How to compare practice management software for an accounting firm
Practice management software runs the work of the firm: every client job gets an owner, a due date, time logged against it and an invoice at the end. When you compare tools, check four things: roles that limit a person to their own clients, how deadlines get created, which ledgers it connects to, and the published price.
Below: what the software does, then what Xero, Karbon, FYI, MYOB and three UK vendors say on their own pages, checked on 8 November 2026. We don't rank them.
Serkan Honeine, Co-founder, CoSauce
Published · Last updated
What practice management software does
Your ledger (Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks) holds each client's numbers. Practice management software holds your firm's work on those clients. Most tools cover the same ground:
- A job for each piece of client work, such as a BAS, a year-end or a tax return, with an owner on each.
- A due date on every job and task, ideally created from a template so nobody types them in.
- Time logged against the job, so you can see what each one cost.
- Unbilled time and costs (WIP) in one place, turned into an invoice when the job is done.
- A client portal where clients upload documents and answer questions, so requests leave a record.
- Permissions that set which staff can see which clients, jobs and settings.
The tools lean different ways. Xero's page leads with jobs, time, WIP and invoices. Karbon's pricing page counts work templates, statuses and teams. FYI's plans are built around documents and cabinets, with time and billing only on its top plan. Know which problem you're buying for before you book demos.
How the main Australian options compare
This is what each vendor publishes (Xero Practice Management AU, Karbon pricing, Karbon integrations, Karbon user permissions, FYI pricing, FYI security, MYOB Practice Management, MYOB support). Where a cell says "not described" or "not named", ask the vendor.
| Tool | User roles | Deadlines and templates | Ledgers named | Published price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xero Partner Hub + Practice Management (formerly XPM) | The product page doesn't describe staff permission levels. Xero keeps them in a help article on practice user roles. | Task deadlines and milestones, customisable job templates and workflows. | Xero. Invoices, payments and client details sync with your practice Xero organisation. Tax and Workpapers included. | AUD 163.90 a month for up to 10 users, including GST. Free at Silver, Gold or Platinum partner level. |
| Karbon | Admin, Standard and Restricted. A Restricted user sees only the clients and work they're on the team for. | Work templates (40 on Team, 75 on Business), a work scheduler, automatic client reminders from Business up. | Xero and QuickBooks Online Accountant named on its integrations page. MYOB not named. | USD 59 (Team) or 89 (Business) per user a month, billed annually, or USD 79 and 99 billed monthly for teams of four or more. AUD and GBP prices can be selected on the page. |
| FYI | In-app user permissions control what data a user can see. Cabinet access control on all plans; client security from Pro. | Not mentioned on the pricing page. Jobs on all plans, a jobs board and workflows from Pro. | Syncs with Xero Practice Manager on all plans. Lists MYOB, Greatsoft and APS as practice systems. QuickBooks not named. | AUD 30, 55 or 75 per user a month, excluding GST, minimum five users. |
| MYOB Practice Management | Admins set up security roles to "control what each person can see and do". 2FA and single sign-on through MYOB ID. | Not described on the product or support pages. Jobs, a planner, timesheet approval into WIP. | MYOB AE/AO and MYOB Business, plus Xero Tax and Xero Accounting. QuickBooks not mentioned. | Not published. The page says to speak to an expert. |
A few notes the table can't hold. Xero Practice Manager is now part of Xero Partner Hub, and Xero says everything you use stays the same. Its page shows the dollar value of all WIP and turns time into progress or final invoices. Karbon's monthly billing (USD 79 for Team and USD 99 for Business, per user) is only for teams of four or more. FYI quotes migration and onboarding separately. Its Elite plan adds its own time and billing and WIP management, so a firm on Elite may not need XPM at all. FYI stores data in AWS data centres in Sydney and London. MYOB's practice tools suit firms already on AE or AO; its support pages list timesheet approval, a WIP dashboard and debtor chasing.
Practice management software for UK firms
Xero's UK page prices Practice Management at £99 a month for up to 10 users, also free at Silver, Gold or Platinum (Xero Practice Management UK). Three UK-based tools are worth a look, and two of them say more about statutory deadlines on their own pages than the Australian tools do.
BrightManager (formerly AccountancyManager) says client company data and filing deadlines are kept up to date from Companies House, and that tasks are generated from compliance deadlines. It names Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent and Sage. It doesn't describe user roles beyond "multi-user access". Essential is £42.63 a user a month, or £409.25 a user a year, plus VAT, for two to 12 users (BrightManager).
TaxCalc's Engager is priced by client count with unlimited users: £59 for up to 100 clients, £249 for up to 1,000, excluding VAT. The price page doesn't say whether that's monthly or yearly, and says TaxCalc bills most products annually. Engager lists staff, task and deadline management and a branded client portal. The page doesn't mention permissions (TaxCalc prices).
Senta, now shown as Senta by IRIS, prices from £25.60 a month for the first user, with 20% off for annual billing (Senta pricing). The pages we read didn't cover its roles or integrations, so ask.
A worked example on list prices
Say your firm in Australia has six staff and adds two offshore bookkeepers: eight users. On the list prices above, Xero Practice Management costs AUD 163.90 a month, because the price covers up to 10 users, or nothing if you're Silver partner or higher. Karbon Team is 8 × USD 59, so USD 472 a month billed annually. FYI Pro is 8 × AUD 55, so AUD 440 a month before GST.
Price alone won't decide it. A role that keeps the two offshore staff to their own clients might matter more than the monthly difference. And moving off XPM means moving years of job history. Run one month of real jobs in a trial before you sign anything.
What to check if some of your team works offshore
The practice tool is where an offshore bookkeeper's work list lives, so its settings decide what they can see. Check these four things before anyone overseas logs in:
- A named login for each person. Count them in the price: Karbon adds a user fee for every colleague you invite, and FYI and BrightManager price per user.
- A role that limits them to their own clients and jobs. Karbon's Restricted level is the clearest published example. In FYI it's cabinet and client security; in MYOB, security roles. In Xero, read the practice user roles article and test it on one client first.
- No access to settings, billing setup or data exports. Karbon keeps Settings and exports to Admins.
- A record of who did what. Time logged against each job gives you part of it. None of the product pages we read describes an audit log for the practice tool itself, so ask the vendor what's logged and for how long.
Karbon's own release notes say its Restricted level suits temporary contracted staff or outsourced teams (Karbon release notes). Xero's article on practice user roles is the place to start for Partner Hub (Xero Central). The rest of the stack, from the ledger to lodgement, is in a cloud accounting stack for a firm that uses an offshore team. If you're on Xero, the first four weeks are in how to onboard an offshore bookkeeper onto Xero or XPM.
This is how we run our own teams. Our people use named logins inside the client's own software, and work from the jobs and due dates in the firm's practice tool. The weekly review reads from it too (see how we work). If your firm is in the UK, here's how we work with UK businesses.
Questions
Is Xero Practice Manager still available?
Yes, under a new name. It's now Xero Partner Hub + Practice Management, and Xero's FAQ says everything you use remains the same (Xero).
Is XPM free?
For Silver, Gold and Platinum partners, yes. Otherwise it's AUD 163.90 a month including GST in Australia, or £99 a month in the UK, for up to 10 users. New Xero partners and Bronze practices get a 14-day trial first.
Can I use FYI with XPM?
Yes. FYI's pricing page lists Xero Practice Manager sync on all plans, with timesheets syncing into XPM from Pro. So you can keep XPM for time and billing and run documents in FYI.
Next step
If you're choosing a practice tool before bringing on offshore staff, book a call with me. Tell me what you run today and how many people would log in, and we'll go through the roles to set before anyone starts. You can also read how our outsourced bookkeeping service, the Offshore finance desk, works inside your software.