The following collection of articles provides inspiration and expert advice on how to take your business to the next level

1. 9
TIPS TO
GROW YOUR
ACCOUNTING
FIRM
INTHEBLACKLEADERSHIP . .
INTHEBLACKLEADERSHIP . STRATEGY . BUSINESS

2. FROMINVESTINGINTECHNOLOGY,
TEACHINGIN-DEMANDSOFTSKILLS,
TOCHANGINGYOURBUSINESSSTRUCTURE
THROUGHAVIRTUALCFO,THEREARE
SEVERALINNOVATIVEWAYSINWHICH
ACCOUNTINGFIRMSCANGROW
THEIRBUSINESS.
THEFOLLOWINGCOLLECTIONOF
ARTICLESPROVIDESINSPIRATION
ANDEXPERTADVICEONHOWTOTAKE
YOURBUSINESSTOTHENEXTLEVEL.

4. ACCOUNTINGSERVICESFOR
FRANCHISES
Australia’s large franchise sector is a lucrative
market for accounting firms. In this sector, typically
a franchisee pays the franchisor for a licence to
operate a business under the franchisor’s brand.
“We’ve found that there’s a bit of a gap in
knowledge base … In franchisee training, there’s
not a big emphasis on the financial side of the
business,” says Peter Knight FCPA, who established
Franchise Accounting & Tax in 2017.
Knight offers services that focus on a franchise’s
financial performance and governance, including
bookkeeping, accounting and tax, strategic
planning and business planning.
READ MORE

5. STAFFENGAGEMENTSTRATEGIES
The auditor of the future will use data analytics
and much larger sets of information from a
wide variety of agencies, according to Ben
Jiang, director – data analytics in the Victorian
Auditor General’s Office.
“The traditional approach of sampling was
necessary in its time but now the volume of
transactions is so high that analytics technology
has to be the way to go,” Jiang says.
Jiang’s team has written a series of algorithms
to transform the material into a common
format for analysis, with the aim of
streamlining manual processes.
READ MORE

6. SUPPORTFARMERSIN
FINANCIALCRISIS
Australia’s farmers and the businesses
reliant on those farmers face significant
financial hardship due to the long-running
drought.
“Accountants are best placed to advise
their clients, as they’re actively involved
in their financial affairs,” says Andrew
Morrison CPA, director of Paisley
Robertson Accountants in Wagga Wagga,
New South Wales.
“They can produce the financial statements
government agencies require to process
drought assistance applications,” he says.
READ MORE

7. ACCOUNTINGPODCASTS
About 3.5 million Australians aged
16 to 64 listen to podcasts, according
to a survey for Nova Entertainment.
While podcasts are gaining momentum,
the key question is whether podcasting
is appropriate for accountants.
Founding partner of The Practice,
Jason Cunningham CPA, a guest on
CPA Australia’s podcast series, says,
“Because everyone is time-poor,
I turned my book Have your cake and
sell it too into an audiobook. I’m a big
advocate of podcasting.”
READ MORE

8. CONNECTWITHSTART-UPS
For accounting firms looking to
embrace technology and recruit
younger, talented accountants,
advising and/or investing in start-ups
or early-stage businesses can be a
game changer.
According to Jason Bertalli FCPA,
director at Melbourne-based BNR
Business Accountants, traditional
accounting firms need to do more
to build relationships with rising
tech enterprises. “They definitely
need to step up and embrace this
space, otherwise it will step up and
embrace them.”
READ MORE

9. MARKETINGTIPS
With the proliferation of social media and content
marketing strategies such as e-newsletters, relying
on word-of-mouth to attract new clients to your
accounting firm may no longer be enough.
According to Brent Szalay FCPA, founder and managing
director of Melbourne-based firm SEIVA, the key is to
know what you stand for in a crowded environment.
“You need a point of difference and a brand that is
known for something, not just finance,” he suggests.
READ MORE

10. VIRTUALCFO
The virtual CFO has become more popular in
Australia and abroad, with start-ups and even
established businesses choosing to hire virtual
CFOs to oversee and undertake key ongoing
business tasks.
“Technology is offering so many opportunities
for practitioners today. If you look at what cloud
accounting has done, it really created the virtual
CFO movement, which is happening around the
world,” says Erik Asgeirsson, president and CEO of
US-headquartered CPA.com (formerly CPA2Biz Inc.).
This allows practitioners to undertake work
remotely and readily upload and download data
between different computer systems.
READ MORE

11. STAYRELEVANTBY
IMPROVINGSOFTSKILLS
Eight in 10 participants in a World Congress of
Accountants session feared that accountants are losing
relevance because of emerging technology and innovation.
Bachir Zreika ASA from Sydney firm The Tax Factor says he believes
technology is enabling accountants to be “more creative” and is a “great
way to enable interactions with clients”.
Zreika believes modern accountants should be “dexterous, versatile,
adaptive to change, high energy and with good communication skills.”READ MORE

12. Individuals’ titles were correct at the time these articles were published, but may have changed since.
TOREADABOUTTHELATESTINONLINEACCOUNTINGSOFTWAREINAUSTRALIA,VISIT
HTTPS://WWW.INTHEBLACK.COM/ARTICLES/2018/12/01/LATEST-ONLINE-ACCOUNTING-SOFTWARE-AUSTRALIA

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