Annual survey of Top 500 groups
The annual Top 500 survey is designed to capture feedback from private groups and their advisors regarding their experience with the program. In May 2025, surveys were distributed to either in-house representatives or nominated advisors for each group.
The survey response rate was 22%, representing approximately 28% of Top 500 groups. The response rate was 17% lower than in 2024, but consistent with 2023 (response rate of 21%).
Key insights
Key insights from this year’s Top 500 survey are:
- 60% of respondents were satisfied with the Top 500 program (a decrease of 6% from 2024, but consistent with 2023 at 59%), while 11% were neutral and 29% were dissatisfied.
- 91% of respondents are satisfied that our staff interact with them in a professional, courteous and respectful manner.
- There were high levels of satisfaction with our understanding of group structures and business activities (77% and 75% of respondents respectively).
- The level of satisfaction with the time provided to respond to information requests has dropped by 12 percentage points to 61%, with respondents requesting teams to be more reasonable with due dates, factoring in their circumstances.
- Respondents level of satisfaction about the regularity of communication provided about the progress of the engagement has decreased by 9 percentage points to 56%. Respondents emphasised the need for timely and regular updates from engagement teams, particularly after responding to information requests.
Our response to survey feedback
We are pleased that respondents to the survey continue to find that our staff act in a professional and courteous manner and have a good understanding of their group’s business affairs.
In most circumstances, reasonable extensions to the timeframes for responding to information requests during an engagement can be negotiated, and there is often the option to provide information in tranches to ensure the ongoing progress of the engagement. For reviews and audits, our timeframes may be more rigid due to period of review constraints.
We acknowledge the importance of timely communication from our engagement teams, and this is an area we are targeting for improvement, particularly in providing updates upon receiving, and while reviewing, responses to our requests for information. Where possible, we also encourage groups to arrange a meeting to ‘walk through’ their responses to requests for information with the case team, as this provides an efficient means to clarify or confirm any areas of uncertainty and ask follow-up questions.
We will share more best practice tips to groups throughout 2025–26 to improve the efficiency of our Top 500 engagements.