APS Analysis of BRW Top 100 Firms (AUS)

In response to MYOB’s spin on the number of Top 100 accounting firms it claims as clients, APS parent Reckon Limited has undertaken a firm by firm analysis to identify actual Practice Management usage.

In order to bring some transparency to the analysis, Practice Management software users have been measured by the Reckon research, as this is the core software firms use to manage their business and service their clients. MYOB have advised in their statements that they measure a Top 100 client as anyone with whom they have a contract and a billing relationship.

The Reckon research data shows that the Top 100 accounting firms in Australia represent approximately 29,400 employees (users). Of this number, 48% (approx 14,000 employees) are the Big Four firms who typically use proprietary software (neither APS or MYOB). Of the remaining 15,400 employees, 60% use Reckon’s APS (8,208) or Elite (1,129) products, with the remaining 40% (6063 employees) using other suppliers’ software including MYOB.

On reviewing the research data APS CEO Brian Armstrong commented that “firms deserve an honest appraisal of the Top 100 accounting firms. Our research does this, counting numbers of users of all practice management products. Counting users rather than numbers of firms enables us to present a true reflection of actual market share across all Top 100 practices.”

The analysis shows that if a comparison is made on a firm by firm basis, the numbers become less reliable. In several instances APS and MYOB can legitimately claim the same firm as a client. This may be because that firm uses different products from both suppliers. For example, a firm may use practice management from APS and tax solutions from Solution 6. Similarly, different branches of the one firm may use different practice management products.

While assessing market share by reference to firm name clouds the picture, there can be no debate about the number of practice management users on the APS and MYOB systems, as individual offices can only use one practice management system or the other.

Furthermore, given that over of 80% of APS Top 100 clients are now also using APS accounting and tax compliance software, it does seriously bring into question MYOB’s claims to be the leading provider of software solutions to Top 100 firms.

This is evident particularly in the 2nd tier national firms, where APS is the supplier of choice for most of these firms when reviewed office by office and by user numbers. Although APS will be installed in the majority of the major offices and states, a small branch office may still be using MYOB. However, both suppliers claim the firm as a client since the national firm (while made up of many offices which make their own individual software selections) only counts as a single BRW Top 100 firm.

For more information contact Genine Hill at APS in Sydney on 02 9965 1300.