Accounting Leaders Podcast

This week, Stuart is joined by Marilyn Davies, Director of Tandem Group, an accounting firm founded more than 100 years ago in the Taranaki region of rural New Zealand. Marilyn discusses the impact of COVID-19 on New Zealand businesses, the challenges of finding great staff, advice for the younger generation of accountants, and much more. 

• The impact of COVID-19 in New Zealand, and affects on the supply chain (3:00)
• Different types of clients and specialities (7:00)
• The embracement of Xero (10:10)
• The state of distributed teams versus in-office teams in a post-COVID world (12:40)
• Battling Zoom meeting exhaustion (14:10)
• The industries that have suffered and those that have thrived during the pandemic (15:30)
• The secrets to Xero’s success (19:30)
• Marilyn’s experience using Karbon at Tandem (21:40)
• The challenges of finding great staff when you’re not in a big city (24:00)
• Succession planning (26:50)
• The tax return as a by-product of what accountants actually do (30:00)
• Advice for young up-and-coming accountants (31:00)
• Incredible client stories (32:10)

We're interrupting your podcast feed for a bonus, shorter episode to discuss some breaking industry news. Last week, pricing and onboarding app GoProposal announced that they had been acquired by Sage. To give you the inside story, we brought back one of our earlier guests, the co-founder of GoProposal James Ashford. In this episode, James shares why he made this decision, what it means for GoProposal's customers and the wider profession, what accountants can learn from his M&A experience, and most importantly, what comes next.

James and Stuart discuss: 

• Making the decision to sell GoProposal at day 1 (2:15)
• Wrestling with your ego and testing the market (4:10)
• What accountants can learn from James’ experience (6:50)
• Deciding to sell GoProposal to Sage (9:30)
• Prioritizing the GoProposal team and ensuring their buy-in every step of the way (10:45)
• The positive and negative reactions from GoProposal customers (12:00)
• What will happen to GoProposal’s integrations with Sage competitors? (15:30)
• The next chapter for James (16:30)
• A deeper integration between GoProposal and Karbon (21:30)

This week, Stuart is talking all things cryptocurrency with Arthur Teller and Zac McClure from TokenTax, the leading crypto tax platform and cryptocurrency tax accounting company. Together they discuss a broad range of crypto topics including how this movement is giving the younger generation a way to gain wealth, the global implications, and the trends in cryptocurrency that everyone in the accounting profession should know about. They even provide an answer to Stuart’s question; “what is going to 20x in value in the next two years”! 

Together they discuss: 

• Bitcoin or Ethereum (1:20)
• Arthur’s journey toward involved with crypto and TokenTax (3:00)
• Zac’s experiences in Zimbabwe and India (5:00)
• Discovering cryptocurrency and the birth of TokenTax (7:50)
• Being here for the long-haul (13:00)
• The IRS’ approach to cryptocurrency (14:00)
• The transition from the corporate world to the crypto world (17:20)
• Navigating crypto’s complexities and ambiguities (19:10)
• The countries showing the most progression and maturity toward cryptocurrency (22:40)
• The mistakes occurring in the US (25:40)
• The impact of the generational shift (27:00)
• What happens when the young become rich (30:10)
• Generations interacting and adapting to a whole new concept of economics (33:00)
• The importance of (and problem with) common sense (36:50)
• Zac and Arthur’s predictions for the coins or tokens that will 20x over the next two years! (38:00)

This week, Stuart is joined by Heather Townsend, founder of The Accountants Millionaires' Club, author of 6 books, and highly-regarded influencer, speaker and coach to accounting firm owners. They explore the intricacies of her career, her capacity to be well prepared, and the growth that she's helped many partners and firms achieve over the years.

Together they discuss:

• How Heather fell into the accounting profession (1:40). 
• Being an educator, taking the complex and making it simple (6:30). 
• Acknowledging that you can’t do everything (9:00). 
• The 3 ways to grow an accounting practice (10:30). 
• Pricing and increasing your fees (12:00). 
• Going after the wrong goals and having the wrong ideas of success. (16:00). 
• Recruiting challenges and the impact of COVID-19 (22:10). 
• Outsourcing and offshoring staff (28:30). 
• Teaching the wrong skills to young accountants (35:40). 
• The consolidation of technology (39:40). 
• The future of compliance (41:40). 
• The Accountants Millionaires' Club and the strength of community (45:30).

This week, Stuart is joined by Vice President of Product Management and Design for Intuit, Jorge Olavarrieta. In a wide-ranging chat, Jorge shares the path that brought him to Intuit, how the business is solving its customer’s biggest problems, and what’s coming next.

Together they discuss: 

Jorge’s education at Texas A&M University (2:30). The path that led him to a company that employs more than 10,000 and brings in $10billion annual revenue, and working under different Intuit leaders and CEOs (14:30). Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, and accepting it as a form of currency (20:40). How marketplaces influence technology adoption (23:10). Competitors, partners and providing the best solution to the customer (28:30). Intuit’s approach to practice management and the decision to partner with Karbon (39:00).

This week Stuart is joined by a friend and accounting industry colleague, Ohran Gobrin from Fuller Landau in Canada. Together they discuss: 

Stuart and Ohran catch up (0:59-2:00). Ohran’s journey from engineering to accounting (2:00-8:20). Being responsibly responsive to a changing environment (8:20-14:03). Rolling out a hybrid model in your firm (14:03-18:48). How Ohran went from living in South Africa to Canada (18:48-22:59). Ohran’s different experiences and roles in the accounting industry (22:59-27:05). Technology adoption in the accounting industry (27:05-32:27). Ohran’s experience providing legal expertise and expert evidence in the Ontario courts (32:27-35:16). What’s on the horizon for Fuller Landau and the accounting industry (35:16-42:31).

This week Stuart is joined by the father-son accounting duo: Bernie and Jason Ackerman. Together they discuss: 

The hunt for the world’s best scrambled eggs (0:55-5:35). Bernie’s career journey and how he got his son, Jason, to join his firm (5:35-8:08). Loyal clients and low turnover is part of the reason why BNA is doing well today (8:08-9:13). When you join your dad’s company, it's in your best interest to upgrade the tech stack (9:13-12:26). Creating the ultimate client experience (12:26-18:28). What technologies and improvements the accounting industry needs (18:28-22:36). The downfalls of the partnership model (22:36-25:26). What’s in store for Jason’s future and BNA’s future (25:26-29:58). Computers are not replacing accountants anytime soon (29:58-31:40). PPP loans and some positive impacts COVID-19 had on the accounting industry (31:40-36:41).

This week Stuart is joined by Connecticut-based CPA and author Dawn Brolin. Together they discuss: 

How experiences from coaching softball can be utilized in your accounting firm (1:14-8:45). Why you need a designated motivator (8:45-13:20). How to find the motivation (13:20-16:28). The importance of defining the WHY in your work (16:28-24:23). Trends in the industry (24:23-28:39). Dawn’s experience fighting against fraud (28:39-35:40). Innovation in accounting and the operational technology stack (35:40-47:11). Running a virtual-first company, and the opportunities it allows (47:11-49:11). All about Powerful Accountants Inc and their clients (49:11-56:51).

Gary Wood from CRC, a small accounting firm in Missouri, joins Stuart on this week's episode. Together they discuss: 

The value of conferences, with a little sprinkle of hockey playoff talk (0:53-4:48). The importance of networking with accountants in similar-sized firms (4:48-6:44). Dealing with legislative changes and government resources during COVID-19 (6:44-9:55). Burnout, overworking and saying ‘no’ (9:55-12:12). Having deep, instead of wide, client relationships (12:12-15:29). Client retention and communication (15:29-17:54). Work-life balance (17:54-19:30). The benefits of working for a small firm (19:30-22:55). How does the accounting industry change its recruiting pitch to get young professionals into the industry (22:55-26:47). Why accountants love seeing their clients succeed (26:47-31:36). Creating a blueprint for running a small firm (31:36-35:20).

Long-time friend of Stuart, Steph Hinds from Growthwise, joins the podcast to talk about topics from accounting to Australia (and everything in between). Together they discuss: 

How Steph’s business and clients are handling the impact of COVID-19, how different areas of the world are handling the situation, and how community has been critical during the past 1.5 years (1:32-21:00). The importance of telling your story (21:00-24:45). Loving what you do and who you work with (24:45-26:39). When larger companies come into your town (26:39-31:52). Automating the accounting industry (31:52-41:39). The state of the Australian economy (41:39-53:40).