Do you need a practice manager—or a business manager?

Key takeaways

• Understanding the difference between a practice manager and a business manager helps you align staffing decisions with strategic business outcomes.
• Practice managers are typically operational leaders focusing on daily workflow, compliance, customer experience and HR functions.
• Business managers operate at a more strategic level with responsibilities that include forecasting, business planning, performance metrics, and organisational growth.
• In Australia, poor management and lack of governance are core contributors to SME risk, with many owners spending excessive time on administrative tasks instead of strategy.Choosing the right role depends on your size of operation, complexity of compliance environment, workload demands, and growth aspirations.

Real-world examples show how each role can transform business performance and free up highly skilled owners from burnout and inefficiency.

Introduction

As business conditions in Australia become more complex, you may be asking yourself: Do I need a practice manager or a business manager? Whether you run a healthcare practice, legal firm, accounting practice, consultancy, or other professional services business, this is a critical question.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operate within a regulatory landscape that includes workplace health and safety, tax, worker rights, and data compliance. At the same time, strategic pressures such as talent shortages, digital transformation, and rising client expectations complicate daily operations. The number of actively trading Australian businesses exceeded 2.7 million recently, with nearly 1 million of these employing staff.

When founders and partners wear too many hats, it often results in poor governance, compliance failures, slow decision making, and burnout. Adding the right management role can bring structure and free founders to focus on value creation.

What practice managers do

A practice manager is typically responsible for the day-to-day operations of your business. This includes systems, processes, compliance, staff supervision, and customer or patient experience.

According to Australian classification standards, practice managers organise and control the functions and resources of professional practices, such as administrative systems and personnel.

In healthcare and allied health practices, research shows practice managers:

• Spend about 44 per cent of their time on finance and HR issues.
• Handle compliance, operations, IT issues, risk and governance.

Typical responsibilities might include:

• Managing day-to-day administration and workflow
• Staff rosters, recruitment, performance reviews
• Front desk and client/patient experience
• Compliance with regulatory standards and record keeping
• Stock and supply management
• IT and digital tools administration

A practical scenario for practice managers

Imagine you run a medium-sized dental practice in Brisbane that has grown from 3 to 7 clinicians over two years. Without someone coordinating schedules, patient communications, HR issues, supplier orders, billing and compliance reporting, chaos quickly emerges. Appointment delays, frustrated staff, and compliance risks rise.

By hiring a practice manager, you create stability and consistency. The practice manager implements standard operating procedures, optimises rostering to reduce overtime costs, and ensures safe work procedures are in place. This stabilises the workflow and reduces owner workload significantly.

Most practice managers in Australia have diploma-level qualifications or significant on-the-job experience.

Understanding the roles - what is a business manager?

The scope of business managers

A business manager operates at a higher strategic level than a practice manager. They focus on long-term performance, planning and growth, financial stability, and organisational governance.

Key responsibilities might include:

• Business planning and strategy development
• Financial forecasting, KPI setting, performance metrics
• Operational optimisation and organisational design
• Risk and governance frameworks
• Growth and expansion initiatives
• High-level stakeholder engagement

In contrast to a practice manager, a business manager is expected to drive strategy, not just run operations.

A practical scenario for business managers

Consider an Australian boutique accounting firm in Melbourne looking to expand into new services and offices. This growth means more complex financial models, compliance with legislation across multiple states, and recruitment of senior staff.

Here, a business manager helps you shift from reactive decision making to strategic planning. They develop a long-term revenue forecast, implement KPIs across departments, and guarantee that your governance, compliance and financial controls scale with the business. 

The result might be a more profitable, resilient business with fewer surprises, better compliance and a clear roadmap for growth.

Practical differences in everyday work

To decide whether your business needs a practice manager or a business manager, think in terms of time horizon and scope of influence:

Practical example: In a busy medical clinic, the practice manager ensures patient accounts are correct, staff are rostered and equipment is maintained. But the business manager evaluates whether adding telehealth services will increase revenue, how to measure ROI, and how to align staff utilisation with long-term profitability.

Why this distinction matters in Australia today

Increasing regulatory complexity

Australian SMEs face an average of 43 different compliance requirements, involving federal, state and local rules. Poor governance costs SMEs roughly $3.1 billion a year in penalties and lost productivity.

Without someone in your business focused on both compliance and strategic oversight, you risk fines, damaged reputation and operational inefficiencies.

Compliance burden and management capacity

Regulatory environments such as workplace health and safety laws now explicitly include psychosocial risk management. Almost one-fifth of small businesses lack awareness of these obligations, increasing legal and safety risks.

A practice manager can help ensure compliance day to day, while a business manager can establish governance systems that prevent costly lapses.

Time loss due to administrative work

Research finds Australian managers spend up to 36 per cent of their time on non-strategic administrative tasks, leaving limited capacity for planning or growth.

Having a practice manager take ownership of administrative and operations tasks frees senior leaders for strategic work. In larger organisations, a business manager can take that further by embedding systems that reduce that administrative burden permanently.

How business needs evolve over time

Start-ups and early stage operations

When your business has a handful of staff and simple workflows, you may not need either role formally. Often, the founder or partner handles operations.

Growth and scale stage

As you scale beyond a few staff or $1 million in revenue, both roles become relevant:

• A practice manager helps you avoid workflow bottlenecks and compliance issues.
• A business manager becomes relevant as you look to refine financial projections, workforce planning, governance and expansion.

In many firms, a practice manager is the first hire as complexity grows. Over time, that role may evolve into a broader business manager or be supported by one.

Larger organisations

At scale, both roles often co-exist. Practice managers handle specific operational units, while business managers coordinate the organisation wide strategy.

Reducing risk and enhancing compliance

Assigning clear responsibilities to a practice or business manager improves compliance and risk outcomes.

Consider this real-world scenario:

A mid-sized fitness franchise in Sydney was repeatedly fined for failing to report workplace injuries on time. They decided to hire a practice manager to focus on day-to-day compliance, reporting and WHS checks, and a business manager to audit risk frameworks annually, align staff training with legal requirements, and embed digital governance tools. 

Within 18 months, regulatory fines dropped to zero, and staff reported higher satisfaction due to clear procedures and leadership.

Common challenges in choosing the right role

Owner hesitation

Many business owners feel uncomfortable relinquishing control, even when operational demand is overwhelming. This can stall growth and contribute to burnout. Research shows that challenges in owner-management skills are among the most common causes of business failure.

Hiring too early or too late

Hire a practice manager too early and you might underutilise their capabilities. Hire a business manager too late, and foundational problems like weak governance and poor KPI structures slow or even derail growth.

A practical approach is to assess:

• Are your day-to-day operations clogging schedule time?
• Are you missing compliance deadlines or exposing yourself to risk?
• Are strategic decisions deferred or based on intuition rather than data?
• Are you struggling to recruit or retain staff due to weak processes?

If the answer is yes to any, a practice manager is likely your first priority. If multiple strategic challenges persist, then a business manager or dual role should be considered.

Making the decision - a practical checklist

Ask yourself:

• Does my business need tighter operational control or a strategic roadmap?
• Are our compliance obligations being consistently met?
• Do we have clear KPIs and performance metrics?
• Does the owner spend most of the time operationally trapped?
• Are we planning expansion or diversification?
  
  

Use this table to help:

Conclusion

In the current Australian business landscape, good management is not optional. You need someone to ensure workflows are smooth, people are productive, and compliance is upheld. As complexity grows, having a business manager with strategic oversight becomes equally important.

A practice manager and a business manager are not interchangeable. Practice managers stabilise your operations; business managers elevate your organisation toward measurable goals and long-term growth.

Assess your specific needs, consider both roles within your organisational lifecycle, and make the right hire at the right time to unlock productivity, resilience and future success.