An affordable bookkeeping service for chiropractic practices in Melbourne
You spent years mastering the spine. The financial administration of your practice should not be what limits how well it performs.
Bookkeeping for chiropractic practices
Do any of these financial scenarios sound familiar as a chiropractor?
- Your HICAPS and private health fund settlements never quite match what your practice management software shows and nobody has worked out why.
- You have an associate chiropractor and you are not sure whether they are classified correctly as a contractor or employee for super and tax purposes.
- You are charging GST on everything or nothing and have never had anyone confirm whether the treatment is correct for your specific service mix.
- Your reception and chiropractic assistant payroll has not been reviewed against the current Health Professionals Award rates since you first hired them.
- WorkCover and DVA claims are sitting in a billing system that does not connect cleanly to your accounting file.
- Your BAS gets prepared at the last minute from figures you cannot fully verify and you are not certain the person preparing it is legally allowed to do so.
If any of these sound like your practice, you are not alone and there is a straightforward fix.
A bookkeeper in Melbourne for chiropractic practices
Running a chiropractic practice means managing patient care alongside a financial operation that is meaningfully more complex than most general small businesses
The income side alone involves private health fund rebates through HICAPS, WorkCover claims with their own approval and payment cycle, DVA payments from the Commonwealth, NDIS funding for eligible participants, and direct patient gap payments, all of which arrive at different times, through different systems, and in different amounts from what was billed.
When that income is not being reconciled properly against the practice management software, the revenue figure in the accounting file does not reflect what was actually earned, and every report produced from it including the BAS is built on an inaccurate foundation.
The GST treatment of chiropractic services adds another layer of complexity that is specific to this profession. Most therapeutic chiropractic consultations are GST-free under the health services exemption, but that exemption does not apply uniformly across everything a practice does.
Physical products including orthotics, pillows, foam rollers, heat packs and rehabilitation equipment are taxable supplies. Some wellness or non-clinical services may also attract GST depending on their nature.
A practice that applies a single GST treatment across all revenue is either underpaying GST on taxable supplies or overclaiming the health services exemption on services that do not qualify, and neither position is defensible under an ATO review.
Associate chiropractor arrangements create the third area of specific complexity. Many practices engage associates on a percentage of billings arrangement and structure the relationship as a contractor engagement.
The ATO’s assessment of whether that arrangement is genuinely a contractor relationship or an employment relationship for super and PAYG purposes is based entirely on the substance of how the arrangement operates in practice, not on the label in the agreement.
An associate who works exclusively from your premises, uses your equipment, sees your patient base, and operates under your practice systems carries a very different risk profile from a genuinely independent contractor who provides services to multiple clinics under their own professional arrangements.
Where the ATO determines the arrangement is employment, the super and PAYG withholding obligations go back to the start of the arrangement.
What a bookkeeper can manage for a chiropractic practice in Melbourne
A chiropractic practice has financial flows that are different to many other business types, so managing them correctly requires understanding and needs to cover these activities;
- HICAPS and health fund reconciliation.
Every private health fund settlement, including the member contribution collected at the time of treatment and the fund rebate paid separately, is reconciled against what the practice management software recorded for each consultation.
Discrepancies between what was billed and what was received are identified and investigated rather than left to accumulate as an unexplained difference between the clinical system and the accounting file.
- GST treatment across all revenue types.
Therapeutic consultations are correctly coded as GST-free. Product sales and taxable services are coded as taxable supplies. The BAS reflects the actual mixed-supply position of the practice rather than a uniform treatment applied without consideration of what it covers.
- WorkCover, DVA and NDIS income.
Each third-party funding stream is recorded with the correct income recognition treatment and reconciled against the relevant approval and payment documentation.
NDIS income is recorded with the correct treatment based on whether the participant is agency managed, plan managed or self-managed.
- Associate and contractor payment management.
The payment arrangement for each associate practitioner is assessed against the ATO’s employment test. Where a super obligation exists, it is calculated on the correct earnings base and paid on time. PAYG withholding is applied where required.
The bookkeeping reflects the actual compliance position of each arrangement rather than the label on the contract.
- Health Professionals and Support Services Award payroll.
Reception staff and chiropractic assistants are paid under the Health Professionals and Support Services Award.
The correct classification level and current minimum rate are applied to every employee, reviewed after each annual Fair Work Commission wage review. STP is lodged with the ATO every payday. Payslips are issued within one business day as required.
- Superannuation management.
Super is calculated on the correct ordinary time earnings base for every eligible employee and associate, processed through a SuperStream-compliant clearing house before each quarterly deadline.
Payday Super preparation is included for the shift to per-payday super obligations from July 2026.
- BAS preparation and lodgment.
Prepared from fully reconciled records with the correct GST treatment applied across all revenue and expense types. Lodged by a registered BAS agent with the automatic four-week extension on both lodgment and payment. A pre-lodgment summary is provided for review before anything is submitted.
- Profit and loss reporting.
Regular reports showing revenue by income stream, practitioner costs, staff wages, rent, equipment and running expenses so the practice owner has a clear picture of what the practice is generating and where.
A certified and qualified bookkeeper
Working with Clients Needs Bookkeeping means the financial administration of your practice is handled end to end by a registered BAS Agent who understands the specific requirements of a dental business. In practical terms, this covers:
What poor bookkeeping has cost practices in Matthew’s experience
The case studies from our client work show the pattern that appears consistently across health practices managing their own books without specialist support.
One professional practice was paying $20,000 per year for a bookkeeping arrangement that consisted of basic data entry only. The accounting software had never been properly configured, automation features were unused, and the practice was paying for a paid document capture subscription when an equivalent tool was already included free with their Xero plan.
After we restructured the arrangement and configured the software correctly, the practice saved $15,000 per year while receiving more thorough and more reliable bookkeeping than it had before.
The pattern of paying more than necessary for less than is needed is one of the most common findings in health practice bookkeeping reviews. The second most common finding is a financial position that looks significantly different from what a correctly maintained set of accounts would show, because income has been recorded from the wrong source, GST has been applied incorrectly, or associate arrangements have never been assessed for their actual compliance requirements.
Why your practice needs a registered BAS agent, not just a bookkeeper
Only a bookkeeper registered with the Tax Practitioners Board as a BAS agent is legally authorised to prepare and lodge your BAS, advise on your GST obligations, or represent you with the ATO in relation to tax matters. An unregistered bookkeeper handling any of those functions is doing so outside the law.
Registration also provides safe harbour protection, which means if an error in a lodged BAS is the agent’s fault rather than yours, the penalty liability rests with the agent rather than with your practice.
Matthew Powell is registered with the Tax Practitioners Board which you can verify at tpb.gov.au.
Software credentials: MYOB Diamond Partner, MYOB Certified Consultant, Xero Silver Champion Partner, Xero Advisor Certified, Xero L2 Certified Professional, Xero Payroll Specialist. Also works with QuickBooks and other platforms.
About Matthew Powell, registered BAS agent and bookkeeper
Matthew Powell is the director of Clients Needs Bookkeeping and a registered BAS Agent with more than 15 years of experience working with small and medium businesses across Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula.
He works across MYOB, Xero, and QuickBooks, and has particular depth of experience in health and medical practice bookkeeping, including dental, medical, and allied health clients.
Matthew is known for being accessible, clients regularly comment that he responds quickly, handles problems promptly, and communicates in plain language rather than accounting jargon.
He works with business owners from any industry sector or niche who provide services or sells products. He does your bookkeeping remotely and takes on new clients with the intent of building a long-term relationship rather than processing a transaction.
Bookkeeping Packages start from $150 per month. The first consultation is free.
Read some of our bookkeeping case studies
Below are real life examples from businesses like yours who needed to use a bookkeeper.
Frequently asked questions chiropracters ask before hiring a bookkeeper
Are chiropractic consultations GST-free?
Most therapeutic chiropractic consultations are GST-free under the health services exemption in the GST Act. However, physical products sold through the practice including orthotics, supports and rehabilitation equipment are taxable, and some non-therapeutic wellness services may also attract GST depending on their nature.
Matthew is a bookkeeper that assesses the correct treatment for each revenue type in your practice and applies it consistently across every transaction and every BAS.
We have an associate chiropractor on a percentage of billings arrangement. Do we owe them super?
That depends on the substance of the arrangement. The ATO assesses employment versus contractor status based on how the relationship operates in practice rather than on the label in the contract.
Where an associate arrangement meets the ATO’s definition of employment for super purposes, contributions are owed regardless of how the agreement is documented. Matthew assesses each arrangement and applies the correct treatment, protecting the practice from a super liability that could otherwise accumulate undetected over years.
Can you work with our practice management software?
Matthew is a bookkeeper that works within MYOB, Xero and QuickBooks and has experience reconciling these against practice management systems used in allied health practices. The reconciliation between the clinical system and the accounting file is part of the standard service from day one.
Our books are behind. Can you bring them current?
Yes. Catch-up bookkeeping and file remediation are a standard part of the service. Matthew has brought accounts back from extended periods of neglect and corrected files where multiple errors have compounded over time. The starting point is a review of where things stand and a clear plan for what it will take to bring the records current and correct.
What does bookkeeping cost for a chiropractic practice?
Packages start from $150 per month structured around the actual services your practice needs. A solo practitioner has different requirements from a multi-room clinic with associates and a support team. The first consultation is free.
Ready to get the financial side of your chiropractor practice managed by a bookkeeper?
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You already know there are things in the books that are not right.
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The personal expenses that went through the business account during a tight month are still sitting there.
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The BAS is lodged but you are not entirely sure the figures are accurate.
None of these are unusual, and none of them are unfixable but every month they sit unresolved is another month of compounding risk.
Packages from
$150 per month
Structured around what your business actually needs
Registered & certified bookkeeper
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