If you have an accountant, do you still need a financial planner? And if you have a financial planner, what is your accountant for? It’s one of the questions that comes up most often in our conversations with clients, and it’s a fair one. The two roles overlap in places, which is why they’re easy to mix up.

The short version is that they look at your finances from different angles. An accountant is focused mainly on tax. A financial planner looks at the whole picture and where you want it to go. The two work best side by side.

What an accountant focuses on

An accountant’s focus is mostly on the tax side of things. That usually means preparing your tax returns, making sure you’re claiming the deductions you’re entitled to, and checking that the structures you use (for example, a company, a trust or a self-managed super fund) are set up effectively.

That work matters. Getting your tax right, lodging on time and keeping your records in order is the foundation of good financial housekeeping, and a good accountant will often spot things you’d miss on your own.

What a financial planner focuses on

A financial planner takes a more holistic approach to your situation. Rather than starting with a tax return, we start with you: where you are right now, and where you want to get to.

From there, the questions are fairly simple, even when the answers aren’t:

• Where are you currently? What you own, what you owe, what you earn and spend, and how your super and investments are set up.
• Where do you want to get to? That might be buying a home, building an investment portfolio, retiring on a certain income, or making sure your money lasts as long as you do.
• Are you on track to get there? Modelling the numbers shows whether your current path leads to your goal.
• If you’re not on track, what needs to change? This is the “bridge the gap” part: the specific steps, such as saving more, adjusting how your money is invested, using super more effectively or changing the timing of your plans.

Tax is part of that picture, but it sits alongside investments, super, insurance, debt, retirement income and your life goals.

Why using both can help

The reason it can pay to use both is that the relationship between the two is often symbiotic. Your accountant knows the detail of your tax position and structures. Your planner knows what you’re trying to achieve and how the pieces fit together over the long term.

When they work together, you can get the best of both worlds: a strategy that is not only tax effective, but that also fits the bigger picture and the goals you’re chasing. A decision that looks good for this year’s tax return might not suit your long-term plan, and a good long-term plan still needs to be implemented in a way that is tax aware. Having both viewpoints on the table helps avoid blind spots.

Where the two overlap

Plenty of decisions have both a tax side and a planning side. A few common examples:

• Super contributions. An accountant can help with the tax treatment of contributions and deductions. A planner can help work out how much it makes sense to put in, given your cash flow, goals and timeframe.
• Investing outside super. Tax on income and capital gains matters, but so does whether the investment suits your goals, how much risk you’re taking and how it sits alongside the rest of your assets.
• Structures. The way you hold assets, whether personally, in a trust, a company or a self-managed super fund, has tax and planning consequences. Our self-managed super fund advice is one area where an accountant and an adviser commonly work together.
• Life changes. Selling a business or property, receiving an inheritance, changing jobs or approaching retirement all affect both your tax and your plan.

If you’d like to understand how we approach each life stage, you can start with our Foundations and Wealth Builder pages.

Questions worth asking yourself

• Do I know where I currently stand, across super, investments, debt and cash flow?
• Have I written down what I’m working towards, and by when?
• Am I on track to get there? How do I know?
• Do my accountant and my financial planner (if I have both) know about each other, and do they share information?
• When I make a big decision, do I think about the tax impact and the long-term plan together?
• Who would I call first if my circumstances changed?

If any of those are hard to answer, that’s a good place to start a conversation. Our team can talk through where you are now and where you’d like to be, and help you work out the steps in between.

Book an initial chat with the Insight Wealth Planning team →

Frequently asked questions

What is the main difference between an accountant and a financial planner?

An accountant focuses mainly on tax: preparing tax returns, making sure you claim the deductions you’re entitled to, and checking that your structures work effectively. A financial planner takes a broader view of your situation, looking at where you are now, where you want to get to, whether you’re on track, and what to change if you’re not.

Do I need both an accountant and a financial planner?

Many people benefit from having both. They look at your finances from different angles, and working together they can help you build a strategy that is tax effective and also fits your bigger goals. Whether you need both depends on how complex your situation is and what you’re trying to achieve.

Can a financial planner help with tax?

Tax is one of the things a financial planner considers when looking at your overall strategy, for example how super contributions or investments are structured. Preparing and lodging your tax return is the accountant’s role. A planner will usually work alongside your accountant, so the two sets of advice line up.

What does a financial planner actually do?

A financial planner looks at your whole situation and helps you decide how to get from where you are to where you want to be. That can include super, investments, retirement planning, insurance and managing debt, with the aim of making sure your plan is on track and showing what to adjust if it isn’t.

How do an accountant and a financial planner work together?

They share the relevant information (with your permission) so the tax side and the planning side of a decision are considered together. The accountant brings the detail of your tax position and structures, and the planner brings the long-term plan. The result is a strategy that is tax effective and also marries up with the bigger picture.

Video transcript

Josh McCall on the difference between an accountant and a financial planner (video, 1:13).

Hi, my name is Josh. I’m one of the financial advisors here at Insight. So I’ve been here for a bit over four years now and I love working with people looking for that next step, whether it’s investment related, working towards retirement or seeing how long they can make their funds last for.

So one of the things that comes up quite often is looking at the differences between an accountant and a financial planner.

So an accountant first of all focuses more on the tax side of things, whether it’s preparing tax returns, making sure we’re claiming the deductions we can, and make sure the structures are also effective too.

Whereas the financial planner will take more of that holistic approach to your situation, seeing where you are currently. Now where do you want to get to? Are we on track to hit that? And if we’re not on track, what do we need to do to bridge the gap?

The reason why you can benefit from using both is that it can be a bit of a symbiotic relationship. We can work together getting the best of both worlds so it’s not only a tax effective strategy but it marries up with the bigger picture and what we’re chasing.

General advice warning: the information in this article is general in nature and does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Tax and superannuation rules change and the right approach depends on your circumstances. Please consider whether this information is appropriate for you before acting on it, and seek personal financial and tax advice where required. Insight Wealth Planning Pty Ltd is a Corporate Authorised Representative of GPS Wealth Ltd, ABN 17 005 482 726, AFSL 254544.