Check it covers all seven obligations
- Generates and versions an AML/CTF program from your own answers, not a generic PDF.
- Records client identification, beneficial owners, risk rating and review date.
- Reminds you of reviews by risk level and of the yearly program review.
- Logs suspicious matters and threshold transactions with the legal deadline.
- Helps with the annual compliance report.
- Records staff training.
- Keeps a tamper-evident audit trail you can export, and never deletes client records.
Things a small firm can ignore
- Real-time transaction monitoring built for payment volumes you do not have.
- Sanctions screening APIs priced per check; a manual check of the consolidated list is fine at your volume.
- Per-seat pricing, dashboards for compliance teams, and anything that needs an implementation project.
Questions to ask any vendor
- Is the program generated from my firm's answers, and versioned each time it changes?
- What happens to a client record when I 'delete' it? (The right answer: it is archived and kept for 7 years.)
- Can I export everything, including the audit trail, without asking support?
- Is the price per firm or per user, and does it include GST?
- Is it built for Australian obligations specifically, with AUSTRAC deadlines, or adapted from another market?
What a fair price looks like
For a practice of one to ten people, expect a fixed monthly fee in the range of a modest software subscription, not a percentage of revenue or a per-check charge. LedgerAML is AU$99.90 per firm per month including GST; judge it against the list above like any other option.
Questions people ask
- Can I just use a spreadsheet?
- You can, and some sole practitioners do. The weak points are the program (which still has to be written), review reminders, the audit trail, and proving records were not edited. Those are the things AUSTRAC asks about.
This guide is general information for accountants, bookkeepers, BAS agents, not legal advice. Check AUSTRAC's current guidance for your situation.