🇦🇺Australia

Accessibility Audit Cost Escalation & Scope Creep

2 verified sources

Definition

Search results document third-party audit pricing of AUD 7,000–12,000, with cost variation by scope (assistive tech testing, browser combinations, design system depth). Libraries often commission follow-up audits to verify remediation, effectively doubling annual costs. Scope creep common: initial audit expands to include design systems, templates, and emerging digital services.

Key Findings

  • Financial Impact: Single audit: AUD 7,000–12,000. Annual cost (base + follow-up): AUD 14,000–24,000. Scope creep overages: +AUD 2,000–5,000 per audit. Industry rule-of-thumb: AUD 15,000–30,000 annually for full compliance cycle per library.
  • Frequency: Annual or bi-annual audits; follow-up verification audits triggered by each initial audit.
  • Root Cause: Lack of in-house accessibility expertise; reliance on third-party auditors; undefined audit scope and acceptance criteria; reactive (compliance-driven) audit scheduling.

Why This Matters

The Pitch: Australian libraries budget AUD 7,000–24,000+ annually for external accessibility audits. In-house automated scanning tools + risk-based manual reviews reduce external audit frequency by 50%, saving AUD 3,500–12,000/year.

Affected Stakeholders

Procurement, Finance/Budget Owners, Compliance Officers, CIOs

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Financial Impact

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Current Workarounds

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Methodology & Sources

Data collected via OSINT from regulatory filings, industry audits, and verified case studies.

Evidence Sources:

Related Business Risks

Accessibility Compliance Violations & DDA Penalties

Audit cost: AUD 7,000–12,000 per engagement. Penalty & settlement ranges: Unspecified but documented as 'costly' with Federal Court exposure. Typical DDA settlements: AUD 10,000–100,000+ depending on severity and organizational size.

Rework & Manual Remediation After Failed Audits

Estimated 40–80 hours per audit cycle for remediation (design, coding, testing, verification). At AUD 60/hour blended labor: AUD 2,400–4,800 per audit remediation phase. Multiplied by 1–2 audit cycles/year: AUD 2,400–9,600 annually per library.

Unbilled or Mis-Billed Interlibrary Loan Services

Estimated AUD 15,000–40,000 per library per annum (2–4% of interlibrary loan revenue leakage from pricing errors and unbilled requests)

Delayed Accounts Receivable from Multi-Method Payment Processing

Estimated AUD 8,000–25,000 per library per annum in working capital opportunity cost (assuming AUD 200,000–300,000 annual interlibrary loan revenue at 5% cost of capital and 10–20 day acceleration potential).

Manual Process Bottlenecks in Request Triage and Pricing Assignment

Estimated AUD 10,000–20,000 per library per annum (25–40 hours/month at AUD 40–50/hour loaded cost, extrapolated across Australian library network = AUD 200,000–500,000 system-wide).

Annual CPI Fee Update Compliance Failures and GST Reconciliation Gaps

Estimated AUD 5,000–15,000 per library per annum (under-recovery from delayed CPI updates, potential ATO penalty exposure on GST under-declaration: 50% of unpaid GST on mis-invoiced transactions).

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