Low medium high customer risk examples for accountants

People search “customer risk rating examples accountants” when a tax practice wants to mark every client low because the work is 'just tax returns'. Checked against AUSTRAC's customer risk ratings reform page on 4 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. This page does not reproduce that guidance. The questions you ask the business, rather than a single client, are on the ML/TF risk assessment for Tranche 2. What follows a higher rating is enhanced customer due diligence. The sector map is /tranche-2.

Illustrations, not a score AUSTRAC issued

Customer risk ratings belong in the firm's program. A blog can show the kind of file that usually pulls a rating up or down. It cannot rate a client's trust or the new cafe company, because it does not know them. Use the pictures to train the office, and then apply your own factors.

The mistake in a tax practice is treating 'compliance work' as a low rating. The service type is one factor. The client, the structure, the countries, and whether you will touch their money are others. A simple return for a person you have known for years is not the same file as a new group that wants you to receive settlement funds.

• Lower risk looks familiar. A local individual, ordinary tax work, no client money, and a purpose you can state in a sentence.
• Middle risk is unfinished knowledge. A new Australian company on routine accounts, with a clear owner, until the file is no longer new.
• Higher risk is the odd request. Funds in and out, urgency before you know the parties, or an overseas owner the register does not explain.
• The firm writes the rating. These bands are examples. They are not a matrix you can paste into the program and call adopted.

Four files on a tax-practice desk

Where the example ratings stop

This page is example shapes for an accountant's customer ratings. It is not your business-wide risk assessment, and it is not the enhanced due diligence steps. Those are the ML/TF risk assessment for Tranche 2 and enhanced customer due diligence.

What the client pays

On FreeAML the firm suite is A$0. The firm emails the client a link. Verification is client-pays. On the public list a personal KYC check is A$20 and a company or trust KYB check is A$40. Use KYB when the customer is a company or a trust. A risk rating is not a check, and the verification your program requires for that rated customer is a separate client-pays check. Confirm the live amounts on FreeAML pricing. FreeAML does not assign your customer risk ratings or adopt these examples as your matrix.

Frequently Asked Questions