OneHQ questions, answered

What OneHQ is, and who it’s for

What is OneHQ?

OneHQ is practice management software for Australian accounting firms. It sits on top of Xero and Xero Practice Manager (XPM) and brings client communications, jobs and WIP, e-signing, ATO client mail and AML/CTF checks into one place, so one client record shows every call, email and text with that client, every document sent for signing, every job and every AML check. It’s made by OneHQ App Pty Ltd, an Australian company based in Victoria.

Who is OneHQ for?

OneHQ is for Australian accounting and tax practices that run on Xero and XPM, from a sole practitioner up. Designed for practices of up to 20 staff. It’s built around Australian work: BAS and IAS, ATO correspondence, STP, payroll tax and AML/CTF under Tranche 2. OneHQ’s terms say it is not designed for use outside Australia.

Who isn’t OneHQ for?

OneHQ isn’t a fit for a firm that doesn’t use XPM, a firm that wants time tracking and billing in the same tool, or a firm that wants its practice software to lodge with the ATO. OneHQ is built for practices of up to 20 staff. The full list, with what you keep and what it costs at your size, is on Who OneHQ is for, and who it isn’t.

Does OneHQ do time tracking or billing?

No. OneHQ doesn’t record time and doesn’t create invoices. Timesheets and invoicing stay in XPM, where they already work. OneHQ tracks the work itself (jobs, statuses, due dates and who has what) through to lodgement. The one invoice-related thing it can do is authorise or email a draft invoice that already exists in your firm’s own Xero organisation, when a person in your practice chooses to send it.

Is there a OneHQ mobile app?

There is no OneHQ app in the App Store or Google Play. OneHQ Pocket is a phone web app. In OneHQ, My Profile gives you a single-use setup code and a QR code; scan it with the phone’s camera, and Pocket opens already paired, with no login on the phone. Add it to the home screen for a one-tap icon. Pocket carries the client list, click-to-dial, voicemail, team chat and your day, and it is locked with a PIN or Face ID. Where the firm uses 3CX, calls go out from the practice’s number rather than your own mobile.

Xero, XPM and other ledgers

Do we need Xero and XPM to use OneHQ?

Yes. XPM is the source of record for your clients: connect it and your client book flows into OneHQ and stays in step, and a new client added from OneHQ (through New Clients or the client intake form) is created in XPM. A client’s name, ABN, date of birth and address are changed in XPM, and OneHQ follows. Xero is where OneHQ reads each client’s ledger for BAS readiness, year-end review and tax planning.

Can a firm without XPM use OneHQ?

Not today. OneHQ has no other way to load a client list: there is no client import, and new clients are created in XPM. If your firm doesn’t run XPM, OneHQ isn’t the right fit.

Does OneHQ work with MYOB or QuickBooks?

No. OneHQ reads client ledgers from Xero only. A client whose books are in MYOB or QuickBooks can still be a client in OneHQ, with their calls, emails, texts, jobs, signing and AML checks on their record, but the accounting side (profit and loss, balance sheet, BAS figures and the ledger) needs a Xero file linked to that client.

Does OneHQ replace XPM or Xero?

No. Xero stays and XPM stays. OneHQ reads them live and keeps your XPM client list. Time and billing stay in XPM.

What does OneHQ write to Xero?

Only what a person in your practice asks it to: creating, posting, reversing or voiding manual journals (such as those prepared in year-end review), recoding a transaction, adding or archiving the accounts a journal needs, recording a bank transaction from a OneHQ tool, and authorising or emailing a draft invoice you choose to send from your firm’s own Xero organisation. OneHQ never alters a ledger on its own, and it doesn’t touch contacts, bank feeds or pay runs.

Does OneHQ lodge tax returns or BAS with the ATO?

No. OneHQ doesn’t prepare or lodge tax returns, activity statements or any other document with the ATO, isn’t registered as a tax agent or BAS agent, and doesn’t communicate directly with the ATO. It tracks the work through to lodgement; your practice lodges as it does now, and remains responsible for every lodgement. Section 3.5 of our terms says so in full.

Price and billing

How much does OneHQ cost?

$250 a month plus GST for your practice, including the first person who signs in, and $70 a month plus GST for each person after that. Every module is included, and every practice pays the same rates.

MCP licences are included. Connected Xero files are free until 30 June 2027, then $3 + GST each a month.

Usage on top: 100 SMS a month included, then $0.10 + GST per SMS part sent (a part is up to 160 characters, 153 each when a message runs to more than one part, or 70 if it has an emoji or special character). Replies are free. For AML: $5.50 + GST per ID check, 100 PEP checks a month included then $0.50 + GST per check, $18 + GST per ASIC search. Checking ID in person is free. Usage is billed monthly in arrears, itemised, on every plan and every offer.

Practices set up by 31 December 2026 pay a fixed $100 + GST a month for their first three months. Usage over what is included is still charged. Every rate is on the pricing page.

Is there a free trial, and when does billing start?

There are no trial days. Sign up today and the rest of this month is free. Card at setup. No lock-in. Billed monthly in arrears, on the 1st. Sign up in November: November is free, and December is billed on 1 January. Usage in the free period, such as SMS, AML checks, ASIC searches and data migration, is still charged on your first invoice.

Can we cancel, and what does it cost to leave?

Yes, and there is no exit fee. Cancel during the free period and there is no subscription fee. Cancel inside your first full month and you pay only what you used. After that, cancel any time; it ends at the end of that month. To close your account, email team@onehq.com.au. Sections 8.6 and 12.2 of our terms have the exact wording.

Setup and moving in

How do we sign up?

Press Start now, request access and confirm your mobile, and you go straight into setting up your practice, with your firm’s name on it. When we’re busy you hold a place instead, and we text and email you an access code the moment it opens. Claiming the code creates your practice.

What help is there with setup?

Two options. Self setup, with guided videos and in-app help, is free. Done with you is a day of setup with us over Zoom, then two hours training your team, for $2,000 + GST.

What do we connect first?

XPM. It’s the source of record for your clients, so once it’s connected your whole client book is in OneHQ and every other part of the app has something to work against. Xero, files, email, calendars and your phone system can each follow whenever you’re ready. What each connection does is on What OneHQ connects to.

Can we bring our documents across from FYI?

Yes. OneHQ copies an FYI export server to server into your firm’s own Microsoft 365 / SharePoint, one folder per client. FYI keeps its originals and a CSV accounts for every document. Migration is $0.40 + GST per GB on what is actually copied, and you see the estimate and agree to it before anything moves. How it works: Leaving FYI Docs.

What about files from other systems?

If your files are already in Microsoft 365, OneHQ can move your existing client and practice folders into its own folders when you connect: moved, not copied, and nothing is deleted. For files coming from an older system onto OneDrive, Migration intake is a drop folder: put the files in, check what OneHQ plans to do, and it files what it can match to the right clients. OneHQ has no dedicated import for other document systems; tell us what you use now at team@onehq.com.au.

Security and data

Where is our data stored?

OneHQ’s primary data is stored in Amazon Web Services in Sydney (ap-southeast-2), and the signed documents OneHQ holds stay there too. Your documents live in your firm’s own Microsoft 365 (SharePoint or OneDrive) or Dropbox, one folder per client. Dropbox is headquartered in the United States, and documents stored there may be processed on US infrastructure. A few features use overseas services, such as Gmail, Microsoft’s mail service, SMS through Twilio, card payments and any AI assistant you connect; each one is named, with its country, in our privacy policy.

How do people sign in, and who sees which clients?

Two-factor sign-in with an authenticator app is mandatory for every user. Every request is bound to one practice before it reaches any data. Within the practice, access can be narrowed to the clients a staff member is assigned, a client can be withheld from a particular staff member, and a client can be marked confidential. A client’s name and contact details stay visible across the practice so reception can answer the phone; what is restricted is the detail: correspondence, files, notes and financials. An append-only audit log records security-relevant actions. More in Security and privacy.

AI assistants

Does OneHQ have AI built in?

No. OneHQ’s compliance checks, BAS estimates and tax planning are deterministic rules and arithmetic, not a model’s guess. To read the text of a scanned document, OneHQ uses Amazon Textract, the text-recognition service of Amazon Web Services, in Sydney.

Is our client data used to train AI?

No. OneHQ does not use client data to train, fine-tune or improve any AI or machine learning model. If your practice connects an AI assistant, the data that assistant asks for is sent to its provider under the provider’s terms.

Which AI assistants work with OneHQ, and how?

Claude and ChatGPT, through OneHQ’s MCP server. The assistant signs in to OneHQ as the staff member, sees only what that person can see, and can change only a narrow set of things, such as a note, a task or a job’s status. It’s off until the practice switches it on, and MCP licences are included in the price. The address, the steps and the full list of what it can and can’t do are on Use Claude or ChatGPT with OneHQ.

Leaving

What happens to our data if we leave?

Your documents are in your own Microsoft 365 or Dropbox throughout, so they stay with you. For the data OneHQ holds, our privacy policy (section 14.3) and terms (section 12.5) say: after cancellation, practice data is kept for 90 days so you can export it or reactivate, and practice administrators keep read-only access to view data and request exports. After 90 days, client data, jobs, communications, documents, cached Xero data, signing records and connection tokens are permanently deleted. Audit log entries are anonymised and kept for 7 years, and where the AML/CTF module is used, identity verification records the law requires are kept for the statutory period.

Can we export our data?

Yes, at any time, through the exports in OneHQ: lists export to CSV. On request we also help with data portability, in a structured, machine-readable format.

Seeing it, and getting in touch

How can we see OneHQ before signing up?

Open the live demo: a sample practice with every screen, and nothing to sign up for. The address is onehq.com.au/demo.html (open the demo).

How do we contact OneHQ?

For questions before you start, email team@onehq.com.au or use the contact page; we reply within one business day. If you’re already with OneHQ, email support@onehq.com.au. Report a suspected account security problem to security@onehq.com.au, and privacy requests to privacy@onehq.com.au.

Frequently asked