The accountant referral program in Australia pays your practice commission when clients you refer, moving home or premises, connect their utilities through an independent comparison.
This page covers what referring earns, how household and business moves differ, and how disclosure fits your professional obligations.
20+ retailers and providers compared for every client you refer
Moves already cross your desk
Household moves and premises relocations pass across your desk constantly, in change-of-address notes, lease reviews and meetings about a new site. A utility connection referral for accountants turns that knowledge into a revenue line without adding any work to the file.
The effort has always seemed to outweigh the return, which is only true if referring takes effort. Here it is one link, sent once, or left permanently in your email signature.
If only a handful of clients move each year, the disclosure paperwork may genuinely outweigh the return. Run the estimator with real numbers before you take this to your partners. We would rather you decided against it than set it up and abandoned it.
Your practice earns an agreed commission on each service that connects for a client you refer, paid monthly and itemised so it reconciles.
Accountant client value add services usually cost time to deliver. This one pays on connections that complete, not on referrals made, and there is no advice to give and no liability attached to the referral.
Your client is never charged. Households and businesses pay only their chosen retailer's advertised rates, and those retailers remain subject to the consumer protections overseen by the Australian Energy Regulator (checked September 2026). The commission comes from the retailer.
Each payment arrives with a remittance advice itemised per client, so it reconciles against your own records in minutes.
The estimator at the top of this page counts the household moves and premises relocations you enter, assumes a conservative share connect and applies two services at an indicative rate. Your real schedule comes in writing.
| What triggers payment | What does not | When it is paid |
|---|---|---|
| A connection that completes and stays active through the qualifying period | A referral that does not convert | Monthly with a statement per client |
| Each service connected (electricity, gas, internet) | A client who declines | Monthly |
| Both residential and commercial where applicable | A duplicate or test referral | Monthly |
Services we offer your clients
Both household moves and business premises relocations qualify, and business clients are compared through a separate panel of specialist retailers.
The commercial stream is the one worth attention. Acting as a utility broker for accounting firms' business clients is a conversation those clients already expect you to have a view on, and the connections are larger.
Individual clients mention a move in a tax meeting, an email or a change-of-address note, usually weeks before it happens. Forwarding the link means a specialist explains how a client's electricity gets connected, compares the panel for the new address and books it, with nothing further needed from you or anyone else at the practice.
When a business client changes premises or opens a second site, energy is a bigger decision and a bigger connection. We compare business electricity and gas through specialist retailers for moving a business to new premises, and can run a business utility review for clients who are not moving but want their existing rates checked against the market.
An independent connection service compares more than 20 retailers for every client address, which is the standard of independence clients expect from their accountant.
Some connection services are owned by an energy retailer and state it plainly in their own disclaimers. That is a legitimate model, but before your practice puts its name to one, ask who owns it, then see how the connection services compare on ownership, panel size, commission terms and whether business energy is compared through specialist retailers at all for commercial clients.
Clients can test any household recommendation against Energy Made Easy, the government comparison site run by the Australian Energy Regulator (checked September 2026). An independent panel should hold up to that check.
| Feature | Independent | Retailer-owned |
|---|---|---|
| Compares across retailers | 20+ on the panel | Check their disclaimer |
| Owned by an energy retailer | No | Sometimes |
| Commission schedule in writing | Before you sign | Usually on request |
| Exclusivity required | None | Varies by agreement |
| Old address disconnected | Yes | Often not included |
Describes retailer-owned service models generally, not any single provider.
Is your current service owned by an energy retailer?
How many retailers does it compare per address?
Is the commission schedule in writing before you sign?
The same model across partner types
Insurance brokers see a new address when cover moves, often in the same weeks a shared client tells their accountant about the move. Read how this works for insurance brokers, so a client you both advise hears one independent recommendation about their connections, whichever adviser raises it first with them.
When a client buys a home, their mortgage broker is in touch in the weeks between approval and settlement, just as the accountant is advising on the purchase. See how this works for mortgage brokers to agree who refers the connection, so the client is contacted once rather than by several advisers in the same week.
Business premises purchases and home purchases both pass through a conveyancer, who works to the same settlement date your client is planning around. Checking how this works for conveyancers helps avoid overlapping referrals, so the connection is booked once and in time for the day the client takes possession.
Referring adds a revenue line with no delivery for your practice, and gives clients an independent comparison they can trust.
Accountant client advisory services are judged on independence. A connection referral only belongs in that list if it meets the same standard as the rest of your advice.
Clients moving house usually need more than one service switched on at once, and the order matters. A single referral means power and gas booked for one date, arranged in one conversation with the client, so nothing about the move lands back on your desk or turns into a billing query later.
No advice to give, no work to perform and no liability to carry. A link in your email signature does most of the work, and business clients relocating premises carry the larger commissions.
More than 20 retailers compared, free at every point, and existing business rates checked even without a move.
A client moving house is also changing their address with the bank, the tax office and every provider they use. Pointing them to a plain list of what a client juggles when moving alongside the referral is the kind of small, practical help that clients remember when they next need advice from their accountant.
Professional accounting bodies generally require members to disclose benefits received for referrals, however small, and your own body sets the specifics.
The arrangement in writing with the commission schedule, plus disclosure wording for your client file.
Advise you on your code of conduct. This is general information, not professional advice.
Professional accounting bodies, including CPA Australia, Chartered Accountants ANZ and the IPA, have rules on referral fees and benefits received from third parties, and those rules apply however small the amounts are. Check your own body's code before you refer anyone.
State consumer law can also apply. In NSW, intermediaries who receive a commission or referral fee must take reasonable steps to make the client aware of the arrangement before acting, as NSW Fair Trading explains (checked September 2026).
This is general information, not professional or legal advice.
Our practice receives a commission if you choose to connect your utilities through our comparison partner. Using them is entirely optional.Example disclosure line for your engagement letter or email
The first question clients ask is usually whether switching or connecting will cost them anything. The comparison itself is free, and a plain guide to what the client pays for a connection covers any retailer or distributor charges, so you can answer confidently without looking anything up yourself during a busy client meeting.
We call back within one business day. Nothing to sign to have that conversation.
Worth setting up if the volume is there. Run your real numbers, then add one link and let the call, the comparison and the booking be handled, with commission on each connection. Start with a single referral to Move-In Connect and see how it runs.
