We know from feedback and many conversations with our subscribers that tax professionals and BAS agents use GovReports in a variety of ways to support their practice management. Some people use it only for lodgment and digital signatures. Some use it for job and task management, and all the practice communications. Many solo or small-team practitioners use the time-tracking and invoicing tools. Our larger corporate clients use it to integrate directly with ERP solutions. (Everybody loves the ATO integration!)
Here, we showcase a typical scenario in which we help a busy accountant simplify her operations and workflow, enabling her to develop her business. Much of this example applies to BAS agents as well.
Emma, a tax agent who left her position with a large firm some time ago and is now working for herself, needs tools to help handle the tasks and workload of practice management. She is aware of the challenges of working in a small business and has seen colleagues labour long hours and experience burnout. She wants to work sustainably to support herself and has two staff members. She knows she needs to work more efficiently as her practice grows and to sort out her systems before taking on any more clients.
She manages around 350 clients, a mix of individuals and business entities, and wants to expand her client base. She regularly looks after BAS, Single Touch Payroll, individual and company tax returns, and proactive tax planning. With manual data entry, fragmented systems, multiple accounting software apps in use by clients, and recurring lodgment deadlines, she’s under pressure to deliver accurate returns on time.
Tax Professionals Need an Integrated Hub
Accounting firms often juggle multiple data sources, reconcile disparate spreadsheets, and chase clients for missing information and authorisations to lodge. GovReports is the integrated hub that connects ATO services with practice management workflows, helping accountants to stay organised.
Emma felt she was slowed down by several hurdles that she needed to address:
- Fragmented data sources across varied client systems, with clunky client notes and tracking of tasks and deadlines.
- It can be slow and inefficient to check for ATO status updates on IITRs, wait for confirmation of lodgment, and verify tax return amounts.
- Lacking a centralised overview of activity, lodgments and compliance tracking.
- Not wanting to pay costly fees for a separate project management system in addition to other subscriptions she needed.
- Time-consuming tracking of client replies, documents required, and lodgment signatures.
- Needing a set of tasks and job templates that would easily apply to multiple clients
Setting Up GovReports
Emma was worried about how long it might take to set everything up in GovReports before she could start using it effectively.
She was pleased to find that importing clients in bulk from the ATO was easy, as was assigning tags and folders. She could immediately access client data, history, and communications. She also started sending IAS and taxable payments reports for signatures on the day she set up her account.
Setting up and allocating tasks and jobs to clients was the most time-consuming part, but this took only a few hours, unlike some systems she had reviewed that needed several days to configure each client and job. She used GovReports’ default templates to get started and continued to customise messages as they appeared naturally in her workflow.
GovReports Features in Action
Emma was referred to GovReports by a colleague. She watched several free webinars and quickly set up her trial account, contacting support only a few times to clarify feature use for her practice.
She now has access to these features and more:
ATO Integration
- See all ATO client communications, including an activity log of who accessed the notice and when.
- Activity statement summary report by financial year.
- BAS historic lodgments.
- Check outstanding reports.
- Maintain client details.
- Access the integrated client accounts and set up payment plans.
Single Touch Payroll
- Import from software, upload file, or manually enter data – great for small employers without STP-compliant payroll software.
- Generate and email pay slips and payroll reports.
- STP finalisation at end of year.
Practice Management Tools
- Set up clients regardless of the accounting software used. Keep file notes and attachments, and set fees per client. Assign tasks and jobs with deadlines.
- Workflow automation that includes calendar integration, automated reminders, and task allocation to ensure nothing slips through the cracks.
- Secure storage allows relevant client documents to be kept within GovReports.
- Templates, letters, and default email messages make communications faster, as she has set up templates for the ethical letter, engagement letter, Quality Management System, and email messages for the various services she offers.
Digital Signatures
- Getting client signatures on engagement letters and lodgment authorisations is effortless with GovReports’ digital authentication. It’s a completely secure system that is easy for practitioner and client alike.
- The audit trail shows all contact points from when the document is sent to when the client accesses it, up to the final signature.
- Multiple signatories and witnesses on multiple documents are possible.
Practice Dashboard
- Customise the dashboard as you like: arrange widgets for outstanding reports, signed reports, due dates, statistics, jobs, calendar, and more.
- See your job summary kanban-style.
- Access practice settings and user access levels.
- Organise clients with folders and tags.
- Check the notifications bell to see all lodgment activity and new ATO communications instantly.
How Emma’s Practice is Better with GovReports
With streamlined workflows, calendar reminders, and a clear dashboard, Emma feels in control of her workload and deadlines.
With our recent release, ATOChecks, she’s reduced errors and adjustments by catching issues before final submission of IITRs, avoiding the awkwardness of the ATO income tax assessment differing from her software’s calculations.
With ATOInsights, Emma can connect directly to her practice’s ATO account, saving time because she no longer needs to visit the ATO website to check her lodgment program stats or obtain EFT reconciliation statements.
She’s reclaimed several hours a week from unbillable admin, allowing her to function sustainably within reasonable work hours. She can more easily fit in the required admin tasks, leaving time for higher-value advisory work. She rarely needs to log in to the ATO online services and can now complete all tasks directly from the GovReports hub.
A few months on, Emma is now familiar with all the GovReports practice management tools, which allow her to work more effectively, engage more workers, and help more clients – knowing she can organise staff tasks, admin, and client-facing work as needed.
What’s Coming Next for Tax Professionals
We’re excited to let you know that we will soon offer integration with Karbon – an industry favourite for automation, client portal and email management. This gives you the option to take practice management to the next level of professional excellence.
Soon, your clients will be able to pay the ATO via a GovReports direct payment gateway link. This will mean no more missed payments or payments made to the wrong ATO account.
The ATO and TPB require tax professionals to formally verify the identity of clients. We are pleased to be bringing in a secure ID verification check that you can initiate from GovReports.
We are putting the finishing touches on our Payday Super solution to be integrated with Single Touch Payroll and released before the July 2026 start date.
Stay tuned for more webinars showcasing our new releases!
Discover how GovReports can streamline your workflow and ATO compliance—start a free trial, check out our webinars or contact us.
