Latest Articles
Risk Management for Accountants: What’s your Plan B?
As an accounting firm owner I believe it wise for you to spend a little time considering what might go wrong in your business and what your “Plan B” will be. I was prompted to think about this by an unexpected event for me in January. I tried Pickle Ball (in South...
Seven accounting firm themes for 2025
As an accounting firm coach, consultant and mentor I’m privileged to see inside a lot of firms and talk to owners about what’s on their mind. Here are some of the common themes I believe will occupy the minds of accounting firm owners in 2025. The opportunities,...
Time sheets or no timesheets, that is the question! The pros and cons of using timesheets in an accounting firm
Timesheets have long been a staple in accounting firms, originally helping to track billable hours and measure team member productivity. However, as firms evolve with automation and value-based pricing models, the relevance of timesheets is open to question. As an...
Observations from Travel in Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia
In July 2024 Kate and I had the good fortune to spend five weeks in Europe. As part of this we spent some time in Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The short summary is these are all fabulous countries and I highly recommend them as places to visit. Denmark I’d...
Year end – A time for reflection and projection
I love the end of a calendar year. It’s a time for family Christmas celebrations in many households, including mine. It’s summer and there are some extra holidays to be had. There is generally a positive vibe in the community. These are all good things, but perhaps...
Something useful from Elon Musk for accountants
In 2017 I presented a session for the leaders of the firms in an association of firms in Australia. It was on lessons from 30 years in the profession and one of those lessons was “you can do more with less than you think (process and people)”. One of the key messages...
Observations on AI and RPA in accounting firms
As an accounting firm coach, consultant and mentor I interact with a lot of accounting firm owners and managers. Two of the hot topics of discussion for some time now have been Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA). In many ways there has...
Time to ditch some clients?
As an accounting firm coach, consultant and mentor I interact with a lot of accounting firm owners and managers. One of the common themes during 2024 in most firms is that there is no shortage of work. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Most firms I speak to say there...
Succession via an external sale – some things to keep in mind
Earlier this year I wrote an article with a focus on succession via internal means. Observations about succession in accounting firms - Planet Consulting I promised I’d write on the option to achieve succession through an external sale. Whether you go down an...
Using Generative AI Note takers in your meetings
I’m seeing an increasing use of generative AI tools for note taking in meetings. So I thought it would be useful to summarise some pros and cons of these tools and identify some of the popular tools being used. Let me start by listing in alphabetical order the four...
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