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Accountants EXPOSED
Accountants EXPOSED episodes
- Chris Hooper - The Accounting Futurist & Innovator of the Year who has gone through the rise and fall of a fast growing global firm
From starting his side hustles such as the WWF wrestling business as a 13 year old to becoming an accountant in a reputable Adelaide firm and then starting his own practice with his best friend in his early 20s to creating an innovative platform for sole practitioners in accounting to work for clients across the globe.
We catch up with Chris Hooper, Founder and CEO of Accodex
- How his fascination with accounting began and the people behind it.
- How he explored and progressed his career and what sparked his interest to establish his own practice
- His advice for Young Accountants and for people who are considering Accounting as a career path
- Tips in navigating your Accounting career, weighing your options and the Pros and Cons of settling in the Big 4 vs Mid-tier vs Small firms & CA vs CPA & Commerce vs Practice
- His approach in setting up his own Practice with his best friend, how they secured Clients and Finding your Niche
- The future of Bookkeeping
- Getting help from other Proactive Accountants and Business Coaches and the challenges of growing your own firm
- What he would have done differently and the biggest impact on his life
Profile
Chris Hooper is an experienced accountant of 14 years having worked in a reputable Adelaide firm, a CEO and an Accounting Futurist who has the aptitude to predict the future of the Accounting Profession. He believes that Accountants have the ability to change the world and his mission - Change the Accounting Game forever! Chris helps fellow Accountants, mentors Business Students and believes that his job is to make sure everyone succeeds.
He claims that the biggest challenge will always be technology and his way of adapting to it was to evolve the Accounting Industry by designing a progressive network that allows freelance accountants and other professionals to collaborate on projects, no matter where they are in the world.
Some quick facts:
- Accountant with 14 years experience having worked in practice and grown his own at a very fast pace on a global scale.
- Popular public speaker at AIESEC, TEDx, Pecha Kucha, XeroCon and GoldenKey
- Winner of 30 Managers under 30 in 2015, 40 Under 40 in 2018, and Achievement Award in the Young Business Leaders Program for 2013.
Show Notes
- Rob Nixon - Business Coach
- LodgeiT
- Xero
- Practice Ignition
- Carbon Accounting Software
Contact Info
You can find out more about Chris Hooper here
To find out more about RecruitmentExpert please go to www.recruitmentexpert.com.au or email
Michael Edelstein: [email protected]
57 min - Sarah Lawrence – CFO of the Year Talks about Starting and Scaling a CFO Advisory Firm
From humble beginnings in country NSW starting her career as a cadet in Audit to becoming a CFO and Financial Controller at some well know movie production businesses in her early 20’s and now running an award winning and technologically advanced CFO Advisory Firm.
Sarah Lawrence, Founder & Chief Dreamer at Hot Toast joins us to share her:
✔ Journey from cadet in a regional firm to a Financial Controller/CFO in some film production and creative industries to scaling a CFO Advisory Firm in Sydney.✔ What marketing and lead generation tools have helped her the most
✔ Advantages and disadvantages of being a female in business and in Board Rooms.
✔ How she balances running a growing business and downtime to keep her sanity
✔ Her experience with offshoring
✔ Establishing yourself in a particular niche and getting referrals
✔ Importance of staying disciplined and getting the right people around you.
ProfileSarah an industry disruptor and the Founder of Hot Toast, a new breed of accounting firm that focuses on growing companies in the creative and tech start up industries specialising in compliance and reporting, process automation, CFO advisory, tracking financial metrics and technology automation. She comes with over 17 years of experience in the accounting industry having started as a cadet and worked her way to a CFO before going out on her own.Some quick facts:⭐ Fellow CPA⭐ Bookkeeper & CFO Advisor⭐ Winner of the 2019 & 2020 CFO of the Year AwardsShow Notes
- Transcendental Meditation
RecruitmentExpert
We are one of the largest Public Practice Recruiters in Australia and New Zealand and have access to most of the clients and candidates on the market. We thrive on delivering the best quality candidates to accounting firms so that you have the right people on the bus to grow your firm.
Contact Info
You can find out more about Sarah Lawrence and her firm Hot Toast from their website: www.hottoast.com.au
To find out more about RecruitmentExpert please go to www.recruitmentexpert.com.au or email
Michael Edelstein: [email protected]
1 hr 2 min - Brad Eisenhuth & Aidan Parsons - How to Successfully Deliver Business Advisory to your Clients and 5x your Fees
They have partnered with the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand to provide leaders in public practice the opportunity to take part in a hands-on, highly practical program which can successfully transition your practice into a sustainable and impactful Business Advisory practice.
We catch up with Brad Eisenhuth and Aidan Parsons to discuss:
✔ Why they felt accounting firms struggle to offer this much needed service to clients
✔ Powerful insights on how other accounting firms engage and pitch the service to their clients.
✔ What advisory means and how to deliver it and sell it
✔ Some of the challenges practitioners face in implementing and delivering the offering
✔ How it can 5x or even 10x your fees for a SME client you already have
✔ Steps to take to build and successfully grow a successful advisory practice
✔ And finally…how the program is structured and why it’s different to anything else you’ve seen or done.
Profile
Brad Eisenhuth is the CEO of The Outperformer – they design, integrate and facilitate performance and change-focused programs for accounting and finance teams, many who are heavily impacted by structural change, technology advancements and the need to be ‘relevant’ in the way they work with their business and help business leaders to play a bigger game through people, capability and technology.Aidan Parsons is an experienced businessman and the CEO of Keystone Executive Coaching with a demonstrated history of working with businesses in a variety of field and using his skills in sales, marketing and management to create a solid foundation for strong and profitable growth and financial security.
Show Notes
- CA Catalyst Business Advisor Accelerator Program
RecruitmentExpert
We are one of the largest Public Practice Recruiters in Australia and New Zealand and have access to most of the clients and candidates on the market. We thrive on delivering the best quality candidates to accounting firms so that you have the right people on the bus to grow your firm.
Contact Info
You can find out more about Brad Eisenhuth and his Company The Outperformerfrom their website: www.theoutperformer.co;
Aidan Parsons and this Company The Keystone Executive from their website: www.keystoneexecutivecoaching.com
To find out more about RecruitmentExpert please go to www.recruitmentexpert.com.au or email
Michael Edelstein: [email protected]
55 min - Aly Garrett – Part 2 – Maximizing Growth through Technology and Outsourcing while Raising a Young Family
Aly Garrett, Founder of All In Advisory joins us to DISCUSS:
- Working in a Big 4 vs a small firm
- Shares her message of what it’s like to be a female in the accounting industry and challenges she had to overcome
- Tech stack that she uses for her firm
- Leveraging your time as a business owner AND SETTING BOUNDARIES
- Outsourcing work overseas - how to set it up effectively and scale it
- Managing growth and using technology to scale
- Focusing on profitability vs chasing revenue when growing
- How to future proof yourself as an accountant (especially if you're just getting into the industry)
Some quick facts:
⭐ Fellow Chartered Accountant⭐ Tax Agent & Virtual CFO⭐ Winner of the 2019 Women in Finance Small Business Adviser & Principal of the year awards + Top 50 Woman in Accounting & 2018 SA SMSF & Accounting Professional of the Year, Partner of the Year and Overall Excellence Awards and Founder of one of the Top 50 Cloud Accountants in Australia, All In Advisory,Contact Info
You can find out more about Aly Garrett and his firm All In Advisory from their website: www.allinadvisory.com.au
To find out more about RecruitmentExpert please go to www.recruitmentexpert.com.au or email
Michael Edelstein: [email protected]
36 min - Aly Garrett - Part 1 – Secret Recipe to Starting and Scaling a Profitable Accounting Firm
Aly Garrett, Founder of All In Advisory joins us to share her:
✔ Amazing journey from cadet to Big 4 Director and now Boutique Accounting Firm Owner and✔What advisory means and commoditise it and pitch it.✔Challenges of being a female in the accounting industry and gaining credibility as a female business owner.✔Balancing being a mum and running an accounting firm✔Steps she took to build and successfully grow a successful accounting firm in less than 2 years.✔Communicating with clients during COVID✔Establishing yourself in a particular niche and getting referrals✔Powerful insights is how she engages with CLIENTS and pitches her firm.ProfileAly has As a leader and innovator in the cloud accounting space, Aly helps her clients re-engineer their processes and transform their bottom line. Her mantra - All in or all out there is no halfway! She comes with 25 years of experience in the accounting industry having started as a cadet and worked her way to a Director at Deloitte before going out on her own.Some quick facts:⭐ Fellow Chartered Accountant⭐ Tax Agent & Virtual CFO⭐ Winner of the 2019 Women in Finance Small Business Adviser & Principal of the year awards + Top 50 Woman in Accounting & 2018 SA SMSF & Accounting Professional of the Year, Partner of the Year and Overall Excellence Awards and FounContact Info
You can find out more about Aly Garrett and his firm All In Advisory from their website: www.allinadvisory.com.au
To find out more about RecruitmentExpert please go to www.recruitmentexpert.com.au or email
Michael Edelstein: [email protected]
37 min - Brett Kelly - Part 1 - How to get motivated and stay motivated in Business, Life And FamilyBrett Kelly is the Partner of one of the largest accounting firms in Australia , they are BRW Top 25 largest accounting firms in Australia with over 40 Directors and over 200 staff. Brett Kelly has more than twenty years commercial and professional accountancy experience. He specialises in assisting individuals and families who own private businesses.Brett founded Kelly+Partners Chartered Accountants in 2006 and over the past 14 years has grown the business to become the largest private business specialist accounting network in the Greater Sydney area. In June 2017, Kelly+Partners Group Holdings Limited listed on the ASX.Contact InfoYou can find out more about Brett Kelly and his firm Kelly+Partners from their website: www.kellypartners.com.auTo find out more about Recruitment Expert please go to www.recruitmentexpert.com.au or emailMichael Edelstein: [email protected]39 min
- Aaron Lavell – Creating one of the Largest Regional Firms, Succession Planning and Building a Strong Culture of Unity
Running a firm is hard enough. Being a Managing Partner at a young age and building a firm into the largest tax and advisory practice on the Gold Coast is even harder (and it hasn’t all been smooth sailing)!
Today we catch up with Aaron Lavell to discuss his journey from a young accountant at EY to dominating the accounting space and the challenges that went along with that. Some of the things we discussed were:
- Succession planning and what to look for in a new partner
- KPI’s for the firm and how he manages salary expectations and sets salaries for staff
- How to create a strong culture in a firm and more importantly how to uphold it?
- How they handled the response to COVID to reassure clients and staff
- Post COVID policy changes for staff
- How to maintain unity in a multi partner firm
- Learning from the GFC and applying it to the current COVID situation
- Remunerating Partners - Hunters vs Farmers
- How to start a firm and build your client base if you're starting from scratch
Profile
Aaron Lavell is the Managing Partner of one of the largest accounting firms on the Gold Coast called WMS, they are the 7th largest regional firm in Australia with 7 partners and over 60 staff. He has over twenty-five years’ experience in the accounting industry and heads up the corporate finance and business valuation team. He was one of the founding staff members of WMS where he quickly progressed to Partner and soon after Managing Partner and has been successfully leading the firm since 2003.
RecruitmentExpert
We are one of the largest Public Practice Recruiters in Australia and New Zealand and have access to most of the clients and candidates on the market. We thrive on delivering the best quality candidates to accounting firms so that you have the right people on the bus to grow your firm.
Why You Should Work With Us:
- Retained Executive Search Service with delivery on average within 4-8 weeks - or your money back
- Full Money Back guarantees up to 12 months as per our TOB's
- Split payment options to help you with your cash flow as per our TOB's; and
- Discounts for graduates, retainers, admin staff and referrals to your client base
Our Services:
- Succession Planning - Finding a new Partner for your firm
- Growing your Firm's Capabilities and Service Offerings with New/Additional Partners
- Resourcing your Existing Teams with Juniors (CadetsGrads) and Senior Accountants/Auditors
- Contractors to help you through the busy period
- Remote Staff
Contact Info
You can find out more about Aaron Lavell and his firm WMS Chartered Accountants from their website: www.wmssolutions.com.au
To find out more about RecruitmentExpert please go to www.recruitmentexpert.com.au or email
Michael Edelstein: [email protected]
1 hr 8 min - DMY - Best approach to selling and preparing your Accounting Firm for Sale
COVID has had a tremendous impact on accounting firm and practitioners over the last couple of months. Today we talk with the Directors of DMY - Mark Emney and Daniel Jones where we discuss:
- Impact of COVID on firms and the level of M&A activity in the Accounting Firm space
- How to prepare for a future sale and what you should do now - you'll be surprised how long and when you should start
- What buyers are looking for
- How to maximise your valuations
- What to watch out for and mistakes to avoid
- The ideal mix of advisory vs compliance in your firm
- Special tips for buying and selling during COVID times
Profiles
DMY who are the Leaders in Selling Accounting Practices across Australia.
Mark Emney comes with a rare mix of large corporate, consulting and entrepreneurial start-up experience where as a ex-PwC Partner he has guided organisations, large and small, around improving performance and boosting profitability and has been a senior executive in household names such as Wesfarmers and Bankwest to name a few.
Daniel Jones is an accountant that has a 20 year history working with accounting firms around the globe, and has advised on a large number of M&A transactions. He is a regular speaker at industry events across Australia and has been featured in the media for his insights on the accounting sector.
Contacts
You can find out more about DMY from their website: www.dmyassoc.com.au
To find out more about RecruitmentExpert please go to www.recruitmentexpert.com.au or email
Michael Edelstein: [email protected]
1 hr 8 min - Rob Nixon - Growing your firm to $1m profit per Partner while working less than 500 hours
On this episode, we talk about all the things accountants could be doing better and where they're going wrong. Mistakes that are costing them huge potential increases in revenue, profits and lifestyle.
Now, Rob Nixon is not an accountant. Yet he has forged a niche to be one of the world’s foremost authorities on how accounting firms can achieve peak performance and his clients on average see profit increases of 98.4% from revenue increases of only 20.8% while working fewer hours with simple tweaks in workflow and technology.
He is an entrepreneur who has been running successful businesses since 1986. Since 1994 he has been running businesses that specialise in helping Accountants run better, more profitable businesses.
Accountants intrigue Rob and over the years he has trained them, consulted to them, coached them, researched them and visited thousands of them. All in the pursuit of what works and what does not work. He believes accountants are the natural trusted advisor to business and can help their client’s build amazing businesses. He also believes accountants don't earn enough for how smart they are, the value they add and the risks they take.
His speaking work has taken him around the world where he has spoken to in excess of 170,000 accountants. Currently, his products and strategies are used by accountants in over 30 countries. His landmark ideas and strategies are adopted by thousands of large and small firms all over the world.
In 2005 he created the revolutionary coaching model called Coachingclub. The Coachingclub model enabled firms to be accountable, to consistently learn and to share ideas amongst their peers. So far over 800 accounting firms have graduated from his Coachingclub program. The vast majority of firms have doubled or tripled profits because of the program.
He has personally coached over 500 firms and helped them add more nearly $1 Billion of new profit.
He is the author of 4 bestselling books Accounting Practices Don’t Add Up, Remaining Relevant, The Perfect Firm and his most recent book The Wealthy Accountant. All have received rave reviews from Accountants and industry professionals from around the world.
Rob is a keen golfer, adventurer and cyclist. He is ticket holder no. 293 to go into space on Virgin Galactic and he lives in sunny Brisbane, Australia with his lovely wife Natalie and 3 children.
You can find out more about Rob Nixon on his website: www.robnixon.com
To find out more about RecruitmentExpert please go to www.recruitmentexpert.com.au or email
Michael Edelstein: [email protected]
46 min - 1 min
About Accountants EXPOSED
From the publisher's feed
Creating lightbulb moments - unravelling the secrets to success of top performers in the accounting space, in Australia and beyond.
We speak to some of the best practitioners, aspiring young partners and service providers to the industry to discover what it takes to become a partner, how to successfully run a practice, what keeps partners awake at night and some of the latest trends, tips and tricks in the industry.