Today I’m speaking with Will Buckley, Country Manager at Xero Australia. Will was appointed Country Manager, Australia in 2022 following other leadership roles at Xero including three years as Country Manager for Canada. As Country Manager, he is responsible for supporting the small business economy in Australia and for Xero’s relationships with the Australian government, financial institutions, and advisor community. Will joined Xero in 2015 working in the Australian business, before being appointed Finance Director of the US business and driving the launch of Xero in Canada. Prior to joining Xero, he held commercial finance roles in eCommerce and FMCG. He has a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology, Sydney. In this episode, I ask

• What’s a favourite song from the 80’s?
• In 2013, you founded buckleybrown, a 100% cloud accounting practice for small business owners based in Sydney. I think what we all want to know is are they getting preferential Xero pricing ?!! And what have you taken from that experience into your role today?
• Can you share an interesting or fun memory of your time with Rod Drury?
• You’ve had quite an interesting career with Xero, in that you’ve moved from Australia, to the US, to Canada to New Zealand and now back to Australia again. Half of your Xero career you’ve worked for the underdog, and the other half you’ve worked for the dominant player in the market. What have you learnt from those two contrasting experiences?
• Do North American accountants and bookkeepers have a different approach to managing their teams and creating an engaging work environment that Australians can emulate.
• You're 33 years young, what do you hope to achieve in your role as Country Manager of Australia?
• You’ve coined the phrase “Compliance plus Conversations equals Advisory”. What's your take on compliance and where it fits in the future of the profession?
• I was listening to you talk, and you said something that literally stopped me in my tracks, “Your Client Relationship is your business IP”. Wow! I completely agree, for our listeners can you unpack what you mean by this statement.
• Beautiful is embedded in the Xero brand. Why should beautiful questioning be baked into an organisational DNA?
• You’ve said that you admire Jack Ma, Founder of Alibaba – for his approach to compartmentalising his career journey to be more impactful. Is this something you’ve tried to emulate?
• Is there anything else you would like to share with our listeners and how can they get in touch with you?

I hope you liked listening to that interview with Will Buckley, Country Manager at Xero Australia. From here, I suggest you join the Xero Mastermind group on Facebook for advanced conversations around the ecosystem. I suggest you subscribe to the informative Accounting Apps newsletter which gives you a great overview of the ecosystem space. Its available at https:// HeatherSmithAU.COM. I encourage you to connect with me on LinkedIn and subscribe to the Cloud Stories podcast. I’m Heather Smith and you've been listening to the Cloud Stories podcast.. Subscribe to the Accounting Apps newsletter here http:// HeatherSmithAU.COM