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Its s100A and professional firm profits allocation tools are finding eager buyers among the top-tier accountants, including its largest deal to date.
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ChangeGPS cracks the big time with PKF deal
04 May 2023
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10 minute read
Software company ChangeGPS has cracked its biggest client to date with the signing of top 10 firm PKF for its s100A and professional profit allocation tools.
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ChangeGPS chief executive David Boyar said it had been approaching the larger firms cautiously, but, this year, five of the top 30 had been won over by the two product modules.
“Hundreds of firms use ChangeGPS and for many years now some of the bigger firms have been wanting to use it,” he said. “We’ve had a slow-and-steady approach because we wanted to make sure we support them properly.
“This year we’ve brought more in and PKF — the Sydney and Newcastle offices to begin with but it’s a national deal that we’ve signed — is the biggest one we’ve ever had.
“They specifically bought it for the specialised advice reports that we have on s100A and professional firm profits allocation.”
PKF Newcastle partner Stacie Shaw said the ChangeGPS system was a boon when it came to the two tricky tax issues.
“As a firm, I think it’s fair to say we moved from feeling daunted about how we would build solid, accurate and de-risked s100A and professional firm profit allocation models for our clients to feeling confident in the tool ChangeGPS has provided for these purposes,” she said.
ChangeGPS founder Tim Munro said moving to the new rules on professional profits in PCG 2021/4 presented a particular challenge because the calculation was not based on the usual assessable income and accountants were required to document their advice before 30 June.
Mr Boyar said the tool had more potential, especially for firms with many professional specialists or medical clients.
“Accountants are able to run a scenario of what they used to do for their client, run a scenario on what they now need to do to stay in the green zone — or whichever zone the client wants — and then we produce a report that explains all of the changes to the client.,” Mr Boyar said.
“Clients are likely going to be paying more tax and that’s a hard message for accountants to give.
“So these reports explain everything in plain English. They clearly show the differences between what they’ve done in prior years and what they should be doing this year. And the accountant is able to have a file note, which can count as contemporaneous notes for the purposes of the ATO.”
The s100A tool did the calculations for trust distributions in the wake of last year’s ATO ruling and also assisted in the provision of advice.
Another tool, released today (4 May), addresses the requirements of trustees to prove that they have considered the requirements of beneficiaries flowing from the Owies decision in the Supreme Court of Victoria last year.
Mr Boyar said although this was the first year the Brisbane-based software specialist had broken into the large national firms, ChangeGPS’s wide range of compliance and tax advisory tools were aimed solidly at small public practice accountants.
“Our absolute sweet spot is suburban accountants who are the majority of the market — anywhere from the sole practitioner to the three-to-four partner suburban firm,” he said.
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