What clients will expect from the practice of the future: a practical read of MYOB's report

MYOB's Accounting Industry Monitor survey has prompted an article, What clients will expect from the accounting practice of the future, on how practices are responding to changing client expectations. The page gives no publication date in its readable text, so this piece does not state one. This is general information about that article, not advice.

What the source says

The MYOB article reports that most surveyed practices already use AI and other technology to work more efficiently. In its words, "With ultra-efficient service delivery now standard, clients are increasingly looking for more from their accounting practices."

Survey respondents reported that clients want proactive alerts instead of reactive, immediate answers, and more personalised face-to-face services. The article adds that some respondents predict 24/7, AI-powered support will soon be a minimum expectation. Those are predictions from respondents, not settled facts.

Who is affected

Any practice that serves small business clients. The article describes a "progressive" group of practices and reports several figures about it:

• 59% of practices in the progressive group act as a full, outsourced financial department rather than a standard service provider.
• 54% of progressive practices already offer automated onboarding, and 90% of all practices surveyed believe it creates a better client experience.
• Progressive practices contact their tier-one clients an average of 2.3 times each week, which the article describes as almost double the level in other cohorts.
• 49% of progressive practices spend half their time on prospective clients.

What practices are doing

The article points to a few concrete moves: automated onboarding, online document sharing and signing through secure platforms, automated reminders sent from practice management platforms (for example, a nudge to share financial information before tax time), and secure client portals that give clients 24/7 access to their own documents.

It also notes that practices now spend more time reaching out to existing clients to update, educate or build the relationship, rather than waiting for the annual cycle.

What to do next

These are questions to discuss in your practice, not instructions:

1. List where your clients currently hear from you only after something has happened. Which of those could be a proactive alert or reminder?
2. Look at your first client interaction. Is onboarding something a new client can complete simply, in one place?
3. Decide how often you want to contact your most important clients, and by what channel, then check whether you actually do.
4. Ask whether routine work could be handled by technology so that time moves to advisory conversations, which is the trade the article describes.

A short example

Picture a practice that used to send one reminder email each year asking clients to gather records. It switches to a short automated reminder a few weeks before tax time, plus a portal where clients drop in documents at any hour. The accountant then uses the time saved for a short check-in call about the client's plans. Nothing here is a measured result; it simply illustrates the pattern the article describes.

The takeaway

The article's own outlook is that "It's about personal, proactive service, facilitated by smart embedded tech." Read the full piece at the source: https://www.myob.com/au/resources/post/accounting-industry-monitor-client-opp-2026

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