The Growth and Marketing Maturity Benchmarking Report 2025 examines how Australian accounting practices leverage technology in their operations. Based on responses from 460 firms, the study highlights differences in technology adoption, AI usage, and strategy across varying growth outlooks.
The findings reveal a growing technology divide within the profession. AI adoption is now widespread across accounting firms, but how deeply it is embedded into day-to-day operations differs significantly by growth outlook.
Key stats you need to know
- High-growth firms are 1.4x more likely than growth firms and 3.2x more likely than conservative firms to be active users of AI tools.
- Majority of high-growth firms (61%) cite their tech stack as a competitive advantage.
- High-growth firms lead in AI adoption, with 88% already implementing, deploying, or actively exploring AI integration.
High-growth firms lead in technology implementation across the majority of categories
- Majority of firms utilise core accounting tech stack such as practice management (81%), document management (55%), and time tracking/billing (51%) software.
- High-growth firms are more likely to use automation and data-driven decision-making tools compared to moderate-growth and conservative firms.
- 41% of high-growth firms report using AI tools for data extraction and summarisation in their workflows.
Core accounting tech stack present in majority of practices (51-81%). For high-growth firms, this is complemented by higher adoption rates of technologies that focus on driving efficiency and insights. High-growth firms have higher adoption rates for workflow automation (43% vs 28% overall), AI tools (41% vs 25%), customer relationship management tools (37% vs 25%), and data analytics and reporting tools (41% vs 22%).
“What we’re seeing is a clear shift from foundational systems to strategic capability,” said Michael Johnson, Director at Agile Market Intelligence.
“High-growth firms aren’t just adopting technology to keep up, they’re using automation, analytics, and AI to fundamentally change how they work, serve clients, and scale their businesses.”
High-growth firms leverage their tech stack as key differentiator
Accounting firms’ perceptions of their technology stack as a driver of client acquisition vary significantly by growth outlook. High-growth firms are far more likely to view their technology as a competitive advantage. 6 in 10 (61%) high-growth firms say their technology gives them a distinct edge in client retention and acquisition; while only 37% of growth and 12% of conservative firms report the same.
In contrast, half (50%) of moderate-growth firms report neutral views of their tech stack, suggesting that while their systems are operationally sufficient, they are not yet being leveraged as a differentiator in the market.
“High-growth firms are using their tech stack to deepen client relationships and scale intelligently, while others are still treating technology as a support function rather than a strategic lever,” said Michael Johnson.
AI adoption is widespread across accounting practices, but usage intensity varies sharply by growth outlook
- More than 8 in 10 (84%) accountants use AI in their work.
- High-growth firms lead in usage rate, with more than 1 in 4 (28%) reporting using AI more than 1 hour a day, compared with 15% of growth and 7% of conservative firms.
- Almost 9 in 10 high-growth firms (88%) are actively exploring, developing, or already implementing AI solutions.
AI has become mainstream among accounting firms with 84% saying they are using it, however, the depth of usage and pace of adoption vary sharply by growth outlook. More than 1 in 4 high-growth firms (28%) now use AI for an hour or more each day, nearly double the rate of moderate-growth firms and four times that of conservative firms.
High-growth firms are also moving decisively from experimentation to execution, with almost nine in ten (88%) actively exploring, developing, or already implementing AI in daily workflows. In contrast, 40% of moderate-growth and 69% of conservative firms remain in a wait-and-see phase, either only considering AI for the future or not planning to increase adoption at all.
“The real difference isn’t whether firms are using AI, it’s how far they’ve gone with it. High-growth firms are embedding AI into daily work, while many others are still testing the waters.”
About the research
The Growth and Marketing Maturity Benchmarking Report 2025 is based on quantitative research conducted by Agile Market Intelligence in partnership with Intuit Quickbooks, reflecting the sentiments of 460 accounting practices across Australia, and collected between September and October 2025.
You can download the report here.
Intuit Quickbooks is hosting The High-Growth Practice Benchmark, a data-driven discussion on Growth & Marketing Maturity Report. The session uncovers how top performers use the right strategies, systems and technology to achieve success. Register for the webinar here.
