How much does an accountant cost in Australia?

"How much does an accountant cost?" has an unhelpful honest answer: it depends. This guide makes that answer useful. It explains the three ways accountants charge, the things that actually move the price, what's normally included and what's normally extra, and how to compare quotes so you're comparing like with like.

You won't find made-up "average price" tables here. Published averages mix simple individual returns with complex business groups, and they date quickly. Instead, we'll show you how pricing works and give you our own prices as one real, current example.

How do accountants charge?

Almost every Australian accounting firm uses one of three models, or a mix.

Hourly billing

The traditional model. It's transparent in one sense, because you see the hours, but it puts all the risk of inefficiency on you. If your records are messy, or the firm's processes are slow, you pay for it. It also discourages questions, because clients learn that every call costs money, so they stop calling, and problems are found late.

Hourly billing still makes sense for work that genuinely can't be scoped, such as responding to an ATO audit where nobody knows how deep it will go.

Fixed fee per job

A set price for a defined piece of work. Common for individual and simple business returns. The key is the scope: what volume of transactions, how many entities, whether the books arrive reconciled or in a shoebox. A fixed fee is only fixed if the job is what both sides assumed.

Subscription pricing

A regular fee, often weekly or monthly, for a package of work across the year. This is how we price. It spreads the cost evenly, matches the way businesses actually need help (continuously, not once a year), and removes the "is this call going to cost me?" problem.

The risk is paying for things you don't use. A good subscription is built around your actual needs and reviewed when they change.

What affects how much an accountant costs?

These are the things that genuinely move the price. When you compare quotes, check each firm has assumed the same answers.

Key point: The single biggest thing you control is the state of your records. Books kept up to date in Xero, with receipts attached, cost less to work with than a year of statements handed over in July.

What's usually included, and what's usually extra?

There's no industry standard, so always ask for the list in writing. This is what we typically see.

ASIC's fees for companies are set by the government and are the same whoever your accountant is. You can check them on ASIC's fees page.

What does BPAG charge?

Here's one real example. These are our current business plans. All prices are "from", plus GST, and the final price depends on the drivers in the table above.

Details are on our pricing page. We price on a fixed basis so there are no surprises. Before we start, you'll know what's included and what, if anything, would cost extra. Want to understand what the top tier adds? Our article on what a fractional CFO does explains it.

Why we price weekly

Because a business's accounting needs are continuous. Books need updating daily, BAS is due quarterly (or monthly), payroll runs every week or fortnight, and the useful conversations happen before deadlines, not after. A weekly price spreads that cost evenly and means you can ask a question without wondering whether it will show up on an invoice.

How to compare accountant quotes

Two quotes can look very different and cover different work. Line them up properly.

1. List your entities and ask each firm to confirm which returns are included: company, trust, partnership, SMSF, each owner's personal return.
2. State your volume: roughly how many transactions a month, how many staff, how often you lodge BAS.
3. Ask what's out of scope. Get a written list.
4. Ask how extras are priced. Hourly, a fixed price per item, or quoted before starting?
5. Ask who does the work and whether that affects the price.
6. Ask what happens if your needs change, for example you hire staff or set up a trust.
7. Annualise everything. A weekly price, a monthly price and a set of per-job prices all convert to a yearly total. Compare that number.

A worked comparison

Hypothetical, round numbers, for illustration only. Not a market survey.

Say you run a company with six staff, a family trust that owns the company's shares, and you and your partner each need a personal return. You get two quotes.

The per-job quote often looks cheaper until you add the hourly items you'll actually use. The package often looks dearer until you notice how much it covers. Neither is automatically better. The point is to compare the full year.

Are accountant fees tax deductible?

Generally, yes.

• Business accounting and bookkeeping fees are a normal business expense, deductible to the business.
• Fees for managing your tax affairs, such as having a registered tax agent prepare your return, give tax advice or deal with the ATO for you, are deductible. The ATO says you generally claim them in the income year you pay them. See the ATO's guidance on the cost of managing tax affairs.
• Advice from someone who isn't a registered tax agent (or other recognised tax adviser) isn't deductible as a cost of managing tax affairs. Check your accountant on the Tax Practitioners Board register.
• Costs of setting up a structure or buying a business may be capital, not an immediate deduction. Some may be deductible over five years. Ask.

The ATO also notes that the general interest charge and shortfall interest charge incurred from 1 July 2025 aren't deductible, which is another reason to keep lodgments and payments on time.

How to keep your accounting fees down

You can't change the law's complexity, but you can change how much of your accountant's time goes on avoidable work.

1. Use cloud software, and keep it current. Reconcile your bank feed weekly, not yearly, or have us do it as part of our Xero bookkeeping service. Our guide to Xero vs MYOB helps if you're choosing.
2. Attach receipts as you go. A photo at the time beats a search in June.
3. Keep business and personal spending separate. One business account, one business card.
4. Answer questions quickly. A query left for three weeks often becomes a phone call, a reminder and a delay.
5. Tell your accountant before big decisions, not after. Buying a vehicle, hiring, signing a lease, moving overseas. Advice before is cheaper than fixing after.
6. Don't let lodgments go overdue. Catch-up work and ATO penalties cost more than the original job. If you're already behind, our guide to overdue tax returns explains the way back.
7. Review your package annually. If you've grown, you may be paying hourly for things a higher tier includes. If you've simplified, you may be overpaying.

Mistakes we see with accounting fees

1. Choosing on the headline price and paying more by June in extras.
2. Not reading the scope, then disputing an invoice for work you assumed was included.
3. Avoiding calls to save money, then paying much more to fix the problem the call would have prevented.
4. Paying for advice from someone who isn't registered. It's not deductible, and it's not protected by the Code of Professional Conduct.
5. Splitting work across several providers and paying each to reconcile what the other did.
6. Staying on hourly billing for regular work that a fixed price would cover more cheaply.

How BPAG keeps the price fixed

Fixed pricing only works if the firm can do routine work efficiently. That's where our systems come in. BPAG works exclusively on Nagaris, a practice platform with specialist AI agents for Australian accounting work. Our transaction coding agent suggests account codes and GST for unreconciled bank lines and drafts questions for anything unclear. Our year-end records request agent builds your document checklist from last year's figures, so we ask once, for the right things. A qualified accountant reviews every draft, and nothing goes to you or the ATO without a person approving it.

The time saved on routine work goes into the part you're actually paying for: someone who knows your business, answers your questions and tells you about issues early. If you want to know what to look for beyond price, read our guide on how to choose an accountant, or see our tax returns, BAS, payroll and ASIC service for what's covered.

General information only, current as at 18 October 2026. It is not personal tax, legal or financial product advice and doesn't take your circumstances into account. Talk to us before you act. Where a recommendation needs a licensed financial adviser or a solicitor, we work alongside them.