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Some learnings on leadership from Patrick Lencioni’s Sydney seminar
Patrick Lencioni is a pretty big name on the business speaking circuit having published some very popular business and leadership books. Three of his better known books are: The Advantage – Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business The Five...
Observations from the Accounting Business Expo
The Accounting Business Expo was held in Sydney on 20 and 21 March. It is self described as “the big free expo and conference for business and money”. I was there for most of the two days and enjoyed it. On offer were 160 + short information sessions, typically of...
Accountants – 8 steps to be ready for 15 May 2019
For Australian accountants 15 May is a significant date. As Tax Agents you are subject to the ATO’s lodgment program framework which at its core requires you to lodge 85% or more of your clients’ current year returns on time. 15 May 2019 is effectively the last date...
What are you doing to develop your managers?
My experience as an accounting firm coach and mentor in working with multiple firms is that the manager role is critical for firm success. I also observe that quite often people in these roles have not receive much in the way of training to equip them for success as a...
Some pros and cons of having all or part of your workforce away from your office
All the accounting firms I work with or visit have an office of some sort. Increasingly they have workers who are not based in that office. They work either part or full time away from the office. For example a Sydney firm has a senior accountant on the Gold Coast and...
Are you aware of all the (free) tools Microsoft is providing you?
Recently I have become more aware of a collection of tools that Microsoft makes available as part of the Office 365 Business subscription packages probably many of you are using. Everyone I’m sure would be familiar with Outlook, Excel, Word and PowerPoint. These are...
Are we heading for a massive shortage of top quality, qualified accountants?
I regularly hear from accounting firm owners and managers of the difficulty of finding and retaining high quality qualified accountants. And in a recent global survey completed by IFAC, this challenge was identified by a significant percentage of firms as being...
Do you make it easy for your clients to do business with you?
Are your products and services easy to understand and buy? In the space of a week I’ve had two very different experiences which have made me think about how important it is for business to make it easy to actually do business with them. I have a long held belief that...
Reflections on the Australian of the Year Awards
The Australian of the Year awards have been going for more than 50 years and like many Australians I watched the announcement of the winners on the ABC TV on the 25th of January. I was curious about the process and went to the website to learn more:...
Holiday reading suggestions
I like to keep an eye out for books that provide ideas for my clients and for me. Here are four suggestions for some holiday reading. Is anyone else a compulsive highlighter of books? I was so excited years ago when I discovered that you could highlight text in...
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