Confidentiality, in practical terms
Your staff, customers, suppliers and competitors do not find out unless you decide to tell them.
Licence 4963575 · Member, Australian Institute of Business Brokers · Last updated 15 September 2026.
Get my free appraisal, in writingCall 0431 124 128
No obligation. Nothing is published. Nobody is contacted.
- Nobody is told
- Your staff, customers, suppliers and competitors do not find out unless you decide to tell them.
- Marketed blind
- The business is advertised without being identifiable. Getting that advertisement right is the part brokers get wrong.
- Qualified first
- Every enquiry signs a confidentiality deed poll and is qualified for financial capacity before receiving anything that identifies you.
- Released in stages
- Sensitive information goes out in stages, with the most sensitive released last and only to a committed buyer.
In a regional market, or in an industry where good staff get poached weekly, that discipline protects the very thing you are selling.
What membership of the Australian Institute of Business Brokers is, and what it is not
The Institute is a professional membership organisation for business brokers. What membership requires, on the Institute’s own published material, is acceptance of and adherence to its Code of Conduct, which applies “to all our members, irrespective of membership type or category”, and financial membership, since “only financial members” may use its credentials. The Code requires members to “act with integrity and steadfastly adhere to our principles, rules and the law”, to “act honestly and truthfully so that public trust is protected”, to discharge duties “with skill, diligence, competence and care consistent with the prevailing professional standards”, to place the client’s interests first, to obtain written instructions from a client before being engaged to sell or buy a business, and to keep clients promptly informed of substantial developments. It also addresses insurance, confidentiality, conflicts of interest and deposit handling.
The Code sets its own ceiling in one sentence: “These rules do not replace any law. Where these rules are inconsistent with any applicable law, that law shall prevail.” That is worth reading twice, because it is the Institute saying what a membership badge cannot do. The Institute is not a regulator. It does not issue the Queensland Office of Fair Trading licence, does not supervise trust accounts and does not administer the statutory claim fund. Those are Office of Fair Trading functions under the Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld) and the Agents Financial Administration Act 2014 (Qld), and the claim fund cap of $200,000 per claimant sits in section 25 of the Agents Financial Administration Regulation 2014 (Qld).
So membership does not mean a licence is current, which is checked free at ftlr.fairtrading.qld.gov.au. It does not mean a fee agreement complies with the Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld). And it gives you no access to a statutory compensation fund, because that fund is statutory and is administered by the Office of Fair Trading.
The Institute runs two accreditations above ordinary membership: the Certified Practicing Business Broker, and the Registered Business Valuer. The published requirements for the Registered Business Valuer are “a minimum of 5 years’ continuous experience as a current full time practicing business brokers”, current paid up membership, the Certified Practicing Business Broker accreditation, the Advanced Business Brokers course or equivalent, business and personal references, a personal disclosure form, and professional indemnity insurance once accredited. Broking here began in July 2026, so that five year gate cannot open before July 2031. Naming the gate and the date is more use to you than not mentioning the credential.
One thing this page will not tell you, because it could not be confirmed. The Institute’s membership pages could not be accessed when checked on 14 August 2026, so the membership categories, their individual entry requirements and the fees are not described here and no figure for any of them appears on this site.
Ask what it is worth
Free, in writing, and nobody finds out you asked. Tell me the trade and the suburb and I will do the rest.
Nobody finds out you are selling. This goes to me only, into my own database in Sydney. I will not contact your accountant, your landlord, your bank or your staff, ever, unless you ask me to.
If you would rather not put anything in writing yet, ring 0431 124 128. Prefer to pick a time yourself? Book a time in my diary.
Find out what your business is worth.
Free, confidential, and no obligation to list anything. Thirty minutes, phone or video. Nobody finds out you asked.