The understanding by the Tax Office of many businesses is very sophisticated.

In a recently published set of benchmarks, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) gave a guide to bricklaying businesses that is better than most brickies would comprehend.

Number of bricks per square metre, tonnes of sand per 1,000 bricks, number of bags of cement, cost of materials as a % of labour, number of bricks per average job, number of days per average job, price charged per 1,000 bricks, standard brick sizes, were some of the key factors published.

Almost every business has its key performance indicators (KPI) such as these, which enable industry comparison to be made.

Any business with results wildly different from its industry KPI, should expect some ATO activity.