by Rob Pillans | Feb 16, 2017 | Accounting Firm Management, Articles, Practice Management, Technology
On 15 February I attended the Xero roadshow in Brisbane. Here are a few things I took away from the Xero presentations and talking to many attendees. The Xero team are passionate about their product and believe they have an outstanding range of products for...
by Rob Pillans | Jan 17, 2017 | Accounting Firm Management, Articles
Those of you who attended my 12 Lessons workshop in 2016 will recall that my first lesson from 30 years of working in and with accountants was about leadership. And you will recall I said that it was first for a reason. I believe that how you lead your firm – how you...
by Rob Pillans | Jan 17, 2017 | Articles, Technology
I love technology. I own two notebook computers, two tablets, two phones and some other cool stuff, use a range of cloud applications and I am constantly excited by what is possible. I also understand that mobile is one of the huge trends in technology. As a society,...
by Rob Pillans | Jan 17, 2017 | Accounting Firm Management, Articles, Book Reviews
Like many of you I suspect, I received a few books for Christmas. One of these was the autobiography of Australian tennis legend Margaret Court. I couldn’t put it down and had finished it less than 24 hours after unwrapping it! As I read about Margaret Court’s...
by Rob Pillans | Nov 23, 2016 | Book Reviews
There is a view amongst some professionals that talking about the disruption of the professions by the application of technology is scaremongering by people with a vested interest to sell products and services. It is true that there are some pretty wild statements...
by Rob Pillans | Nov 23, 2016 | Articles, Planning
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...
by Rob Pillans | Oct 26, 2016 | Articles, Technology
I’ve just returned from ATSA and wanted to share six observations. Accountants are Interested in technology to support smarter ways of working There was a big attendance in Melbourne, the biggest yet I believe, and that is a fair indication that accountants are...
by Rob Pillans | Oct 11, 2016 | Articles, Marketing
There are many ways an accounting firm (and other businesses) can win new clients and in an earlier article on accounting firm management I wrote about some of them. Today I want to focus on referrals – why they are important and what my recent experience with...
by Rob Pillans | Sep 28, 2016 | Articles
In my last article on accounting firm management I focused on attracting the right clients and promised another article on retaining them. Although I’m writing this in respect of accounting firm management, the principles can be applied across other businesses,...
by Rob Pillans | Sep 24, 2016 | Articles
In my last article on accounting firm management I focused on attracting and retaining the right people and promised another article on clients. We talked about people first because you need the right people to be able to attract and retain clients. So here is a five...
