Accountant, broker or lender: who does what in a business loan?

When a business needs finance, several people end up involved: the owner, the accountant, perhaps a bookkeeper or BAS agent, a broker or matching service, and the lender itself. Each does something different. When everyone knows their part, loans move smoothly. When they don’t, documents sit in inboxes and the owner ends up chasing everyone. Here’s a clear picture of who does what.

The five roles in a business loan

Role	Main job	What they don’t do
Business owner	Decides, applies, signs, provides ID and personal details	Interpret complex tax structures (that’s the accountant)
Accountant or tax agent	Prepares financial statements and tax returns; explains the numbers	Lend money or make the credit decision
Bookkeeper or BAS agent	Keeps records current, lodges BAS, produces reports	Usually prepare tax returns (BAS agents can’t)
Broker or matching service	Understands the need and links the file to a suitable lender	Make the final credit decision
Lender	Assesses, approves or declines, documents and funds	Prepare your accounts

Business.gov.au lists banks, non-bank lenders and brokers among the common sources of debt finance. Each has a place. What matters is that the person doing each job is clear about it.

What your accountant is responsible for

Your accountant’s job in a loan is to make the numbers accurate, current and understandable. That usually means:

• Supplying the last one or two years’ financial statements and tax returns
• Preparing year-to-date figures if the last return is getting old
• Explaining items that look odd to an outsider — one-off expenses, depreciation, related-party loans
• Writing a letter confirming specific facts when a lender asks for one

They are not responsible for finding the lender or negotiating the loan, unless their practice offers that service.

What a broker or matching service does

A broker or matching service knows the lending market. Their value is in knowing which lender is likely to say yes to your kind of file — trading history, industry, security, credit history, ATO position — and presenting it well.

At Business Loan Link we take this linking role. A real person reads every enquiry and matches it to a lender that fits. Your file isn’t sent to a crowd of lenders at once, which avoids a cluster of credit enquiries and a phone that won’t stop ringing.

What the lender does

The lender assesses the application against its own criteria, asks questions, may value any property offered as security, and makes the decision. Once approved, it issues loan documents, settles any security and pays the funds. Every loan is priced on the business’s circumstances, which is why we don’t publish rates.

What you, the owner, are responsible for

You’re the applicant. That means:

• Being clear about what the money is for and how much you need
• Supplying your own pieces: ID, bank statements, property details, existing loan statements
• Authorising your adviser to speak with us or the lender, if you want them involved
• Reading and signing the loan documents, including any personal guarantee

Our Link-up checklist builder splits the document list into what you provide and what your adviser provides, so nobody waits on the wrong person.

Where hand-offs go wrong — and how to fix them

The most common delays aren’t in the lender’s assessment. They’re in the gaps between people:

• “I thought the accountant was sending that.” Fix: name one person for each document.
• “The lender asked my accountant and they didn’t know they were allowed to answer.” Fix: give written authority up front (how that works).
• “The figures in the application don’t match the financials.” Fix: get the numbers from your accountant before you enquire.
• “Nobody told me the valuation was booked.” Fix: agree who updates whom, and how often.

Advisers who want to make the hand-off smoother can read our page on adviser and lender collaboration.

Where do bookkeepers, BAS agents, planners and coaches fit?

Not every business has a full-service accountant, and plenty have several advisers. Each one can play a useful supporting part:

• Bookkeepers often hold the freshest numbers — reconciled bank accounts, aged debtors and creditors, year-to-date profit. For cash flow lending, those reports can matter more than last year’s tax return.
• BAS agents usually hold the activity statement history and, often, access to the ATO portal. They’re the natural source for an ATO account statement and an explanation of any balance owing.
• Financial planners see the household side: property, personal debts and how a guarantee might affect family goals.
• Business coaches can help you write the one-page plan explaining what the money is for and how it pays back.

The key is to decide early which adviser supplies which item. One owner we’d describe as typical (an illustrative example, not a real client) runs a fit-out business: the bookkeeper supplies bank statements and aged debtors, the BAS agent supplies the ATO statement, the accountant supplies two years of financials and a short letter, and the owner supplies ID and property details. Nothing is requested twice, and nothing falls between chairs.

How long should each step take?

Timelines vary with the lender, the amount and whether property is involved, so we don’t promise fixed turnarounds. What we can say is that files move fastest when the documents arrive together, the numbers agree with each other, and the adviser who prepared them is reachable to answer questions. The slowest files are almost always the ones waiting for a single missing statement.

Start with the person who links it together

Once you know who does what, the process stops feeling like a maze. If you’d like us to take the linking role, start with a 60-second enquiry. No credit check is run, your details are matched with one suitable lender rather than broadcast, and a specialist will call you — and loop in your accountant if you say so. Accurate answers on the form mean fewer hand-offs later. Get your file moving.