How accounting firms can protect their cash flow and earn airline rewards

Superannuation Guarantee contributions must be paid each pay cycle, with funds required to reach employees' super accounts within seven business days. For firms running payroll across a mix of full-time, part-time and casual staff — often with irregular billing cycles — this has replaced a predictable quarterly obligation with a recurring weekly or fortnightly one.

The ATO's Small Business Superannuation Clearing House has also closed permanently, requiring firms to transition to payroll-integrated clearing solutions. The net result: more frequent super payments going out, higher administration costs, and less timing flexibility — precisely the challenges your clients are navigating too.

Accounting firms providing designated services are now reporting entities under Australia's Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing framework — placed in the same regulatory category as banks. Firms must enrol with AUSTRAC, implement client identity verification processes, appoint an AML/CTF compliance officer, monitor transactions, train staff, and retain records for up to seven years.

For most practices, this has meant upfront investment in compliance technology and ongoing administrative overhead that carries no direct fee revenue offset.

Many practices are structured as discretionary trusts for income distribution purposes.

The introduction of a 30 per cent minimum tax on trust distributions from the 2026–27 Federal Budget means principals operating through these structures face a higher and less flexible tax position — adding to the case for careful working capital management at the firm level.

The same Budget measures affecting your clients — negative gearing restrictions, CGT changes, and trust tax reform — are prompting many businesses and investors to defer or reduce their engagement with advisory and restructuring work. For firms that depend on complex, higher-margin engagements, a softer advisory pipeline compounds the pressure on revenue.

Against this backdrop, the underlying economics of the professional services model remain unchanged — and unforgiving. Accounting and financial planning firms are paid after the work is done. Sometimes well after.

From the moment a client engagement begins, the firm is investing time, expertise and overhead before a single invoice is raised.

Tax returns, financial statements, business advisory engagements and financial plans can involve weeks or months of work before billing milestones are reached — and billing is often deferred until completion.

Even once invoices are issued, collection is rarely immediate. Average debtor days across Australian SMEs sit between 45 and 65 days, with most invoices paid at least a week late on standard terms.

Professional services firms face the same reality — clients experiencing their own cash flow pressure are often slow payers, and fee sensitivity has made collections more difficult to enforce without risking the relationship.

For many firms, a significant portion of annual revenue clusters around the tax season — July to October — with quieter periods in between. But wages, rent, software subscriptions, professional indemnity insurance and other fixed costs don't follow the same pattern.

Managing a variable revenue base against fixed operating costs requires either strong cash reserves or reliable access to working capital.

Salaries for accountants, bookkeepers, paraplanners and support staff must be met every fortnight regardless of billing activity or collection rates.

For multi-partner firms, partner drawings add further complexity. Software licensing — including practice management, tax, and cloud accounting platforms — represents a significant recurring cost that must be funded whether client work is flowing or not.

Hiring ahead of demand, onboarding new clients, investing in technology or expanding service lines all require upfront capital before the corresponding revenue materialises.

Client affordability challenges — particularly for higher-value engagements like restructures, tax planning and complex advisory work — have made reducing debtor days and days sales outstanding a priority for firms focused on financial resilience.