Singapore’s top-performing accounting and bookkeeping practices are 2.4 times more profitable than lower-margin firms, according to new research from Xero, with the gap coming down to how firms use AI and price their services rather than their size or structure.
Key Takeaways
- Top-performing Singapore accounting practices are 2.4 times more profitable than lower-margin firms, per Xero’s Modern Practice Playbook.
- AI saves surveyed practices an estimated 10 hours a week and S$165,000 a year on average, rising to about S$249,000 among top performers.
- 61% of Singapore practices now offer advisory services, with 53% of those saying it has added more than 30% to their revenue.
AI is freeing up time for higher-value work
The findings are based on a survey of 422 senior accountants and bookkeepers across Singapore between 21 July and 4 September 2026. Ninety per cent of practices surveyed are using or experimenting with AI, and 55 per cent have embedded it into daily workflows. Across firms using the technology, AI saves an estimated average of 10 hours a week and S$165,000 a year, rising to roughly S$249,000 among top performers. Fifty-eight per cent of adopters are redirecting that freed-up capacity towards advisory work.
Advisory work is where the growth is
Sixty-one per cent of Singapore practices now offer advisory services, and 53 per cent of those say it has added more than 30 per cent to their revenue. For Singapore-based accounting firm WLP, the shift starts with getting the fundamentals right.
“You can’t really plan if your books aren’t up to date. You need the right data first. Once the fundamentals are in place, we can start talking about budgeting and cash-flow forecasting, then move on to tax planning. When we have the information in front of us, we can spend less time explaining the numbers and more time talking about what the client should do,” said Mr Li Han Tan, Co-founder at WLP.
Confidence in pricing sets top firms apart
Beyond AI adoption and advisory work, top performers are more likely to primarily serve medium and large businesses and price their services with greater confidence, charging around 43 per cent more for financial reporting, 39 per cent more for payroll and 25 per cent more for bookkeeping than other practices. Among firms already planning a price rise, top performers are more than twice as likely to plan increases above 20 per cent this year.
“In the last few years alone, the nature of the conversations Singapore’s accountants are having with their clients has changed. What might have started as a question about compliance or reporting now leads somewhere more interesting: a conversation about strategy, growth and what comes next,” said Ms Koren Wines, Managing Director, APAC at Xero.
