Accountants must keep ‘watchful eye’ on financial abuse

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New research from the University of NSW (UNSW) has unveiled that financial abuse affects more than 2.4 million Australians, with financial professionals called on to be wary, proactive and vigilant in protecting their clients. 

Financial abuse was characterised as a very particular subset of economic abuse, which was an effective form of coercive control involving a person’s bank accounts, credit cards, tax filing and business reporting systems. 

Professor Jan Breckenridge, head of the school of social sciences and the co-convenor of the UNSW gendered violence research network, said she had undertaken “extensive” research and noted the impacts could be particularly severe for older people. 

At the end of 2025, Accountants Daily dove into the topic of elder financial abuse with awareness advocate, Heather Smith, to help accountants learn what warning signs they needed to look out for in elderly clients who may be being taken advantage of. 

Breckenridge echoed similar sentiments to Smith and added that it was important for accountants to be proactive in looking out for red flags that suggested financial abuse, such as not having access to bank accounts, changes to insurance, and having no personal control over funds. 

Unfortunately, in many cases, financial abuse only became visible once a situation had escalated, Breckenridge said. 

“There may not always be warning signs or red flags apparent to others or even the victim of the financial abuse themselves until there is a related crisis,” she said.

“Financial abuse often remains hidden until finances are closely scrutinised, and is frequently first detected at tax time.”

The red flags that often surfaced at tax time that accountants should look out for included limited access to accounts or income, making financial decisions on someone’s behalf, hiding assets, shifting debts, and using business or financial structures to block access to money. 

According to professor Ann Kayis-Kumar, founding director of the UNSW Tax and Business Advisory Clinic, these red flags or the abuse itself could be uncovered during tax preparation, audits, or debt recovery processes, when missing records or unexplained liabilities came to light. 

“Understandably, it can be overwhelming to uncover financial abuse – let alone discover that the ATO will be chasing you for tax debts that you weren’t even responsible for creating or knew existed,” she said. 

“Although accountants and tax agents have professional and ethical duties to act in the best interests of their clients, in practice, we frequently see perpetrators controlling and gatekeeping the relationship with the family’s tax professional.”

“In some cases, tax debts have been created with the assistance of that professional, be it unwittingly or otherwise. This makes it unsafe and impractical for victim-survivors to address the problem through the existing accountant or tax agent.”

Based on this, it was noted to be crucial that accountants were aware of how to treat the situation and to contact the police or the Tax Office immediately if red flags or signs of financial abuse appeared. 

Kayis-Kumar shared that, along with some colleagues, she had researched how perpetrators of financial abuse weaponised Australia’s tax and transfer systems. 

The research – yet to be published – “shed light” on how abusers misused financial documents, legal documents, ABNs, tax file numbers, business structures and refund mechanisms to control financial decisions, restrict decision-making and undermine financial independence. 

“Perpetrators often use a broad spectrum of methods to create tax debts, ranging from: fraudulently creating tax debts in the victim-survivor’s name without their knowledge; using threats or violence to coerce the victim-survivors into creating tax debts; or, providing the victim-survivor with insufficient details so that they do not fully understand the true nature or extent of their tax position or tax debt.”

Late last year, Smith told Accountants Daily that accountants needed to do their part in helping protect the finances of their clients from coercive control or manipulation, for the health and integrity of the tax system, as well as the mental and emotional wellbeing of people. 

03 February 2026
Imogen Wilson
accountantsdaily.com.au