Accounting Firm Tender
Status: Confirmed (Mat O’Keefe, 11 Apr 2026) Timeline: Tender after current lodgement work is complete Current provider: Collins & Co
The Decision
Complete current work with Collins & Co (lodge three years of overdue income tax returns and BAS), pay outstanding bills by instalments, then go to open tender for next year’s accounting work.
Mat: “We will in fairness to them go out to a tender and they’ll be welcome to tender for next year’s work.”
Reasoning
Service quality deterioration
The current accountant (successor to Karam, who was hands-on and engaged) does not call, does not visit the venue, does not answer calls, communicates only by email, and charges heavily. Mat: “This guy has never called me. He doesn’t come, he doesn’t answer calls, he just does emails and he charges a lot of money.”
Cost concerns
$8,000 in outstanding bills as of 11 April 2026, including two new invoices Mat was unaware of. Bills are so large they can never be paid in full — paid by instalments. For a business generating $25,000–$30,000/week with thin margins, this is disproportionate.
Structural failures not caught
The accounting firm failed to identify or remediate significant structural issues in Xero over multiple years: Square Capital loan phantom balances, missing interest expense recognition (~$43,330/year unrecognised), wrong-account coding for Westpac loan repayments, and no process for Square-Amaka clearing account reconciliation. Mat: “If they understood our business in the way that they should for that amount of money… we shouldn’t have had these structural issues existing for so long.”
Shae’s assessment: “What are they doing? They don’t even know what the interest rate of the ATO is.”
Sequencing
The relationship cannot be terminated immediately because Collins & Co hold context on three years of overdue tax lodgements. They are aware of Pride’s financial difficulties and industry conditions, which may help with ATO negotiations. Complete the lodgement, then tender.
What to look for in replacement
Mat (half-joking but directionally correct): “You’re really looking for a dodgy Vietnamese local tax agent in Footscray that can do the same job for two thousand dollars.” The serious point: Pride needs a cost-effective, responsive accountant who understands hospitality and Square-Xero integrations — not a premium firm charging thousands for basic compliance work.
Related Pages
- Financial Reporting — quality of financial data depends on accountant capability
- Tax Lodgement — three years of overdue returns being lodged by Collins & Co
- Xero — structural issues the accounting firm failed to catch
- Cash Forecasting — weekly reporting now being built internally, reducing dependence on external accountant