A client intake form that gets what you need the first time
Every second email asking a new client for something is a question the form could have asked. What to collect, in what order, and at which stage.
·4 min read
Blog
Every second email asking a new client for something is a question the form could have asked. What to collect, in what order, and at which stage.
·4 min read
Access rarely goes wrong in one decision. It grows through exceptions that each seemed reasonable. How to set roles up so it does not.
·4 min read
Build exactly what you need, or bend your business around someone else's software? The real trade-offs, and a third option.
·7 min read
Dead buttons, half-built screens and features that do not exist. How to tell whether an app built for you will hold up.
·7 min read
Spreadsheets are fine until three people edit the same one. Here are the signs it is time to switch, and how to move the data without losing a row.
·7 min read
You do not need a developer to get an app shaped around your business. Plan it properly, describe the business, and check the plan before it is built.
·9 min read
A mailbox holds one signature. When a person works in several companies, that one slot is the whole problem, and Diract has a setting for it.
·3 min read
Every business tracks something the software did not anticipate. In Diract that is a table you make, not a spreadsheet you keep beside it.
·3 min read
Software that holds your files decides how hard it is to leave. Diract lets the files stay in a drive you already own.
·3 min read
Group structures, second entities and bookkeepers with several clients all hit the same wall: one login per business. Diract does not work that way.
·2 min read
One person files an email. Everyone else sees it under the same label in their own mailbox, whether they use Gmail or Outlook.
·4 min read
The duty to report a trust account irregularity is not only the principal's. The Uniform Law sections that say who reports, how fast, and what a deficiency adds.
·4 min readAustralia
A lump sum bill is allowed, but a client can ask for it itemised. The Uniform Law sections that set the deadlines, and what a request does to recovery and interest.
·5 min readAustralia
$50,000 of recorded time became $40,500 in the bank in one worked example. How to record every reduction so you can see which part is growing.
·4 min read
Time left until the end of the week loses half its hours. How to record it the same day, and write entries that survive the partner's review and the client's reading.
·4 min read
Controlled money is trust money the client has told you to put somewhere else. The Uniform Law sections that decide where it goes, how it is held and how it comes out.
·4 min readAustralia
For an ordinary costs agreement the Uniform Law asks for very little. The detail is in conditional agreements, uplift fees, and what makes an agreement void.
·5 min readAustralia
An examination goes quickly when every record is already in the folder. What that folder should hold, section by section.
·4 min readAustralia
Most conflict check advice assumes a conflicts team. This is the process for when the person searching is also the person deciding.
·5 min readAustralia
Numbering schemes rarely break on day one. They break years in. What breaks them, and a format that lasts.
·5 min read
A small firm needs matters, time, billing, trust and email in one place. Here is what to check before you choose.
·7 min readAustralia
A director cannot resign into a vacancy, and a late ASIC filing moves the resignation date forward. Both matter because section 588G applies debt by debt.
·4 min readAustralia
A debt is not an interest in land. That question decides most of these applications, and it is decided before anyone argues about how much is owed.
·4 min readAustralia
Disclosure is due before or as soon as practicable after you are retained. Get it wrong and the agreement can be set aside and the bill assessed without it.
·2 min readAustralia
Since 1 July 2026 a practice providing a designated service is an AUSTRAC reporting entity. It turns on the service, not the size of the firm.
·2 min readAustralia
Since 1 July 2026 super must reach the fund within 7 business days of payday. The quarterly deadline is gone, and with it the buffer most small practices were holding.
·2 min readAustralia
Seven years from the last entry, not from when the matter closed. That distinction decides what you can safely archive, and the journal counts as a record too.
·2 min readAustralia
Rule 48 gives you 15 working days after month end, and requires two statements rather than one.
·2 min readAustralia
A reminder of the important dates and deadlines coming up this September, and two rule changes that are easy to miss. Check your own regulator for anything specific to you.
·3 min readAustralia
Costs rose $300,000 and a valuation came in 10% low. Which lending cap binds decides who pays for that, and it can change halfway through a project.
·4 min readAustralia
A build 40% paid, inside every budget line, can already be $50,000 over. The report columns that show it, and a monthly routine to keep them honest.
·4 min read
A 5% fall in sale prices took 35% off the land value in this example. The inputs a residual calculation needs, and the two to test before making an offer.
·4 min readAustralia
On one $2.4 million loan, interest ran from $103,067 to $119,718 depending only on the day each claim was paid. How to track it against the feasibility.
·4 min read
The Fair Work Act sets one working day. The Regulations set the contents, including extra lines for staff paid by the hour.
·4 min readAustralia
The usual par formula left one cafe 7 litres short of milk on a Sunday and over-ordered on Monday. Setting a par for each delivery instead.
·4 min read
Two things the menu price hides decide whether a dish really makes its margin: what gets trimmed before food reaches the plate, and the GST in the price.
·4 min readAustralia
The Fair Work Act sets the seven years. The Regulations set the list. What goes on it, for a cafe paying casual staff by the hour.
·5 min readAustralia
Four rostering habits that never feel like a decision can take two thirds of a week's profit. How to cost the roster before it goes out, and catch them.
·4 min readAustralia
Catering, functions and pre-orders get lost between venues. Put every order in one list, with the venue and the status on each one.
·7 min read