Your trusted business advisory
As anyone who has started a business will attest: it’s hard. Making mistakes is par for the course however the size of those mistakes is somewhat in your control. No matter how groundbreaking your business idea, often the issues that arise are similar across the board – despite your industry. The good news is, it means you’ve got a myriad of people to learn from.
Business advisory takes the basics of tax accounting and builds on those numbers, taking a well rounded approach to long term business success.
What problem are we trying to solve?
For a business to succeed long term, owners need to have a realistic understanding of the issues that currently exist and therefore the core problems that need solving. We drill into this with honest conversations and by showing you the data.
Identify risks and opportunities
Once we have a thorough understanding of your business’s current state, we can help you to identify the risks that exist before they lead to potential problems, and the opportunities that have presented themselves within your industry. We then take practical steps to help you avoid and meet them respectively.
Tax planning and minimisation strategies
Knowing where you’re at now and where you’re likely to be in the near and longer term future means that we can implement the most effective tax plan possible. Tax minimisation can make a significant difference to the financial future of your business.
Business planning
Many business owners can tell us where they want to get to, but haven’t detailed how they’re going to get there. What are the short and long term goals? What does this mean for employment? Who’s responsible for what? How are we measuring your progress? Where do your financials need to be?
Financial modelling
The least exciting part of advisory for some, but the most important to do. Having goals and a purpose is wonderful, but if you don’t have a thorough understanding of your cash flow, your forecasted budget versus actual and a financial model to measure where you are in terms of growth then you’ve got no solid data to refer to and make decisions on.
Growth and profitability strategies
Now that we understand your goals, your financial situation, your risks and opportunities, we can form realistic strategies that will lead to sustainable growth and profitability – all of which are measurable and trackable.
Business purchasing and selling
Should I buy a business? Is it time to sell? How do I prepare to sell? What’s my business worth? These are all questions that get thrown at us a lot and to answer them properly, the above analysis needs to be done. Understanding your financial position as a business owner – whose biggest asset is often the business itself – is imperative for your financial freedom.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Regular accounting looks backwards, it records what’s already happened. Business advisory looks forward. It takes your financial data and uses it to help you make smarter decisions about where your business is going. Think of it as the difference between a scorekeeper and a coach. At Future Advisory, we do both, but the coaching part is where things get really interesting.
Honestly? That’s exactly when it’s most valuable. When things are going well, it’s tempting to just keep doing what you’re doing. But growth creates its own risks – cashflow pressure, staffing complexity, tax exposure, and decisions about structure that can cost you if you get them wrong. Having an advisor in your corner when things are good means you’re set up to stay that way.
All of them, really, but particularly small to medium businesses where the owner is wearing every hat and doesn’t have a board, a CFO, or a management team to bounce ideas off. Whether you’re a sole trader with big plans or a business with 20 staff navigating your next phase of growth, working with one of the leading accounting firms melbourne gives you a genuine competitive advantage.
That depends on your business and what you need. Some clients catch up quarterly for a strategic review; others are in more regular contact during periods of change or growth. We tailor the engagement to what actually makes a difference for your business, not a one-size-fits-all retainer you’re not getting value from.
Quite a lot. Our business advisory service covers problem identification, risk and opportunity analysis, tax planning and minimisation, business planning, financial modelling, growth and profitability strategies, and advice around buying or selling a business. It’s a full-picture approach, because your business decisions don’t exist in isolation from your financial position.
We start with honest conversations and real data. Once we understand your current financial position, your industry, and where you want to go, we can map out what’s working, what’s not, and what’s coming. Risks often hide in plain sight, cashflow gaps, underpriced services, over-reliance on one client, or a business structure that no longer fits. Opportunities are often just as invisible until someone with the right lens looks at the numbers with you.
Financial modelling is essentially building a data-driven picture of your business’s future. It combines your actual numbers with budget forecast scenarios and planning to give you something concrete to make decisions from. It’s not about predicting the future perfectly, it’s about replacing gut feel with informed decisions. If you’re planning to hire, expand, invest, or exit, a solid financial model is non-negotiable.
Yes and it’s one of the most important decisions you’ll make, so it deserves more than a quick opinion. We help you understand what a business is actually worth, what the risks are in acquiring it, how it fits your financial position, and what the tax implications look like. If you’re selling, we help you prepare the business to maximise its value and structure the transaction in the most tax-effective way. Our business structure reviews often go hand-in-hand with this process.
They’re completely intertwined. The decisions you make about your business structure, how you pay yourself, when you invest, and how you grow all have direct tax consequences. Good business advisory always has one eye on the tax implications, because a strategy that looks great on paper but creates a massive tax bill isn’t actually a great strategy. At Future Advisory, as a full-service accounting firm, tax planning is woven into everything we do, not bolted on at the end.
We look at your goals, short and long term and test them against reality. That means asking the hard questions: What does this goal require in terms of cash, people, and time? How are you measuring progress? What has to be true for this to work? We help you build a plan that’s actually connected to your financials, not just a document that sits in a drawer. Because a business plan without the numbers behind it is just a wish list.