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Artificial intelligence

This accounting firm trusts AI only when it’s double-checked

Data experts at Vincents say they need 100 per cent accuracy when it comes to extracting financial data from documents.

  • Edmund Tadros

Revealed: Australia’s best accounting firms in 2024

The Financial Review list shows that mid-tier accounting firms reached an unprecedented size as revenue at the big four consulting firms fell to a two-year low.

  • Updated
  • Edmund Tadros

The big winners as scandal forces big four into retreat

Mid-sized firms such as those run by Steve Meyn of PKF, Jamie O’Rourke of RSM and Annabelle Clare of Walshs had their best year on record as clients move away from out-of-favour big players.

  • Updated
  • Edmund Tadros
Akshaya Josy is struggling to find a graduate role in public relations despite having a master’s degree in the subject.

The graduate employment boom is over

Akshaya Josy has a master’s degree but can’t find a job in her field. It’s part of a recruitment trend that has started showing up at the big four accounting firms.

  • Updated
  • Euan Black

Accountants ramp up offshoring to bring down costs

Up to a third of staff at some of the nation’s top firms work in countries such as India and the Philippines as leaders cut costs and search for hard-to-find skills.

  • Edmund Tadros

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November

l-r  Peter Lalor and Jason Preston

The fastest-growing firms have one thing in common: AI

BlueRock’s Peter Lalor says the firm is using generative AI across the firm, while McGrathNicol’s Jason Preston is using the machine learning to identify patterns that humans would overlook.

  • Updated
  • Edmund Tadros

Accounting firms bullish about the future

Automation technology and ever-growing demand for advice are keeping the top firms optimistic about the years ahead.

  • Theo Konstantas

November 2023

Australia’s Top 100 Accounting Firms have been revealed.

Mid-tier firm revenue surges 17pc, outpacing big four

Strong demand for traditional auditing, accounting and tax services, along with fast-growing consulting offerings, helped boost annual revenue at mid-tier firms.

  • Updated
  • Edmund Tadros
Australia’s Top 100 Accounting Firms 2023 revealed.

Revealed: Australia’s best accounting firms in 2023

Income across Australia’s 100 biggest accounting firms jumped almost 12 per cent last financial year, with mid-tier firms outgrowing the big four.

  • Edmund Tadros
The Reserve Bank of Australia will need to see deeper evidence of a slowdown in the labour market before being convinced that higher interest rates are really biting.

Accounting firms look offshore amid ongoing talent drought

Accounting firm leaders are still having trouble hiring and retaining quality staff, and are increasingly sending work offshore to countries with low labour costs.

  • Edmund Tadros
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Sovereign Private partner Sheridan Green thinks Chartered Accountants ANZ doesn’t cater effectively for smaller firms.

Smaller firms slam accounting regime as ‘useless’

Smaller accounting firms say the current regulatory regime is useless and riven by conflicts of interest between the major professional bodies and the larger firms.

  • Edmund Tadros

December 2022

The big four are coming after Nexia’s staff, Mal Di Giulio says.

Mid-tier accounting firms fight off big four poaching efforts

Mid-sized firms are offering salaries 10 per cent higher than the big four, increasing bonuses and speeding up promotions.

  • Hannah Wootton

November 2022

Some big four firms have more than doubled their graduate intakes.

Big four accountants ramp up graduate recruitment by 85pc

Some top firms such as PwC, RSM and BlueRock more than doubled their intakes as the battle for white-collar talent continued.

  • Updated
  • Hannah Wootton
The “war on talent” is keeping accounting firm owners and their clients awake at night, Marisa Riccio says.

The No. 1 problem for accountants (for the second year in a row)

Industry leaders say staff shortages are the biggest barrier to growth, the Financial Review Top 100 Accounting Firms list revealed.

  • Hannah Wootton
Narelle Hawken and Michael Harmer - operations manager and director of FinCare respectively - are looking at how to increase their client base despite economic downturn.

These accounting firms have plans for growth despite a downturn

Australia’s biggest accounting outfits are looking to increase marketing, award fewer wage rises and upgrade technology in the face of economic downturn.

  • Hannah Wootton
Mili and Dinesh Aggarwal are director and founder respectively of Fortuna Advisors, Australia’s fastest growing accounting firm.

Revenue at 100 biggest accounting firms jumps 14.5pc

The pandemic and economic downturn have sparked a boom in tax, compliance and refinancing advice.

  • Hannah Wootton
The big four consultancies remain the largest providers of accounting services in Australia.

Revealed: Australia’s best accounting firms in 2022

Income across Australia’s 100 biggest accounting firms jumped almost 15 per cent last financial year.

  • Hannah Wootton
Revenue at the big four accounting firms is up 17 per cent.

‘Behemoth’ big four consulting firms keep getting bigger

Revenue at PwC, Deloitte, EY and KPMG jumped a collective 17 per cent last year, the latest Top 100 Accounting Firms list revealed, while headcounts also grew.

  • Hannah Wootton

September 2022

Accounting firms are saving as much as $47,000 per employee by using offshore labour, which in turn allows them to pay local staff more in a bid to retain talent.

Accounting firms look offshore to save 25-50pc on salaries

Accounting firms are saving as much as $47,000 per employee by using offshore labour, which in turn allows them to pay local staff more in a bid to retain talent.

  • Hannah Wootton

November 2021

Grant Thornton CEO Greg Keith.

‘Inundated’: Pandemic boosts accounting income, but staff crisis grows

Strong demand from clients wanting assistance navigating the COVID-19 pandemic has boosted revenue across the country’s largest accounting firms, with the ongoing shortage of professionals across the sector now the main constraint on the sector.

  • Edmund Tadros
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The nation’s best accounting firms in 2021 revealed

The Australian Financial Review’s list of Top 100 Accounting Firms explores how the industry is performing amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Edmund Tadros
ACCOUNTING FIRMS 050915 photo-illustration peter riches / afrphotos.com.au GENERIC: electronic technology,IT, tax

5 up-and-coming accounting firms that just missed the top 100

A round-up of emerging boutique accounting firms from around the country that didn’t quite make The Australian Financial Review Top 100 Accounting Firms list.

  • Edmund Tadros

October 2021

Most office workers do not look forward to returning five days a week to the office now that they are used to working from home.

Remote working to stay at accounting firms but with a warning

Leaders at Australia’s largest accounting firms are open to allowing staff to continue to work from home now that the lockdowns have ended, but warn that serving clients is still best done in person.

  • Edmund Tadros
ESV CEO Ashima Seth

‘Fees are exorbitant’: Accounting bosses reveal staffing struggle

As a skills shortage continues to rip through the accounting industry, the leaders of nine firms explain how they’re trying to recruit and retain staff.

  • Edmund Tadros
Mal Di Giulio, chairman of Nexia accounting network.

Staffing crisis hits Australia’s top accounting firms

The nation’s Top 100 accounting firms are responding to the tight labour market conditions by raising pay and increasing bonuses – but it still isn’t enough.

  • Edmund Tadros