Active Workpapers Pricing for Accounting Firms

Active Workpapers pricing starts with a per-user monthly licence, a three-licence minimum and a 12-month contract. Budget separately for training, any required practice-management connection setup and storage above the included allowance.

Active Workpapers Licence and Contract Costs

Business Fitness publishes Active Workpapers as a standalone subscription for professional accounting practices, with a minimum of three licences. The Australian offer bills each user monthly and lists charges excluding GST. Its stated contract term is 12 months.

Count everyone who needs to prepare or review workpapers. If two people need access, the minimum still means budgeting for three licences. A six-person team needing access budgets for six. Multiply the billable licence count by the quoted monthly licence rate to calculate the monthly recurring bill.

For the initial contract, multiply that monthly bill by 12. Keep GST separate so your cash budget and expense budget use the right basis. Use a quote in dollars throughout the worksheet. Record the renewal rate and any notice requirement beside the initial term before accepting it.

The recurring licence calculation covers access. It leaves out setup work and the time your staff spend learning the system. A practice moving existing templates and jobs also needs to allow staff time for that move. These internal hours belong in the adoption budget even when the supplier’s invoice has no corresponding line.

Treat a time-limited offer as conditional on your eligibility and acceptance timing. Business Fitness’s published offer has an expiry condition, so carry the applicable offer terms into the written quote. An older subscription-increase notice concerns existing contract renewals. Do not add that historical increase again to a new quote.

Implementation, Storage and Connections

Training and connection setup are separate from the monthly licence. Business Fitness’s training includes online sessions for the practice and guidance on database connections and other integrations. The training charge depends on practice size. Its Australian offer lists an additional setup charge for MYOB AE and APS practice-management connections.

The licence includes 25GB of storage per user. Business Fitness lists an additional charge for another 25GB per user per month. Plan around the documents you will store in Active and those you will keep in your document system with links from the binder.

Hypothetical Practice Budget

Consider an unnamed practice with four preparers and two reviewers, all requiring access. It needs a MYOB AE practice-management connection and plans to keep supporting documents in Active. This is an illustrative budget, not a supplier quote.

Budget item	Assumption	Calculation or allowance
Recurring licences	Six staff need access	Six times the quoted monthly licence rate, for 12 months
Training	Sessions for the six-person team	One quoted training package based on practice size
Connection setup	MYOB AE connection required	Add the separately quoted connection setup charge
Extra storage	Included allowance is insufficient	Add the quoted storage charge for each applicable user and month
Internal adoption time	Staff configure templates and move active jobs	Staff hours multiplied by the practice’s internal hourly cost
Existing software	Excel and other required tools remain in use	Retain costs that the new purchase does not replace

Add the licence total, training and connection setup, then add any extra storage and internal adoption cost. Record GST separately against the supplier charges. For the second year, remove completed one-off setup costs and use the agreed renewal terms.

This worksheet makes the difference between a small pilot and a practice-wide move visible. Reducing the first group of users can reduce licence costs only until you reach the three-licence minimum. Delaying a required connection moves its setup cost to a later period without removing it.

What the Licence Covers in the Practice

Active Workpapers organises a job in a binder with a trial balance, workpaper records and supporting documents. Business Fitness’s getting-started guide shows how staff create a binder, import client accounting data and attach worksheets to accounts. The preparer reconciles each account and marks the work ready for review.

Review mode lets authorised reviewers accept a workpaper or send it back for rework. The status changes with that decision. This gives the practice a preparation and review record alongside the evidence supporting each balance.

Year-to-year roll-forward carries selected worksheets into the next period. Closing balances can become opening balances, while recurring details and selected attachments carry forward. Staff still assess what belongs in the new job and update the current-period information.

Keep the workpaper budget separate from client onboarding and financial reporting. Onboarding collects client details and documents before the job starts. Workpapers support the preparation and review of the accounts. Financial-reporting software produces the financial statements, and Business Fitness sells Active Ledger & Reporting as a separate product.

Use the accounting firm software stack guide to place these jobs alongside your existing tools. Approve the purchase against the number of staff who need workpapers and the connection costs your practice requires. Keep any separate onboarding or reporting costs in the budget until the replacement actually covers that job.