Latest Articles
Elite athletes, coaching and business
Australia recently completed a very successful participation in the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Italy. We won 3 gold, 2 silver and a bronze in Olympic competition and 1 silver and 1 bronze in Paralympic competition. One thing you can be sure of is that...
Risk Management Gets Personal
Some recent events involving a few people I know have highlighted the importance of considering risk and also highlighted how personal this needs to be, particularly for firms with a single owner. I’ll come back to the details of what happened, but for now a reminder...
What is Power Automate, and how can it be used in a small to medium accounting firm?
A practical article for accounting firm owners, partners, managers and operational leaders. In simple terms Power Automate is Microsoft’s workflow and automation tool. It lets firms trigger actions automatically when an event occurs, on a schedule, or after a user...
Observations from the Accountants Business Expo (ABE) 2026 in Sydney
ABE has been running for a number of years now and based on feedback from people I’ve spoken with appears to have been a success in 2026. They advertise it as having about 150 speakers, 100 organisations displaying their wares and 3,000 visitors. For the most part I...
Microsoft Lists vs Microsoft Planner for Accountants
Both these tools are a part of many M365 subscriptions. So how small and medium accounting firms can use each tool effectively? A simple way to remember the difference: Microsoft Lists is best for tracking structured information; Microsoft Planner is best for tracking...
From “Sea of Sameness” to Standout: How Firms Can Differentiate in a Crowded Market
(Thanks to guest writer Damien Greathead for this article.) Walk through the websites of ten accounting firms, and you’ll start to notice a pattern. “Tailored approach.” “Trusted advisors.” “Excellence and integrity.” “Seamless client service.” These phrases are...
The Accountability Formula – Accountability that works to drive performance
Accountability That Actually Works Most accountability conversations in professional firms go wrong for one simple reason: we confuse activity with accountability. As an accounting firm coach, consultant and mentor I hear the word accountability a lot. Partners and...
Two regulatory matters to be aware of
I don’t normally write a lot about regulatory stuff but these two things are really important. Anti Money Laundering / Counter Terrorism Financing Tranche 2 A while back I picked up on changes in respect of AML / CTF that pretty much all accountants are affected by....
Using Microsoft Forms in an Accounting Firm
This is the third article in my series on tools that come as part of the M365 suite. Forms is not a tool I hear many people talking about, but it strikes me there some good reasons why firms on a tight IT budget in particular, might want to investigate it further. In...
Why Modern Accounting Firms Can’t Afford to Stop Marketing
Earlier this year I asked sales and marketing guru, Damien Greathead (17) Damien Greathead | LinkedIn to present to some of my larger clients on the subject of marketing. He gave an excellent presentation which he called 5 Marketing Trends for the Modern Accounting...
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