06 About
A practice built backwards from one job we could not get comfortable with
Tabletop Accounting gets the records straight first, then plans the tax around what the business is actually doing, for sole traders, small companies and farming families across the Darling Downs.
We started Tabletop Accounting in 2016, in a one-room office above a shopfront on the range, after seven years in bigger firms in Brisbane and Toowoomba. The thing that pushed us out was a job we could not get comfortable with. A client had been with the firm for six years, paid a fee every October, and had never once been asked a question before 30 June. The return was accurate. It was also useless to him, because by the time anyone looked at it every decision that could have changed the number had already been made.
So we built the practice backwards from that. Records first, in a rhythm, so nobody arrives in September with a drawer full of paper and a hope. Then a conversation in April or May, while there is still a financial year left to do something with. Then the return, which by that point holds no surprises for anyone. It is not a clever system. It just puts the thinking in front of the deadline instead of behind it.
We moved into the Paperbark Lane suite in our fourth year, and East Toowoomba suited us because it is a five minute drive from town and forty minutes from a surprising number of properties. About half our work is trades and small service businesses in Toowoomba itself, and the other half is farming families out through Oakey, Pittsworth, Cambooya and Millmerran. Those two groups look different on paper and want exactly the same thing: a fee they agreed to, a phone call returned the same day, and somebody who will say plainly when an idea is not worth doing.
We are five people and we intend to stay about that size. Imogen leads the practice and holds the tax agent registration. Rohan handles structuring and the company work. Kayla runs bookkeeping, payroll and every BAS that goes out the door. Hannah looks after superannuation and the funds. Marcus keeps the whole thing on schedule and is usually the voice on the phone. Everyone here has a direct line, because being handed between four people to answer one question is its own kind of fee.
We quote fixed fees in writing before we start, we do not bill for phone calls, and we would rather tell you a structure or a fund is not worth running than take the work. That has cost us jobs. It has also kept most of our clients since the first couple of years, which is the number we actually watch.
What the practice runs on
- A fixed fee agreed in writing before any work starts
- Records first, advice second, never the other way around
- Plain English in every meeting, no jargon and no lecture
- Say when something is not worth doing, even when it costs us the job
WhyThe whole idea
Put the thinking in front of the deadline instead of behind it, for every client, every year.
01The other half of the answer
Four things we will not do
Saying this out loud has cost us jobs. It has also kept most of our clients since the first couple of years, which is the number we actually watch.
- 01
Talk you into a structure you do not need
A company or a trust is a cost with no benefit until the profit and the risk justify it. Where stamp duty or capital gains would make a change expensive, we say stay put.
- 02
Tell you to buy something to reduce tax
Spending a dollar to save thirty cents is still a dollar gone. We will tell you what a purchase you were already planning is worth after tax, and what the timing does to it.
- 03
Take referral commissions
We prepare statements in the form lenders accept and answer broker questions directly. We do not arrange the finance and we are not paid by anyone who does.
- 04
Keep a fund running because it bills well
Every fund gets an annual conversation about whether it is still worth running at all. Sometimes the answer is no, and we say so.
02The difference
Why people move to us
Almost always after a year where the number arrived in October and there was nothing left to do about it.
- Every engagement starts with a free records review, not a fee quoted over the phone
- A planning meeting in April or May, before the levers close on 30 June
- Trades and primary production handled by the same small team, so seasonal businesses are not an exception here
- Five people, five direct lines, no being handed around to answer one question
ProofSince 2016
What the practice has actually done
- A fixed fee agreed in writing before any work starts, and it does not move unless you agree to a change in scope
- Every call answered or returned within one business day, tax season included
- If we miss a lodgement date that was ours to meet, we wear the late lodgement penalty
- The first meeting is free and there is no obligation to engage us afterwards
- No charge for phone calls or short emails on a fixed-fee package
- Returns lodged since 2016 Individuals, sole traders, companies, trusts and funds
- 4,200+
- Client businesses on a fixed fee Across Toowoomba and the Darling Downs
- 180
- Returns lodged by the due date Averaged across the last three financial years
- 98%
- Clients with us five years or more Of businesses that joined before 2021
- 62%
- People in the practice Two CPAs, a chartered accountant, a registered BAS agent and a practice manager
- 5
03The people
Five people, five direct lines
Being handed between four people to answer one question is its own kind of fee.
- Imogen Traill Principal and Registered Tax Agent
- Rohan Mathieson Senior Accountant, Business Services
- Kayla Prentice Bookkeeping and BAS Lead
- Hannah Skene Client Manager, Superannuation and SMSF
- Marcus Deeley Practice Manager