Some more involvement at Mac Uni

Yesterday I was invited to join a focus group at Macquarie University with the heads of department of the PACE Program as they develop the next part of their strategic plan for the program. My invitation came as a result of mine and EFS’ involvement in the PACE program on a number of levels.

It is no secret that I have a strong interest in the academic side of the accounting and wider financial services profession and to see the Uni seeking feedback from industry partners on how they can improve this industry and community participation program as it scales to be a compulsory part of every Mac Uni students undergraduate study in every single degree shows that the Uni is on the right path. To hear also that the Vice Chancellor has made the development of the PACE Program as high priority in the overall University’s strategic plan was also encouraging !

I’m looking forward to getting the draft strategic plan in the coming month for comment because I believe the only way to improve the job readiness of uni graduates is to get involved in shaping how they are taught during their degree (rather than just complaining year after year about how uni graduates have no real practical skills !)

 

 

How the profession is changing….

As you would have seen, last week I was a guest lecturer at Macquarie Uni. It was a great experience and I really enjoyed presenting to the students and giving them a snapshot of a day in the life of a public practice accountant in the SME space.

Whilst listening to the other guest lecturers and also while presenting myself it became apparent that the accountant of the future will not be able to focus on a single discipline and remain relevant.

As fellow presenter Eugene Macey (Senior Manager, PwC Consulting/Advisory) talked about during his presentation, ‘accountants’ need to be multi-disciplinary and amass a range of critical thinking and analytical skills. They need to be able to think outside of the box and focus on providing solutions to their clients.

The Digital Disruption was talked about by all the presenters during the lecture and all agreed that this change has meant that ‘accounting’ is more than just the numbers.

And that leads me to an article that I came across on the day of my lecture, written by Micheal ‘MC’ Carter. The timing was a little ironic but nonetheless, it confirmed exactly what I was going to talk about and given the common theme across all presentations from the day is more proof that successful accountants are adapting to change…changes driven by our client’s demands.

In reading the article, I found that the first comment on the article extremely interesting and I won’t say much about it except that this resistance to change will eventually see many of these accountants losing their clients who are demanding this type of attention to those firms that do want to show an interest in their clients overall affairs (and want to jump into ‘shark infested waters’), whether they are financial planners or not 🙂

The article is below and is a good read.

The Numers Paradox – Accounting Is Not About Numbers by Michael Carter.

Live Blog – Uni Lecture Day !

Here is my live blog to share my experiences with giving my first uni lecture ! I will update it as I go. Be sure to check back every few hours.  ! Latest posts at the bottom !

11:45am

So it was a bit of a sleepless night….but mainly because the young boy Harrison kept jade and I awake ! So feeling a little tired. But I am sure a few coffees, a RedBull and an apple will deal with that issue ! (side note….did you know that eating an apple will wake you up more than drinking a strong cup of the finest coffee….)

A few hours before I will leave to head over to the uni to meet with my fellow lecturer as well as the uni team

I saw some of the other guest lecturer’s slides today and I feel my slides are a little underdone….theirs had pictures and lots of visual stuff….mine is notes on a page ! I just hope my personal animation will make up for my boring slides ! But I am not here to sugar coat a career in public practice. It is a tough industry that carries so much expectation from so many different stakeholders in the community. It is a career path that is challenging but so rewarding and quite simply you get out what you put in.

I don’t plan to go in and talk about me and my story…whilst I will throw in some personal experiences…my aim is to really try and put the students in the picture when it comes to working as a graduate in public practice in the SME sector and what their career progression opportunities look like. I really want them to walk away knowing that public practice is for them or it isn’t. I want to have an honest and upfront discussion with the students as they prepare to start their careers

I thought long and hard regarding how to run the presentation today and I just kept coming back to the KISS principal and making sure that the students know exactly what the good and bad parts are of our space in the industry…….

1:35pm

So a little over an hour before I go up before the students and a fee minutes before I head over to the Uni ! Getting a little more nervous….think I need a shot of something stronger than coffee to calm the old nerves down !

4:45pm

First session done ! Wow, what an experience. I really enjoyed talking about what I do and what the SME industry is about !

It seemed as though most people were engaged, some were asleep though ! But that is Uni isn’t it !

Once I got into a rhythm it just flowed and I think I got the message across. I

Next session is at 6pm. Few changes to make to what I am going talk about !

7:00pm

Second session done ! Smaller audience and more intimate and more questions ! Really good second talk

Got to the point quicker and focused even more on the graduates role and focused more on the opportunities

9:00pm

All done ! What a hectic afternoon/evening.

I think it went great and the students got a clear understanding of what I do.

It was quite interesting to hear about management accounting and consulting and to see how at EFS we are doing this in smaller scales. I actually got quite a bit out of the other two presentations

I really enjoyed being up there and would relish the opportunity to do some thing like that again. !

Pushing into a new domain…

In just under 24 hours I will be giving my first university lecture at Mac Uni ! Excited but also nervous !

Looking forward to the experience of firstly lecturing to some 800 students but then also being part of the industry professionals assisting with the unit throughout the semester.

Its a new domain for me in that my speaking engagements in the past have been for my peers and colleagues, sharing ideas and giving insights into how we run EFS, but tomorrow I am promoted as an industry leading public practice accountant in the SME sector and my audience will be the accountants of tomorrow, many of whom will make the decision upon which part of the profession to begin their careers in following the completion of this unit.

To me, this comes with a big responsibility to not only the students but the profession generally !

I will post back here throughout the day tomorrow to share my thoughts on how it all goes 🙂

Building your mental model | Xero Blog | Rod Drury

It has been a little while since my last post but I came across this from Rod Drury on the weekend. Quite logical when you think about what he is saying.

I always say that confidence comes with knowledge and to some what you display as confidence they believe is arrogance. In some cases people really don’t have a clue about what they are saying and are just unknowledgeable on a subject matter and arrogant just for the hell of it.

But it is easy to spot someone who is knowledgeable on a particular subject because in most cases they will happily let others try to argue the point they have raised, and then just reply with a statement or point of fact that just can’t be argued with because they know the subject so well. That is the key to being an expert in anything in life, whether it be in business, sports, social or personal areas.

Building your mental model | Xero Blog.