AI and Accounting Fees: What Happens to the Time You Save?

Efficiency · Pricing If AI Makes You Faster, Who Gets the Benefit? A practitioner rang me recently to ask whether our benchmarks are starting to reflect AI efficiencies in charge rates. At this stage they are not. The more useful question sits underneath it: if the work takes less time, who should receive the benefit? […]

AI in Accounting Firms: Why the Client Relationship Still Wins

Growth · Artificial Intelligence AI in Accounting Firms: Why the Client Relationship Still Wins Used as a shortcut, it quietly erodes the one thing clients pay you for. Used well, it is the best chance in a generation to be the firm they will not leave. Michelle Knights · Rob Knights & Co Every few […]

What Accountants Should Be Doing for Clients Before 30 June 2026

What Accountants Should Be Doing for Clients Before 30 June | Rob Knights & Co Practice Advisory  ·  Year-End Planning What Accountants Should Be Doing for Clients Before 30 June Most practices leave significant value on the table every year — not through bad advice, but through conversations that happen too late. Here’s what to […]

Relational Leadership in Accounting Practices

Relational Intelligence: Why Your Client Relationships Are Your Most Valuable Practice Asset Leadership & Relationships Are You Really As Present With Your Clients As You Think You Are? Relational intelligence isn’t a soft skill. For professional practices, it’s the foundation of everything — client retention, succession value, and long-term growth. I was in Darling Harbour […]

Negotiating Fees With Confidence: What Your Charge Rate Is Really Saying About Your Practice

Practice Performance & Fees What Happens When Firms Don’t Review Their Typical Fees For Common Services Are You Charging Half the Market Rate — and Don’t Realise It? There’s a quiet tension in many accounting firms at the moment. Costs are rising. Staff expectations are shifting. The compliance workload hasn’t reduced. And yet, when it […]

What Happens When Firms Don’t Review Their Typical Fees

Are You Undercharging for Compliance Work? What Australian Accounting Firms Are Really Charging in 2026 Many accounting firms don’t set their compliance fees — they inherit them. A fee agreed years ago, perhaps adjusted occasionally for inflation or discomfort, quietly becomes “the rate”. Meanwhile, costs rise, scope creeps in, and what once felt reasonable slowly […]

Is Your Accounting Firm Charging Enough?

Are You Actually Charging What Your Firm Is Worth? Why focusing on charge rates alone can hide a much bigger pricing problem For a long time, pricing conversations in accounting firms have revolved around charge rates. What’s the hourly rate? Is it competitive? Has it increased this year? But that focus is increasingly misleading. Because […]

How Benchmarking Improves Long-Term Firm Value (A Ground-Level Look)

Benchmarking: What Actually Builds Long-Term Firm Value If you’ve worked inside an accounting firm long enough, you start to recognise the early warning signs that something isn’t quite right. It’s the partner meeting where everyone politely ignores the dip in realisation. The WIP report nobody really wants to talk about. Or the quiet dread of […]

How to Retain Accounting Staff in 2026

How to Retain Accounting Staff in 2026 — What Firms Must Pay To Attract and Retain Talent — Retention has become one of the biggest strategic challenges for accounting firms — not because people are unwilling to stay, but because the expectations of the workforce have changed. Salary matters, but it is no longer the […]

Accounting Charge-Out Rates 2026

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 […]