People management. For accountants
Stop losing billable hours to manual admin and paper-based onboarding. Employment Hero automates your firm’s compliance and payroll so you can focus on client advisory.
What’s really slowing your accounting firm down?
PAIN POINT #1
Billable hours lost to admin
Partners and senior staff often find themselves bogged down in manual leave approvals, onboarding paperwork and payroll reconciliations. These non-billable tasks directly impact the firm’s bottom line.
✦ EMPLOYMENT HERO
We automate the entire employee lifecycle, from digital contracts to automated payroll, giving your team more time for high-value client work.
PAIN POINT #2
Winning the war for talent
In a highly competitive job market, independent accounting firms often struggle to attract the best candidates. It’s hard to stand out when you’re competing against massive corporate firms that have huge budgets for flashy perks.
✦ EMPLOYMENT HERO
Provide your team with an enterprise-grade benefits platform, including cashback at major retailers and health insurance discounts, at an affordable price point.
PAIN POINT #3
Legislative and Award complexity
Staying across the Clerks Private Sector Award for your admin staff, NES obligations for your award-free professionals and upcoming changes like Payday Super is a constant moving target. One missed update can mean back-pay and penalties.
✦ EMPLOYMENT HERO
Our platform monitors Fair Work updates and automates award interpretation, supporting your firm with compliance, without manual checking.
Still doing this manually?
Get new accountants client-ready before day one
From grads to senior hires, onboarding in accounting firms often involves tight turnaround times, especially ahead of EOFY or audit season. Digitally send compliant contracts, collect tax and super details and assign policies in minutes, so new hires can start billing faster.
Automated pay and classification management
Accounting firms operate across two distinct groups, award-free professional staff and clerical employees under the Clerks Private Sector Award 2020. Knowing who falls where, and staying on top of NES entitlements is easy to get wrong. Employment Hero keeps classifications correct automatically, so the right rules apply to the right people without manual checks.
Performance Reviews and OKRs
Align individual output with firm-wide targets. Connect performance to utilisation rates, client outcomes and revenue goals. Set clear OKRs across teams so partners and managers can see who’s driving value and where to optimise.
Recruitment AI
Hire faster during peak periods without compromising quality. When tax season hits or client demand spikes, you don’t have time for slow hiring cycles. Instantly match with pre-qualified candidates based on skills, experience and salary expectations.
How one accounting firm kept their people operations tight through rapid growth
Blue Rock
Professional Services | 200+ employees | Melbourne, VIC
THE CHALLENGE
Before Employment Hero, Blue Rock was managing HR with a combination of manual processes and disconnected systems, which created inefficiencies and made scaling difficult. As the company grew rapidly, onboarding new employees and maintaining compliance became increasingly complex. Blue Rock needed a solution that could streamline their HR processes, engage employees and support their ambitious growth plans.
“I use Employment Hero for onboarding, time tracking, leave management, processing wages and superannuation and exporting journals into the client’s accounting software … It means I can actually spend time with clients, looking at the numbers, giving them insights, helping them make better decisions. That’s the kind of work that adds value.”
— Che Kelly, Senior Bookkeeper and Payroll Supervisor, Blue Rock
OUTCOMES
Streamlined HR Processes
Engaged Workforce
Improved Compliance
Staying compliant in accounting
Accounting firms operate under some of Australia’s most scrutinised employment conditions. From award interpretation to super reform, Employment Hero handles the complexity so you can focus on your clients.
Award coverage
Clerks: Private Sector Award 2020
Admin, reception and support staff at accounting firms fall under the Clerks Private Sector Award 2020. Qualified accountants are typically award-free but still covered by the NES. Employment Hero handles both, applying the Clerks Award where required and managing NES entitlements for award-free employees.
Super reform
Payday super from 1 July 2026
Super will need to be paid on every payday, not quarterly. Employment Hero’s payroll engine is already being updated to calculate and remit super contributions on each pay run, no manual reconciliation required.
Fair Work
Casual conversion obligations
Accounting firms with long-term casual staff must offer conversion to permanent employment at the right intervals. Employment Hero tracks casual engagement periods and surfaces conversion obligations automatically, so nothing slips through.
Privacy & records
Employee records & Privacy Act 1988
As handlers of sensitive financial data, accounting firms face heightened scrutiny around how they manage employee records. Employment Hero stores all employment data securely, with audit trails and access controls that align with the Privacy Act and Fair Work record-keeping requirements.
Employment Hero works alongside the tools your firm already runs on
Xero
Payroll figures sync to Xero automatically after every pay run, no double entry, no manual reconciliation at month end.
MYOB
If you’re already on MYOB, Employment Hero connects directly, keeping your accounts and payroll aligned without extra work.
QuickBooks Online
For firms running QuickBooks, payroll data flows across automatically so your books stay current without any manual exports.
Sage Intacct
If your firm has grown into Sage Intacct for more complex financials, Employment Hero integrates to keep payroll and your general ledger in sync.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, it's one of our most-used integrations. Payroll figures sync to Xero automatically after every pay run, eliminating double entry and manual reconciliation. MYOB, QuickBooks Online and Sage Intacct are also supported.
Yes, and it matters more than most firms realise. Award-free staff are still covered by the National Employment Standards, meaning leave entitlements, notice periods and termination pay all need to be calculated correctly. Employment Hero manages NES compliance automatically, and handles Clerks Award obligations for your admin and support staff at the same time.
Most accounting firms are up and running within a few weeks. Your existing employee data migrates across, and our onboarding team handles the setup so your staff aren't pulled away from client work. If timing is a concern around tax season or a system rollout, we can work around your calendar.
Employment Hero doesn't replace Xero, it connects to it. You keep Xero for your accounts; Employment Hero handles HR, onboarding, leave, compliance and payroll, then pushes the figures across automatically. Firms that make the switch typically reduce the admin that was sitting between those two functions.
Employment Hero is SOC 2 certified and stores all data on Australian servers. You control access permissions at a granular level, so partners, practice managers and payroll staff each see only what they need to. Full audit trails are available for every change made to employee records.
Run your firm. We'll handle the employment side
Employment Hero keeps your firm more compliant, accurate and audit-ready, without it taking up your time.