Latest Articles
Book Review – Deep Work by Cal Newport
As part of building my time management (managing yourself and your priorities) workshops I spent over 100 hours researching best practice. One of the many books, articles and research papers I read was a book by American computer science Professor Cal Newport. His...
Are you providing payroll services to your clients?
I was prompted to think more about this by a report that a few weeks out from the deadline for the adoption of Single Touch Payroll 50% of businesses are yet to register! Some firms have been providing payroll services to clients for many years. Some have concluded it...
My thoughts on Xerocon 2019
I attended the two days of Xero’s annual conference on 4 and 5 September. I did not make it to the wrap party so can’t comment on that. There was less hype this year compared to last year. It seemed a bit calmer and reflects, I believe, the growing maturity of Xero as...
Nine Skills Great Accounting and Advisory Firm Managers Display
As an accounting firm coach, mentor and consultant I am in and out of firms pretty much every day. One of the things I have observed is the critical role of the manager in successful firms. Here are nine skills I reckon great managers inside accounting and advisory...
Three types of training to support accounting firm success
As an accounting firm coach, mentor and consultant I get to see inside a lot of accounting firms. I get to see a lot of stuff that works and a lot that does not. In the area of learning and development, or training as some may call it, I’ve concluded that there are...
Is the family office concept the next growth area for accounting firms in Australia?
I attended the AICPA Engage conference in Las Vegas from Monday 10 June to Thursday 13 June. The conference offered hundreds of sessions across technical and non-technical topics and was attended by about 4,000 accountants, mostly from the USA. I attended two sessions...
Some observations from my attendance at AICPA Engage in Las Vegas
Following a suggestion from my friend Thea Foster I attended the AICPA Engage conference in Las Vegas from Monday 10 June to Thursday 13 June. The conference offered hundreds of sessions across technical and non-technical topics and was attended by about 4,000...
What next for accountants post 15 May?
We are now just one month out from the end of the Australian financial year. A great time to check on your goals for between now and then. My view is you will have goals both in respect of your clients and your own business. In short, I’d like to see accounting and...
Three different models for helping your clients with apps. (software selection)
I was speaking with a group of accounting firm owners recently and we were debating the merits or otherwise of helping clients with apps. When I say apps what I’m talking about is software applications that those clients might use to run their business and typically...
The value of a 5 minute brief before a job is started
One of the training sessions I run for accountants is Effective Delegation . At a recent session we talked about the process for briefing an accountant on a typical compliance job. In some firms I see a well structured, standardised process that requires the director...
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