What Should a 100-Day Review Cover After Buying an Accounting Practice?
A 100-Day Review should test the acquisition assumptions against the practice you now operate and turn the findings into a realistic next plan.
By this point, the excitement of settlement has usually met the ordinary demands of ownership. Clients need answers, staff need direction and bills keep arriving while you are still learning how the practice works. The review gives you space to bring those experiences together with the records.
For an Australian accounting-practice buyer, day 100 is a useful checkpoint rather than a universal performance benchmark. Annual work may not yet be due, and the vendor may still have agreed responsibilities. Your conclusions should reflect that unfinished picture.
The short answer
Compare financial results with the assumptions used before settlement, allowing for timing and seasonality.
Review client relationships, staff capacity, outstanding handover work and operational changes together.
Record what the evidence establishes, what remains uncertain and what action follows.
Update the operating forecast and check any implications for your funding arrangements.
What evidence belongs in a 100-Day Review?
Start with the acquisition forecast, due-diligence findings and agreed transition plan. They explain what you expected to buy and how you intended to operate it. Place the current management accounts, billing reports, debtor ageing and cash position beside them so your review has a consistent starting point.
Client feedback, staff discussions and the handover record supply context that the financial reports cannot provide. If a figure looks reassuring but the team describes repeated delivery problems, the difference deserves attention. Likewise, a difficult first month does not establish a lasting weakness without further evidence.
business.gov.au encourages owners to review and update their business plan as circumstances change and to retain earlier versions. Keeping the original acquisition model allows you to explain why your current expectations differ instead of quietly replacing them.
Are earnings and cash developing as expected?
Compare actual revenue, billing and receipts separately. You should use comparable periods and identify whether a variance comes from the volume of work, fee recovery, invoice timing or collections. A busy team and a low bank balance can exist at the same time.
Review staffing, software, premises and vendor-support costs alongside transition expenditure. Explain which costs will continue and which are genuinely temporary. The earlier assessment of normalised EBITDA provides a useful reference for testing whether the vendor’s functions now carry the replacement cost you allowed for.
Then update the cash forecast with the actual opening balance and realistic payment dates. Business.gov.au's cash-flow statement guidance explains the importance of incoming and outgoing money, seasonal patterns and clearly labelled estimates. Include tax, payroll, loan commitments, deferred purchase payments and owner drawings where relevant.
A 13-week cash-flow forecast can help you see approaching pressure while you investigate its cause.
If receipts are late, distinguish post-settlement invoices from balances collected for the vendor under the purchase agreement. Those proceeds may not all belong to the practice.
What has happened to clients and their fees?
Your client review should follow relationships as well as totals.
Compare the original client groups and services with work instructed, delivered and billed since settlement. Record confirmed departures, reduced scope, pricing changes and unresolved concerns, rather than treating every movement as the same event.
Annual clients whose work is not yet due belong in a clearly identified category. Silence from them does not establish either retention or loss. You may have evidence of continued engagement or a useful conversation, but the next service cycle will provide further information.
A stable client count can also conceal the departure of a significant group or a reduction in its fees. Returning to the acquired client base helps you keep the importance of each relationship visible.
Where retention affects a purchase payment, your solicitor should explain the contractual calculation and evidence requirements.
Look for leakage within continuing relationships too. Completed work awaiting billing, recurring invoices missed during migration and unresolved scope questions may explain a shortfall without a client formally leaving. Your response should address the specific problem while respecting engagement terms.
Can the team deliver without hidden strain?
Payroll totals reveal little about how sustainably the work is being delivered.
Talk with staff about workload, review queues, client contact and tasks that still depend on the vendor. Your own hours matter as well, particularly if the acquisition assumed you could manage both the new practice and an existing firm.
The review of owner dependence and key staff risk provides a starting point for checking whether important responsibilities have moved successfully. Training completed is useful evidence, but the stronger test is whether the responsible person can perform the task with appropriate supervision.
If your findings point towards changes in roles, hours or working arrangements, obtain advice on the applicable employment obligations.
The Fair Work Ombudsman’s consultation guide explains consultation requirements under relevant awards and agreements. Staff should have a clear opportunity to raise delivery concerns before the next phase is planned.
Has the handover produced practical independence?
Compare the vendor’s completed activities with the agreed handover obligations.
Major introductions, technical knowledge, referral relationships and unfinished work may progress at different speeds. A handover should not be labelled complete simply because a calendar date has passed.
Use the vendor handover plan to identify what remains, who needs support and when the parties will review it. Changes to the vendor’s availability or payment arrangements should be discussed and documented through the appropriate advisers.
Integration needs its own assessment. Ask whether system changes have improved delivery, whether migration has produced errors and whether access works securely. For entities covered by the Australian Privacy Principles, APP 11 requires reasonable steps to protect personal information. Your technology and legal advisers can help assess what that means for the practice.
Turn the findings into the next operating plan
The most useful review ends with decisions that the team can carry forward. Give each material finding a short explanation, supporting evidence, proposed response and accountable person. A review date should indicate when you expect to know whether the response is working.
Keep the activities that are supporting client service and the acquisition assumptions.
Correct problems with billing, collections, workload or handover before they become established habits.
Sequence improvements around capacity, client deadlines and realistic implementation costs.
Carry unresolved assumptions forward explicitly and identify when better evidence should become available.
For example, a practice might report weaker collections while retaining the expected work.
If review shows delayed invoicing after a software change, the next plan could address that process and revise receipt dates. If the same review identifies lost recurring work, the earnings forecast and cost base need a different assessment. (This is an illustration only - see disclaimer)
Check the actual loan documents for repayments, reporting, insurance and any notification or consent requirements. If additional working capital appears necessary, consider why the gap arose before assuming more debt resolves it. Fairlane’s discussion of when borrowing may not solve cash-flow problems explains that distinction.
Frequently asked questions
Must the review happen exactly on day 100?
No. Choose a useful checkpoint around the practice’s workload and commitments, while continuing regular reviews of urgent issues.
Can I confirm annual client retention this early?
Only to the extent supported by evidence. Keep clients whose work is not yet due distinguishable and revisit them through the relevant service cycle.
Who should contribute to the review?
The buyer should bring together input from responsible staff, the vendor and relevant professional advisers. Agree who evaluates each material issue.
Should I replace the acquisition forecast?
Prepare an updated forecast while retaining the original version. The comparison helps explain changed assumptions and the action taken.
Does a satisfactory review end the acquisition process?
It closes an early review window. Client cycles, handover obligations and improvement work may continue, with further checks scheduled where evidence remains incomplete.
A clearer basis for the months ahead
Your review should leave you able to explain what the practice is delivering, where expectations have changed and what you will do next. A credible plan acknowledges the open questions and gives them a place in the next review.
Has Your Funding Position Changed After Acquisition?
If your review identifies a change in cash flow, working capital or the funding arrangements, our team can help clarify the implications and discuss options.
General information only. This article does not constitute financial, credit, legal, tax, accounting, compliance or valuation advice. Finance is subject to lender approval, eligibility criteria, terms, fees and conditions. Consider obtaining independent professional advice for your circumstances before acting.
