buy-out structuring, and readiness for sale or merger
TECHNOLOGY STACK ASSESSMENT
Evaluation of the practice’s technology landscape — from practice management and document management to client portals and cloud accounting. With 21% of practices still lacking practice management software and over half reporting poor workflow visibility, technology gaps are a major drag on efficiency and scalability.
Ideal For
- Practices with fragmented or outdated systems creating manual workarounds
- Firms considering platform transitions or consolidating multiple tools
- Practices seeking efficiency gains through automation and better integration
Service Includes
- Current technology landscape assessment across all practice functions
- Integration gap analysis and data flow mapping between systems
- Vendor evaluation and comparison against practice-specific requirements
- Automation opportunity identification for repetitive compliance and workflow tasks
- Implementation roadmap with change management considerations
- ROI analysis for proposed technology investments
COMPLIANCE, QUALITY MANAGEMENT & REGULATORY READINESS
Integrated gap analysis and implementation support covering the full spectrum of regulatory obligations facing accounting practices. Many firms are still catching up with the 2024 Code Determination’s eight new obligations, while professional bodies continue to find 25–30% of practices require corrective action at quality review. This service brings compliance, quality management, and risk management into a single, coordinated framework
Ideal For
- Practices needing to implement the 2024 Code Determination’s 8 new obligations
- Firms preparing for professional body quality reviews or TPB audits
- Practices requiring a compliant SOQM for the first time or updating legacy systems
- Firms managing obligations across multiple regulatory bodies (TPB, ASIC, professional bodies)
Service Includes
- Gap analysis against Tax Agent Services (Code of Professional Conduct) Determination 2024
- System of Quality Management (SOQM) documentation aligned with APES 320 and/or ASQM 1
- Risk management framework aligned with APES 325, integrated with SOQM
- Governance framework for TPB annual registration requirements
- Engagement quality review procedures, file review checklists, and monitoring processes
- Client verification, breach reporting, and whistleblower protection procedures
Engagement Model
- Fixed project fees for all services — no hourly surprises
- Implementation support available as a phased add-on to any diagnostic engagement
- Retainer arrangements available for ongoing compliance monitoring and advisory
- Principal-level attention on every engagement — no delegation to juniors
- Flexible engagement structures tailored to practice size and complexity
Professional Credentials
- Dual-qualified Chartered Accountant (CA ANZ and ICAEW) and Chartered Tax Adviser
- 13 years’ finance experience including Manager-level roles at PwC Australia
- Direct experience with Big Four quality management systems, methodology, and governance
- Multi-jurisdictional practice across Australia, UK, New Zealand, and Canada
Track Record
- Led teams delivering financial consolidations and reporting for major listed and private entities
- Managed team of 30 delivering CFO advisory across 217 locations globally
- ERP implementation and system transition experience across multiple platforms
- Delivered practice growth frameworks including KPI dashboards, forecast models, and scenario analysis
Let’s talk about what’s possible
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