An AU AML platform priced below what you pay a casual admin for one hour

An AML platform that costs less than a casual admin means a compliance tool whose monthly fee is lower than the hourly cost of the casual staff member who would otherwise do the work by hand. Ironbark AML's entry Solo tier is $29 ex-GST ($31.90 inc-GST) per month and includes 50 checks. The minimum casual rate for a Level 1 clerk under the Clerks Private Sector Award 2020 is $26.40 per hour before the 25% casual loading, which lifts the loaded base to about $33.00 per hour (Fair Work Commission, Clerks Private Sector Award 2020 pay guide). Once loading, superannuation and on-costs are counted, a single hour of casual admin labour costs more than a full month of Ironbark's entry subscription. That is the comparison this page makes concrete, with every figure shown ex-GST and inc-GST.

Source for the casual rate: Fair Work Commission, Clerks Private Sector Award 2020 pay guide.

Manual AML compliance is a labour cost, not a software cost. The expense is not a licence fee, it is the staff minutes spent collecting identity documents, looking up an ABN, chasing missing paperwork, screening a name against sanctions lists, writing the result into a file, and storing that file so it survives a seven-year retention requirement. Under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006, a reporting entity must collect and verify specific customer identification information before providing a designated service, and must keep those records for seven years (AUSTRAC, customer identification and verification guidance). Every one of those steps, repeated per client file, is paid for in admin hours.

Automation collapses that labour. An automated ABN verification returns entity status in seconds. PEP and sanctions screening runs against current lists without a person reading three registers by hand. A Trust Score and an audit-ready record are generated at the same time, so the seven-year evidence trail is a by-product of the check rather than a separate filing task. The cost shifts from variable admin hours per file to a fixed, low monthly fee.

Source for the obligation: AUSTRAC, customer identification and verification guidance.

The Tranche 2 compliance workload coming for accountants, lawyers and conveyancers

Tranche 2 is the expansion of Australia's AML/CTF regime to cover professions that were previously outside it. AUSTRAC estimates that more than 100,000 businesses will become reporting entities under the reforms, including accountants, lawyers, real estate agents and conveyancers (AUSTRAC, Tranche 2 AML/CTF reforms overview). For most of these firms, this is the first time they have had to run customer due diligence at all, which means the manual labour cost lands as a brand-new line item rather than an existing one they can trim.

Ironbark covers the four affected profession groups directly. Each has its own page setting out the specific exposure: accountants, lawyers, real estate agents and conveyancers. Because exact commencement timing is set by AUSTRAC and Treasury, confirm the current date for your profession on the AUSTRAC Tranche 2 reform page rather than a date quoted second-hand.

What manual onboarding actually costs per client file

A simple per-file estimate makes the gap visible. Take the loaded casual rate of roughly $33.00 per hour (the $26.40 ex-loading Level 1 rate plus the 25% casual loading) and apply it to the minutes a manual onboarding consumes:

• ID collection and document chasing: around 15 minutes, near $8.25 in loaded labour.
• ABN and entity lookup, then writing the result into the file: around 10 minutes, near $5.50.
• Sanctions and PEP screening across the relevant registers: around 15 minutes, near $8.25.
• Record keeping in a form that survives seven years: around 10 minutes, near $5.50.

That is roughly 50 minutes and near $27.50 of loaded labour per client file, before any rework or refresh cycle. An automated Ironbark check costs $0.49 ex-GST ($0.539 inc-GST) on the pay-per-check model, or is bundled into the monthly allowance on a subscription tier. The methodology behind each check is documented at /methodology. The figures above are illustrative estimates built from the cited award rate, not a quoted price for any individual firm.

For the price of less than one hour of casual admin a month, Ironbark performs the entity checks that sit at the core of a Customer Identification Procedure: ABN and ACN verification against authoritative registers, PEP screening, sanctions list checks against the UN, OFAC and Australian consolidated lists, a Trust Score output, and an audit-ready record for each check. The full scoring logic and per-source detail is published at /methodology, and the range of entity types covered is set out at /entities.

ABN and ACN verification: what the check covers

An ABN verification check returns the entity's registered name, ABN status, GST registration status and entity type (for example sole trader, company or trust). The data source is the Australian Business Register (ABR), the authoritative source for ABN status, entity type and GST registration in Australia, operated by the ATO under the A New Tax System (Australian Business Number) Act 1999. Verifying the entity in this way satisfies part of the Customer Identification Procedure under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006: it confirms the business you are dealing with exists and is in the state it claims to be.

Source: Australian Business Register (ABR).

PEP and sanctions screening in an AU context

A Politically Exposed Person (PEP) is an individual who holds, or has held, a prominent public position, whose role can carry a higher risk of bribery or corruption and therefore warrants enhanced customer due diligence under AUSTRAC guidance and the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006. Sanctions screening checks whether a person or entity appears on a restricted list. In Australia, the consolidated sanctions list is maintained by the Australian Sanctions Office within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) under the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011. Ironbark screens against that list alongside the UN Security Council and OFAC lists, and flags name-only matches as a screen to be confirmed, not as a confirmed hit.

Source: DFAT, Australian Sanctions Consolidated List.

The Trust Score: a citable confidence signal

The Trust Score is a composite confidence signal, not a pass-or-fail binary. It rolls registration validity, directorship, AUSTRAC flags, sanctions and PEP indicators, court and insolvency events, and data freshness into a single weighted figure, with each contributing sub-score shown so the result is explainable. Because it is documented and reproducible, it gives a practitioner a defensible, recorded position that supports the record-keeping obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006. The full scoring logic is at /methodology.

Ironbark is built for the four profession groups brought into the AML/CTF regime by Tranche 2, plus existing reporting entities that want cheaper screening.

• Accountants providing designated services such as company formation, trust setup or managing client money fall in scope and must verify clients before acting.
• Lawyers handling conveyancing, company structures or client trust accounts carry customer due diligence obligations under the regime.
• Real estate agents brokering property transactions must screen buyers and sellers, a high-value transfer category that draws regulatory attention.
• Conveyancers settling property transfers sit squarely in the Tranche 2 cohort and need a documented identification trail per file.

A fuller breakdown of who each tier suits is at /who-its-for.

Every figure below is shown ex-GST and inc-GST. GST at 10% applies to Australian software subscriptions under the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999, so a $29 ex-GST plan is $31.90 inc-GST (ATO, GST for business). Credits never expire on any tier that has them.

• Free: $0 per month, 10 checks included. Best for testing or very low volume.
• Solo: $29 ex-GST ($31.90 inc-GST) per month, 50 checks included, about $0.58 ex-GST per check. Overage at $0.49 ex-GST ($0.539 inc-GST) per check.
• Solo Plus: $49 ex-GST ($53.90 inc-GST) per month, 100 checks included, about $0.49 ex-GST per check.
• Pay per check (PAYG): $0.49 ex-GST ($0.539 inc-GST) per check, no minimum, credits never expire.

The single comparison line: the Clerks Private Sector Award 2020 Level 1 casual rate is $26.40 per hour before loading, and about $33.00 per hour once the 25% casual loading is added (Fair Work Commission pay guide). One loaded hour of casual admin therefore costs more than a full month on the Solo tier. Put differently, the entry subscription buys a month of automated screening for less than the firm would pay a casual to manually screen a single client. Full pricing is at /pricing.

Source for GST: ATO, GST for business.

Running your first check takes under a minute and does not need a paid plan.

1. Create a free account, which includes 10 checks a month at no cost.
2. Enter the ABN, ACN or entity name you want to verify.
3. Review the Trust Score and any flagged items, with each contributing sub-score shown so you can see why the score is what it is.
4. Download the audit record, which is the timestamped evidence you keep for your seven-year retention obligation.

The logic behind the Trust Score and each sub-score is documented at /methodology.

This page is general compliance information, not legal advice. It explains how an AML platform compares on cost to manual admin labour and what an entity check covers. It does not assess your firm's specific obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006. The reporting entity remains responsible for meeting its own AML/CTF duties. For advice on your circumstances, consult a qualified adviser and AUSTRAC's published guidance.