Short answer
Check the licence first — accountants need a licence for some work and not other work. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 4,048 Australian accountants in this directory, only 24.9% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 7.4% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.
Accountants handle tax returns, BAS, business accounts, company and trust structures, and advice on what you owe and why. This is what to check before you hand over your books, and what the evidence says about the category as a whole.
Accountants are licensed for some work and not others
Anyone can call themselves an accountant. What is regulated is tax: preparing a return or giving tax advice for a fee requires registration as a tax agent with the Tax Practitioners Board, a national register you can search in a minute. Membership of CPA Australia, Chartered Accountants ANZ or the IPA is a professional standard on top of that, not a substitute for it.
Search the TPB register at tpb.gov.au by name or registration number. A registered agent must be listed; a firm that cannot give you a number is not one.
What 4,048 Australian accountants actually publish
We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For accountants:
| What we checked | Accountants | All trades |
|---|---|---|
| Publish an ABN we could confirm | 24.9% | 21.2% |
| Listed phone matches their own website | 66.2% | 59.2% |
| Listed phone contradicts their own website | 7.4% | 7.7% |
| Website responded when we checked | 86.5% | 81% |
| Corroborated by two or more sources | 91.8% | 81.1% |
| Median number of Google reviews | 19 | 39 |
What goes wrong with accountants
- A return lodged by someone who is not a registered tax agent, which leaves you without the safe-harbour protection registration gives
- No engagement letter, so the fee, the scope and who holds your records are all undocumented
- Advice on a structure that suits the adviser's fee more than your situation
What to ask before the work starts
- What is your Tax Practitioners Board registration number?
- Which professional body are you a member of, and what is your fee basis for this work?
- Will I get an engagement letter before anything is lodged in my name?
A accountant who answers all three of those without hesitating is telling you something useful. One who is vague about a licence number is telling you something too.
The median matters more than the average
The median accountant in this directory has 19 Google reviews. That is the number to hold in your head when you see a perfect five-star rating: five stars from four reviews and 4.6 from three hundred are not comparable, and the second is almost always the safer hire.
It is also why the ranking here weights review volume more heavily than review score. A business cannot buy its position, and a handful of glowing reviews does not move it far.
Where the accountants are
Melbourne (342), Sydney (330), Brisbane (192), Perth (154), Adelaide (80), Gold Coast (80). A shortlist for your own area is more useful than a national ranking — the best accountant in the country is no help if they are four states away.
Where to check a licence, by state
There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state where the work is happening.
- NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
- VICBuilding and Plumbing Commission, and Energy Safe Victoria for electricalbuilding practitioners and plumbers; electricians are Energy Safe Victoria
- QLDQueensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)building and most trade contractor licences
- WABuilding and Energybuilders, electricians, plumbers and gas fitters
- SAConsumer and Business Servicesbuilding work contractors and supervisors
- TASConsumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)building and occupational licences
- ACTAccess Canberraconstruction occupations licensing
- NTNT Government building practitioner registrationbuilding practitioners and electrical workers
Common questions
- Do accountants need a licence in Australia?
- Sometimes. Anyone can call themselves an accountant. What is regulated is tax: preparing a return or giving tax advice for a fee requires registration as a tax agent with the Tax Practitioners Board, a national register you can search in a minute. Membership of CPA Australia, Chartered Accountants ANZ or the IPA is a professional standard on top of that, not a substitute for it.
- How do I check an accountant's licence?
- Search the TPB register at tpb.gov.au by name or registration number. A registered agent must be listed; a firm that cannot give you a number is not one.
- What percentage of Australian accountants have a verifiable ABN?
- 24.9% of the 4,048 accountants in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 21.2% across all trades.
- How many reviews should an accountant have?
- The median accountant here has 19. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.
Compare accountants near you
4,048 accountants, ranked on the evidence described above rather than on advertising.
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