How Much Does KYC/AML Compliance Cost? Pricing Guide for Australian Accountants

# How Much Does KYC/AML Compliance Cost? Pricing Guide for Australian Accountants Australia's expanded AML/CTF regime has been in force since 1 July 2026. It applies to accounting practices when they provide covered professional designated services with an Australian geographic link. If your practice is in scope, use this guide to model the workflow cost from your own customer mix and procedures. **Source review: 25 August 2026.** Scope and timing reviewed against current AUSTRAC reporting-regime, professional designated-services and existing-customer transition guidance. General information only, not legal or financial advice. ## The True Cost of Manual Compliance Many practices will consider handling CDD manually, especially smaller firms with tight budgets. Here is what manual compliance actually costs when you account for time: ### Per-Client CDD Time We do not publish invented time-and-motion figures, so here is the list to cost rather than a table of numbers we cannot produce. For each client type, manual CDD means: | Task | Individual | Company | Trust | |------|-----------|---------|-------| | Collect identity documents | Yes | Yes -- plus company extracts | Yes -- plus the trust deed and variations | | Verify documents manually | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Identify beneficial owners | N/A | Trace the ownership chain to individuals | Settlor, trustees, appointor, beneficiary classes | | PEP/sanctions screening | Yes | Yes -- each beneficial owner | Yes -- each person identified | | Risk assessment | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Documentation and filing | Yes | Yes | Yes | The pattern is the point: a trust is several individual verifications stacked on top of a structure you first have to unpick, and a company sits in between. Time one of each in your own practice and you have your real per-client cost. ### Annual Cost by Practice Size Take the time you measured above, apply your own in-scope customer mix and charge-out rate, and multiply it across new work plus the existing-customer reviews and ongoing controls your current program actually requires. Whatever that comes to is **opportunity cost** -- time that could be spent on billable advisory work or serving additional clients. It is worth doing the arithmetic properly before you decide manual is the cheap option, because it is the number that is invisible until you write it down. ### Hidden Costs of Manual Compliance Beyond the direct time cost, manual compliance introduces: - **Error risk** -- a person eyeballing a scanned licence is not checking it against the issuing authority's record, which is what electronic verification does - **Inconsistency** -- without a standardised system, different staff members apply different standards - **Audit exposure** -- AUSTRAC auditors expect documented, systematic processes; ad-hoc manual checks are difficult to defend - **Staff training** -- identify which roles need training under your current program and budget for initial and ongoing delivery - **Storage and retrieval** -- physical or unstructured digital records are hard to search during audits ## Software Options and Pricing Several KYC/AML platforms serve the Australian market. Here is how they compare: ### Provider Comparison | Provider | Monthly Fee | Per-Verification Cost | Target Market | Key Features | |----------|-----------|----------------------|---------------|-------------| | **Fedix** | None | First 10 free, then $2.90+gst per verification (down to $1.50 at volume) | Accounting practices | Australian-built, practice-integrated, political-exposure and sanctions indicators, risk scoring | | **First AML** | Check current pricing with the vendor | Check current pricing with the vendor | Professional services | Workflow management, international coverage | | **FrankieOne** | Custom pricing | Custom | Fintechs, larger firms | API-first, broad data sources | | **GreenID (Mastercard)** | Custom pricing | Custom | Enterprise | Electronic verification, biometric | | **VIX Verify** | Custom pricing | Custom | Enterprise | Government data access, DVS integration | | **Manual + spreadsheets** | $0 | $0 (but high time cost) | Very small practices | No automation, highest time cost | Only the Fedix row is our own published pricing. For every other provider, check the vendor's own current published pricing page before you budget -- we do not restate third-party prices here, because they change without notice. ### What to Look for in a Provider When evaluating KYC/AML software, consider: 1. **Australian data sources** -- does it verify against DVS, ASIC, ABR, and the DFAT sanctions list? 2. **Practice integration** -- does it connect to your existing practice management or accounting software? 3. **Entity coverage** -- can it handle individuals, companies, trusts, and SMSFs (not just individuals)? 4. **Audit trail** -- does it generate the docume

ntation AUSTRAC expects? 5. **Ongoing monitoring** -- does it re-screen clients automatically, or only at the point of verification? 6. **Pricing transparency** -- are there hidden fees for searches, re-checks, or monitoring? ## Hidden Costs to Budget For Beyond the software subscription, plan for: ### Staff Training - Initial AML/CTF training for every staff member who touches designated services -- cost it at your own internal charge-out rate - An annual refresher for the same people, plus role-specific training for the compliance officer - External training courses (ACAMS, AUSTRAC workshops) -- check current course fees with the provider, they change year to year ### Ongoing Monitoring and Re-screening - Re-screening frequency depends on your risk-based program, applicable rules and trigger events - Budget for the share of your own client base that sits at medium and high risk -- those are the ones that come round most often - Sanctions list changes require immediate re-screening (automated tools handle this) ### Compliance Consultant or Legal Review - Obtain a current scope and fee from a suitably qualified adviser - Confirm whether your program requires an independent evaluation and how often - Budget for updates when your services, risk profile or the regulatory guidance changes ### Technology Setup - Integration with existing systems: $0-$2,000 (depends on provider) - Data migration if switching providers: $500-$1,500 - Ongoing IT support: minimal with cloud-based solutions ## Fedix: Pay-Per-Verification, No Monthly Fees Fedix takes a different approach to pricing -- you pay **only when you verify**: - **Your first 10 verifications are free**, then **$2.90+gst per identity verification** (individual, company, or trust), with volume tiers dropping to $2.50 (100+), $2.00 (500+), and $1.50 (1,000+) - **No monthly subscription** -- zero cost in quiet months - **No minimum commitment** -- verify 1 client or 1,000 - **Political-exposure and sanctions indicators included** in every verification - **Ongoing monitoring included** -- re-screening against updated watchlists at no additional charge - **Full audit trail** -- every check documented and stored for 7 years ### Why Per-Verification Pricing Works for Accountants Accounting practices have seasonal client intake. You onboard most new clients between July and October (new financial year), with quieter periods in between. Monthly subscription models charge you the same in January (when you might verify 2 clients) as in August (when you might verify 20). Per-verification pricing means your compliance costs directly mirror your workload. ## Working Out Your Own Numbers We do not publish invented savings percentages or case-study figures. Work out your own, from your own timesheets and your own client list: 1. **Count the work.** How many new and existing customers fall within your current procedures, and what is the mix of individuals, companies and trusts? 2. **Time one of each.** Run a single individual, a single company and a single trust through your current manual process and time it honestly, including the chasing and the filing. 3. **Price it.** Multiply that time by your own charge-out rate. That is the manual side of the comparison, in your numbers rather than ours. 4. **Compare.** The automated side is the published per-verification price -- your first 10 verifications free, then $2.90+gst per verification with volume tiers down to $1.50 -- plus whatever admin time your own test run actually took. What per-verification pricing changes is the shape of the cost: no subscription in quiet months, and a cost that moves with your onboarding volume rather than against it. Whether that is cheaper than your current process depends on your client mix, your charge-out rate and how much of the work you already have systematised. ## Making Your Decision ### Choose manual compliance if: - You have fewer than 10 clients - All clients are individuals with simple structures - You have non-billable staff capacity available - You are comfortable with the audit risk ### Choose automated compliance (Fedix) if: - You have more than 10 clients - You serve companies, trusts, or SMSFs - Your time is better spent on billable work - You want a complete, exportable compliance record from day one ## Review Your Current Workflow The regime is already in force. [Talk to us about your workflow](/contact) -- electronic verification runs in a single workflow, your first 10 verifications are free and $2.90+gst per verification after that. Fedix keeps the records created in the workflow; your practice remains responsible for scope, decisions and a complete compliance file. For a detailed walkthrough of what CDD involves for each entity type, see our [complete CDD guide for accounting firms](/resources/blog/kyc-customer-due-diligence-guide-accounting-firms).