AI is emerging as the primary driver of time savings across accounting practices, while also serving as a key tool to enhance productivity, particularly for high-growth firms.
Drawing on insights from 460 Australian accounting practices, Intuit Quickbook’s Growth and Marketing Maturity Benchmarking Report 2025 explores how the profession appraises AI and other technologies for time savings, and how growth outlook influences the way these gains are allocated.
The report classifies firms based on their growth outlook: high-growth firms are those poised for aggressive expansion of their client base, moderate-growth firms are those that target moderate expansion, and conservative firms are those developing better relationships with existing clients, rather than taking on new ones.
Key stats you need to know
- 42% of accounting practices perceive AI as the leading time-saving tech, higher than practice management software (40%).
- High-growth firms leverage AI to boost efficiency, with 87% using it to increase productivity and 82% to reduce administrative workload.
- High-growth firms use time savings for client acquisition, growth firms for advisory services to existing clients, and conservative firms for personal time and work–life balance.
AI emerges as leading driver of time savings across accounting practices
- Over four in ten accounting practices (42%) identify AI as the most effective technology for reducing time spent on tasks.
- Practice management software comes in second at 40% of practices.
- Reducing administrative workload is the dominant motivation for AI adoption, cited by 72% of firms.
AI is now recognised as the top time-saving tool for accountants (42%), slightly ahead of practice management software (40%), which has long been central to firm efficiency. This perception on AI aligns with 72% of firms reporting that their main motivation for implementing it is to reduce administrative workloads.
High-growth firms take a more strategic approach to technology adoption. Beyond AI (46%), they rank workflow automation as a key time-saving tool (37%) and place greater value on data analytics (17% vs 16% overall), customer relationship management (22% vs. 13%), and email marketing (17% vs. 11%).
While reducing administrative workload remains a core driver (82%), high-growth firms use AI to boost productivity (87%), improve client communication (58%), and analyse large data sets (42%), demonstrating how efficiency gains are translated into scalable growth.
“What sets high-growth firms apart is how they view AI, not just as a way to cut admin time, but as a lever for scale,” says Michael Johnson, Director at Agile Market Intelligence.
How firms redeploy time savings differs sharply by growth outlook
- 59% of high-growth firms channel time savings to attract new clients, while 57% would use it to streamline processes.
- More than half (55%) of growth firms prioritise delivering advisory or consulting services to existing clients.
- 6 in 10 conservative firms (61%) are more likely to use time savings to improve personal time and work-life balance.
In terms of allocating extra time, high-growth firms treat them as a growth asset, using it to acquire new clients (59%) and improve internal processes (57%).
Moderate-growth firms, favour depth over breadth, using additional capacity to enhance advisory services (55%). Conservative firms make a deliberate choice to prioritise balance, reflecting both capacity constraints and a preference to stabilise rather than expand.
“How time is used ultimately mirrors a firm’s growth ambition. High-growth firms reinvest time to scale, moderate-growth firms use it to deepen relationships, while conservative firms prioritise balance.”
About the research
Intuit Quickbook’s Growth and Marketing Maturity Benchmarking Report 2025 is based on quantitative research conducted by Agile Market Intelligence, reflecting the sentiments of 460 accounting practices across Australia, and collected between September and October 2025. The study provides a data-driven roadmap for accounting practices to accelerate growth by examining the behaviours, investments and strategic choices that distinguish high-growth firms.
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.
