Salary benchmarks and recruitment trends for Australia's Public Practice accounting market
The Australian accounting talent market remains highly competitive in 2026.
Drawing on thousands of candidate and client conversations, market surveys, and more than 171 years of combined recruitment experience, this year's salary guide provides hiring trends and salary benchmarks across all levels of public practice accounting, from Junior-level through to Partner.
One of the strongest themes we've seen this year is that remuneration decisions are becoming increasingly firm-specific.
While market benchmarks remain important, the firms winning the competition for talent are those combining competitive salaries with clear career pathways, flexibility, meaningful development opportunities and strong workplace culture.
Our key takeaways for Accounting firms this year are:
- The talent shortage isn't going away
- Firms are competing on more than salary
- Advisory capability is becoming the key differentiator
- AI and offshore resourcing are beginning to reshape teams
If you have any question or would like a remuneration benchmarking review, our Professional Services recruitment team would be happy to help. Contact us online or call us on 03 9946 7300.