What should your first 100 days look like after buying an accounting practice?
Updated: Oct 24
GUEST AUTHOR | Blackhall & Co
Today’s guest post is by Blackhall & Co. Blackhall & Co helps buyers find businesses worth owning. Opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Fairlane Finance.
Your first 100 days after buying an accounting practice should establish reliable control, protect service delivery and test whether the acquisition is performing as expected.
Settlement can feel like the finish line after months of negotiations and finance preparation.
For the new owner, however, the next morning brings a different set of questions. Who is reviewing the urgent files? Are clients comfortable with their new contact? Will the next collection cycle cover payroll and repayments?
A useful Australian practice transition plan connects those everyday concerns with the assumptions behind the purchase. The aim is to learn quickly enough to act, while giving people a reasonable opportunity to adjust.
The short answer
By around day 30, establish visibility over client work, people, systems and cash.
By around day 60, investigate emerging differences from the acquisition forecast.
By around day 100, update the operating plan and sequence the next improvements.
Treat these checkpoints as planning suggestions, because workload, seasonality and handover arrangements differ.
What are the first 100 days actually meant to achieve?
The first review window should help you move from relying on the vendor’s explanations to managing through your own reliable information.
That does not mean every dependency must disappear immediately. It means you can identify what remains dependent on the vendor, why it matters and how it will be addressed. That remaining support should be checked against the agreed vendor handover.
Keep the purchase forecast and due-diligence findings available alongside the transition plan. They explain what you expected to acquire, including client relationships, staffing capacity and operating costs.
The business.gov.au business-planning guidance recommends regularly reviewing and updating a plan as circumstances develop. After an acquisition, that principle helps turn new information into decisions rather than leaving the original model untouched.
The calendar should reflect the practice’s actual work.
A purchase immediately before a busy compliance period may require a stronger emphasis on delivery, while a quieter period may allow more structured training. An annual client whose work has not yet fallen due remains an unresolved retention question.
A baseline agreed soon after settlement makes later reviews more useful.
Record the opening workload, client groups, staff responsibilities and available cash, together with any uncertainty in those figures. If a report changes because the information has been corrected, you can then distinguish that correction from an actual change in trading.
By around day 30: can you see and control the essentials?
In the early weeks, visibility is more valuable than a long list of ambitious changes. You need confidence that staff can access the right records, responsibilities are clear and important deadlines will reach someone who can act.
Start with the work already in progress.
The buyer and practice manager should know which files need technical review, which clients are awaiting a response and where outstanding vendor input is holding up completion. Each material issue needs a responsible person and a realistic review date. Your earlier review of debtors and WIP provides a useful starting point for separating acquired balances from new work.
Access to a system should also be tested in the ordinary work it supports. A successful login does not establish that payroll approvals, billing exports or secure document sharing function correctly.
Where the Australian Privacy Principles apply, APP 11 requires reasonable steps to protect personal information. The OAIC’s explanation of the principles provides context for reviewing permissions and handling client records appropriately. Revisit the technology due-diligence findings to check whether unresolved access or transfer issues have been addressed.
Staff conversations are equally important.
Ask where people feel confident and where the ownership change has introduced uncertainty. Your review of owner dependence and key staff risk can help identify responsibilities that still sit with one person, including responsibilities you have unexpectedly taken on yourself.
By around day 60: what is the emerging performance telling you?
As current reporting becomes available, compare actual revenue, invoices, collections and expenses with the corresponding forecast period.
The useful question is what explains the difference. Lower receipts could mean clients are leaving, but they could also reflect completed work awaiting invoices or slower responses to billing queries. The financial information examined before purchase should help establish a consistent starting point for those comparisons.
Keep recurring operating costs distinguishable from transition expenditure. A one-off software migration should not be confused with the ongoing subscription cost, although both affect the cash available during ownership.
The business.gov.au cash-flow guide supports regular reviews of actual and estimated income and costs, together with updates to the cash-flow statement and budget. A 13-week cash-flow forecast can provide a shorter view of the receipts and commitments ahead.
Your review should include capacity as well as money.
If the forecast assumed that the vendor would step back, check whether the remaining team can absorb the work without creating missed deadlines or an unsustainable workload for you. Continuing revenue is encouraging, but it cannot explain whether the service model is manageable.
Where you acquired the practice through an existing firm, retain enough reporting detail to see its contribution. A healthy combined result can conceal acquisition costs or client losses that need attention. Shared overhead allocations should be consistent enough to make comparisons meaningful.
Client feedback helps explain the numbers.
A continuing client may be requesting less work or waiting for reassurance about a new service arrangement. Your conversations should establish whether that change is temporary, deliberate or linked to a problem the practice can address. Record the explanation alongside the financial effect.
By around day 100: what should happen next?
The next operating plan should reflect what you have learned.
Some anticipated improvements may now look more achievable, while others may need a slower timetable or additional resources. Explain those choices to the people expected to deliver them.
For each proposed change, identify the benefit, cost, workload and effect on clients. An improvement with a modest financial benefit may be worth doing early if it removes a recurring service problem.
A larger system change may need to wait until staff have the capacity to train and verify transferred information.
The Fair Work Ombudsman’s consultation guidance explains that consultation requirements can arise under legislation, awards and enterprise agreements. Before changing arrangements affecting staff, obtain advice on the requirements that apply and give people a meaningful opportunity to contribute. A transition plan should allow time for that process.
A simple review framework
A short recurring review can bring the important information together without creating a second administrative burden. The participants should agree a rhythm that fits the practice and the support available, as there is no universal transition timetable or benchmark.
Clients: who has left, reduced their work or raised a concern, and who remains untested?
People: can the team deliver the work with the supervision and support available?
Cash: what receipts and commitments could create pressure before the next review?
Handover: what still needs vendor input, and when will that input be available?
Decisions: what will change, who owns the action and when will progress be reviewed?
An illustrative change of priorities
Suppose a buyer plans an early workflow migration. During the first review, the team identifies a backlog of completed files awaiting approval and invoicing. Several clients are also waiting for explanations of outstanding fees.
The buyer may decide to resolve those issues before migrating the workflow. That response could improve visibility over collections and reduce staff distraction, although the outcome would depend on the actual files and client circumstances.
The migration still has a place in the plan, with revised timing and a responsible person.
Frequently asked questions
Should every improvement be finished by day 100?
No. Some integration work and annual client activity will extend beyond this period. The review should identify what has been established and what remains to be tested.
How often should I review performance?
Choose a rhythm that matches the risks and reporting available. A sensitive cash position may warrant frequent checks, while wider operational decisions need enough information to support a useful discussion.
Does a strong first month prove the acquisition is working?
No. Early results may reflect billing timing, vendor involvement or work completed before settlement. Compare like periods and keep untested assumptions visible.
When should I speak with my finance adviser?
Raise material changes in costs, cash needs or repayment capacity promptly. Any additional funding or facility change remains subject to assessment, and your existing obligations still apply.
Give the next phase a sound starting point
A useful first review period leaves you with clearer information, supported staff and fewer unexplained gaps. Your next decisions can then reflect the practice you are operating, with a plan that remains open to further evidence.
Sources and further reading
Contributor disclaimer: This article is contributed by Blackhall & Co and published on the Fairlane Finance website. The views, opinions and conclusions expressed are those of the contributor alone, not statements of Fairlane Finance’s position. Publication does not constitute Fairlane Finance’s endorsement of the contributor’s views, services or any proposed acquisition.
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