Latest Articles
The value of year end reflection and projection
I love the end of a calendar year. It is a time for family Christmas celebrations. 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 the thing I like most about the end...
Decision making ideas for Accountants from the AICD Company Directors Course
I graduated from the Company Directors course in 2007 when I was the General Manager of Pitcher Partners Sydney. It helped me quite a bit in my role which had significant interaction with the 18 directors of the firm. In keeping with my life long learning ethos, I...
Some thoughts on leadership from Ken Blanchard and Simon Sinek
I recently watched a video of Ken Blanchard and Simon Sinek on stage together talking about leadership. They were primarily answering questions from the local audience and I thought there were a few gems in their answers. For those not familiar with these two...
Are you ready for weekly billing of your clients?
I was listening to a podcast from the USA which was an interview of the founder of a successful small firm in the USA. One of the things this firm does is weekly billing for its virtual CFO service clients. This is the first time I have heard of weekly billing but as...
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...
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