Latest Articles
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...
The benefit 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...
Some learnings from the World Congress of Accountants
In my role as an accounting firm coach, mentor and consultant I consider it important to attend selected industry events to keep up to date with what’s going on. That way I can share things of interest with my clients. Let me share some thoughts from the World...
Reflections on recent events hosted by Reckon, Xero and MYOB
In my role as an accounting firm coach and consultant I consider it important to attend selected industry events to keep up to date with what’s going on. That way I can share things of interest with my clients. Let me share some thoughts about three events which have...
Three advisory services you can easily provide to your clients
I worry that some of the current conversations about accountants delivering advisory services are over complicating this and making it sound so much harder than it really is. First let’s define what an advisory service is. I believe an advisory service is anything...
Is there value in segmenting (categorising) your client base?
One of the things you might hear in the accounting profession is a call to categorise or segment your clients. Typically this involves finding ways to categorise them as A, B, C or D (or something similar) and then focusing on servicing better the A’s and attracting...
Reflections on five weeks in Europe
I mentioned in my introduction that Kate and I spent five weeks in Europe in June and July. Here are a few reflections which I hope you will enjoy. Poland We’d not been to Poland before and had not really heard a lot about it. Poland doesn’t get much exposure in the...