Two recent acknowledgments…

Whilst I never set out to seek recognition for the work that I do, whether it be paid or voluntary it is always nice to be recognised.

In June 2014 I was given a Macquarie University Recognition Award for ongoing commitment to the first Accounting PACE unit (“Accountants in the Profession”) as an industry partner and member in practice, outlining to third year students the different parts of the accounting profession.

And just last week I was awarded a Special Service Award for Good Service to Scouts Australia by His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Retd) (having been the honourary auditor of the Eastwood Marsfield Region since May 2004)

It is these little unexpected acknowledgments that make it all worth my time and effort to help make a difference where I can. 🙂

Speaking at the Presentation
Fellow Industry Partners

 

Notification letter re my Scouts Special Service Award I will be attending a presentation on the 21st of September to receive my award.

Xero Answers the Call

Following on from my blog in May, it was pleasing to see Chris Ridd’s blog last week regarding Xero’s commitment to educating and assisting the accounting and bookkeeping industry.

87.5% of respondents to the question I raised regarding whether they felt Xero had a responsibility to take on this role answered Yes.

With so much change happening in our industry as a result of technology as well as our government’s commitment to reducing red tape and reducing the compliance burden the disruption that has already come is only just the tip of the iceberg. There is a lot more to come in my opinion.

Many accountants are starting to make the changes they need to remain successful in what is becoming a competitive industry but it is alarming to read that many are not. A recent article I read suggested that some practitioners had only just switched from lodging paper returns !! WOW !

With Xero now adding two leadership roles in Australia focusing on this education element many accountants and bookkeepers are going to be provided with the insight they need to be able to adapt and transform their businesses.

In my blog I talked about how the benefits will flow to not only clients and accountants but to the economy generally. Whilst nobody posed the question to me I will elaborate.

Very simply, if accountants are able to utilise their advisory skills then business owners will benefit. If business owners benefit by running more profitable and successful businesses they will either have more money to spend in the economy OR they will reinvest their profits into their business to grow it which will either result in more staff being employed and/or they pay more tax, both results benefiting the economy. With business owners having information at their finger tips and accountants being able to focus on being proactive one would hope that business failures would reduce and this reduces the cost of failures to the economy.

My comments above might appear to be somewhat simplistic but it really is just common sense and there does not need to be a magic formula behind it. If a business owner can have their accountant work with them to use real-time financial information to make decisions about their business and more importantly make the best decision on how to best use their scare resources then the economics of it is plain to see.

In closing, as noted in this months Acuity Magazine (the new monthly journal of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and New Zealand) a research project conducted by the Grattan Institute concluded that the industry itself must take on the role of educating on the benefits of “the cloud” whereas the government must set the policy around its use. So Xero is now going to be leading the industry by appointing members in practice to these roles.

A win win for all.

 

Sydney Roadshow delivers a challenge for Xero

Yesterday I was invited to sit on the Gold Partners Panel at the Sydney session of the May Xero Roadshows. As it always is, it was great to sit up there and share my story and the EFS story with my peers and give them an insight into what has made us a successful financial services firm and how leveraging the cloud has enabled us in part to do this.

Throughout the session Troy Marchant from Robson Partners, a fellow Xero firm and Count firm made some comments regarding the change process that is happening as the disruption continues and how the accountant has to change to survive.

It lead to a discussion afterwards that centered around a possible task that Xero now has as a result of having come into the accounting industry and “changing the game” and that this task is a responsibility to educate accountants appropriately with how to deal with this change and how to transform their practices to ensure they remain competitive and survive in what is going to become a very competitive industry as a result of this disruption.

I have gone on record a number of times stating that for too long our industry has relied upon the compliance regime and so I won’t repeat that here but Xero has an opportunity to further enhance its industry leading position by taking on this role to ensure that a traditional accounting firm has the tools and knowledge to adapt due to the disruption it is causing.

I firmly believe that Xero does have this responsibility and look forward to seeing how they take up this challenge. If they do answer the call it will be a win win for accountants, our clients and the industry as well as the economy in general. The “economy” you ask….how will this benefit the economy? Well, if you want to know, pose the question in the comments below and I will respond.

I’ve also added a poll below to see if people agree with my views 🙂 I am very interested to see what people think.