Skip to main content
Together Business
Social Return on Investment · SVA Consulting 2026

The receipts. Independently measured.

Over a two-year period to May 2026, Together Business generated $7.5 million in social and economic value – $5.50 for every dollar invested. Measured by SVA Consulting using the Social Return on Investment methodology.

$5.50
Social value created per $1 invested
Conservatively calculated by SVA Consulting using the SROI framework. Attribution and deadweight discounted; financial proxies drawn from established sources including the HILDA Survey and ABS.
SVA Consulting · SROI 2026
Headline findings

Five supporting numbers behind the headline.

SVA Consulting's 2026 study assessed Together Business's social and economic value over a two-year period. The headline ratio rests on a small set of measurable outcomes – each independently calculated and methodologically conservative.

$7.5M
Total social value generated
Across four stakeholder groups, two-year period
$7.00
Return to government per $1
Tax revenue preserved, welfare reliance avoided
$104k
Average ATO debt resolved per SBR client
Counterfactual: zero recovery in liquidation
90
Clients in the measurement cohort
23 surveyed directly · 27% sample
6
Outcome domains mapped
Trust through to growth · D1 to D6
Where the value goes

Four stakeholder groups. One ripple effect.

The study traced where Together Business's value lands. Most of it flows directly to clients – but the downstream effects on government, workforce and community are real and measurable.

Percentages reflect the proportion of the $7.5M total value attributed to each group across the two-year measurement period.
81%
10%
7%
2%

Smallest segments shown at minimum width for legibility.

81%
Clients
Long-term business viability, system confidence, the lifted weight of stabilised compliance. Most value lands with the businesses we work with directly.
10%
Government
Corporate tax revenue preserved through business survival. Avoided welfare reliance. ATO debt recovered through SBR pathways that would otherwise be uncollectable.
7%
First Nations workforce
Culturally safe jobs protected. Employment skills developed. The accounting talent pipeline broadened where it matters most.
2%
Community
Founders reinvesting increased earnings into local economies. The ripple effect of a stabilised First Nations enterprise into the community it sits within.
Why this matters
<0.05%
of accountants in Australia identify as Indigenous
Compared to
3.2%
of the Australian population

The gap between supply and need is not incidental. It is the reason this practice exists.

SVA SROI 2026 · ABS 2021 Census
Outcome domains

The six things that change.

SVA's measurement framework maps outcomes across six domains – drawn from years of practice and validated against client interview data. Each domain corresponds to a stage in the client journey.

D1

Trust and cultural safety

The relational foundation that makes everything else possible. Clients report being able to ask questions they had been embarrassed to ask elsewhere. The shame that often surrounds compliance dissolves.

D2

Financial stabilisation

Active crisis brought under control. ATO obligations resolved or actively being addressed. Debt remediation through SBR or negotiated payment plans. The business stops haemorrhaging.

D3

Financial confidence and literacy

The client understands their numbers. They know what tax is and isn't, what a BAS does, what cash flow means in their context. Confidence to engage with the system rather than avoid it.

D4

Operational capability

Systems that work without our hands on them. Bookkeeping that's current. Reporting that's audit-ready. The infrastructure of a sustainable business in place.

D5

Strategic agency

The client makes decisions on their own terms, with their own information, on their own timeline. Our role shifts from operator to advisor. The business sets its own direction.

D6

Growth on the client's terms

Where the client wants to grow, growth happens – at the pace and shape they choose. Not growth driven by external pressure; growth driven by capacity.

Methodology

How SVA measured it.

Social Return on Investment is an internationally recognised framework for measuring social and economic value beyond financial return. It is conservative by design – assigning financial proxies to outcomes, then discounting for attribution to other factors and for deadweight (what would have happened anyway).

  1. Stakeholder mappingIdentified all groups materially affected by Together Business's work – clients, workforce, government, community.
  2. Outcome identificationMapped the changes experienced by each group, drawing on practitioner experience and client interviews.
  3. Client interviewsDirect interviews with 23 clients (27% of the 90-client cohort) to verify outcomes and gauge magnitude.
  4. Financial proxiesApplied conservative financial proxies using established sources – HILDA Survey, ABS, sector studies.
  5. Attribution discountingReduced calculated value to reflect causation by other factors, with the exception of SBR-mechanism outcomes where attribution is functionally 0% (counterfactual: zero ATO recovery in liquidation).
  6. Total value calculationAggregated to a final SROI ratio of $5.50 per $1 invested.
How the evidence is used

Three things this study makes possible.

Primary use

Funding the Indigenous Business Resilience Fund.

The SROI evidence is what allows Together Academy to demonstrate to funders that crisis-stage support for Indigenous businesses isn't a cost – it's a leveraged investment. $1 in stabilisation generates $7 for government alone. The methodology is independent, the proxies are conservative, and the counterfactuals are real. This is the document that turns an idea into a fundable program.

Secondary use 01
Systemic advocacy

The findings are being used in conversations with the ATO, NIAA, ORIC, IBA and Treasury about how the regulatory system serves Indigenous businesses – and where the leverage points for reform are.

Secondary use 02
Building the talent pipeline

The population-gap finding is recruitment-relevant. The SROI study is what we point to when explaining why working in Indigenous business advisory is one of the highest-leverage careers in accounting.