Charge-Out Rates 2026
— How Australian Accounting Firms Are Fixing Undercharging (And Protecting Partner Returns) —
If you’ve reviewed your July 2025 payroll or spoken with your manager group recently, you’ll already know what’s coming: labour costs have increased again. And if your charge-out rates haven’t kept pace, the gap is now sitting squarely on partner shoulders.
Every year, we hear the same question from firms across the country: “Are we still charging enough for next year?”
For many practices, the honest answer is: probably not. With the new Rob Knights Charge Rates & Salaries Benchmarking Report , partners have the comparisons they need before resetting rates for 2026.
Why Charge-Out Rates Are a 2026 Survival Issue
(Not Just a Pricing One)
The simple reality is this: your cost base has changed, and your pricing model must change with it.
Salaries across most levels have climbed again, particularly in metro markets and specialist roles. Even firms that traditionally reviewed salaries once a year have now been forced into mid-year corrections.
Meanwhile, compliance work is not getting easier. Advisory demand continues to grow. And regulatory pressures are now filtering right down to smaller firms.
When rates fail to keep pace, the outcome is predictable:
- Margins tighten
- Write-offs escalate
- Partner drawings stall
- Succession value erodes
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December 2026 Charge Rates & Salaries Report
Price range: $396 through $1,295 incl. GST This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
The Five Pressures Forcing Rates Higher in 2026
Partners aren’t increasing charge-out rates out of optimism — they’re increasing them out of necessity. Five forces are converging:1. Salary movement continues
Across almost all states, salary pressures remain higher than pre-2020 levels. Firms are competing aggressively for experienced staff, and talent shortages in certain regions remain acute.2. The war for talent hasn’t eased
Undercharging firms simply cannot match what the market is now offering — and they lose people as a result. One resignation at senior or manager level is all it takes to impact client service, workflow, and partner workload for months.3. Client work is more complex
Tax and regulatory changes, entity restructures, trust reviews, and advisory-heavy engagements are demanding more senior input. Even “standard” compliance increasingly requires judgment.4. Compliance obligations have multiplied
Payroll, employment, and reporting changes continue to add time and risk. Practices that haven’t priced for complexity are absorbing the cost themselves.5. Succession and valuation models require stronger profitability
Whether buying, selling, or preparing for transition, sustainable EBITDA is the metric that matters. Chronic undercharging directly reduces firm value and delays succession timelines.
Where Firms Typically Go Wrong With Pricing
Partners don’t set out to undercharge — but these patterns keep appearing:Legacy rates
“We’ve always charged this.” Past pricing rarely reflects current cost or capability.Fear of client pushback
Your best clients expect you to invest in capability. They leave over value, not price.Using the wrong comparisons
National averages tell you nothing. You need state, region, practice size, and service mix alignment.Looking at billed rates, not realised rates
If write-offs are increasing, your true rate is lower than you think.Blended rates across all work
Compliance and advisory are now fundamentally different products. They should not carry the same rate structure.How to Reset Charge-Out Rates Properly for 2026
The practical framework we use with firms in December–January.
1. Start with your current cost base
Add on-costs, overheads, and the partner return required to sustain the practice.
This gives you your minimum viable rate — the point at which you stop going backwards.
2. Benchmark against comparable firms
This is exactly where the December 2025 Benchmarking Report is essential.
It gives partners the context they actually need:
- metro vs regional differences
- practice-size variations
- service-mix patterns
- role-by-role ranges
- realised vs theoretical rates
- year-on-year movement
The aim is not to copy competitors — it’s to price sustainably for your firm.
3. Attack write-offs at the source
If a job is profitable at your internal target rate but loses money at your current billing rate, something must change:
- increase price
- clarify scope
- improve process
- or exit the client
Write-offs are not a cost of doing business — they’re a signal that your pricing model is out of alignment.
4. Separate advisory from compliance
Advisory requires judgment, experience, and higher responsibility.
It cannot be priced like compliance.
More firms are now:
- introducing dedicated advisory rate bands
- using upfront value agreements
- separating planning from standard compliance bundles
- ensuring managers and senior managers are not under-recovered
5. Model the impact of proposed increases
Partners often worry about client reaction — but data usually removes the fear.
A modest uplift, applied consistently, often produces a meaningful improvement in partner return without destabilising the client base.
Your ideal clients are not price-sensitive.
They’re value-sensitive.
6. Address misaligned clients
Legacy clients who resist reasonable movement drain partner time, reduce capacity for ideal clients, and suppress firm profitability.
2026 is the year firms are becoming more deliberate about:
- re-scoping
- re-pricing
- or releasing misaligned engagements
7. Communicate increases clearly and confidently
A simple message works best:
“To continue delivering the capability, responsiveness and senior-level oversight our clients expect, our standard rates will move from 1 February 2026. This ensures we maintain the quality and expertise you rely on.”
No apologies.
No jargon.
Just clarity and confidence.
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December 2026 Charge Rates & Salaries Report
Price range: $396 through $1,295 incl. GST This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
A Note on Fixed Fees and Value Pricing
More progressive firms are quoting most work upfront — and it’s an excellent model when managed well.
But even with fixed fees, accurate charge-out rates remain essential.
They are your internal financial guardrail.
Without them, firms cannot:
- price fixed agreements sustainably
- measure job profitability
- forecast resourcing accurately
- or assess whether clients are genuinely profitable
Fixed pricing succeeds because the underlying rate structure is correct — not instead of it.
The True Cost of Doing Nothing in 2026
Undercharging isn’t neutral — it compounds.
Firms that fail to review rates adequately often see:
- partner returns flattening or declining
- shrinking margins
- greater staff turnover
- reduced valuation multiples
- limited capacity to invest in advisory, technology or training
- partners taking on more day-to-day work to fill gaps
A practice can be busy and still be unprofitable.
That is the risk heading into 2026.
Register for the December 2025 Benchmarks!
The Rob Knights & Co Charge Rates & Salaries Benchmarking Report gives partners:
- detailed charge-out ranges by state and region
- realised rates, not just theoretical ones
- salary context and year-on-year trends
- variations by practice size and service mix
- the actual numbers similar firms are achieving right now
This is the data accounting firms rely on to set sustainable, defensible 2026 rates.
Don’t set 2026 rates using 2024 assumptions.
The data is ready. The decision is yours.
FAQ
You may be undercharging if your realised rates, job margins, or write-offs have tightened despite rising workloads and salary movement. When profitability drops even though the team is busy, it’s a clear sign your pricing hasn’t kept pace with your cost base. Comparing your current rates with state-based benchmarks and real-world realised rates provides the most accurate answer. The Rob Knights Salaries & Charge Rates Report can provide this information.
Preferably twice a year.
Salary movement, hybrid role structures, and shifting market expectations no longer align neatly with EOFY. Firms that review pricing only annually fall behind on margin, staff expectations, and competitive positioning. Most high-performing practices now recalibrate mid-year plus pre-December to set sustainable rates for the year ahead.
Yes — and increasingly, it must be.
Advisory work relies on senior expertise, higher responsibility, greater judgment, and a deeper understanding of client strategy. It creates materially higher value than standard compliance. To remain profitable, firms should use separate rate bands, value-aligned pricing, and clear scoping so advisory is not subsidised by compliance margins.
Most pushback comes from clients who are already underpriced or misaligned. Your ideal clients expect you to invest in capability, responsiveness, and senior oversight — and they understand rates must reflect increasing complexity and costs.
Clear communication, transparent scoping, and aligning work to the right level usually prevent issues. Firms that increase rates appropriately typically see very low churn, especially when increases reflect improved service quality rather than arbitrary uplift.
From the Rob Knights & Co Charge Rates & Salaries Benchmarking Report – December 2025 edition.
It provides state and regional ranges, realised charge-out rates, role-by-role analysis, salary trends, practice-size comparisons, and service-mix variations. This is the data firms rely on each December–January to set confident, sustainable pricing for the year ahead.
What practices are selling for, and what is moving the numbers
Michelle’s monthly note on practice valuations, buyer activity and the conditions we are seeing across accounting, financial planning and legal firms.
