Sector knowledge

Industries

Every sector has the two or three things that actually bite. These are the ones we watch for Australian businesses — each links to the full sector document.

Ecommerce

Settlement reconciliation, marketplace fees and inventory that agrees to the ledger.

  • GST coded at the transaction, not corrected at lodgment
  • Low-value imported goods rules and who collects the GST
  • FX gains and losses kept separate from trading margin

SaaS and software

Deferred revenue, MRR that ties to the P&L, and books investors can read.

  • AASB 15: subscription revenue earned over the service period
  • Gross-vs-net on gateway fees — it changes revenue and margin
  • A deferred-revenue schedule the registered agent can lodge from

Professional services

WIP, utilisation and billing that reflects what was actually delivered.

  • AASB 15 on time-based and fixed-fee engagements
  • GST timing on unbilled WIP and progress billing
  • Payroll tax grouping across multi-jurisdiction firms

Construction and trades

Job costing, retentions and progress claims kept straight.

  • Progress claims under security-of-payment legislation
  • TPAR: the contractor report built from clean books
  • Retention trust accounts where state law requires them

Real estate

Property-level reporting, and entity structures that stay separate.

  • Bonds lodged with the state, trust accounts audited annually
  • Outgoings reconciliation under retail-leases legislation
  • Land tax aggregation across related entities

Nonprofits

Restricted-fund tracking and reporting a board and a funder both accept.

  • ACNC reporting tiers and what each requires
  • Income recognition under AASB 1058 and AASB 15
  • GST concessions and FBT rebates named for the agent

Hospitality

POS-to-ledger reconciliation, tip and penalty-rate payroll data, and the food-tax lines kept straight.

Medical & allied health

Remittance reconciliation, contractor-doctor exposure watched, and practice structures kept separate in the books.

NDIS providers

Price-guide billing reconciled, claiming kept audit-ready, and the reporting plan managers actually ask for.

Agencies & consultancies

Retainers vs projects, media pass-through kept out of revenue, and the contractor network’s compliance data captured as you go.