Australian accounting firms are still struggling to fill core compliance seats, even though national shortage ratings have eased in some other professions. A CA ANZ survey of 159 members who advertised roles from January to December 2025, submitted in March 2026 for Jobs and Skills Australia’s 2026 Occupation Shortage List process, found vacancy fill rates of 55 per cent for taxation accountants and 49 per cent for general accountants and external auditors. Jobs and Skills Australia treats a fill rate below 67 per cent as a strong signal of shortage. External auditor roles took an average of 113 days to fill, while tax accountant roles averaged 77 days.
Those delays change how practices plan capacity. Waiting for a local hire can leave lodgements, reviews and file preparation sitting with already stretched seniors. That is why many firms now compare several options side by side, including offshore accountants, rather than treating a permanent local appointment as the only workable response.
Why Local Hiring Still Leaves Capacity Gaps
The shortage is uneven, which makes workforce planning harder than a single national headline suggests. The same CA ANZ survey found finance manager vacancies filled at 85 per cent and management accountant roles at 75 per cent. Internal auditor roles filled at only 40 per cent. Demand was not falling away either: 35 per cent of respondents said demand for accountants and related professionals was higher or much higher in 2025 than in 2024, while 41 per cent said it was unchanged.
Jobs and Skills Australia’s Occupation Shortage Report for the March quarter 2026, published in June 2026, put the national vacancy fill rate at 68.2 per cent, down 3.3 percentage points over the year. The 2025 Occupation Shortage List still recorded Taxation Accountant as an occupation in shortage, and CA ANZ has recommended that general accountants, taxation accountants and external auditors be rated as in national shortage on the 2026 list, which is expected around October 2026.
Supply is also constrained at the entry point. In a January 2026 submission, CPA Australia estimated that only around 3,000 to 3,500 accounting graduates were available to enter the Australian workforce in 2025, after allowing for international graduates who leave. CA ANZ has separately pointed to a shortfall of around 6,000 accountants by 2030. Meanwhile, Robert Half’s 2026 Australia Finance and Accounting Salary Guide noted that scarcity of qualified talent remains a common reason employers lift offers during negotiations. For a mid-sized practice, that combination of slow fill times, salary pressure and thin pipelines often shows up as overtime, delayed reviews and partners doing work that should sit lower in the team.
A Practical Comparison of Capacity Options
Most firms already use more than one lever. The useful question is which mix matches the work, the risk and the time available. The options below are the ones practices most often weigh when local hiring remains difficult.
- Permanent local hiring. This remains the first preference where a role is ongoing, client-facing and central to supervision. The trade-off is time and cost. Multi-month campaigns are common for tax and general accountant roles, and on-costs sit well above base salary once superannuation, leave and recruitment fees are included.
- Contract or temporary local support. This can cover a defined peak, such as tax time or a partner absence. Availability is still tight in the same occupations that are hard to fill permanently, and hourly rates can rise quickly when several firms are searching at once.
- Stretching the existing team. Overtime and reallocated files can close a short gap. Used for too long, this tends to push review work onto partners and raise the risk of missed deadlines or burnout, especially where vacancy fill rates are already low.
- Process change and automation. Better workpapers, clearer checklists and practice software can reduce hours on repeatable steps. These changes help, but they rarely remove the need for trained people on BAS, income tax, SMSF and similar compliance files.
- Building a junior pipeline. Hiring and developing graduates can ease pressure over several years. It does not solve a file that is due this quarter, and supervision time still has to come from the current team.
- Offshore accounting and hybrid teams. Some firms add dedicated offshore capacity for compliance production so onshore staff can concentrate on review, client contact and advisory work. This is usually treated as a capacity model, not a substitute for local leadership or quality control.
None of these options is automatically better. A firm with a one-off peak may only need short-term local contract help. A firm that cannot fill two tax seats after several months may look at accounting outsourcing as a way to keep production moving while recruitment continues. The comparison that matters is cost, control, speed and the type of work being moved.
How Offshore Accountants Fit Alongside Onshore Teams
Offshore accountants are most often used for structured compliance work that already sits inside a firm’s documented process. That can include bookkeeping, BAS preparation, income tax returns, SMSF administration and similar production tasks. In that model, the Australian firm keeps review, client relationships and final responsibility. The offshore team works to the firm’s own workflows rather than asking the practice to adopt a separate operating system.
That distinction explains why many practices now treat offshore accounting as one part of a hybrid structure. Onshore staff remain the face of the firm and the owners of quality. Additional production capacity is added where local hiring is slow. Dedicated arrangements, such as those described on the dedicated solution page, are designed to feel closer to an extra team member than to a rotating pool. Shorter, project-based support can also sit beside an ongoing search for a local hire.
Control questions are reasonable and should be asked early. Firms usually want clarity on supervision, communication, data handling and whether the work will follow existing procedures. Direct contact through tools already used in the office, such as Microsoft Teams and email, reduces the sense that work has disappeared into a black box. For a wider view of how Australian practices set this up, the offshore accounting in Australia overview sets out the operating points most partners test before they commit volume.
Outsourced accounting is not a complete answer to the national shortage. It does not replace the need for onshore reviewers, nor does it rebuild the graduate pipeline. Used carefully, it can stop a vacant seat from turning into missed lodgements while the firm keeps recruiting, training or redesigning roles. That is the practical reason offshore accountants appear so often in capacity conversations now: they address the time lag that local hiring has not closed.
A Checklist to Evaluate What Works for Your Practice
Before choosing a model, it helps to write down the problem in operational terms rather than in headlines. The points below are a working checklist many firms can run in a partners’ meeting.
- Name the bottleneck. Is the gap production, review, client contact, or a mix? Moving the wrong work offshore or onto juniors rarely reduces partner hours.
- Measure time to fill, not just salary. If similar roles have taken 70 to 110 days, plan capacity for that window instead of assuming the next advertisement will close it.
- Separate standing demand from seasonal peaks. Ongoing shortfalls suit a dedicated or hybrid model. One-off spikes may suit contract help or a short outsourced block.
- Map which files can follow a written procedure. Compliance work with clear checklists travels more safely than judgement-heavy or relationship-heavy work.
- Confirm supervision capacity. Extra production only helps if an onshore reviewer has time to sign off. If partners are already the review bottleneck, fix that first or the extra output will queue in the same place.
- Compare full cost, not headline rate. Include recruitment fees, on-costs, overtime, write-offs and the cost of work sitting unfinished. Then compare that with fixed-fee outsourced accounting services for a defined scope.
- Test communication and workflow fit. Ask how the arrangement will use your systems, your templates and your review notes. Preparation steps such as those outlined in how firms get ready for outsourcing are often more useful than a generic capability statement.
- Set a review date. Decide in advance when the mix will be reassessed, for example after peak lodgement or after a further local recruitment round.
Firms that work through this list usually land on a blend rather than a single answer. One common pattern is to keep client-facing and review roles onshore, add offshore bookkeeping or tax production where files are standardised, and continue advertising locally for the seats that still need to sit in the office. Another is to use short-term support through a peak, then convert only the proven volume into a longer arrangement.
The national figures will not settle quickly. Even if the 2026 Occupation Shortage List revises individual ratings, the combination of multi-month fill times, a thin graduate intake and rising demand for compliance work means capacity planning remains a partner-level issue. Treating offshore accountants as one option among several, judged against the checklist above, keeps the decision operational rather than ideological.
Capacity Solutions
Many Australian accounting practices are using flexible outsourcing arrangements to manage fluctuating workloads without long-term hiring commitments. BOSS Outsourced Accounting can place experienced accountants and bookkeepers into your firm within a week through options like the Casual Quick Fix Solution. All staff are trained through the BOSS Tax Training Program™ and handle complex compliance work on a fixed-fee basis. This approach lets firms quickly add capacity when needed while keeping their onshore team focused on higher-value client relationships.
Learn more about available support options on our outsourced accounting services page.
Sources
CA ANZ, Submission on 2026 Occupation Shortage List Stakeholder Survey, March 2026.
Accountants Daily coverage of the CA ANZ vacancy fill-rate survey, April 2026.
Jobs and Skills Australia, Occupation Shortage Report, March quarter 2026, published June 2026.
Jobs and Skills Australia, 2025 Occupation Shortage List Key Findings Report.
CPA Australia submission reported January 2026 on graduate supply and workforce demand.
Robert Half Australia, 2026 Finance and Accounting Salary Guide, February 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there still an accountant shortage in Australia in 2026?
Yes for several core roles. CA ANZ’s survey of 2025 vacancies, submitted in March 2026, found fill rates below the 67 per cent shortage threshold for taxation accountants, general accountants, external auditors and internal auditors. The official 2026 Occupation Shortage List is expected around October 2026.
Which accounting roles are taking the longest to fill?
In the same CA ANZ survey, external auditor roles took an average of 113 days to fill. Internal auditor roles averaged 83 days, general accountant roles 79 days and tax accountant roles 77 days. Finance manager vacancies were filled much faster, at 32 days on average.
Why do firms look beyond local hiring when they still want an onshore team?
Local hiring remains the usual path for client-facing and review roles, but multi-month vacancies leave production work unfinished. Many firms therefore add another capacity option for standardised compliance files while they continue recruiting locally.
What work is typically suitable for offshore accounting teams?
Practices most often move structured compliance production, such as bookkeeping, BAS preparation, income tax returns and SMSF administration, where procedures are already documented. Review, client relationships and final responsibility usually stay with the Australian firm.
How should a practice compare capacity options?
Compare speed to add capacity, full cost including on-costs and unfinished work, the type of files being moved, and whether onshore reviewers have time to supervise. A short checklist covering bottleneck, seasonality, workflow fit and a review date keeps the decision practical.
Does outsourcing replace the need to hire graduates or seniors?
No. Outsourcing can cover production gaps while a vacancy remains open, but it does not rebuild the local pipeline or remove the need for onshore review and supervision. Most firms treat it as part of a hybrid plan rather than a complete substitute for hiring.
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