By HR Path has acquired Payroll Experts Australia, a Brisbane-based payroll consulting firm founded in 2009, according to Pulse 2.0. The deal expands HR Path’s payroll compliance, remediation, workforce management and HR systems capabilities across Australia and New Zealand.
Payroll Experts Australia will continue operating under the name “Payroll Experts Australia, an HR Path Company.” Its existing leadership team and employees will remain in their roles. The acquisition was reported by Pulse 2.0, which did not disclose financial terms.
What Payroll Experts Australia brings to HR Path
Payroll Experts Australia operates independently of software vendors and has completed more than 530 projects for over 260 organisations across Australia and New Zealand. Its work spans payroll compliance and audits, remediation projects, interpretation of awards and employment agreements, payroll processing, advisory services and end-to-end systems implementation.
That independence is significant. Australian payroll is unusually complex because of the award system, which sets minimum pay and conditions across dozens of industries and occupations. Employers that get award interpretation wrong face underpayment claims, back-pay obligations and reputational damage. A consultancy that sits outside any single software vendor can advise on the payroll engine, the configuration and the compliance layer without a commercial bias toward one platform.
Steve Keenaghan, Chief Executive Officer at Payroll Experts Australia, said the acquisition “opens up exciting opportunities for our team and our clients and ensures our continued growth and success.” He said the firm would maintain its commitment to independent payroll expertise while exploring new possibilities within HR Path.
How the deal fits HR Path’s ANZ strategy
HR Path entered Australia in 2019 through its acquisition of DDG and opened an Australian office in 2024. In August 2025 it acquired RKM Consulting, a Melbourne-based HRIS advisory firm focused on SAP SuccessFactors, according to mergr.com. That deal was recorded as HR Path’s first transaction in Australia.
The Payroll Experts Australia acquisition adds a different layer. RKM Consulting brings HRIS advisory and implementation capability, particularly around SAP SuccessFactors. Payroll Experts Australia brings payroll compliance, remediation and workforce management depth. Together they give HR Path a broader ANZ footprint that spans strategic HR advisory, technology implementation, payroll compliance and ongoing operational support.
François Boulet, Co-Founding Partner at HR Path, described the acquisition as “a strategic move that supports our ambition to be the global reference in HR transformation.” He said Payroll Experts Australia’s deep knowledge and client relationships in Australia would complement HR Path’s global capabilities.
HR Path’s stated approach is “Advise to Outsource,” according to its website. The firm offers HR and HRIS consulting, HR solution implementation, HR and payroll outsourcing, and Employer of Record services. Its partner ecosystem includes SAP SuccessFactors, Workday, Oracle HCM, Dayforce, WorkForce Software, UKG, Cornerstone, HiBob, Microsoft and others.
What the acquisition means for customers and the market
For existing Payroll Experts Australia customers, the immediate practical change is limited. The firm keeps its name, leadership and staff. Customers gain access to HR Path’s international resources and broader consulting organisation, but the stated intent is continuity.
For HR Path customers in Australia and New Zealand, the deal adds local payroll compliance capability that a global HRIS consultancy may not have had in-house. That matters for employers running multi-country payroll or moving from legacy systems to cloud HR platforms. Payroll compliance errors in Australia can trigger Fair Work Ombudsman investigations, union attention and enforceable undertakings. Having local remediation expertise inside the same organisation as the implementation team could reduce hand-off risk.
The competitive picture in ANZ payroll outsourcing and consulting is fragmented. Local firms compete with global payroll providers, HRIS implementation partners and the consulting arms of software vendors. HR Path’s move signals that mid-market and enterprise employers in Australia and New Zealand are being targeted with a combined HR technology and payroll compliance offer.
One point of uncertainty is deal timing. Mergr.com lists RKM Consulting as HR Path’s first Australia transaction in August 2025, but does not yet list Payroll Experts Australia. The Pulse 2.0 report does not state an exact acquisition date. Readers should treat the sequence of HR Path’s ANZ deals as still being updated in public deal databases.
Practical questions for affected teams
Payroll and HR leaders in Australia and New Zealand should watch for formal integration announcements from HR Path or Payroll Experts Australia. Key questions to ask include whether existing engagement teams stay the same, how data and systems access changes, and whether new service lines become available through the combined entity.
Employers with active payroll remediation projects or award interpretation work should confirm continuity with their existing Payroll Experts Australia contacts. The announcement says leadership and employees remain in their roles, which suggests minimal disruption, but project managers should still document current scope and timelines.
For employers evaluating HRIS or payroll platforms, the combined HR Path and Payroll Experts Australia offer may be relevant if they need both technology implementation and independent payroll compliance advice. The firm’s vendor-neutral position on payroll consulting is a differentiator in a market where many implementation partners are aligned to one or two software vendors.
Sources: Pulse 2.0
Photo: Elektrostal. Worker's payroll book. Plant EZTM. img 02 by Scanning Dmitry Makeev, scan date - 2020 year., Public domain
