Accountant salary Australia: what an accountant really costs to hire (2026)

On accountant salary Australia data from Jobs and Skills Australia, the median is $2,003 a week, or about $104,156 a year. That is the wage, not the cost. Once you add 12% super, workers compensation insurance and, if your business is over the threshold, payroll tax, a full-time accountant on that salary costs roughly $118,000 to $124,000 a year, before equipment, software, recruitment and leave cover.

This guide adds up those on-costs line by line, with sources, and then compares the cost of hiring an accountant based in the Philippines.

What is the average accountant salary in Australia?

Jobs and Skills Australia’s occupation profile for accountants (ANZSCO 2211) reports:

• Median weekly earnings: $2,003, which is about $104,156 a year
• Employed: 215,500 people
• Part-time share: 16%

The earnings figure comes from the ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025. It is the median for full-time non-managerial employees paid at the adult rate, before tax. JSA says it is a guide only and should not be used to set a wage, because it does not account for experience. A graduate will earn less, and a senior or specialist tax accountant in a capital city will often earn more.

The same JSA profile adds some useful context:

• Median hourly earnings: $53, against $47 for all occupations
• Median full-time weekly earnings for all occupations: $1,852, so the accountant median sits about 8% higher
• Full-time share: 84%, working an average of 43 hours a week
• Median age: 42, and 54% of accountants are women

Many salary sites quote an average salary rather than a median, and they often use different data, such as advertised salaries or self-reported pay, so figures from different sources rarely match exactly. The JSA median is the most consistent national benchmark.

Where accountants work

JSA does not publish accountant earnings by state, but it does show where the jobs are. New South Wales has 35.3% of employed accountants, Victoria 28.5%, Queensland 16.2%, Western Australia 11.5%, South Australia 4.6%, the ACT 2.0%, Tasmania 1.2% and the Northern Territory 0.7%. The main industries are professional, scientific and technical services (which includes accounting firms in private practice), financial and insurance services, and public administration.

Because the national median does not adjust for location, check current advertised salaries for the role in your own city, whether that is Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or a regional area, before you set a pay range.

Accountant salary by role, state and industry

Advertised salaries give a second view. SEEK’s salary pages, checked in October 2026, are built from full-time salary ranges that employers disclose in SEEK job ads. They are lower than the JSA median, partly because jobs advertised with the plain title “Accountant” lean towards junior and mid-level roles, while JSA covers everyone employed in the occupation. SEEK also notes that some advertised salaries include superannuation and others don’t, so compare like with like. The employer’s 12% super guarantee is normally paid on top of the base salary. In the ABS framework that the JSA figure comes from, earnings exclude employer super contributions, which is why the on-cost table below adds 12% to the JSA median.

Average advertised salary by role

Role	SEEK average advertised salary range
Bookkeeper	$80,000 to $90,000
Assistant accountant	$80,000 to $90,000
Accountant	$80,000 to $95,000
Taxation accountant	$80,000 to $100,000
Internal auditor	$80,000 to $100,000
Management accountant	$105,000 to $125,000
Forensic accountant	$105,000 to $125,000
Audit manager	$130,000 to $145,000
Finance manager	$130,000 to $150,000
Financial controller	$155,000 to $175,000
Chief financial officer	$215,000 to $235,000

The pattern is clear: pay rises with seniority, with specialist expertise such as forensic accounting, and with management responsibility. A business that needs a financial controller or CFO is budgeting for a very different salary from one hiring an accountant to prepare tax returns. Management roles such as finance manager and financial controller advertise between $130,000 and $175,000. At the top end, SEEK’s highest-paying locations for CFO ads sit between $260,000 and $300,000, including a Sydney average of $275,000.

Accountant salary by state and city

SEEK’s median advertised salary for the “Accountant” title sits in a narrow band across the country:

Location	Median advertised accountant salary
Australian Capital Territory	$90,000
Brisbane	$90,000
Queensland	$88,500
New South Wales	$87,500
Sydney	$85,000
Melbourne and Victoria	$85,000
Perth and Western Australia	$85,000
Tasmania	$85,000
Northern Territory	$85,000
Adelaide and South Australia	$84,480

For the plain accountant title, location makes less difference than most people expect, and capital cities do not always pay more. SEEK’s highest-paying locations for accountant ads are regional, led by Bundaberg and Wide Bay Burnett at $112,500. Seniority, specialisation and industry move the number much more.

Accountant salary by industry

SEEK lists the industries with the highest average advertised salaries for accountants as mining, resources and energy ($119,862), government and defence ($100,203), education and training ($95,741), banking and financial services ($94,741), accounting ($83,812) and real estate and property ($77,006). The accounting category has by far the most accountant job ads, but not the highest pay.

What does an accountant do, and what qualifications do they need?

JSA describes accountants as providing services in financial reporting, taxation, auditing, insolvency, accounting information systems, budgeting, cost management and planning, and giving advice on the related compliance requirements. Listed tasks include preparing financial statements, preparing tax returns for individuals and organisations, examining operating costs, income and expenses, conducting financial investigations including into suspected fraud (the work of forensic accounting), and introducing and maintaining accounting systems and accounting software.

ANZSCO splits the occupation into three groups: accountants (general), management accountants and taxation accountants. A tax accountant focuses on tax preparation, tax returns and tax advice, while a management accountant focuses on costs, budgets and internal reporting.

On qualifications, JSA notes that registration with one of Australia’s three peak accounting bodies is required. In Australia, CPA stands for Certified Practising Accountant, the designation awarded by CPA Australia, rather than the certified public accountant title used in the United States. CPA Australia was founded in Victoria in 1886 and now has more than 176,000 members. Not every accountant is a CPA: others hold Chartered Accountant or Institute of Public Accountants membership, or are still completing their education and professional program. Qualifications, experience and specialisation are the main factors behind the range of salaries you will see.

What skills and expertise should you look for in an accountant?

Before you set a salary, be clear about the scope of the role. The skills worth testing for most accountant jobs are:

• Technical accounting and tax: financial reporting, tax returns, BAS and the compliance deadlines that go with them
• Accounting software: day-to-day fluency in the ledger and payroll systems your company already uses
• Clear communication: the ability to explain numbers to clients or managers, by email, on the phone and in meetings
• Accurate records: reconciliations and workpapers that a reviewer can follow
• The right certification for the job: CPA or CA membership matters most where the person will offer advice, sign off or move into audit or management roles

Industry exposure counts too. An accountant who already knows construction, property or professional services will add value sooner than one learning your sector from scratch.

Should a small business hire an accountant or use accounting services?

It depends on how much work there is and how complex it is. A full-time salary makes sense when there is a steady load of bookkeeping, reporting and tax work every week. If the work is mostly an annual tax return, quarterly BAS and occasional advice, outside accounting services on fixed or hourly pricing is often cheaper than a salary plus on-costs.

A practical way to decide:

1. List the recurring tasks and roughly how many hours each takes a month.
2. Separate preparation work, such as records, reconciliations and draft returns, from advice and sign-off, such as tax planning, financial planning questions and lodgement.
3. Price the preparation hours at a salary, and get a quote for the advice work from an accounting firm.
4. Discuss the split with your current accountant, who will know where the complexity sits.

Many businesses end up with a mix: a registered tax agent for advice and lodgement, and an in-house or offshore hire for the preparation. That split is how many firms save money, and it lets your senior people focus on the work that grows profit.

How much do accountants charge for a tax return?

If you only need occasional work, you will pay fees, not a salary. Fees rise with complexity, and published guides give a sense of the range. One Melbourne firm’s published fee guide (March 2026) quotes:

Work	Published fee range (Melbourne)
Basic individual tax return, one employer	$150 to $300
Sole trader or ABN holder return	$500 to $1,200
Small company tax return	$1,000 to $3,000

Another Melbourne practice’s guide puts typical small business accountant hourly rates at $75 to $200. These are single firms’ published figures, not a market survey, so get quotes for your own scope of work. For context, the JSA median accountant earns about $53 an hour before on-costs.

What on-costs do you pay on top of an accountant’s salary?

Here is the cost of one full-time accountant at the JSA median. The figures are our calculations from the sources cited.

Cost item	Basis	Yearly cost
Salary	JSA median, $2,003 a week	$104,156
Superannuation	12% super guarantee (ATO)	$12,499
Workers compensation	1.59% national standardised average premium rate (Safe Work Australia)	About $1,656
Payroll tax, if over the threshold	5.45% on wages above $1.2 million (NSW)	$0 to about $5,677
Total before equipment, software and recruitment		About $118,300 to $124,000

Superannuation: 12%

The ATO says the super guarantee rate is 12%. From 1 July 2026, Payday Super changed how you pay it. You now pay super for each payday instead of quarterly, it is calculated on “qualifying earnings”, and it must be received by the employee’s fund within 7 business days after you pay them. The rate itself stayed at 12%.

Payroll tax: depends on your state and total wages

Payroll tax is a state tax. In NSW, Revenue NSW sets the tax-free threshold at $1.2 million in annual Australian wages and the rate at 5.45% on wages above it, for 2026-27. If your business is under the threshold, as many a small business will be, you pay nothing. If you are already over it, a new hire’s wages are taxed at the full rate. The table applies 5.45% to the salary alone, for illustration. Thresholds and rates differ by state, so check with your state revenue office.

Workers compensation: a percentage of wages

Employers generally need workers compensation cover under their state or territory scheme, and premiums are usually set as a percentage of wages. Safe Work Australia’s 2025 comparison of workers’ compensation arrangements reports that the Australian standardised average premium rate was 1.59% of payroll in 2023-24, up from 1.42% the year before. Your actual rate depends on your industry, size and claims history, so treat 1.59% as a ballpark.

Leave: you pay for 52 weeks, you get about 48

Full-time employees get 4 weeks of paid annual leave a year under the National Employment Standards, according to the Fair Work Ombudsman. That is already inside the salary, but it means you get about 48 weeks of work for 52 weeks of pay. If the work cannot wait, someone else has to cover it.

The costs that are harder to put a number on

Recruitment fees, a desk, a laptop, software licences, professional development and the time it takes a new accountant to learn your clients all add to the real figure. They vary too much by business to put into a single number.

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. Confirm your own on-costs with your accountant or payroll provider.

What does an offshore accountant cost instead?

Tarino’s typical salary for a Philippines-based accountant is around $1,800 a month, about $21,600 a year. You hire and pay them directly. Budget for Philippine employer costs such as 13th month pay, plus equipment and software.

Australian super and PAYG generally do not apply to someone who lives and works overseas under a local contract. The ATO’s super guidance says you don’t have to pay super for non-resident employees who work outside Australia. Our guide to super for offshore staff explains where the line sits. Confirm your own structure with a qualified adviser.

	Local accountant (JSA median)	Offshore agency	Your own offshore accountant
Salary	$104,156	Salary paid through the agency	Around $21,600
Ongoing fees or on-costs	About $14,000 to $20,000 (super, workers comp, payroll tax)	One published rate: A$1,099 per person per month plus A$1,200 per hire, about $14,400 in year one	None to Tarino
One-time recruitment	Varies	Included in the per-hire fee above	$5,000 excl. GST
Who is the employer	You	The agency	You, or Tarino EOR if you choose it

The agency figure is Staff Domain’s published rate. It is one published rate, not the only one.

If you want someone else to hold the contract and run payroll, Tarino EOR does that through Deel for $387 per employee per month, separate from the recruitment fee. That is still well below the local on-costs.

What work can an offshore accountant do?

Offshore accountants who have worked with Australian firms usually handle bookkeeping and ledger reconciliations, year-end adjustments, workpapers, draft financial statements, draft individual, company and trust tax returns, and BAS and IAS workpapers. Most of this is tax preparation and records work done in your own accounting software. Our accountant role page lists the full task set and software.

What stays onshore: client advice, review and sign-off, and lodgement by your registered tax agent. A common setup is that the offshore accountant prepares and the senior accountant onshore reviews, which takes routine hours off your most expensive people.

If you are weighing this up for a practice, our guides to offshore staffing for accounting firms and outsourcing accounting in Australia go deeper on the model and the workflow.

How does hiring through Tarino work?

Tarino recruits; you hire. Our fee is $5,000 excl. GST per placement: $250 upfront, credited back when you hire, plus $4,750 on hire. There are no monthly fees and no margin on salary.

We build a pool of 1,000+ candidates per role and screen them through CV checks, a video screen, a practical accounting task and a structured interview. You get a shortlist of 3 to 4 finalists, typically within about two weeks. Each placement includes 6-month replacement cover for the same role. See pricing and how it works.

What is the real decision?

The question is rarely local or offshore for every role. Most firms keep senior, client-facing accountants locally and add offshore capacity for preparation work. On the numbers above, one local accountant at the median costs about the same as five offshore accountants’ salaries, so even one offshore hire can free a senior person for review and advice.

Run your own figures in the cost calculator, or book a 30-minute call and we will benchmark the role with you.