Accountants EXPOSED

What a way to start 2023 with our first guest of the year - Sonia Gibson. She is a visionary accounting professional and the Founder of Accounting Heart - which is proudly an all female firm. We get a sneak peek of her accounting journey, her business acumen and her passion for finances and helping smaller businesses achieve their financial goals.

Listen in and to learn more about Sonia and some of the struggles she faced following her path as an accountant and how her commitment to the industry and her clients has helped her build a solid foundation of success.

Some of the topics we talked about are:

Contact Info

You can find out more about Sonia Gibson and her firm Accounting Heart from their website: https://www.accountingheart.com.au/

Michael Edelstein: [email protected]

Mobile: 0421 892 145

Our fantastic guest this week - Amanda Gascoigne with her own coaching business Amanda Gascoigne Consulting is a highly recommended consultant and is currently considered as one of the best practitioners who turned coach - and has many accolades to back it up! In this episode, she shares her knowledge, experience, and the struggles of balancing family life and the demands of public practice especially as a female in the male dominated accounting world.

Join us and do not miss this episode where Amanda tells us where, why and how she started her journey and her shift to consulting. We also discussed topics such as:

"I want people to actually love what they do”

Show Notes

Amanda Gascoigner started her career in public practice with one of the top firms in NSW and went on to open and sell her own successful practice. She is driven and passionate about what she does, and is a huge advocate of embracing changes and following your dreams no matter where you are in life. She is dedicated to helping small and solo accounting practice owners achieve their goals and help them reach financial freedom. Her motto - Own your journey NOW!

Quick facts:

Aside from having the chance to interview some of the most amazing speakers during the 2-day conference, I also had the opportunity to speak at the Accounting Business Expo.  

Here is a little snippet of my session, titled:  𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒇𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕.  

Some of the topics I touched on include:   

1) What are the commonalities between those that have too many accountants knocking on their door and those that hear crickets!  

2) Why do some firms seem to have Remarkable Retention and others have Atrocious Attrition?  

3) What changes can you make in your firm to improve your recruiting and retention strategies?  

4) Future of the accounting industry when it comes to talent!   

𝐖𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤?   As a recruitment professional and an accountant myself - I wanted to present everyone with numbers, evidence and questions that would aid us in becoming remarkable industry leaders not just in servicing our clients but in making sure that employee engagement and retention is top notch, which in the long run would help us build a much better practice.  

For more videos and interviews please go to our Youtube channel or Linkedin page.  

𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐛𝐲: Michael Edelstein Accountants Exposed Podcast Recruitment Expert  

𝐎𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭: 

- Rita Nehme 

- Mausumi Barooah  

#AccountingBusinessExpo2022 #ABE #AccountingConference #AccountingExpo #AccountantsExposed #RecruitmentExpert

Bookkeeping, just like any other profession, has come a long way. From manual records to all the fancy AI software available nowadays, how will bookkeepers keep up? Is the digital era really a threat to the bookkeeping space or is it an opportunity? Our guest, Matthew Addison from the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers will give us the answer to all these questions.

Join us as Matthew shares why he chose to be a bookkeeping advocate and its importance to the accounting industry. Some more of the topics we discussed include:

"A practical challenge in the bookkeeping space at the moment is narrowing your scope- Becoming an expert in a few, not trying to be an expert in everything available to you.”

Show Notes

Matthew Addison started his accounting journey in a Big 4 firm which he deems as his ‘breeding ground’ but later on chose to be a passionate advocate for the bookkeeping space back in 1990. He’s an all around expert in the industry with years of experience in accounting, tax, payroll, business advisory and software accounting solutions. He aims to bring modern solutions to modern problems and let people know that bookkeeping is here to stay and that Bookkeeping is not a pathway to becoming an accountant, Bookkeeping is a profession of its own.

Quick facts:

Our fantastic guest this week - Kyelie Baxter - an award winning accounting professional from IQ Accountants who became a partner at a younger age than most - is finally here! In this episode, she passes on her knowledge, experience, and the secrets to standing out in this competitive industry. She also provides useful advice on how we can cope with the overwhelming changes in the industry and more importantly, how to embrace technology.

Join us and take this opportunity to learn more about Kyelie and some of the innovating things she is doing through her commitment to the industry, her firm and her clients. We discussed topics such as:

"We're not married to anything, we embrace change”

“If you're going to back anyone, back yourself”

Show Notes

Kyelie Baxter, packing 20 years of experience in public practice (who actually wanted to work in retail!) is a no nonsense accountant. She is driven and passionate about what she does and has successfully built her own amazing team for all types of business. She specialises in taxation, and has been dedicated to the industry. Her goal - to be able to simplify the accounting process for clients!

Quick facts:

According to analysis, 1 out of 4 Australians hold crypto assets and it's going to increase exponentially in the next few years and currently, not many of us in the accounting industry are knowledgeable about the booming digital asset world- we are getting overwhelmed! But as it's becoming a more popular source of wealth/income for all kinds of people nowadays, it's something that we need to delve into to give proper advice to our clients in need. How do we account for crypto? Is it taxable? Today, we will try to bridge the gap and ensure that accountants walk away knowing what they should be looking for.

This webinar is here to unpack what crypto is all about (not just for criminals or a fad – blockchain is here to stay) – something accountants need to get a handle on as many of their clients will be holding it, but with little guidance and a lot of confusion.

Our expert panel members today are: Danny Talwar of Koinly, Michael Bacina from Piper Alderman and Greg Valles of Valles Accountants

Here are the topics covered on this webinar:

Show Notes:

In this day and age of technology, what does the future hold for the accounting industry? John Waterworth - the managing director of Valenta Australia sits down with us to help us understand more about what robotics for Accounting Firms especially during a time of critical staff shortage.

Join us as you won’t want to miss this episode where John tells all about the backbone of robotic process automation (RPA), and how you can implement in your practice to save costs, find efficiencies and improve client service! We discussed topics such as:

"One of the biggest hurdles I guess is just freeing up people from being chained to the computer, doing those repetitive tasks.”

Show Notes

John Waterworth, with 25 years of experience in leadership, digital transformation and cyber security is an expert when it comes to all things automation. He is focused on helping businesses adopt RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and Artificial Intelligence to achieve sustainable profitability. His goal: to drive growth and profitability using the emerging technology!

Quick facts:

Contact Info

To find out more about how RPA can benefit your firm you can contact John directly at [email protected] or on his mobile 0403 035 656.

Michael Edelstein: [email protected]

Mobile: 0421 892 145

Struggling to figure out how to add more value to your clients? Retain your staff better? Increase profitability? Our guest today Lynda Steffens from The Small Business Project might just have the solution for you. No it’s not tax returns or cash flows or any kind of fancy dashboards you usually expect when you hear advisory - but a revolutionary way of approaching and implementing advisory as a service in your business.

If that’s got you curious, join us as Lynda uses her experience from practice and coaching methodologies to explain the core of advisory and how you can successfully and systematically implement it in your practice. Some of the topics we discussed include:

"Essentially at its core, advisory is anything you don't have to do.”

Show Notes

Lynda Steffens fell in love with accounting when she was 14, which is earlier than most people we know. And now with 25 years of experience, she is still passionate in assisting clients achieve their goals and just in general enjoys helping fellow accountants especially the next-generation to do things differently and expand their skill set. Her motto: to always make a difference and embrace progress!

Quick facts:

Brett Kelly, CEO of one of the fastest growing accounting firms in Australia, is back by popular demand, rated as one of the top podcasts we recorded, we’re glad to have him back for a meaningful conversation that will have you hooked and wanting more.

Sit back and watch as we present our first ever video podcast where Brett opens up about his plans, ideas and worthwhile sentiments about the accounting industry.

"I said to investors, "I genuinely believe this is a recession proof business", it's very well structured and I took the pandemic as an opportunity to prove the strength and fitness of the business and our people, and prove the business was pandemic proof."

Contact Info

You can find out more about Brett Kelly and his firm Kelly+Partners from their website: www.kellypartners.com.au

To find out more about Recruitment Expert please go to www.recruitmentexpert.com.au or email

Michael Edelstein: [email protected]

We’ve heard many stories and advice about leadership, but our guest Steve Meyn - a 30+ year partner of PKF Lawler, helps us uncover what it really takes to get to partnership and what it takes to stay there and lead from the front in this ever changing industry.

Listen in as Steve opens up about his passion, loyalty, hardships and many more topics and plenty of invaluable advice for accountants young and old:

"You don't have to have all the answers but what you got to do is have the people around you that can help you get the answers”

Show Notes

Steve Meyn is an experienced accountant and leader with over 30 years of experience in the industry. He is passionate about improving businesses and helping the owners. He became a partner at a young age and boasts waking up everyday and loving what he does!

Quick facts:

Contact Info

You can find out more about Steve Meyn and his firm PKF from their website: https://www.pkf.com.au/

Michael Edelstein: [email protected]

Mobile: 0421 892 145

“Connect and profit at Australia’s biggest exhibition and conference for the fast-changing World of Accounting, Business, Finance and Money!

Accounting Business Expo is back and set to take place in-person on 28 & 29 April at the ICC in Sydney.  The market is evolving continually at a rapid pace with new solutions, product developments, and trends designed to enhance the way you do business. Don't miss your chance to get up to speed and join Australia’s largest, most comprehensive, and ground-breaking event for savvy, forward thinking accounting and finance.

Visit www.accountingbusiness.com.au to book your FREE spot!”