Business valuation price comparison Australia: what big-4, mid-package, boutique and online providers charge.

The short answer

Most of this market does not publish prices, which is why comparisons like this are rare: based on the firm websites we reviewed while researching this piece, the online fixed-fee segment is the only one where fees sit on the page as a matter of course, a handful of boutique specialists disclose indicative ranges in FAQ or blog content, and the big-4 and mid-tier national firms we checked publish no fees, ranges or turnaround times on their valuation pages: a scoping call or an RFP is the stated next step instead. That is a sample of the market, not a census of it, and other providers may do things differently. So this article does two things. It maps the four segments as honestly as the available evidence allows, flagging which figures are published, which are cited-but-unsourced, and which are our own generic estimates. And it puts Oliver Group's own fixed fees in the same table format we are holding everyone else to, because a price comparison that hid the author's own prices would undercut the standard it is applying to everyone else.

The four segments at a glance

The Australian market for signed valuation reports breaks into four price segments: big-4 firms (no published fees on the pages we reviewed; generic estimates put engagements at tens of thousands of dollars), mid-tier national firms (also no published fees on the pages we reviewed; generic estimates put quotes in the low tens of thousands), boutique specialists (indicative ranges of roughly $5,000–$50,000 + GST where a firm chooses to disclose one), and online fixed-fee providers (published prices from about $1,500 to $13,000 + GST, ours included). Below that professional market sit free online calculators and broker appraisals: useful for curiosity, unsigned and unsupported for anything that matters.

• ·Big-4 accounting firms: none of the big-4 valuation pages we reviewed publishes a fee, a range or a turnaround; engagements are described as partner-scoped and priced to the matter. For the litigation, audit-committee and multi-entity work these practices target, our generic estimate is fees in the tens of thousands of dollars, but this is an estimate, not a sourced figure: no big-4 firm publishes valuation pricing, so treat any specific number you read online, including this one, as unverified. Turnaround: typically measured in months, based on the scope described on these firms' sites. Engagement model: partner-led teams, hourly or estimate-based billing, relationship or RFP entry. Best fit: ASX-facing work, independent expert reports, large contested litigation, complex multi-jurisdiction groups
• ·Mid-tier national firms: the same picture: none of the mid-tier national valuation pages we reviewed publishes a fee, a range or a turnaround, describing instead a partner-scoped, quote-after-a-call model. Our generic estimate for private-company valuation reports is the low tens of thousands, again unsourced and offered only as a starting expectation. Turnaround: typically 4–10 weeks, based on the scope described on these firms' sites. Engagement model: partner or director-led, hourly or fixed-quote after scoping. Best fit: mid-market companies with audit, transaction or board requirements that want a national brand behind the number
• ·Boutique valuation specialists: the segment where published figures start to appear, though not universally: some boutiques that disclose fees at all cite ranges from about $5,000 + GST to $50,000 + GST in their own FAQ or blog content, with $10,000–$20,000 + GST recurring for a straightforward engagement and around four weeks' turnaround. We have not independently verified these figures against an engagement letter, and most boutiques remain quote-on-request rather than publishing a number at all. Engagement model: the principal or a senior valuer does the work personally; reports commonly run 30–100 pages. Best fit: disputes, tax matters and expert-witness work where specialist depth matters more than brand, and the budget supports a five-figure fee
• ·Small Business Valuation: $1,495 + GST. Annual turnover under $2 million, delivered in 2 business days.
• ·Medium Business Valuation: $2,495 + GST. Annual turnover $2 million to $10 million, delivered in 3 business days.
• ·Large Business Valuation: $3,495 + GST. Annual turnover over $10 million, with the delivery date agreed before commencement.
• ·Defined add-ons: retrospective valuation date +$495 per date; each additional entity +$795. Delivery time starts once payment and all required information have been received.

Which of these numbers are verified: and which are not

An honest comparison has to disclose its sources, because the valuation cost figures circulating online are in worse shape than most readers realise. The ranges most often recited, roughly $2,000–$5,000 for desktop estimates, $10,000–$30,000+ for comprehensive reports, $30,000–$80,000+ for expert-witness work, come largely from content and lead-generation sites, not from valuation firms, and are unsourced. AI assistants now repeat those unsourced bands verbatim as though they were market data. So here is our sourcing, plainly, with no segment exempted from the same scrutiny we apply to the rest of the market. The boutique figures above ($5,000–$50,000 + GST, with $10,000–$20,000 + GST recurring) are drawn from a small number of boutique firms that publish indicative ranges in their own FAQ or blog content: a better source than an anonymous marketing site, but still a handful of firms rather than the whole segment, unverified against any actual engagement letter, and not proof of what any specific boutique will ultimately charge. The big-4 and mid-tier figures are our own generic estimates, flagged as such throughout this article, because no firm in either segment that we reviewed publishes pricing: the opacity is something we could check; the dollar figures themselves are not, so treat them as a starting expectation rather than a market fact. And the online fixed-fee figures are simply published prices, ours included, checkable in one click at /start/. Where we could not verify a specific figure, we have used a generic range and said so, and none of the figures in this article should be read as more precisely sourced than described here. Competitor market context is correct as at July 2026 and, given how little of it is published, worth re-checking before you rely on it.

What you are actually paying for at the top end

It is easy to read a five-fold price gap as overcharging. That is not quite right. At the top of the market, a meaningful part of the fee buys things that have real value in the right situation. The first is brand insurance: when a valuation will be examined by a court, an audit committee, ASIC or an opposing expert, the name on the letterhead does defensive work before anyone reads page one, and boards facing litigation rationally pay for that. The second is genuine complexity capacity: a group with dozens of entities across jurisdictions, cross-holdings, financial instruments and consolidation issues needs a team, not a valuer, and teams cost what teams cost. The third is partner sign-off within a national quality-control system: layered review, technical committees, and a signatory whose firm stands institutionally behind the conclusion. When is that premium rational? When the matter is genuinely large or genuinely contested: an independent expert report on a listed transaction, litigation where the other side has engaged a big-4 expert, an audit committee that needs the brand as much as the number. Oliver Group is not the right tool for that work, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise. The problem is not that the top end is expensive. The problem is private-business owners paying top-end fees for compliance valuations that never needed any of those three things.

Why identical methodology can cost ten times more

Here is the part of the comparison that most surprises people: the methodology is the same across all four segments. A big-4 practice has no private mathematics. What differs is the cost structure the fee has to carry. Overhead: CBD towers, national infrastructure and partnership profit expectations are recovered through every engagement, whatever its size. The leverage model: large-firm work is performed by junior staff billed out at multiples of their cost and reviewed upward through several layers: you pay for the pyramid, not just the analysis. The billing model: hourly, open-ended billing prices in scoping risk and rewards time spent; fixed-fee models price the defined scope and absorb the efficiency risk themselves. None of these three things changes the quality of the valuation reasoning. A carefully built single-valuer file can be stronger evidence than a leveraged one assembled by the least experienced person on the engagement, and the reverse can also be true. Which is why the honest framing is not that cheaper segments cut corners: it is that different segments carry different cost structures, and you should pay for the one your matter actually needs.

Oliver Group's prices, in the same table we held everyone else to

Every fee is fixed at engagement, never billed by the hour, and never contingent on the outcome. Every report is signed with an independence statement, and the working file behind it is retained for ten years. We publish this table not because transparency is a marketing flourish but because it is the structural difference the online fixed-fee segment offers over the big-4 and mid-tier segments in particular: in this segment, you can compare prices before you speak to anyone, which is what most of the market, though not quite all of it, since at least one other online provider also publishes fixed pricing, still does not allow. Oliver Group's fees are set by the annual turnover of the business: a Small Business Valuation is $1,495 + GST for turnover under $2 million, a Medium Business Valuation is $2,495 + GST for turnover between $2 million and $10 million, and a Large Business Valuation is $3,495 + GST for turnover over $10 million. Small-business reports are delivered in 2 business days and medium-business reports in 3 business days; the delivery date for a Large Business Valuation is agreed before commencement. Delivery time starts once payment and all required information have been received. Retrospective valuation dates are +$495 each and additional entities are +$795 each. The fee is fixed in writing before work begins and never depends on the concluded value.

The honest trade-off: what the fixed fee does not cover

A comparison built on other firms' opacity has to be equally direct about its own limits. For a straightforward compliance event, that is proportionate and complete, and its fixed scope is exactly why it can be priced from $1,495 + GST without being thin. But single-methodology depth is not suited to contested matters, family law, or positions carrying realistic ATO-dispute risk. Those matters need a cross-checked, documented supportable range: the analysis that shows what the value would be under alternative methods and assumptions, and why the concluded position is the most supportable one. Stepping up at engagement costs thousands; commissioning a second valuation after a thin one is challenged costs multiples of that, plus the weakened position of a taxpayer whose first valuation did not hold.

Which segment fits which situation

Match the segment to the matter, not to the marketing. If the matter is ASX-facing, institutionally scrutinised, or contested at a scale where the other side has engaged a national firm, buy the top end: that premium is rational insurance. If it is a complex private-group dispute or expert-witness matter with budget for a five-figure specialist fee, a boutique valuation specialist is often the best value in the traditional market. If it is a compliance event, a CGT event, a restructure, a related-party transfer, a succession step, the online fixed-fee segment exists precisely for it, and the fee difference is cost structure, not corner-cutting. Scoping advice is the one thing in this market that should always be free.