Accounting & Finance in Australia: All 18 Ranked Universities, QS 2026 Data

If you have already decided on Australia as your study destination and are now weighing up Accounting & Finance as a subject, the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026 offers a clear picture: Australia places 18 universities on the global list of 376 ranked institutions across 53 countries. That makes Australia the fourth most-represented country in this subject worldwide, behind the United States (69 ranked institutions), the United Kingdom (45), and China (Mainland) (22), and just ahead of France (17).

The key takeaway for prospective students is that Australia’s strength in Accounting & Finance is broad rather than top-heavy. No Australian university reaches the global top 20 in this subject, but the country’s median ranked institution sits at 96.5, and 10 of its 18 ranked universities appear within the global top 100.

The Top of the Field: Three Universities in the Global Top 30

Australia’s best performer in Accounting & Finance for 2026 is The University of Melbourne, ranked 24th globally. It is the only Australian institution inside the global top 30’s upper half. Two other universities join Melbourne in the rank band of 21–30, giving Australia three institutions in that range.

Beyond these, the country places two more universities in the 31–50 band, which means five Australian universities sit within the global top 50 for Accounting & Finance. No Australian institution makes the global top 10 or top 20 in this subject — a notable distinction from fields where Australian universities occasionally break into the very highest echelons.

The Middle Tier: Five More Universities Inside the Global Top 100

The strength of Australia’s Accounting & Finance offering lies in its depth. Five additional universities occupy the 51–100 rank band, bringing the total within the global top 100 to 10. This means that more than half of Australia’s ranked institutions in this subject are globally top-100 performers.

For students who may not secure a place at the very top-ranked Australian universities, the options within the top 100 remain substantial. The distribution across this band suggests a competitive but accessible tier of institutions with strong international standing in Accounting & Finance.

The Full Distribution: From Top 100 to the Tail

Beyond the top 100, the distribution continues with one university in the 101–150 band, three in the 151–200 band, one in the 201–250 band, one in the 251–300 band, and two in the 301–375 band. This gives Australia 14 universities within the global top 200 and 16 within the top 300.

In total, 18 Australian universities appear on the 2026 subject ranking for Accounting & Finance. The country’s presence extends from rank 24 all the way to the bottom of the listed range, with a median rank of 96.5 — a figure that reflects both the concentration of high performers in the top 100 and the presence of several institutions further down the list.

Score Distribution: What the Overall Scores Reveal

QS publishes an overall score for only part of Australia’s ranked institutions in this subject: 10 of the 18 have a published overall score, and the remaining 8 are listed with a rank or rank band but no overall score. Among those with a published score, the range runs from 68.6 to 80.2. One institution scores in the 80–89 band, six in the 70–79 band, and three in the 60–69 band. These bands cover only the 10 institutions whose overall score was published; the other 8 ranked institutions are listed with a rank or rank band but no overall score, which does not mean they scored below any threshold or were dropped from the ranking.

This score distribution tells a consistent story with the rank distribution: a small group of high-scoring institutions at the top, a substantial middle tier, and a longer tail. The gap between the highest-scoring Australian university and the lowest-ranked one is significant, and students should be aware that “ranked in Australia” covers a wide range of institutional performance.

Australia in the Global Context

Australia’s 18 ranked institutions place it fourth globally by count, behind the United States (69), the United Kingdom (45), and China (Mainland) (22). France follows with 17, Canada with 13, Spain and Malaysia each with 12, and Italy and Germany with 11 each.

This positioning is meaningful: Australia has more ranked institutions in Accounting & Finance than any country outside the top three, and its count exceeds that of France, Canada, Spain, Malaysia, Italy, and Germany. For a country of its size, this represents a substantial concentration of expertise in the discipline.

What This Means for Students Choosing Australia

For a student who has already committed to Australia as a destination, the Accounting & Finance landscape offers a clear hierarchy. The University of Melbourne leads at rank 24, with two more institutions in the top 30 and a total of five in the top 50. Ten institutions sit within the top 100, providing a wide range of choices for students targeting globally competitive programs.

The absence of any Australian university in the global top 20 means that students seeking the absolute highest-ranked programs in this subject would need to look beyond Australia. But for those prioritising country over subject-specific ranking, the depth of Australia’s top 100 representation is notable.

Data Notes

The figures in this article are drawn from the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026, published by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), with a data reference date of 2026-04-03. The Accounting & Finance subject ranking covers 376 institutions across 53 countries. Rankings were processed by filtering the subject-specific results for Australia, with ranks taken as the lower-bound integer. The median rank of 96.5 reflects the midpoint of the 18 Australian ranked institutions.

The score bands cited (80–89, 70–79, 60–69, and below 60) refer to overall subject scores, which combine academic reputation, employer reputation, citations, H-index, and international research network indicators. Students should note that the ranking covers only institutions that meet QS’s inclusion criteria; some Australian universities may offer Accounting & Finance programs but not appear on this list. The country leaderboard reflects the number of ranked institutions per country, not the quality or ranking position of those institutions.

Subject Rank	Institution	Country/Region	Academic Reputation	Employer Reputation	Citations	Overall Score
24	The University of Melbourne	Australia	82.4	78.6	73.1	80.2
27	The University of Sydney	Australia	79	75.2	84.1	79.5
29	The University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney)	Australia	81.9	74.4	74.6	79.1
38	Monash University	Australia	77.3	73.6	75.4	77
47	Australian National University (ANU)	Australia	75.9	72.8	71.4	75
68	The University of Queensland	Australia	70.8	68.9	73.8	71.6
69	Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia)	Australia	69.3	64.8	81.3	71.5
85	Adelaide University	Australia	65	69.6	78.1	69.7
95	RMIT University	Australia	63.6	64.6	85	68.7
98	University of Technology Sydney	Australia	66.6	65.4	76.7	68.6
101-150	The University of Western Australia	Australia	64.8	61.9	81.7	—
151-200	Curtin University	Australia	61.2	57.9	77.5	—
151-200	Deakin University	Australia	59.6	56.2	82	—
151-200	Queensland University of Technology (QUT)	Australia	61	57.1	80.2	—
201-250	University of Wollongong	Australia	61.4	57.5	70.9	—
251-300	La Trobe University	Australia	54.9	51.7	87.1	—
301-375	The University of Newcastle, Australia (UON)	Australia	48.4	55.3	80.5	—
301-375	Griffith University	Australia	55.4	50	71.1	—

Country/Region	Ranked Institutions
United States of America	69
United Kingdom	45
China (Mainland)	22
Australia	18
France	17
Canada	13
Spain	12
Malaysia	12
Italy	11
Germany	11