G'day friends,

Been a while but Dave made Paul a promise - that he could make the most content rich accounting event, filled with high value content, a fair balance for sponsors and organizers, and a proper party.

And Paul is the sort of person who holds people to account....

The agenda is finalised
The band is booked
The drinks budget has been broken
The Access Group has a monstrous new take on AI to share

And there's about 30 tickets left.................... and Dave said it would sell out ....so you know...help him out.

Get your tickets at accessallareas.au

Access All Areas - Access All Areas

Sorry about some of the audio, we are out of form.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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As Statler said to Waldorf, the witty old blokes in the VIP box on the Muppet show;

“There’s a lot to be said about this program.”

To which Waldorf quipped back;

“Too bad you can’t say it on a family show!” The bothed harrumphed and probably cut to a clip of Kermit trying to get animal ready for his next scene.

And in the spirit of that nostalgia Trenches starts it's 8th year.

Paul and David say a huge THANK YOU for investing some of your time listening to us.

Because of you we are earn the meaningless perk of being ranked in the top 20% most listened to podcast on earth.

Not bad for a show about real life in the accounting industry.

Best on Ground

David

CAANZs budget submission covers everything - but will Canberra listen? - CAs influence has to be at a weak point https://www.charteredaccountantsanz.com/news-and-analysis/advocacy/policy-submissions/pre-budget-submission-2023-24

Karbons payments product was bigger than expected https://karbonhq.com/feature/billing-and-payments/

Fox Sports - Stick to highlights of the 2016 and 2023 Grand Finals, leave the balance sheets to us https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7163833930805096449/

Paul

Paul hit the ChangeGPS National tour to see the launch of Protect - David calls it the biggest innovation in accounting in a decade https://changegps.com.au/apps/protect

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE - David did not ask Paul to cover this, in fact David has begged Paul to talk about ChangeGPS in the past and he has said no. The comments in the show are 100000% because Paul chose to share them.

MYOB lampoons instant invoicing in the best way https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVzPKz_Uz2M

Worst on Ground

Paul

Flexible Hours will suffer thanks to the right to switch off https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/business-fights-back-against-right-to-disconnect-from-work-20231220-p5esol#:~:text=%E2%80%9CA%20legislated%20right%20to%20disconnect,are%20unreasonable%2C%E2%80%9D%20she%20said.

Agent Linking- David completely misunderstood the issue but Paul was in the room when it was workshopped….what actually happened is worse.

Ethics and the insane tokens accountants need to jump through as CA clings to a belief it can regulate the profession. Pledges, dobbing in peers increased ethics training.

David

Media reports of 150 ATO agents linked to tik tok GST fraud is good ol fashioned clickbait

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My Father was a public practitioner for 40 years and my family lost him this year.

One day, everyone of your families will be in this position. This episode, might be important to them. At some point in your life, it might be important for you.

The first 8.5 minutes of this episode I talk about Dad. He came to Australia with very little, was brought up through welfare homes and then together with my mum raised my sister and I, while building an accounting practice that sustained my family through millions of happy moments. If it is too heavy for you, I understand, sharing this is an indulgence for me, you can skip it if you want to.

If you skip it, you need to know this bit.

Regular listeners would knowhow influential Dad was on my career and values. He is the reason I understand what you do so well. And why I realised I was better placed to help you rather than small business clients.

Paul and I then talk through the first two weeks, the transition to get Paul control to service clients, and how he navigated the day to day while managing his practice and his family.

Finally we talk through the sale process and what it means for for my family

While dealing with the grief, Paul stepped in as director and ran the day today while I worked through a sale process.

Not every family has a Paul or a son like me, our knowledge of the industry helped.

And not everyone has a friend like Paul, who stepped up the way the very best of friends do, when you are at your lowest.

I hope when reading this line, you appreciate my lesson here.

I develop, sell and support accounting technology for a living, so it is with honesty that I say:-

The tech you use doesn't matter.

All that matters. Is your health, and your relationship with your clients.

Yes, you're all that matters.

______________________

Cultural Note

Z"L is an English rendering of a common Hebrew posthumous honorific.

ז״ל‎ (Z"L) is the acronym of זיכרונו לברכה‎ (zikhronó liv'rakhá, literally “may his memory be a blessing”. - wikipedia.

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This show was recorded in mid February but thanks to Dave being busy getting the ChangeGPS new TaxPlan Advanced product ready we had a delay getting it out. Oh how we long for the days 6 years ago when we'd record and publish in a 2 minute workflow.

Before we begin.....To The Xero's...https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7039489285565161472/

Best

A very simple explanation about why we don’t know what to do in the current Australian Economy

Australians head for their first endogenous shock in 30 years - MacroBusiness

Tips for Xero Roadshow for exhibitors and why we need an active ecosystem

Xero Roadshow Playbook | App Partner Edition (letsjourney.com.au)

Worst

Dext are determined to reinvent an accounting role Pre-Accounting: Why Small Businesses Can’t Ignore It - Dext Blog

Death of the Accountants Exemption Michelle Levy advice review: Labor to ‘stress-test’ plan to overhaul financial advice (afr.com)

Xero State of the Union Report Take Aways

Dave

Surprised how popular mergers are in shifts in practice structure is
40% of practices offer employee benefits 40% dev and training, 33% track employee wellbeing, if you aren't happy leave….we don’t need to constantly berate the business model of accounting firms, enough firms are progressive to give staff choice and it's the laggards loss.
Only 19% are home office only, that convo is dead, move on

Paul

Bookkeepers don’t equal accountants in any sense of practice but the report, like so many other strip both of their individual identities and can get the conclusion wrong
More services doesn’t mean more service
Surveys are always an issue

Dave's not so new Trench

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While the entire world changes in response to war, inflation, the Covid Era work habits that are sticking round and Jim Chalmers attempt to alter the course of capitalism, our pertinacious host Paul Meissner proudly declares that TECH WILL NOT CHANGE (even though he knows ChangeGPS will drop 3 new products this year)!

Tax will Change
Blue collar workers won't get the same ATO treatment as white collars
The year of the micro business as COSBOA gets the chance to stop pandering to unions
The year of return to employment for failing micro businesses
Conference Schedule overload
Post Conference marketing to accountants to be .... reduced? NAH!
The voice of accountants gets organised to have impact for small business and themselves
Professional bodies make an effort to improve, hopefully
There has to be a growth in offshoring
Conference Content maintains its repetition
Accountants look after themselves!!

This show is proudly sponsored by Access Offshoring and ChangeGPS

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We are brought to you by ChangeGPS LIVE FROM BRISBANE https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/changegps-live-from-brisbane-tickets-460588100407

Best on Ground

Trenches Award Finalists https://awards.fromthetrenches.com.au/ GET YOUR TICKETS NOW and enjoy some early bird pricing

Could the real CAANZ Members please stand up? YES!!!!!

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6995548683614253056/

Work from Home For Ever is done

https://twitter.com/ShaanVP/status/1588589924072443904

Sensationalist Click Bait our way https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-11-01/the-accountant-shortage-threatens-capitalism-s-future

Conor Clune published a paper on the governance of professional accounting bodies and he's coming on trenches https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/AAAJ-08-2020-4756/full/html

Xero small business insights is finally getting the recognition it deserves https://www.linkedin.com/posts/louise-southall-2038b6157_policymaking-at-the-reserve-bank-speeches-activity-6988004559528861697-0YO0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android

Great engagement from Tax Institute to a member concern https://twitter.com/austaxter/status/1582505298010382337

RIP Simple Fund Desktop https://www.bglcorp.com/2022/09/19/simple-fund-desktop-end-of-product-life-date-set/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=rasa_io&utm_campaign=newsletter

Worst on Ground

Early proof quality of work is declining due to staff shortage crisis https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/deloitte-calls-crisis-meeting-blames-staff-turnover-for-poor-audit-results-20221025-p5bsn8

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Today's CAANZ AGM was a "Sales Pitch" According to 25 year member Thomas O'Brien.

Thom asked a question at the AGM, he got a response but doesn't feel he got an answer, in fact he doesn't feel heard at all.

In this episode Thom gives his time to share his experience of trying to be heard by CAANZ during an AGM where CAANZ stated they were listening multiple times.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This is one of the hardest episodes we've recorded. Both David and Paul have such pride in achieving our CA designations, the quality of the CA program and the effort it took to complete the program.

We feel that the current CAANZ doesn't represent the needs, interests or wants of public practice members and the board asking for votes at the AGM for a 15.8% payrise has understandably upset members. Many members believe this is unwarranted and want to do something about it.

CAANZ Board Assessment Process

David and Paul have discussed their views on CAANZ's strategy and values with a public practice lens and we believe the pay rise isn't warranted.

To be fair to the board, our plucky hosts have reviewed CAANZ strategy and assessed each pillar based on their own opinions.

Get the CAANZ Strategy here https://www.charteredaccountantsanz.com/about-us/what-we-do/vision-and-strategy

Why bother?

If all accountants do is complain amongst ourselves, and ignore opportunities for impact, we will eventually be pushed aside and taper off into further anger and frustration.

We encourage you to do the same prior to casting your vote. We are not campaigning a no vote, we are campaigning for you participate.

We encourage members in public practice to make their own decision, but if you have a view, don't leave it to other voices to drown you out, vote.

Next Steps

Members will have received an email entitled "Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand 2022 Annual General Meeting"

There is a link to register your proxy with a no vote and assign it to the president to table at the AGM. This email also contains your Unique Identification Number (UIN) that you'll need to register your vote.

While members who feel the organisation is being mismanaged can't do a lot to be heard, we CAN do this.

This isn't a call for resignations or mutiny, it's simply another attempt by members with real passion for the industry and pride in our designation to be heard.

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The Australian Accounting Industry Awards looks to celebrate hard-working accountants, bookkeepers, and leaders of the industry for 2022.

Hailed as the Brownlow medal night for the accounting industry. These awards highlight the efforts and grit of our public practitioner community during arguably one of the toughest periods of their career.

Join us in Sydney, in late November, for a gala dinner for the ages. Strictly limited places, be sure to RSVP when tickets become available.

Nominate yourself or a friend here https://awards.fromthetrenches.com.au/

The Australian Accounting Industry Awards are brought to you by

Weel ChangeGPS Dext Content Snare Access Offshoring Aider Lightyear Australian Bookkeepers Network Everperform and The institute of Certified Bookkeepers

Our Awesome media partners are Accountex SYDNEY 2023 and XU Magazine

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When Xero goes down does CTO Mark Rees get a red alert alarm in the middle of the night? Is it red flashing lights and blaring alarms?

Listen to find out as Paul Meissner goes 1:1 with Mark Rees at Xerocon

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There are so many new payment apps now.

Some of them are payments but cheaper and other build great workflows to solve business problems you currently have.

And there is a ton of work being done to help banks understand Xero data.

And the person overseeing this strategy is Xero's Leigh O'Neill.

Check out our other Xerocon Interviews.

4 Minutes and 31 Seconds with Jo Lyons @Xerocon https://omny.fm/shows/from-the-trenches/4-minutes-and-31-seconds-with-jo-lyons

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New Xero APAC Managing Director Jo Lyons has the energy one needs to take on this enormous job.

In this 4 minutes and 31 second floor walk interview Jo and Paul capture the energy of Xerocon.

Check out our other Xerocon interviews

Financial Services and Xero - What and Why with Leigh O'Neill - EGM Financial Services

Where's the product? With Mark Rees CTO

Huge thanks to Xero for comping Paul and Dave some Xerocon tickets.

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It's a nervous feeling as we get ready for for the biggest gathering of the industry in 3 years with the 3,000 odd attendees slightly eclipsing the 13 odd people who went to the IPA crypto conference.

This is the retail junket we have all been looking for, the most accessible one that has sold out by attendees, was over sold to sponsors and stands to re shape the energy in the industry.

And we discuss, if we don't expect major product announcements, and if the content is more wokey, techy, thoughy leadershipy stuff you could get anywhere then why did it sell out? And why are we so excited?

Well, because this is the greatest peer accounting community in the region and the industry clearly craves coming together.

In this years preview Dave and Paul cover:

Is this a tech conference or an accounting conference?

What we're looking forward to

What we want to learn

Who we want to meet (hint, it's you).

Software Vs Accountants Futsol Penalty Shootout

Want to kick a ball at the head of a software vendor (And be ok with them kicking back)?

Software Vs Accountants Futsol penalty shoot out will go ahead live at

Time 2.00 PM

Day 2 Wednesday

If you want to attend send Paul, Dave or Trent a message on social media or email summit@fromthetrenches.com.au

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Best on Ground

Tyler Casky takes the Moral High ground on paid influencers https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tylercaskey_i-love-little-innovations-like-this-they-activity-6964724147667025920-k72D/?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=member_desktop_web

The rise of Workplace TV

Madmen
Succession
Halt and Catch Fire
Silicon Valley
Industry
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-new-season-of-industry-and-the-rise-of-workplace-tv/amp

Pauls Rant got 50k Linked In views - but is he right?

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6963277532511043585/

Progress on the Gender Pay Gap at the Big 4

https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/financial-review-consulting-salary-guide-2022-23-20220808-p5b815

Paul

Excel formula’s: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/asifmasani_financial-modelling-formulas-ugcPost-6965610625259454464--7kU?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

We need a Recession so tech staff find out what hard work looks like https://twitter.com/JohnWRichKid/status/1561023740577779713

Worst on Ground

David

Quiet quitting isn't real - we used to call it being lazy, this is just the old gen thinking the new gen work less - https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/appointments/17457-excess-overtime-fuels-quiet-quitting-epidemic

This is what 16% homeloans look like - Literally https://www.linkedin.com/posts/james-n-nicol_these-are-not-high-interest-rates-this-activity-6968392410934501376-kJ4j/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Nonsense Mission Statements getting called out https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/management/ashurst-should-accept-its-purpose-is-not-extraordinary-20220722-p5b3qc

Paul

CPA too late on capacity to pay letters

https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/business/17328-avoid-capacity-to-pay-letters-warns-cpa-australia

Chartered Accountants Launches another review - we don't care, what matters is implemented changes.

Intuit has rebranded to a simpler font. Why? https://www.intuit.com/blog/news-social/unveiling-our-new-intuit-logo/?cid=soc_employee-ambassador&utm_channeltype=LinkedIn

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What a week to make worst on ground. No matter how hard you tried, some other company did it worse.

Xero are pulling their much loved version 1 reports. That was a show until…

KPMG got caught cheating their chartered exams and CAANZ did barely anything about it. That was a show until…

CAANZ took 18 months to do what little they did causing all three accounting bodies to get a please explain from the Professional Standards Authority and somehow found a way to defend their actions and blame their processes instead of any one person.

Sounds like the type of unaccountable culture that could lead to….say……systemising ethical breaches.

Best on Ground

David

Xero’s Emotional Tax Return Campaign https://www.linkedin.com/posts/joseph-lyons-au_running-your-own-business-is-an-incredibly-activity-6949868389066514432-7Qly/?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=member_desktop_web

Accountants Daily new Editor Phil King is capturing the mood of the industry with tech news and industry voice

Paul

New Xero product - Xero go. Interesting given the current app already has a lot of the functionality. https://www.xero.com/blog/2022/07/xero-go-for-uk-based-sole-traders/

Beta testing new tech is good for the customer.

AI in Food - https://www.afr.com/technology/pizza-giant-gets-into-maths-of-preparing-food-before-orders-arrive-20220713-p5b1g0

Worst on Ground

Paul

CA can’t uphold the ethics of the profession

https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/professional-regulator-blasts-shocking-delay-in-kpmg-cheating-probe-20220718-p5b2jn Perception that CA treat big firms better than small may not be true CAANZ blame their processes, but what about their people? Who is actually responsible? The by-laws can’t punish the right entities How important is being part of the Professional Standards Authority?

ANZ - MYOB - Suncorp - Myob

https://www.arnnet.com.au/article/699933/anz-drops-myob-acquisition-talks/

David

Rezza hood manages to upset accountants and bookkeepers in one overly salesy Hpost

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rezahooda_accountants-accountingandaccountants-activity-6953303419453378560-b5xX/?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=member_desktop_web

Mass Media Fear mongering on interest rates makes us dumberhttps://www.linkedin.com/posts/michaelhutchens_australias-mass-media-reporting-of-the-reserve-activity-6949950144876290049-rnjx/?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=member_desktop_web

Atlassian is so unprofitable but we worship them

https://www.smartcompany.com.au/startupsmart/analysis/atlassian-unprofitable-valuation-adam-schwab/

Why VCFO Fails https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6947990583122513920/ VCFO association is part of the solution they spend their time trying to educate on the difference https://vcfoassociation.com.au/

__________________________________________________

This Episode is brought to you by ChangeGPS - Growth Profit Systems making accounting client friendly (brought to you means Dave did it on ChangeGPS time).

Monday 1st August 2022

1:00-2:00pm AEST

2022 Financial Statements + Tax Return Workpapers Masterclass (changegps.com.au)

Do you want to get your entire team to have an efficient and standardised Year End process?

Invite the whole team - even your juniors! - for our 2022 Financial Statements and Tax Return Workpaper Masterclass. With a consistent “one-way for everyone” approach, your firm will be able to: work efficiently to deliver year end, the same way, for all clients de-risk by ensuring all work is produced to an exact quality standard train your employees with a comprehensive client service system and simplified workpapers

You'll join ChangeGPS Founder, Timothy Munro, and CEO, David Boyar who will deep dive in to our most popular workpapers, utilised by thousands of accountants across Australia.

Join us to learn: Why “one way” of doing things across your entire firm maximises your production and minimises your review time The balance your team needs to take to keep your jobs profitable without becoming an ATO auditor on every transaction! Why Excel workpapers strike the accountant's perfect balance between standardisation and flexibility Why Excel Workpapers and Xero Workpapers combine for management review perfection How to get your clients engaged in the year end process without relying on a threat from the ATO

PLUS: See how your client’s TAX OBLIGATIONS should be recorded at year end on their Balance Sheet and how our 2022 Tax Checklists help prompt your team to ensure this always happens!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The orange, and widely loved Dext (Previously Receipt Bank) has had an interesting run.

Widely regarded as the best technical product for receipt automation, it's been a different couple of years for this fast paced start-up!

Dext Chief Revenue Officer Alistair Newman says they're bigger, and better and have new ways to build relationships with you their customer.

But the accounting community has a lot of questions, and we are lucky to sit down and get some real answers from Al himself when he was down under in Australia last month.

In this episode we discuss the rebrand to Dext, the widely discussed pricing changes, the acquisitions and where the company is headed next.

We give a hearty Trenches congratulations to Al for this interview.

He sat there and took the direct elephant in the room questions like an absolute pro. Well done mate, as a community we really appreciate it.

________________________________________________________________

Dext are proud sponsors of From The Trenches - Trenches Summit 2.0

Check out the Dext's Keynote at Trenches Summit 2.0

The Australian Accounting Tech Report: Solving the time/tech conundrum. A talk by David Boyar, Glenn Castle, Michael Johnson and Cassandra Scott

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Best on Ground

Accounting Coaches that prove their value – with a p and l!

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sharonsnetwork_business-accounting-coaching-activity-6923203081497182208-EN8M/?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=android_app

Even when McKinsey stuffs up they win

https://twitter.com/MattZeitlin/status/1517279854135107584

What happens after you sell your payroll app? Richard McLean (@richviking99) / Twitter

If you work for a tech company and rely on your shares instead of your wages/bonuses you’ll probably lose out

https://investing1012dot0.substack.com/p/valuations?s=r

Paul – Not best or worst, just really interesting seemingly lots and lots of LinkedIn new job posts. Not great resignation but Great Movement. Divipay have 14 jobs open! https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6936623969076658176/

ChangeGPS have 3 open positions Work with Us (changegps.com.au)

Worst on Ground

Power to accountants doing what the bodies aren’t

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6927750334123556864/

Meanwhile the IPA and CA submissions were dated AFTER the advertised due date after having 6 years to get their act together!

If Benny Hill music had a font type it would be the new sage logo https://www.business-live.co.uk/professional-services/software-giant-sage-unveils-new-23796099

Accounting Bodies Out of touch with the urgency of s100a

Xero Roadshow Review

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Best on Ground

Paul

Tech wont change your life much in the next ten years - here’s why https://twitter.com/sweatystartup/status/1505125330817802244

Fast Collapse:

https://www.axios.com/fast-checkout-startup-collapse-029d1601-6d4f-43a4-b816-bd4b15771bbe.html

AccountexAU launch

What it needs to prove: That it can make a fair profit for it’s substantial risk with the available quality content providers https://twitter.com/AccountexAus/status/1511555738430500864

Farewell Craig Walkerhttps://twitter.com/storminwalker/status/1509699836463005698

David

A new Practice Manager Consideration

I recently got asked if the practice management solutions actually solve a problem (so many firms just use excel) - CAA use Karbon. Paul uses excel and XPM and we hear about FYI docs all the time but PWC has chosen….Monday https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mondaydotcom_global-alliance-with-kpmg-ugcPost-6902266804081958912-8qPt/

Tinder for tax

Gofar making FBT simple and is calling itself Tinder for Tax

https://www.gofar.co/

How GoProposal gets it’s staff to work in the office https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6917789747926949888/?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A(ugcPost%3A6917789738972110848%2C6917964958639030272)

Even Jerry Seinfleid knows big firms aren’t better https://twitter.com/buccocapital/status/1510249981789282304

Worst on Ground

Dave

Frustrated how we seem to keep printing money? Monopoly has your answer https://twitter.com/biancoresearch/status/1510254967113748485

The war in Ukraine - and the impact on accountants with clients doing business in Russia https://www.linkedin.com/posts/daniel-rosenblatt-trade-law_sanctions-russia-belarus-activity-6905150591698644994-Vdha/

Accounting Bodies are Failing.

Accounting Bodies gloss over their systemic failures around talent and there aren’t enough accountants to lodge returns. They are the accountant makes There aren’t enough accountants We lose the battle for talent on campus We focus on mental health after the damage is done and do nothing to stop the system that creates the mental health issues s100a retrospective changes is the best example Who will lodge the tax returns in 10 years? CPA seems to focus on their total members not their tax lodgers.

https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/business/16806-accountants-turning-from-technicians-to-problem-solvers/amp

Small Practitioners don't have a voice - s100a proved it - No seat at the table yet again

ATO says industry asked for s100a guidance? But who asked? Who is actually your voice here? Check out who sits on the ATO’s consultation group. Did they represent you? https://www.ato.gov.au/general/consultation/consultation-groups/stewardship-groups/private-groups-stewardship-group/

The current advocacy system is designed to get you to comply, not to represent you.

Independence? IPA CEO appointed to TPB Board making a judge, jury and executioner

https://www.tpb.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/tax-practitioners-board-welcomes-two-new-members The TPB accredits the IPA - From their website Professional associations may be accredited by us as a recognised tax agent or BAS agent association if they meet certain requirements in the Tax Agent Services Regulations 2022 (TASR). The IPA Accredits Accountants - From their website

The IPA is a professional accounting body which sets professional and ethical requirements for its members, which they are required to uphold.

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5 years ago Paul Meissner stood in the door frame of David Boyar's office at the fancy co-working space WorkClub on Collins St Melbourne. It was so fancy, by co-working standards that it hard original parquet floors.

Arguing about something Xero had just done Megan Velo, who seemed to do all of David's client work, suggested the two should start a podcast.

Ron Lesh and BGL backed it.

5 years of tech promises, tech deliverables, delayed tech, industry body fails, and change that was sped up by a pandemic went past.

An active community desperate for a voice was developed.

Trent McLaren was appointed as CEO.

Then Linked In reminded Dave and Paul, it was their 5 year anniversary and they just so happened to be booked for a live show at the ChangeGPS Summit on the Gold Coast.

So Dave and Paul did what they've done so many times before. They hit record.

Joining the show

BGL CEO Ron Lesh

From the Trenches CEO and DiviPay head of accounting Trent McLaren

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Listen to learn:- The major announcement - the trenches team is expanding How changing your firms purpose can win the war of talent in the accounting industry Why it is hard to establish relationships in the accounting sector How the world would be if it only had accountants Governments blaming accountants for their forecasting faults Why tech companies need to separate bookkeeper and accounting messaging Why top line growth doesn't make you happy David explains the plan and session for the Trenches GPS Summit on May 2022

Best on Ground

Paul

Real time dashboards are overkillhttps://www.linkedin.com/posts/lukalovosevic_data-automation-realtimeanalytics-activity-6889545309546938368-XEzY/

ReckonOne is more popular than most of us think, great results from Reckon

https://www.reckon.com/au/media/half-year-financial-report-2021-reckon-delivers-strong-results/

The IPA SHOULD host their tax deductible junket conferences in Fiji otherwise we can't justify any benefit at all to Australian members for this https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/business/16650-ipa-and-the-fiji-institute-of-accountants-announce-partnership

David

Baker Tilly Changes it’s purpose away from lodging tax returns https://www.linkedin.com/posts/alan-whitman-357ab91_purpose-nowfortomorrow-activity-6896447373279911936-9rV3/

We don’t celebrate raises often but HNRY raising 16m at a 100m valuation is good for Australian Accountants https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/127646547/wellington-startup-hnry-eyes-expansion-after-securing-16m-investment

The IRS joins Tik Tik - hilariously https://twitter.com/dhtoomey/status/1488270707406614528

Poor accounting leads to $5billion in extra rail payments https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-09/nsw-government-criticised-over-accounting-by-auditor-general/100816682 and Lance Rubin responds https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6897288212595798016/

Worst on Ground

Paul

More traditional accountant bashing:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6897992721726795776?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28activity%3A6897992721726795776%2C6898074647389175808%29

David

The busted client https://twitter.com/IraGilligan/status/1487146713949343753

The connected/Xero/Tech Savvy accountant is still news to the average business owner even though it’s ten years old https://digitalmag.theceomagazine.com/anz/march-2022/innovate/nick-urry/

Outdated Hiring Practices - We are not who we worked for we are what we do https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-6897313048122544128-qS8U

Quotes from the Episode

“I don't know how people can attract anyone to the profession when for 20 years they said the profession is not going to exist.” Paul

“One thing that's hard to replicate in the accounting industry is the relationship.” David

“Financial models are wrong because the drivers are wrong” David

“There’s a difference between a model being wrong and the actual application of accounting standards.” David

“We are not who we worked for. We are what we do.” Tyler

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Welcome To 2022 - where all you need to do is not stay at home and live a little to start enjoying life again.

Best On Ground

David

The cool young accountants are sharing their salaries on Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/AustralianAccounting/comments/s0fjr0/salary_thread/

Staff need the best tech to work well at home so the practice leaders should own IT https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-6880013227548397568-OI8_/

Paul

Lorilyn Wilson perfectly explains how one can look stupid trying to make the USA Tax System simple https://t.co/czIDGNiaDE

Phenomenal Leadership Tips from NFLs Best young coach. (this is the bloke with the get back coach This is what a Get Back Coach is What it's like to be Sean McVay's 'get back' coach | NFL Films Presents)

Dave Kline on Twitter: "Sean McVay is the winningest active NFL coach. He's 35 years-old & 3 other current NFL head coaches worked for him. Sean McVay's leadership principles for Competitive Greatness🧵 https://t.co/bKoPRRh7op" / Twitter

Worst on Ground

David

Company's are so desperate for your attention one offered David a set of Apple Air Pods, $250 cash and $750 on an amazon card!

The irony of GLOBAL tech giants realising they can't only employ in the Bay Area https://twitter.com/patrickc/status/1480647701221896195

The great resignation is Fake https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/great-resignation-may-be-just-around-the-corner-20211122-p59b2d

Paul

Ask a dumb question get a dumb answer - this is the worst poll of all time https://www.news.com.au/finance/money/wealth/how-much-aussies-think-they-need-to-earn-to-have-a-good-life/news-story/6e3d352916da228379e032df476b4e0a

In 2014 people thought Australia had too many accountants https://www.smh.com.au/business/does-australia-have-too-many-accountants-20140212-32huu.html

Software Companies who can't differentiate between Accountants and BookKeepers

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2022 has produced a focus on gender inequality in the accounting industry with both CAANZ and Intuit producing detailed reports about the current state of play.

Sometimes the story is told as a battle of Men v Women and that likely won't produce results that bring positive returns to firm owners and positive experiences for accountants impacted.

For many, actively engaging in the gender pay gap can be scary, for many, the floor is lava and we don't want to fall.

But without awareness progress can't happen so From The Trenches is proud to present this episode together with Intuit Quickbooks and their new Gender Equity in the Accounting Profession report

Get the Report Here https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/gender-equity-in-accounting-addressing-the-career-cliff

In this episode David Hosts Intuit Head of Accounting Shaye Thyer who has assembled an epic panel including: Kylie Parker from Lotus Accounts who started her own firm and is one of only 2 female led firms in the 2020 AFR Top 100 Peter McCarthy from Principal Precision - Taxation Accounting and Management who won the Australian Accounting Awards Diversity and Inclusion Award. Paul Janzs from Professional Partners who advocates for equality so he can help raise his boys to the values he lives in his practice.

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Listen to hear Paul Meissner flinch as someone who clearly isn't an accountant get's called on and these other fine stories.

Best on Ground

David

There are a lot of acquisitions going on

https://www.datadear.com/blog/2021/09/we-are-pleased-to-announce-the-technology-acquisition-of-datadear-by-intuit/?fbclid=IwAR0D2o4544adL3nTl8CZkh0G1pgC5oKN2suk0WZWdMs1kQDPcmCuyB8eO5o

https://www.enterprisetimes.co.uk/2021/10/05/sage-buys-proposal-software-vendor-goproposal/

https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/hub24-to-triple-customer-base-with-class-deal-20211018-p590sr

Elon Musk is an Accountant

https://www-businessinsider-com-au.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.businessinsider.com.au/elon-musk-productivity-hack-daily-routine-5-minute-slots-2021-10/amp?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a6&usqp=mq331AQIKAGwASCAAgM%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16342519063940&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com

Paul

ChangeGPS is Xero's Practice App of the Year https://www.linkedin.com/posts/davidboyar_xeroawards-unbeatableaccountants-activity-6853906282974474240-0Z7M

Practice Protect Cloud Apps report is one glorious set of actual data that let's you know what apps firms are using. https://hub.practiceprotect.com/cloud-apps-report-2021

Orange Girl herds Xero's sh*t fixing team in a glorious corporate response https://twitter.com/orangegirlnz/status/1443927056669155364

Worst on Ground

David

When award winners go to jail https://twitter.com/eringriffith/status/1443563933357395978/photo/1

ITR pricing is too cheap

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-6849466529642352640-lqAH/

Paul

A 5 year old blog isn't relevant anymore so don't post it on socials

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/markwickersham1_the-3-reasons-you-should-have-a-brochure-activity-6845718677178851328-cvLy

Linked in Polls need to stop

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David chats to ICB CEO Amanda Linton and Beyond Blue Deputy Chair Kate Carnell about why we should view investment in Mental Health training the same way we view investment in technology.

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What happened? It was Orange, it was loved, now it's Dext, it's three things not one and got dealt a savage hand by pockets of the social media world.

But the strategy makes sense if you dig in to it.

Listen to David Boyar ask Paul Lodder - Product Domain Expert (and a seriously accomplished accountant), What happened to Receipt Bank?

Want more?

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54 Speakers

5 Industry Bodies

19 Event Partners

2 Plucky Hosts

1 Awards session

Stupid amounts of CPD

September 13 and 14 2021

https://summit.fromthetrenches.com.au/

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Get your early bird tickets to the Trenches Summit right now to keep up to date with a summit that has the best of the best without any of the worst.

https://summit.fromthetrenches.com.au/coming-soon/

Best on Ground

Paul

Speed Dating with your work hat off helps you compare apples with apples when considering tech solutions.

David

Learning has genuine value – it's the only way to improve anything that is keeping you down.

Trent McLaren (Divi Pay)

The side events, it feels like a 5 day music festival – Accountingpalooza

Jack Kay (ChangeGPS)

The best ones are when expectation meets reality. Content is focused without marketing spin

Worst on Ground

Paul

When tech delivers content outside the core problem the tech solves (wait for the stoush with Trent over why).

David

Too many speaking slots in narrow talent pool. The slots are becuase vendors paid even if they don’t have quality content to deliver.

Trent

With a Vendor Hat on it’s clear the pay to play model make ROI didn’t correlate . Events who used to charge 20k for an inperson event shouldn’t charge 20k for a virtual one.

Content programs are commercially led and commercial outcomes can conflict with attendee priorities

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Compliance is not dead, but it's not perfect so David Boyar interviews Paul Meissner to get the state of compliance revenue.

The biggest problem is how revenue is generated. Some tech companies try to solve this by assuming revenue from compliance is a dying source but no one in practice really believes it's going anywhere.

In this episode David Boyar interviews Paul Meissner to find the three problems with how revenue is generated from compliance services. It's too easy to discount Too many services are bundled into the annual fix fee Don't do the annual price increase "just because you can"

Some of these points may be relevant to you, some may bolster your confidence in what you are currently doing and some, well they might make you mad.

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A linked in post titled Cotchy Vs Xero shows how well the accountant, Pat Mannix from Paris Financial, understood his clients (startups) and how different they were to the needs of his traditional 70 staff practice in Melbourne.

Like most accountants Pat is passionate about what matters to his business, and his clients. Listen to hear why:-

Client’s by because of the service they get not the tech the accountants use

Discretionary (Family) Trusts are still an excellent tool for saving tax

Accountants know more about SMSF’s than most other professionals yet still can’t advise on the them properly.

Agree? Disagree? Think more info is needed? JOIN THE CHAT on www.fromthetrenches.com.au

Read the responses first!

Response: Rebecca Mihalic FCA - When a family trust is not right for a trading entity

Response: Grant Abbott - How To: Use Deeds to Overcome Trading Trust Issues

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Best on Ground Paul Meissner

A fact sheet released by the corporate regulator highlighted it would cost members $13,900 to operate a self-managed super fund, as well as a 100-hours-a-year time commitment.

The ATO has refined these figures, showing operating expenses are closer to $3,923 a year.

https://www.smsfadviser.com/news/18950-ato-figures-throw-light-on-asic-s-financial-fact-sheet

Great content by the ATO. Content from May 2016, can’t say I have seen it before. https://www.ato.gov.au/General/Trusts/In-detail/Trust-tax-time-toolkit/Resolutions-checklist/#_Does_a_resolution

David Boyar

Twitter is more often a dangerous place than a supportive one but this is #taxtwitter at its best https://twitter.com/kjb_cpa/status/1274905696052502528

Could this trigger a construction sector clean up? https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/directors-to-get-id-number-for-life-to-thwart-phoenixing-20200612-p55218

Is receipt banks' strategy to win on data quality? https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/technology/14498-receipt-bank-acquires-xero-app-partner

Dynamic Arrays are a new excel feature worth taking the time to learn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2USJsIyIzvo

David Dahm is a proper leader https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-16/coronavirus-leaves-medical-practices-on-verge-of-collapse/12359282

Worst on Ground Paul Meissner

“The Lazy Accountant” - Is it just another software seller telling us how we are underperforming? https://www.linkedin.com/posts/davidboyar_tax-activity-6681346758121017344-cYYp

Deloitte will cut 7 per cent of its workforce, or at least 700 professionals, despite the firm growing annual revenue by 10 per cent to $2.5 billion amid the COVID-19 downturn.

Partners were told on Monday that the firm was on track to deliver revenue growth of about 14 per cent over the first three quarters of the firm's financial year but that growth had collapsed in the final quarter due to the pandemic.

https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/deloitte-to-cut-at-least-700-roles-across-the-firm-20200622-p554we

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The rant episode years in the making.

Online lives are fake for both business and personal. This is spoken about often in our personal lives but when people are big noting themselves in business platforms, we're worried about the impact on our business lives.

Anyone can post any view or opinion they have now as fact. Facts no longer matter. Science is irrelevant and research is more often shared when it's commissioned by marketers who need data to sell their product. People are then emboldened by social sycophants that just agree with them.

And when that happens, an idea that isn't worth spreading gets spread.

Anyone who tries a counter argument is labelled a troll or grumpy and risks damage to the professional reputation.

Facts don’t matter anymore, there is always a group that will feed you back your views, a comfortable confirmation bias is met. And if enough likes and clicks are made all of a sudden that person is considered a "thought leader". When all they did was share a self service opinion.

I often hear people pass off likes, supportive comments etc as proof that anyone holding a different view is irrelevant.

But we embrace the differing view. We like the friction and the debate.

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The Weekly Challenge The feds are handing out support cash industry group by special interest group. It seems the squeaky wheel is getting the oil as industry leaders claim mass extinction if they don’t get aid:- $1b. For construction Money for the arts Grants for renovations

My challenge, is to develop a strategic funding arrangement that set us up for the next century and not whittle away the 60b left from JK!

Best on Ground David Boyar

This just became the third most loved tweet of all time - the sheer power of words to reach millions blows me away and makes me think of the reach and influence of accountants. https://twitter.com/andymilonakis/status/1266821069823975430 Business Depot have come up with another new way to engage with clients - ultra low cost and wide reach. If a client on the edge saw this, would they wonder why http://offers.businessdepot.com.au/rebound-2020 Xero Document Packs have made digital doc signing the hottest tech stack piece of the month https://www.xero.com/au/features-and-tools/practice-tools/tax/document-packs/?escape=true

Paul Meissner

Grant Thornton: The main reasons people enjoyed working from home were the reduced commute time, having the flexibility to manage their own hours, reduced expenses, and having more time for exercise and family.

The survey also showed 45 per cent of respondents had some discomfort about returning to the office. More than 60 per cent wanted to work both at home and in the office after reopening and only 9 per cent wanted to exclusively work in the office.

https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/grant-thornton-kearney-reimagine-the-post-pandemic-office-20200601-p54yc8?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nc&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1591149136

Ask our competitors sales people to SHOW you each of these features in their software. Not TELL you their software has a feature, BUT actually SHOW you the feature and HOW the feature works in their software. https://www.bglcorp.com/2020/05/25/not-all-corporate-compliance-and-smsf-admin-software-is-the-same/

Leading in a work-from-home environment, Accountants are exactly the right kind of workers to thrive in a work-from-home environment.

Good summary of the 4 challenges https://www.accountingtoday.com/list/leading-accountants-in-a-work-from-home-environment?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=accountingtoday-tw&utm_medium=social&utm_content=socialflow

Worst on Ground David Boyar

Doe’s Paul’s latest Linked In “give the masses what they want” post actually hit the mark? https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6673610747613978624/?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A(activity%3A6673526621976317953%2C6673610640814432256)

Paul Meissner

The Australian Comfort Group, which owns the SleepMaker and Dunlop Foams brands, delayed issuing invoices and the processing of customer orders in April, according to a source and documents seen by The Australian Financial Review. https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/ato-to-investigate-11m-jobkeeper-claim-20200531-p54y16?

“Finance Futurist and Podcast King” https://twitter.com/icmispeakers/status/1267365360145227776?s=20

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NEW SEGMENT!!!

With so much change afoot we're challenging our institutions and leaders to actually have the back of the small businesses they keep saying are the backbone of the economy.

Paul Meissner: I’ve long been critical of Cosboa, far too friendly with the medium end of SME, Their conference excluded small and micro business. My challenge - don’t screw this up. I’m ready to celebrate the success of this. https://www.cosboa.org.au/post/small-businesses-set-for-boost-with-spend-local-campaign

David Boyar:IR reform - We need actual representation of small business at the table so it's unions v big corporates https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/28/morrison-government-will-push-on-with-ir-reform-even-if-unions-and-employers-cant-agree

Best on Ground

Paul Meissner

Staying in touch with staff remotely is super important and this is a great quiz. Good example of responding. https://www.smartcompany.com.au/coronavirus/atlassian-employee-survey-open-source/

Taking the mickey out of your boss isn’t grounds for dismissal apparently. BP dragged this out for 2 years and took it to the federal court. Just for offending management. https://www.news.com.au/national/courts-law/worker-wins-twoyear-battle-to-take-the-piss-out-of-bosses-with-hitler-meme/news-story/3df34d53f3ceb09886adf0a619d5cb8c

A lot will be written about the future of work and the office. Online booking seems to be an obvious change. Not sure hotdesking dies in the end. Large commercial offices face a bigger test I feel. https://www.itnews.com.au/news/nab-nixes-hotdesking-in-favour-of-app-bookable-desks-548390

Trust the data, what do you need a human to check it for. There are never errors…

Political fighting here is interesting. Treasury is separate to government, staffed with the same people (largely) irrespective to who’s in government. Government always blamed. https://www.afr.com/policy/tax-and-super/later-60b-jobkeeper-error-discovered-20200522-p54vkm

David Boyar

Accountants are the real heroes https://twitter.com/JosephCarrozzi/status/1263968097389514756

Peter the Great graces accountants https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/6815904703351/WN_42ybOi-pT6mkRw1II7eBHg

Would David be this aggressive in app marketing? Or is it just something BGL can get away with? https://www.bglcorp.com/2020/05/25/not-all-corporate-compliance-and-smsf-admin-software-is-the-same/

Worst on Ground Paul Meissner

Payroll is complex, errors bound to be made. Fair work found for the employee but hard to not see this go higher up the courts. https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/qantas-dealt-blow-over-jobkeeper-payments-20200524-p54vve https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/we-want-you-back-in-the-office-law-firm-tells-partners-20200524-p54vv6

End of year BS tax articles by people who don’t know their stuff. https://www.westpac.com.au/news/money-matters/2020/04/making-sense-of-wfh-tax-tweak/

David Boyar

Advocacy: Too Little too late? https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/tax-compliance/14412-practitioners-potentially-misled-by-ato-s-jobkeeper-turnover-guidance

Does anyone know what EY is talking about? https://twitter.com/BrandDNA/status/1265280824141701121/photo/1

AI/ML Universities and job ready candidates https://twitter.com/filippie509/status/1265356259621912576

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Best on Ground

Paul Meissner Best and worst. Best - Interesting view admitting that advisory disappeared in the last few months. Worst - Rob Nixon wrote this 10 years ago, firms globally are living this now. https://www.accountingtoday.com/opinion/our-profession-has-changed-forever

David Boyar Strong Excel Twitter game https://twitter.com/msexcel/status/1260932882463289345

CA’s transparency on the Exam Issue https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/professional-development/14340-ca-anz-issues-mea-culpa-over-exam-hiccup

From the Trenches Live insane NPS is a credit to the community https://blog.hubspot.com/service/net-promoter-score-benchmarks

Worst on Ground

Paul Meissner MYOB cuts 130 jobs and warns of 'artificial economy' https://www.smh.com.au/business/small-business/myob-cuts-130-jobs-and-warns-of-artificial-economy-20200519-p54ua0.html

This is the most basic piece of content so out of touch with members. This content is more basic than what’s covered in the CA program. https://www.charteredaccountantsanz.com/news-and-analysis/insights/opinion/running-your-accounting-practice-in-tough-times-part-2

David Boyar

The Tax Institute threatened us with legal action instead of picking up the phone https://www.fromthetrenches.com.au/podcast/2020/5/12/live-with-ron-lesh-nat-lennon-and-lee-duffield

Headline: Death of the Office - Copy: It’s too early to tell

https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/the-death-of-the-office-20200507-p54qm0

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This is a live recording of our inaugural live web event.

The chat box exploded as the audience interacted with this weeks show and with the awesome feedback we promise Trenches Live will be back soon.

After the usual best and Worst BGL Founder and CEO Ron Lesh is taken of the Lesh and delivers his usual direct shot of reality into the debate amidst calls from the chat box for him to run for PM!

Lee Duffield from All in Advisory and Nat Lennon from Two Sides Accounting, two brilliant public practitioners, join to answer the questions that matter from those in the trenches What did you learn about yourself? Has your relationship with your business changed?

News round up

Best on Ground Paul Meissner

Accountants and Bookkeepers handling JobKeeper, cash boost, etc. Psychologist (client) story.

Robyn Jacobson moves to the TIA. Interesting given this puts a tenacious advocate for taxpayers in to an organisation that has some clout. Could we see better advocacy from professional bodies?? https://www.taxinstitute.com.au/timediarelease/the-tax-institute-appoints-tax-leader-robyn-jacobson-as-senior-advocate

Tax jokes in TV series. Schitts Creek (Netflix) very funny scene on trying to claim personal stuff as a business expense. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mark-newman-accountant-for-builders-electricians-trades_thats-not-a-write-off-scene-from-schitts-activity-6661776582073425920-5a0y

David Boyar

Early suggestions of tax reform - Nixing Consumption taxes the way GST intended https://www.linkedin.com/feed/news/car-sales-cut-in-half-by-pandemic-5185554/

Is the VCFOA back, great job and reframing different types of advice during a recession https://vcfoassociation.com.au/surviving-and-re-booting-are-2-separate-problems/

The DropBox Blog is beautiful. Relevant and https://blog.dropbox.com/topics/work-culture/distributed-work-setting-boundaries?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=distr-work&utm_content=boundaries

Worst on Ground Paul Meissner

Professional bodies lack of real support during this time Ineffective in Canberra No tools/resources No additional member contact, not even an email from the org, ceo, etc Only contact was selling/promoting products Hey hey CA video’s, I get it, it was fun, but where’s the practical effort.

David Boyar

Small biz accountants not at the table in canberra and thats why everyone got stressed. The cause of stress wasn’t the ATO updates, it was that legislation did not consider how small biz accountants advise clients. ATO forced to run on its feet 3 big red marks - Accountants exemption, Franking credits, JK rules Bodies did an excellent job explaining AFTER the fact

Accountants continually unsung https://twitter.com/LieletteCalleja/status/1258218705571311616

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Best on Ground Paul Meissner

Xero builds good stuff, quickly. https://go.xero.com/bas/jobkeeper

Denmark has announced any companies registered in tax havens will not be eligible for state aid programmes during the pandemic

“The government also said that companies which pay out dividends, buy back own shares or are registered in tax havens won’t be eligible for any of the aid programs, which now amount to a total of 400 billion kroner, when including loans and guarantees.” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-18/denmark-extends-business-aid-to-increase-spending-by-15-billion

David Boyar

Quality lessons from GST

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/accountants-six-tips-from-2000-todays-challenges-scott-charlton/?trackingId=3BtqWlT7xMtAGuAO62hSBA%3D%3D

Anthony Pratt’s Linked In nails it again - Long Term View

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/anthonyjpratt_activity-6659961911041503232-JRQQ

Security Matters: Mailchimp offering 10% to signing up to SSO

https://mailchimp.com/help/set-up-a-two-factor-authentication-app-at-login/

Chartered Accountants moved an education and events business online and EVERYONE wins

Worst on Ground

Paul Meissner

PWC cuts pay but not hours, then with the spare hours the staff were not given, they are forced to ‘volunteer’? Was it the same voluntary method used for the pay cut??

https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/business/14291-big-four-steps-up-with-largest-pro-bono-tax-offering-amid-covid-19

David Boyar

The ATO has made JobKeeper so easy businesses are doing it themselves - When UX is too good.

“If I get one more email about mental health I’ll lose my mind” David’s Dad

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In this Zoom recorded episode Trent Innes, Xero's head in Au and Asia talks about:-

How Xero got their JobKeeper products in the market so quickly

Why the Xero Community facebook activity has exploded

Tips for managing remote teams

What the future of work is

Why you need to be responsible for the work/life changes you want to make after this crisis ends.

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From the Trenches is brought to you by Paul Meissner from Freedom Mentoring and David Boyar from Change GPS. Proudly sponsored by BGL.

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Best on Ground

Paul Meissner

Great mental health guide shared by Nickie Sheehan https://www.linkedin.com/posts/meissnerpaul_mentalhealth-stress-accountants-activity-6656739104723738624-xqMw

ATO working miracles. For people who will whinge over the coming days and weeks, get over yourself.

Tyler Wise https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tyler-j-wise_in-the-whole-of-my-career-i-do-not-believe-activity-6656836360986603521-u9Mm

David Boyar

Apple’s product designs from the 80s clearly show the origins of what we use today https://www.shockblast.net/apples-product-concepts-of-the-80s/

Will we return to offices? https://www.accountancyage.com/2020/04/14/accountancy-industry-unlikely-to-return-to-office/

Learn why you have this type of stress with James Ashford https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jamesashford_margins-accounting-profit-activity-6656268810712076288-6BdO

Real Collaboration v Fake collaboration

Worst on Ground

Paul Meissner

Avalara list - Waste of time given all the actual accountants are too busy working https://www.rise.global/accounting-top-100

Just for your amusement - HR Software selling tax advice. Opportunistic. https://www.jobkeeperhelp.com.au

David Boyar

What did the 45% of firms who either increased business or stayed the same do differently to those who decreased business https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/resources/polls/260-how-has-covid-19-impacted-your-practice

Some covid infographics make your understanding worse than before you see them https://www.linkedin.com/posts/frasercreighton_jobkeeper-jobkeeperpayment-caanz-activity-6656440561375027200-ZMmT

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Here's the breath of fresh air you need. A Classiv Paul Vs David - Is this Hell Week?

Paul Meissner - YES! Get everyone in there with a grey definition of income for the turnover test Multiple stages to this, register, enrol, meet wage condition (payroll STP), employee details, monthly reporting Become clients Payroll officer is not something accountants want High stakes, high risk Cost of missing out is huge for a client Scheme penalties are intimidating Doing it for clients, vs clients doing it themselves. Us doing it is an hour on the phone, going alone leads to 10-15 phone calls about logins, business details, etc, will they pay.

David Boyar - No! COMPLIANCE LIVES It's just a process that will have a best practice my mid week ATO has made engagement easy (if the bandwidth holds up) Clients have had the emotional detox and are now working out what's next, easier to work with Prediction: Fake Stress You must charge, there is no point working for a month, under high risk. If there is risk there must be return

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Paul Meissner This AI-powered robot can make 300 pizzas in an hour. Wanted to start with something lite given the week we are all having. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=509562289686979

Laneway Greens online Pivoted online. Busier and more profitable than ever. Staff costs and complexity and inflated rents have held businesses back. We come out of all this running different businesses. https://lanewaygreens.com.au/

David Boyar How the world’s changed by our online spending habits https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-6652304588353478656-ul_T

Worst on Ground

Paul Meissner

Federal Government Jobkeeper legislation by press release. I’m sick of it. Legislation released that basically says the Treasurer and the ATO Commissioner have to sort it out.

Massive section on schemes though. Up to 10 years Jail!!

Big 4 swindle:

KPMG cutting staff pay, but not their hours. Wait, what? While the firm technically needs permission from staff to alter their employment contracts, head of people and corporate affairs Deborah Yates told them via email on Tuesday that, "unless we hear from you to state otherwise, we will move forward on the basis that you understand what the intended changes mean for you and you agree to those changes". https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/kpmg-pay-cut-scares-workers-into-silence-20200406-p54hgs

https://www.ft.com/content/65d8e851-5e33-4a2d-a814-a4c27f949dd3?sharetype=blocked

David Boyar

Bookkeepers still promoting a rivalry with accountants as the fight over who owns BAS and payroll gets ugly. Get rid of it please, we don’t need your insecurities in the client relationship Accountants are out here helping each other and these marketers are trying to cash in by paying for COVID Content https://clickcampaigns.com.au/complimentary-covid19-stimulus-articles/

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This episode is a personal reflection on what the Accounting industry is going through at the moment. Accountants are handling a mountain of client queries and every day seems like an avalanche of emotional conversations with clients. It’s stretched many accountants and bookkeepers to the limits both physically and emotionally.

In this episode, Paul & David share what their last few weeks have been like, celebrate the tremendous efforts the industry has gone to look after each other and what we are focusing on.

We are all in this together and by looking after each other we’ll carry our clients through this.

Paul Meissner Hell, hardest in career The unknown, misinformation Clients assuming they’ll all get a giant novelty cheque Legislation by press release (still don’t know a lot about Jobkeeper) Support of other accountants has been wonderful.

David Boyar

Very hard to turn off and find a balance between reading new info (info overload) talking to peers, talking to friends, planning family response, managing the volunteer boards I chair Originally lost weight but turns out it’s because I wasn't eating - hard to find health balance New type of tired, I’m on the phone for 6-7 hours a day Found the “were in this together” motherhood statements a bit anxiety inducing. It’s easy to put out a tweet, hard to call someone and ask how they are

What are/can we focus on

Paul Meissner Client communication (emails) Working the phones Weekend switch off. Last friday-Sunday was interesting

David Boyar Ordinary rhythm needs to return because our regular tasks still need to get done. BAS lodgments before 28 April 2020 Applications for Loan Funding Bank Assistance FBT Tax Planning for 2020 Cash Flow and Strategy Planning for when business starts up again.

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Paul Meissner Compliance is king Baby!!!!! - Jobkeeper, jobseeker, 30% revenue fall, monthly? Quarterly? Bank loans, ATO debt management. Accountants. We are doing it tough but we are also helping each other and supporting each other. Well done. Taking a moment to celebrate @Ron_Lesh 31 years of service @BGLdot. Thank you for your amazing #leadership, support, example, mentoring and friendship. You are a super star plus a great warrior for the Accounting Industry.

David Boyar Positive stories of businesses pivoting quickly to support COVID19 - https://www.reddit.com/r/marketing/comments/fswwc5/best_company_pivots_to_covid19/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share Centrelink forms are the peak of your career https://www.facebook.com/groups/977122739056681/permalink/2429722997129974/ End to End client group webinars for accountants, no tech integrations, keep your library, get paid - https://memberstream.com.au/

WORST ON GROUND

Paul Meissner “Corona is an opportunity” says the so called ‘Guru Influencer’. Carries on about Amazon hiring. These people have lost their sales and are scrambling for importance - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/therobbrown_accountancy-accounting-accountant-activity-6649640123229143040-pBcD/ Software Pricing strategies. Some good some bad. - https://www.bglcorp.com/2020/03/30/it-is-disappointing-to-see-some-software-providers-price-gouging/ Another Marketing and sales trainer for Accountants copying others. The GAP are copying Change GPS

David Boyar Good intention from the TPB but were all covered for CPD this year! - https://twitter.com/messages/3024658393-961565477330812928 I thought the big 4 weren't going to employ accountants any more? - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/01/australias-legal-accounting-and-financial-firms-brace-for-coronavirus-jobs-fallout

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This interview with Mackay Goodwin founder Dom Calabretta gives you expert insight into retail, restaurants and key things accountants need to know before tipping a company into liquidation or voluntary administration.

Dom and his team are offering From the Trenches listeners a free 20 minute consultation to discuss your client client’s situation.

To claim your free consultation with Mackay Goodwin head to https://www.mackaygoodwin.com.au/

Mackay Goodwin are proud sponsors of From the Trenches

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Thanks for waiting as Paul and David co-ordinated their COVID-19 responses to clients over the week. This episode was recorded Week ended 6 March, don't worry we'll get up to date next week!

BEST ON GROUND

Paul Meissner

Finally some practical rather than fear based information. Great Jacinda Ardern video, these infographics and a blog from Gusto’s Will Lopez.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/03/watch-health-experts-join-jacinda-ardern-to-dispel-some-coronavirus-covid-19-myths.html

https://informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/covid-19-coronavirus-infographic-datapack/

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wlopezjr_an-employers-guide-to-navigating-coronavirus-activity-6643188048160964608-Eg1X

David Boyar

Follow Anthony Pratt on Twitter - NOW!

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/anthonyjpratt_activity-6642814189863874560-ckBb/

Tips for working from home (with or without corona virus)

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9hFplfAu7P/?igshid=17n629udacfu2

How do you recruit a BD role for your firm? Surely the Firms BDM needs to be an accountant.

https://www.seek.com.au/job/41134304

WORST ON GROUND

Paul Meissner

IWB Marketing, is IWD becoming the new Valentines Day type of Hallmark holiday? Marketed awards and cupcakes? What about real discussions and real change where required.

In The Guardian Alexandra Topping observed IWD “is in danger of becoming little more than a corporate Valentine’s Day, with companies jumping on the bandwagon to whitewash their brands rather than promote women’s equality”.

https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/the-last-thing-women-need-is-iwd-a-corporate-version-of-mothers-day/

Justin Kan’s hybrid legal software and law firm startup Atrium is shutting down today after failing to figure out how to deliver better efficiency than a traditional law firm, the CEO tells TechCrunch exclusively. The startup has now laid off all its employees, which totaled just over 100. It will return some of its $75.5 million in funding to investors, including Series B lead Andreessen Horowitz. The separate Atrium law firm will continue to operate.

https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/03/atrium-shuts-down/?

KPMG retakes independence exam amid cheating scandal.

All 600-odd KPMG Australia partners and more than 5900 client-facing staff will be forced to resit the consulting firm's internal independence exam amid an investigation into cheating on the annual assessment.

The firm has taken the unprecedented step after a whistleblower complaint that model answers to the 20-question multiple choice exam at the end of the course were being improperly shared.

https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/kpmg-retakes-independence-exam-amid-cheating-scandal-20200308-p547xn

David Boyar

We’re having the wrong conversation about Scott Cam’s 300k pay packet.

https://twitter.com/DavidBoyar/status/1237308986975760384?s=20

Can we ban banks saying they are open for business?

https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/josh-frydenberg-meets-bank-bosses-over-coronavirus-hit-20200311-p548xj.html

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From the Trenches is brought to you by Paul Meissner from Freedom Mentoring and David Boyar from Change GPS. Proudly sponsored by BGL and The Outsourced Accountant.

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David Boyar

https://dynamicbusiness.com.au/topics/news/senators-urged-to-pass-equity-bill-that-could-see-smes-flourish.html

Don’t reinvent the wheel with political point projects Fund national infrastructure priorities https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-02/current_priority_list_%20february_2020.pdf

https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-03/2020_infrastructure_priority_list_low_resolution_-_updated.pdf

Government backed investment in start ups

Extend australian business growth fund (proposed at 500m)

Paul Meissner

Expand the capital allowance regime to include stock in limited circumstances. Timing difference so budget neutral but could really help some businesses recover and survive.

Increase the availability of lending, bank guarantee type stuff. Get the cash flowing

Certainly not politically motivated cash handouts. Cost too much for limited gain.

Smart tax cuts. Tax cuts only work if you have made money. Loss carry back rules would specifically target businesses with a profit history that have faced a downturn.

About Us

From the Trenches is brought to you by Paul Meissner from Freedom Mentoring and David Boyar from Change GPS. Proudly sponsored by BGL and The Outsourced Accountant.

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David Boyar

An actual solution to app overwhelm

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/clarity-street_claritystreet-accountingbusinessexpo-guidedtour-activity-6640510264502476800-FZga

The only Coronavirus question worth asking - Can my SMSF buy toilet paper?

https://twitter.com/samrotberg/status/1234951004853948416?s=20

Is corporate compliance the saviour of bookkeepers?

https://twitter.com/DTramma/status/1235086009336885248?s=20

Welcome back to the fat corporate credit cards and account execs as 500 Audits jobs hit the market.

https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/the-audit-quality-inquiry-interim-recommendations-at-a-glance-20200303-p546ez

Paul Meissner

BGL is Xero’s app partner of the month

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ronlesh_bgl-making-compliance-easy-in-the-cloud-activity-6640031630868217856-EayO/

Breaking free of datacenter legacy thinking

Data storage on glass

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0ntAnqJ_7c&feature=youtu.be

Three social media terms that I wish would die:

Storytelling
Authenticity
Thought leadership

I hate them because at best they are meaningless, and at worst they are misleading.

The Thought Leadership part is hilarious.

https://twitter.com/mkobach/status/1234300379107676160

UK finally allows digital signing of Trust deeds.

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/electronically-signed-deeds-are-legal-lord-chancellor-confirms/5103306.article#.Xl5xGi0XAFs.twitter

WORST ON GROUND

David Boyar

Yikes, Deloitte gets slammed, and rightly so.

https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/business/14092-full-federal-court-rips-into-deloitte-appeal

A deeper understanding of accounting explains why movie food is such a rip off.

https://twitter.com/investing_city/status/1234908202577231872?s=20

https://twitter.com/plalor/status/1235020236878794752?s=20

Paul Meissner

Corona Vivus and the mass hysteria. Media to blame. Quickbook Connect cancelled (only major Accounting cancellation (for now). F1 GP is still on. Toilet paper gate.

https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/tech/tech-pulse/quickbooks-connect-cancelled-due-to-coronavirus-fears

A chartered accountant, Mr Nisbet was a senior manager at KPMG for over a decade before his most recent role as a director at BDO’s Adelaide office.

Mr Nisbet said he aims to demonstrate his worth as an active tax adviser, rather than a reactive one, in his new role.

“A reactive tax adviser lodges tax returns, gets defensive and careful under audit, and is able to get the job done. However, they are not necessarily the first person a client calls outside of compliance season,” Mr Nisbet said.

“Aside from delivering technically accurate advice and quality thought leadership to clients, an active tax adviser knows that tax decisions are not made in a vacuum.

“Tax advisers must gain their clients’ trust to offer honest appraisals, provide a ‘whole of firm’ approach to solving problems and identify opportunities outside the box.”

https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/appointments/14096-new-mid-tier-principal-calls-for-more-active-advisers

Pre-insolvency industry has far too many skeletons. Sad that it happens but glad they get caught and dealt with.

https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/business/14085-money-laundering-pre-insolvency-adviser-gets-5-years-jail

About Us

From the Trenches is brought to you by Paul Meissner from Freedom Mentoring and David Boyar from Change GPS. Proudly sponsored by BGL and The Outsourced Accountant.

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In this special episode David interviews Malcolm Stewart from MJS Business & Financial Services. Malcolm met David at the Perth Xero Roadshow and asked to be on the podcast. Turns out we’re in the business of making dreams come true.

In this episode you will learn: The best, safest investment strategy Managing through the wealth industry revenue model changes Managing a practice through the mining boom, and after it! Malcolm’s favorite tech change (My Prosperity integrating with X Plan) Why older accountants struggle with the physicality of the FASEA exams

Old school targeted marketing. A paper solution to a digital problem.

www.sendhandwritten.com.au

About Us

From the Trenches is brought to you by Paul Meissner from Freedom Mentoring and David Boyar from Change GPS. Proudly sponsored by BGL and The Outsourced Accountant.

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David Boyar

Accounting Business Expo has made major changes to the lineup

https://www.terrapinn.com/exhibition/accounting-business-expo/The-Plenary.stm

You are competing on user experience only

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6635430455967612928/

The importance of compliance professionals

https://www.eurekareport.com.au/investment-news/the-importance-of-compliance-professionals/146747?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTXpJM09EQXpOR0V3T0dNMSIsInQiOiI0QVpSUzNcL1F5SDk2MTZ4QnUzbmFtdUdVcjI1ZHVyVzI0bmc5azlSQUtqbUJENVFhaGJUcWVKZ1wvOHJuWERiMjVNaFpwNml2M1QyVVRJWjNZYzZHWlYzVkowNUxzVk5YeWRzdEJ6UDBhN0k3OXNuSnUrZmNoRGkzMkxCeEtXa0hrIn0%3D

How to pick a visualisation chart

Which Chart Should I Use

Paul Meissner

Xero Boss Report 2020. Very interesting growth figures per business size. Small and micro growing, bigger contracting.

Xero Boss Insights 2020 report

Xero release automatic activity statements

https://central.xero.com/s/article/Automatic-activity-statements#XeroTax

Overpayment of wages are common

Overpayment as common as 'wage theft'

S&P/ASX All Technology Index - commencing in Q1, 2020. The S&P/ASX All Technology Index (XTX) is designed to be a broader, more inclusive index than the existing S&P/ASX 200 Information Technology Index. This reflects the broad range of ASX-listed companies in the technology sector. Further details about the Index methodology will be released upon Index launch.

But is Xero the most overvalued stock on the ASX.

https://www.livewiremarkets.com/wires/will-we-crash-and-what-to-sell?utm_source=Livewire&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Will%20we%20crash

WORST ON GROUND

David Boyar

The FBT guide for employers is 277 pages. If compliance is dead, business owners are stuffed

ttps://www.ato.gov.au/law/view/document?docid=SAV/FBTGEMP/00001&PiT=20200129000001

Killing pre-advisory before it gets off the ground

Paul Meissner

Celeste Barber was warned about choice of firefighter fund

Buy now, pay later companies are completely unregulated and it's leaving Australians vulnerable, Splitit CEO Brad Paterson argues

About Us

From the Trenches is brought to you by Paul Meissner from Freedom Mentoring and David Boyar from Change GPS. Proudly sponsored by BGL and The Outsourced Accountant.

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David Boyar

The IPA reckon play is a flashback to the glory days of quickbooks re entering the market, but with a genuine CPD benefit

https://email.publicaccountants.org.au/v/54796/32838338/email.html?k=qVWxTtVmHbh-BjRjW1DRerTjS2nWTWtv0cF5ROg5K38

How good and easy to read is this excel summary.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/lotfi-garzoun_the-definitive-100-most-useful-excel-tips-activity-6635135119499816960-_7Wh/

Paul Meissner

Definition of advisory? a great article by Elaine Clark, where she restates her love of compliance and says: “I guess the only fault about compliance accountants is that, generally, they do not shout about how good they are at what they do and the services that they provide. They just do it!”

Yet the so-called ‘twittersphere’ and ‘blogosphere’ are full of all sorts telling us that compliance is dead and we can only exist as an advisory practice. This statement alone shows exactly how little they know about what we do and how we do it. It shows their ignorance of the work of thousands of accountants across the UK who work tirelessly and with great professionalism and ability. They are already advisory practices, but just happen to be advisory practices that don’t use the software or systems that they are trying to sell us.

Accountancy practices already are Advisory practices

AI Data bias

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/09/men-women-books?

WORST ON GROUND

David Boyar

When someone says you should read more they’re ignoring everything that makes you you

https://twitter.com/PropellerAdv/status/1227757368563208192

Accountants don’t understand their own influence, even if it’s just on twitter.

https://twitter.com/investing_city/status/1228137010776305665

Paul Meissner

Brutal Valentines day breakup message. :-)

https://twitter.com/ato_gov_au/status/1228132839889096704?s=20

Trent Mclaren’s re posted bubble in a bubble

Xero Roadshow data shows people find community

Facebook Groups

Xero live events

Linked In

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/weve-created-accounting-bubble-now-were-all-trapped-inside-mclaren

About Us

From the Trenches is brought to you by Paul Meissner from Freedom Mentoring and David Boyar from Change GPS. Proudly sponsored by BGL and The Outsourced Accountant.

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David Boyar What if we think about change as a way to reduce our own redundancy risk? https://generationcfo.com/2020/02/11/automation- redundancy-risk-is-fake-news-heres-why-part-two/ PI Women in accounting The best summary of the receipt app race right now. https://www.accountingweb.com/technology/accounting-software-news/come-place-your-bets-in-the-data-capture-casino#.XkHk7qjSHsU.linkedin Another accountant trials a 4 day work week - what are the unexpected benefits of this. https://blog.connacc.nz/the-four-day-working-week-a-trial-for-connected-accountants/

Paul Meissner XLOOKUP in Excel. Hallelujah!!! https://www.cbronline.com/news/xlookup-excel AFR claim the court got it wrong, I say they got it right. Bulks up an argument for main residence test. I’d rather 100% tax free than 50%. https://www.afr.com/policy/tax-and-super/the-wrong-call-small-business-hit-by-cgt-concession-ruling-20200206-p53ygd

WORST ON GROUND

David Boyar QR codes aren't new and dont work. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/stevenleaney_business-cards-are-something-that-havent-activity-6632503913545297920-jRsO/ Offshoring will not - repeat will NOT reduce jobs https://theoutsourcedaccountant.com/blog/does-outsourcing-cost-local-jobs/

Paul Meissner $8m in tax avoidance out of PKF. Big firm, interesting the lack of oversight. The charges include knowingly lodging nine false income tax returns on behalf of the client and concealing, destroying and knowingly providing forged evidence in response to a Tax Office audit. https://www.afr.com/wealth/tax/tax-partner-accused-of-evading-8m-for-client-20200211-p53zpw How to damage staff morale. Partners get free breakfast while staff are told to drink less milk. https://www.afr.com/rear-window/kpmg-partners-exclusive-breakfast-service-20200210-p53zek David’s demo skills

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From the Trenches is brought to you by Paul Meissner from Freedom Mentoring and David Boyar from Change GPS. Proudly sponsored by BGL and The Outsourced Accountant.

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David Boyar Accountants building their own communities to support each other through tech change https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/accountants-tech-user-group-tickets-90561902087 The CA automation playbook shows how the bodies can guide and lead without showing preference. https://charteredaccountantsanz.force.com/MyCA/s/login/?startURL=%2FMyCA%2Fs%2Ffeed%2F0D52u000001mzqTCAQ&ec=302 The #VDExperiment is a marketing masterstroke by Twyla Verhelst from helm but jus because you can doesn’t mean you should. Check out this great Linked in explainer from HLB Mann Judd Partner Josh Chye explaining Family Trusts. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/josh-chye-b4924a31_taxplanning-taxes-trusts-ugcPost-6629846910117257216-dtIE/

Paul Meissner Congratulations to Amreeta and the Nowinfinity team. $25m sale to Class. Interesting that Class’s head of sales moved on. Does that open the door to Ben Gill taking on the role? Do the sales cultures align? Time will tell. SMSF platform makes $25m acquisition Dilatory accounting cost Dixons £1.8m. For 8 years this business kept amounts open as accounts receivable. Not great year end accounting procedures not to write off earlier. Dilatory accounting cost Dixons £1.8m Afterpay, Zip Co get in first with code of practice. It’s a good start with some practical protections for consumers. One wonders what’s missing since there is no independence given the rules are written by those abiding by them. I’d like to write my own views. Afterpay, Zip Co get in first with code of practice

WORST ON GROUND

David Boyar Marketers are geniuses and people are stupid https://www.businessinsider.com.au/coronavirus-corona-beer-not-related-google-trends-2020-1 Will MyGovID work for offshore staff?

Paul Meissner Open Banking - What will be the outcome? Predicted to “...“That completely takes the friction out of applying for a mortgage,”. Anyone who has applied for a mortgage knows that the more info you give the more issues come up in the application. I think Open Banking is a poisoned Chalice. Open banking and rise of fintechs to disrupt big banks' 'rivers of gold' Canberra urged to join the data sharing action - CBA displays a typical protectionist strategy against having to give up data by greedily demanding more. Canberra urged to join the data sharing action Chat about football or cricket in the workplace should be curtailed, a management body has warned. Chartered Management Institute head Ann Francke said sports banter can exclude women and lead to laddish behaviour such as chat about sexual conquests. "A lot of women, in particular, feel left out," she told the BBC's Today programme. Nanny state gone mad. What would the reaction be if this was to be excluding men? Firms urged to crack down on office football chat

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Paul Meissner Advice to my younger self

Comes from: https://twitter.com/AliciaLMoreau/status/1206751875686469633?s=20

Try anything (audit, reception, advisory or compliance) Extra 1hr per day makes a big impact, especially technical reading or asking why Make the right decision with the right information Don't be outcome focused, just be your best Client communication - personal interaction, not all online Output focused, not time focused (timesheet issue)

David Boyar Fun work is still work Keep Stumbling Call out for help (mental help episode) Network is only worth what you give to people. Keep giving

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From the Trenches is brought to you by Paul Meissner from Freedom Mentoring and David Boyar from Change GPS. Proudly sponsored by BGL and The Outsourced Accountant.

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Paul Meissner Lodgement dates automatically extended till May. Aligns with other dates. Smart and practical. https://www.ato.gov.au/Media-centre/Media-releases/ATO-extends-tax-relief-and-assistance-for-people-impacted-by-bushfires/ Trent Mclaren tweeted this interesting review of robot restaurants failing. Including a reference to Zume, the pizza bot we had on the show before. Reminds me of the factory automation research that showed co-bots being the most efficient https://www.businessinsider.com.au/san-francisco-robot-restaurants-failing-eatsa-cafex-2020-1 From tax commissioner to PM, the Russian experiment https://twitter.com/7newssydney/status/1217519639460106240?s=21

David Boyar Labor dumps the Franking Credit Policy - accountants should view it as a win https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/labor-vows-not-to-take-the-same-franking-credits-policy-to-the-next-election/news-story/50eb8466897ba6a8cdf74dcc2e7f6d30 Disappointing that something as positive as grants and loans (with 2 years interest free and .6% interest) are given a negative spin https://www.smartcompany.com.au/business-advice/politics/morrison-bushfire-small-business/ Remember Emma Tibbils? Here’s how a high performing young CA asses her employment options. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/emma-tibballs-3805b8a6_ideas-career-impacts-activity-6613522602877169664-dAOt

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Accounting predictions for marketers are what the budget summary email is for accountants. Everyone rushes to get theirs out first and they almost all the same.

Predictions are the new content fodder to grab your attention at the start of year and whilst we dislike content for contents sake we have a few things to say about what’s going to be important in 2020.

So here are our predictions to help you know what to focus on, and what to ignore.

Paul

Some add ons will fold/run out of money

Compliance holds as 80% of revenue for the majority of small firms

Professional bodies have a chance to return to relevance.

Catalyst success to continue

The Joint accounting bodies unite together to fight for the return of the accountants exemption.

Conferences change forever (end of Accountech?, last chance for ABE)

The amount of business coaches for Accountants will peek out as the market gets sick of them

David

. Governance for accounting businesses will increase as more advisory work is done (all types of advisory), some firms are already struggling with PI.

The accounting bodies to work closer with members

Decade old ideas go mainstream

Moving to cloud

Cloud documentation

Automation and efficiency focus (more than new service lines)

People give up on value pricing as being too hard

The cutting edge firms will worry less about tech and more about client and staff experience

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G'day! Welcome back to season 4!

Best on Ground

The ATO shows off its data strength with Bushfire support - Automated lodgement deferrals by postcode. Software can’t do that.

Receipt Bank raises $73m to dislodge everything we thought about the Xero/Hubdoc move of 2019 (so last year).

https://www.receipt-bank.com/blog/receipt-bank-raises-73m-in-series-c-round/

Check out these tools for accountants to help with bushfire victims IPA: https://www.publicaccountant.com.au/news/ipa-offers-support-to-bushfire-victims CA: https://www.charteredaccountantsanz.com/news-and-analysis/news/australian-bushfires-support-resources-for-you-your-clients-and-communities CPA: https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/professional-resources/business-management/business-recovery/disaster-recovery-toolkit

Indinero founder calls out Intuit for over hyping AI and ML

https://futurefirm.co/indinero-the-accounting-firm-of-the-future/

Worst on Ground

Accountants without significant new training are not business advisers but this message comes from someone who has been advocating the opposite for years.

https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/business/13895-accountants-cautioned-on-advisory-jump

David can’t work out if this comment is a joke or not but it highlights the tech challenge the average firm is struggling with.”Our organisation does not have access to a smart phone so can I go back to lodging paper returns?”

https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/technology/13731-ato-details-mygovid-implementation-roadmap#!/ccomment-comment=8264

What's your social media obligation when posting old content?

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Paul Meissner Xero nab integration vs online banking

Paid in Xero vs free online banking Still need online banking for account transfers Not all bills in Xero (including payment details) Wages payment don’t create a bill in Xero Office 365 rollout for global big 4 https://www.techcircle.in/2019/12/06/kpmg-earmarks-5-bn-digital-transformation-push-enters-into-five-year-pact-with-microsoft Great visualisation of the Timeline of startup funding: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/luiserazo_startupfunding-activity-6607792953941458944-EuY3

David Boyar Xero Hubdoc

BE on Time Revenue analysis Features: need to use Xero Expenses Good for xero What does it mean for open eco system (Function v verticle) Social comms The Data Visualisation of the year award goes to…... https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/what-is-a-standard-serve-of-minimum-chips-one-man-is-trying-to-find-out-20191202-p53g3y.html Incredible transparancy from a franchisor in Russia https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6610152918978965504/ Finally a valuable facebook group that doesn’t end in big noting or time wasting complaints https://www.facebook.com/groups/977122739056681/

WORST ON GROUND

Paul Meissner Corporate compliance startup attacks incumbents and gets called out. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/luke-moran-professional_too-many-asic-compliance-software-providers-activity-6608115595936440321-LHUT

David Boyar 50% of companies behind on lease standard implementation https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/tax-compliance/13825-over-50-of-organisations-falling-short-on-lease-accounting-standards

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Best on Ground Optus Fined for Scare Tactics

The ACCC said in a statement that Optus had emailed a total of 138,988 of its mobile customers on 24 May 2018, claiming that their home broadband services would soon be disconnected, and urged them to “make the switch, before it’s too late” to Optus NBN broadband. The real kicker, according to the competition watchdog, was that these customers’ home internet services were not even provided by Optus, but rather its competitors. https://www.mybusiness.com.au/marketing/6454-optus-fined-6-4m-for-misleading-nbn-claims

Are some business advisory services just too risky?

There are roughly 100 accredited business valuation experts in the CA community, and they're struggling to get PI \

https://www.facebook.com/groups/977122739056681/permalink/2189420644493545/ Nandos rolls out in restaurant ordering app but Paul saw this on the Greek Islands last year. Is tech that slow?

https://www.thebusinessconversation.com.au/2019/11/15/nando%E2%80%99s-table-ordering-technology-revolutionises-fast-casual-dining/1573788749 The Outsourced Accountant tackles a common offshoring question "how do I protect data?" in a simple info graphic in their private client facebook group (pic on the website) You can now feel free to use you bad grammar

Apostrophe warrior gives up fight, saying ‘ignorance and laziness’ has won Apostrophe Protection Society has closed Here is the ultimate guide: https://www.apostrophe.org.uk/page2.html https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/apostrophe-warrior-gives-up-fight/news-story/04b0858fcec41e6ea4477046d0fa8f09

Worst on Ground Regulating the wild west just got knocked back a rung.

7.30 Report missed an opportunity to have an important discussion about the wild west of non bank lenders by using a hard luck, Aussie battler story instead. https://www.abc.net.au/7.30/the-wild-west-of-shadow-banking/11748144 The next wework collapse was for a $300m dog walking business (we can't make this stuff up)

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/27/tech/wag-dog-walking-softbank/index.html The Tesla Cyber Truck launch has created 250,000 orders, each with a refundable $100 deposit. Does that qualify as a sale in marketing language? What about accounting standards?

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David Boyar https://twitter.com/Rich_Preece/status/1199164672370450434 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl4lzz3uhkI&=&feature=youtu.be Chad Davis at IFAC

Paul Meissner London Xerocon - printed coffee cups and cricket pitch. Blockchain is Dead? Crypto Geeks Debate Merits of Once Dear Tech https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-12/blockchain-is-dead-crypto-geeks-debate-merits-of-once-dear-tech

WORST ON GROUND

David Boyar https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/editorials/westpacs-systemic-failure-opens-door-to-criminals/news-story/d022ddd339400bcdbe35ccda4b24c457 David accepted 100 Linked in connections at once. 20 automated responses, 1 real conversation.

Paul Meissner https://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/firm-management/news/12083988/8-good-reasons-why-every-accounting-firm-should-survey-their-clients CRM Fail from a cold caller. 2nd call in a month. Same telephone number.

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Paul Meissner Have we hit peak crazy for Venture Capital. Will we learn from WeWork? https://www.smartcompany.com.au/startupsmart/op-ed/venture-capital-slow-down/ Congratulations to Xero on hitting 2mil subscribers. https://www.smh.com.au/business/small-business/a-big-milestone-xero-hits-two-million-subscribers-revenue-jumps-20191107-p5387t.html Another amazing company breakdown. This time Ryan takes a look at McDonalds. Do McDonalds profit from burgers or property?https://twitter.com/investing_city/status/1192200769652396032?s=21

Worst on Ground Findex CEO in trouble over the changes to CGT. Never a good look for the head of an accounting firm to have incorrect tax returns. https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/findex-ceo-fights-ato-over-tax-on-capital-gains-20190815-p52hfv Apparently Advisory is the path to growth for accounting firms. Based on the AFR top 100 list, it’s the hidden growth from acquisition that could be the key. https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/advisory-the-path-to-growth-for-accounting-firms-20191111-p539cg?&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nc&eid=socialn:fac-14omn0053-optim-nnn:nonpaid-25/06/2014-social_traffic-all-organicpost-nnn-afr-o&campaign_code=nocode&promote_channel=social_facebook How do you raise money for drought relief? If your Findex apparently you do it by wasting water.

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David Boyar Lawyers don’t have the same relationship with clients Accountants do but this new subscription model could change that https://legalvision.com.au/news/legalvision-launches-legal-advice-subscription-for-149-month/ CA Catalyst SOLD OUT Data Analytics Workshop proved to me that just because an app has a lot of xero connections, doesn’t mean it’s right for you. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6593297938557038592/?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A(ugcPost%3A6593297898438529024%2C6593433855431151616) Leadership taken seriously by Hood Sweeney https://www.linkedin.com/posts/hood-sweeney_hoodsweeney-southaustralia-professionalservices-activity-6594443066617266176-oTft

Paul Meissner https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/24/us/nuclear-weapons-floppy-disks.html?smtyp=cur∣=tw-nytimes https://www.9news.com.au/national/tax-return-ato-deadline-lodging-how-do-i-file-when-mygov-excuses-australian-news/0a6b12c5-abcd-4d92-804b-6c3594a686f2?ocid=Social-9News https://www.grammarcheck.net/clutter/ https://twitter.com/mfriedrichark/status/1188869007601881095?s=21 ATO winning the 2019 AMY Awards for their Online Services for agents Campaign

WORST ON GROUND

David Boyar The 30 under 30 recognises young talent, but do they need more entitlement? How can we manage their expectations? https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/30u30/ Wayne Schmidt's email stuff up: “Hi << Test First Name >>” https://twitter.com/wayne_schmidt/status/1186505290843217920?s=20

Paul Meissner ASIC Factsheet re SMSF’s is something a lobbyist would write. Overblown cost to run and return % numbers. Bordering on advice. Great BGL response. Rockpool Underpayment of workers: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-25/rockpool-dining-group-accused-of-tampering-timesheets-by-union/11638380

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David Boyar The power of Paul Meissner who is a finalist in the Xero awards for Cloud Champion. https://twitter.com/storminwalker/status/1179811595570036736?s=20 Congratulations Paul https://www.xero.com/au/events/xero-awards/ Customer Focused Fine Print for Financial products. https://www.smartcompany.com.au/finance/fintech-asic-financial-services/

Paul Meissner Sage buys Autoentry. https://www.sage.com/investors/investor-downloads/press-releases/2019/09/27/sage-announces-acquisition-of-autoentry/ Hubdoc to Xero, AutoEntry to Sage, what’s next... Costco is a fascinating business. You know all those groceries you buy? Yeah, they basically sell those at breakeven and then make all of their profit from the $60 annual membership fees. https://twitter.com/investing_city/status/1179974257779982336?s=21 PwC Is Spending A Massive $3 Billion To Upskill Its Employees. Number of employees 250,930 (2018) https://pulse2.com/pwc-3-billion-upskill-employees/

WORST ON GROUND

David Boyar Paris Financial channels Donald Trump in a post that tells people “You gotta ditch your current accountant. Seriously!” https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ugcPost-6575255094957350912-ucvT The gig economy is not the future, data proves it https://hbr.org/2018/10/myths-of-the-gig-economy-corrected https://oversharing.substack.com/p/everything-we-thought-we-knew-about-the-gig-economy-is-wrong Paris Financial channels Donald Trump in a post that tells people “You gotta ditch your current accountant.

Paul Meissner Brazen attempt to extort money: https://www-publicaccountant-com-au.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.publicaccountant.com.au/news/scammers-posing-as-federal-officers-try-to-extort-money-from-taxpayers/amp

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Paul Meissner Unable to switch off. 5 out of offices in 10 years. Being able to work remotely gives a false sense of being able to do it effectively. Remote working is often glorified as beaches, etc. I needs to be the same work intensity just a different location. Family holidays and the challenge.

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BEST ON GROUND

David Boyar RSM adopts Greatsoft, a huge blow to MYOB and a huge win for a new entrant https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/technology/13638-xero-scores-biggest-migration-with-mid-tier-deal FYI DOCS Customer sentiment feature

Paul Meissner If this isn’t a window in to releasing software. Flashy, promises a lot, released prematurely and ultimately the key features needed aren’t connected yet. https://metro.co.uk/2019/10/04/police-robot-told-woman-go-away-tried-report-crime-sang-song-10864648/

https://www.accountingtoday.com/opinion/beyond-the-hype-how-ai-is-being-used-by-accountants-today So the record wasn’t actually a record. Good marketing hype though: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/599974/

WORST ON GROUND

David Boyar Greed is back, the excuses for Latitude Financials failed IPO don’t make any sense when put up against the market. https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/the-crucial-mistake-ahmed-fahour-may-have-made-in-latitude-s-failed-ipo-20191016-p53166.html

Paul Meissner https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/careers/i-clearly-caught-you-man-busted-trying-to-cheat-in-bizarre-skype-job-interview/news-story/2abe3da11f64614e22dc703bb60b5223 Worst job title ever. “At the inflection point of change” https://www.linkedin.com/in/ntamm

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Summary on intellectual Vices http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/65080/1/7%20Intellectual%20Vice%20and%20Self-awareness.pdf

Interview with Quassim Cassam https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9yc3MuYXJ0MTkuY29tL3NlYW4tY2Fycm9sbHMtbWluZHNjYXBl&episode=Z2lkOi8vYXJ0MTktZXBpc29kZS1sb2NhdG9yL1YwL1dXQVowOUFKQ1hmVWhkVjUtV01md1JhWTd0SGxhQXZsbjF0aU1fLVdPREk&hl=en-AU&ep=6&at=1570074349310

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Paul Meissner Apple’s core values are a very interesting read. Do you have core values? https://www.facebook.com/180048600476/posts/10157563033890477?sfns=mo Accountkit - amazing software. Actually made me go “Wow”. Haven’t had that reaction for a long time. https://www.account-kit.com/

David Boyar Hands down the simplest explanation of a balance sheet I have ever heard Income statement https://www.linkedin.com/posts/marksamowitz_accounting-finance-accountingmadeeasy-activity-6574588862612459520-zRYy Balance Sheet https://www.linkedin.com/posts/marksamowitz_accounting-finance-accountingmadeeasy-activity-6577802576362778624-J-sA How do blind people see numbers? https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/01/us/uno-braille-trnd/index.html

WORST ON GROUND

Paul Meissner CA and CPA article re crisis of costs for financial advisors. Didn’t listen and pushed all members to get registered: https://twitter.com/paulmeissner_/status/1179183332510167040?s=21 CBA survey with 37 responses should never have been published due to the laughable sample size. Like marketing sending out the report with their pre-determined slant, before the actual results are in. Part 2 was a sales person from a reporting software using it as confirmation bias. Desperate in my book. https://www.9news.com.au/world/tesla-electric-police-car-runs-out-of-power-during-pursuit-us-news/94269854-6526-4972-8aba-e889a31665da?ocid=Social-9NewsP

David Boyar What is the #1 reporting app in the Xero ecosystem? https://twitter.com/spotlightrep/status/1174814379805741056?s=19 WeWork backs out of IPO and slashed valuation. http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/10/marketing-expert-scott-galloway-on-wework-and-adam-neumann.html

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Paul Meissner Nagging clients have a point, why not listen to them? https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/practice/general-practice/are-nagging-clients-really-that-unreasonable Cheaper debt for being sustainable. David sees strait through this. https://www.commbank.com.au/business/latest/sustainable-finance.html

David Boyar Tax Managers are the most in demand and highest paid jobs in the USA https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-no-1-job-in-america-with-the-best-career-opportunities-pays-112000-a-year-and-its-not-in-tech-2019-08-14 How does a global tech giant collect cash money? https://www.marketwatch.com/story/uber-customers-paid-more-than-6-billion-in-cash-last-year-and-accounting-for-it-isnt-easy-2019-08-16 How to show the value of a tax break https://twitter.com/nick_a_marie/status/1168520374423678982?s=19 Gig workers are becoming more like employees in this state. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/15/upshot/gig-economy-limits-labor-market-uber-california.html

WORST ON GROUND

Paul Meissner Advisors as sales people..not a good idea. https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/developers-offer-advisers-90-000-to-flog-high-rise-apartments-20190813-p52gk1 The accountants exemption is on its way back. Kind of. https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/business/13522-return-of-accountants-exemption-hits-a-snag Agile has its place in small firms. https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/management/agile-working-revolution-or-fad-20180413-h0yqwr

David Boyar How does EY not pay super on time? https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/ey-faces-fines-after-falling-behind-on-superannuation-payments-20190815-p52hde Sales automation looks good but, does it create leads? https://www.facebook.com/groups/theentrepreneurialaccountants/permalink/518545622063643/ Congratulations to our friends at Practice Ignition on raising $26m. Bigger celebration when we celebrate profitability though! https://www.xero.com/blog/2019/09/xero-app-partner-practice-ignition-lands-a26-million-tech-investment/

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Paul Meissner Recurring invoicing payments Mental Health (was it too much?) Addons - email sharing stories again, no follow up, too soon.

David Boyar Start Up alley - some came to Xerocon too soon Partner story mini stages - ‘Xero’s got it’s soul back’ Trenches event - Our best yet.

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Paul sits with Xero Founder Rod Drury.

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Paul Demo’s not lectures. I don’t want to hear your views on timesheets, how I bill my clients, etc. I want to see the product and what it does. Practice your pitch(s). “It does everything” - NO, “it’s for every client” - NO. What’s the problem it solves, how does it solve it and what do the results look like. Pick 3 You don’t need to show everything the system does. People won’t remember the lot, so just impress them with 1-2 big things. Find the problem it solves for the person/people you are addressing. Are they new to cloud, established, etc. Swag - useful not plastic

David Ask me about my business first and change your pitch depending on the answer If you aren’t experienced, don’t try to close Try to start a relationship, accountants are slow buyers

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We've been talking a lot about family business on trenches. So here is a treat for you.

Want to know how La Porchetta combines family values with good governance?

To celebrate the launch of David's new show, Backbone Podcast, here's a sample of his interview with Sara Pantaleo.

Sara is the CEO of La Porchetta, Family Business of Australia Vic and Tas Chair and Director of the Moira Kelly Foundation and a Director of the Franchise Council of Australia.

Listen to the full episode at www.backbonepodcast.com.au or on iTunes, Google Podcast and Spotify.

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You should go to Xerocon.

Paul Meissner

6 reasons to get to Xerocon Networking Addons all in 1 place Partner stage (content done practically)

David Boyar Refine your vision Re energise yourself Benchmark yourself

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Best on Ground Nature vs nurture. The goal of parenting is often a nurturing, equality method, but in a family business context or performance based rewards, there is often a clash. Jon Kenfield has some great content. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jonkenfield_familybusiness-business-conflict-ugcPost-6565414094575415296-F3hA Why do accountants rely on their feelings when giving advice? Because they’re wimps. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/337496 Hot desking, love it or hate it. We discuss if the people who dislike it are just disappointed they cannot hide in an office playing solitaire?https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/the-hidden-hell-of-hot-desking-is-much-worse-than-you-think-20190729-p52bom BGL are demo-ing new tech at RegTech and the crowd are loving it. No wonder they're AFR’s 5th most innovative company https://twitter.com/BGLdot/status/1159613260317904896?s=20 Large cultural shift is happening at ANZ bank where staff bonuses are being removed. Bonuses often drive selfish behaviour were highlighted in the Hayne review. This is the first sign of fundamental changes. https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/anz-dumps-bonuses-for-performance-dividend-20190805-p52e2z We way thank you and farewell to MYOB CEO Tim Reed. https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/appointments/13373-myob-ceo-tim-reed-steps-down

Worst on Ground Hotshot entrepreneur racks up over $3.6m in debts. With social media, how people promote themselves can belie their true performance. https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/clients-burnt-by-airbnb-hotshot-callum-forbes/news-story/9d5340d5691c17fa5dcdabe579ec70f0 The Westpac account opening saga continues with excellent customer service. Uber posts a $7.7b loss as revenue growth stalls. If not for UberEats, growth would be negative. https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/uber-shares-dive-as-it-posts-7-7-billion-loss-20190809-p52ff2.html Is it a scam? The it’s hard for the ATO to communicate whilst telling us not to trust every bit of correspondence saying it’s from the ATO. https://twitter.com/DavidBoyar/status/1159608567961272320

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Best on Ground Congratulations to our friends at Judo bank on their new capital raise pumping more $$ into the business lending space https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/judo-bank-raises-400m-in-second-round-equity-raise-20190726-p52b4t If you have to ask your accountant about the assesability or deductability of something, you probably already know the answer. https://twitter.com/cbriancpa/status/1154775607470886914?s=20 Awesome VR use of the moon landing https://time.com/longform/apollo-11-moon-landing-immersive-experience/ The accounting profession v the accounting industry. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6558622154890588160/ Deliveroo finds a tax and super planning solution for their drivers https://www.itwire.com/strategy/deliveroo-partners-with-solo-smart-in-tax-arrangement-for-delivery-riders.html

Worst on Ground Would you give your staff 12 weeks life leave? https://matadornetwork.com/read/australian-company-paid-life-leave/amp/ Social selling accounting ledger subscriptions? https://twitter.com/QuickBooks/status/1151957060923351055?s=20

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Listen to David as he interviews Ben Thomson, the Founder and CEO of Employment Hero, as they discuss about how they raised $22 million and how they are on a mission to reduce the number of wage scandals.

The cover: Why we are partnering with Employment Hero. What they are going to spend their $22 million on. The journey to becoming a hero in payroll scandals and how to become a great employer. Taking on the mental health of the members and how Employment Hero help with this. From making mistakes to running a tech business and how Ben built a massive company. The fundamental source of the big scandals. Finally, Ben talks about how they provide value to their clients.

Head to www.employmenthero.com/ftt to find out how they can help your clients.

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On the back of a tweet from a self confessed (USA) thought Leader who is just flogging software. Paul asked, “Should small businesses start with a review of the tech available or start with their own processes and how to improve it which might include software?”

David

Use swimlanes to map processes

I use asana for my processes, for example we have a month end system for a client that covers what checks need to be done on automated data dumps, how to check manual journal calcs, what info we need from different people and asana is system used to CONTROL the process

Balance what you need with what tech can do.

Paul

3 tips for the Process vs Systems dilema:

Technology Must Start with Streamlined Processes

Solve a Problem. Don’t Just use a New System

Process Mapping

For more check out Freedom Mentoring

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Best on Ground This Excel feature is amazing. Take a photo and upload it straight top Excel. https://support.office.com/en-us/article/insert-data-from-picture-3c1bb58d-2c59-4bc0-b04a-a671a6868fd7 ABS has an app. For those stats nerds out there, this is awesome. Has key economic indicators and also 2016 Census info on postcodes, etc. You can also customise your own Key Indicators. https://twitter.com/ABSStats/status/1153514839249170433?s=20 A linked in profile description that makes the complex simple. https://www.linkedin.com/in/arfitzgerald/ After years of banks spinning their performance to us ANZ’s brilliant new add shows the spin small business owners use to appear successful. https://twitter.com/ANZ_AU/status/1131340918810976256

Worst on Ground BREAKING | National Australia Bank was today forced to admit an embarrassing breach of 13,000 customers’ personal data, including contact details and driver’s licence numbers . https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/financial-services/national-australia-bank-admits-to-data-breach-13000-customers-affected/news-story/d690644976567e6f645022c5ebabd114 ACCC’s 23 recommendations to take on the large digital businesses. Could get ugly. Interesting take on journalism suffering. https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/holistic-dynamic-reforms-needed-to-address-dominance-of-digital-platforms David had to open a bank account and it took 45 minutes. Should it? Hear the story in this weeks episode.

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Best on Ground Judo: First 7 graduates through FINSIA (Financial Services Institute of Australasia). One of our commitments at Judo is around professionalism within the financial services industry and within our community. 🙌 Congrats 🎉👍: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6555249916137037824 The TPB’s 72-hour complaint resolution program has now been cancelled after it was revealed that the professional associations were not consulted on the matter: https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/business/13280-tpb-pulls-the-plug-on-72-hour-complaint-resolution-trial

Paul says there is no new tech, here is how tech is speeding up the actuarial certificate process for super funds. https://www.bglcorp.com/2019/07/15/applying-fintech-to-actuarial-certificates/?utm_source=BGL+Master+List&utm_campaign=502e4fdb12-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_10_18_01_02_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5a91541961-502e4fdb12-68307887

https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/1/18246429/microsoft-excel-covert-photos-data-tables-editable-table-ai-feature Microsoft will kill Slack. Raises a great point about big players adding features that supersede smaller systems, especially when the customer already uses that bigger system (more sticky): https://www.vox.com/2019/7/9/20686206/microsoft-teams-slack-facebook-snapchat-copy

Worst on Ground Navid King, Senior Tax Lawyer at King Lawyers Fake ATO email: I received a fake email yesterday from “Australian Taxation Office”. Has anyone else received this email? This is obviously a scam as it has been sent from “ato.com.au”, not “ato.gov.au”. If you receive this email, do NOT open the attachment. Hopefully, the Australian Taxation Office will look into this and put out an alert to warn the public. If you are not sure whether an ATO email is genuine, do not reply to the email or open the attachment. Call the ATO on 1800 008 540 or visit ato.gov.au/scams.

ato #tax #taxscams #taxreturns #australia: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:6554469965918023681

MYOB Payment summaries email error is big to us, but small in the scheme of data breaches. https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/world/114020220/kafkaesque-meltdowns-over-myob-in-australia-as-certificates-go-to-wrong-recipients

Here are some details on Aussie breaches this year https://www.webberinsurance.com.au/data-breaches-list

This is what marketing at the bottom end of the ITR market looks like https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/470492 and here’s the type of leads you can get https://www.anytimeprofessionals.com.au/Tasks

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This week, Paul and David explore the concept of the Hybrid Professional, as outlined in this TEDx talk by Sarabeth Berk, and its application to the accounting profession.

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Best on Ground ABS Getting in to the social media swing with social engagement on the Rugby State of Origin: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6554599885642010625 Lot’s of taxpayers lodging early. Anyone advising to hold off on claiming a refund should be an advisor. Never delay a refund, cash is king. ATO are very clear that future tax legislation will amend the return. https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/tax-compliance/13258-lodgments-spike-by-88-per-cent-as-taxpayers-ignore-advice Tech is lying to you if it says it creates insights. Tech doesn't, you do. https://twitter.com/Paul_BarnesACCA/status/1149017223928963072?s=19 Can accounting solve issues in Indigenous communities? https://twitter.com/IndigenousIAA/status/1147759367288045568?s=19 Can you save money buying a jet instead of flying Qantas? For the staff perk, who cares! https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:6555566884006227968/ Paul’s BGL webinar on the Modern Compliance Advisory Firm. Massive turnout. Over 500 registrations. Compliance is certainly not dead.

Worst on Ground ATO Changing definition of Taxi: @Uber says it's disappointed with the outcome, but is working with @ato_gov_au to address the "inconsistency" in the law whereby Uber is the same as a taxi when it comes to having to pay GST, but not when it comes to getting FBT exemption https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-08/no-tax-breaks-for-employers-using-uber/11283184 Hilarious satire on business books https://www.smartcompany.com.au/people-human-resources/professional-development/business-self-help-books-fck-off/ Records fall as this tweet packs more jargon from a motivational speaker than the avge sales email to an accountant https://twitter.com/GrantCardone/status/1149830800717877248?s=19

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Listen to David and Paul as they interview Joseph Healy from Judo Bank, LIVE at the SOFY Party, as they discuss about the banking industry, the economy and Judo Bank.

The cover:

Bank controversies and where banks have missed out the needs of the small and medium sized businesses How major banks are so focused on their profit maximisation and have made a huge mistake when they lost sight of their social license. The uniqueness of Judo Bank where the major banks have fallen off One of Joseph's major regrets in agreeing to outsource financial analysis to India at NAB where it dropped banks costs to 30% but also reduced the quality as well. Judo Bank's first actual operating day and how they compete with the big major banks.

Finally, Joseph responds to some crowd queries regarding the banking industry.

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Best on Ground Get clients who rave about you like Gabi Leibowitz. Post 200m sale https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6550704110189010944/ Fan fashion Paul’s webinar with BGL. The Modern Compliance firm: https://www.bglcorp.com/event/the-modern-compliance-advisory-firm/ If H&R Block can go paperless, why can’t you https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/business/13227-h-r-block-cuts-out-paper-ahead-of-tax-time-2019

Worst on Ground Accountants boasting about revenue. The economy Labour party changing the name of a tax bill is the height of pettiness. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6551990734134882304

In Depth:

David and Paul reflect on their 2018 resolutions and share their predictions for the year to come.

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Best on Ground 11% of AU houses are un-occupied - https://www.businessinsider.com.au/solved-the-mystery-of-australias-1-million-empty-homes-on-census-night-2017-7 My Swedish Robot story - This is the future of AI and it’s what most providers miss: https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/tech/tech-pulse/how-self-learning-technology-will-empower-accountants We promote the wrong people https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6549055446299357184/ Trent Innes is not moving to MYOB https://twitter.com/trentinnes/status/1143751812161273857

Worst on Ground CBA / For Accountants email lists “insert Name”. Worse than CC not Bcc. More fear about the rich paying no tax. A data journo mis-interpreting the data: https://www.theage.com.au/money/tax/how-a-millionaire-pays-no-income-tax-20190610-p51w5j.html The silent disruption of the accounting industry https://www.benchmarking.com.au/the-silent-disruption-of-the-accounting-industry/ Automation cuts into profit at firms https://www.afr.com/business/accounting/automation-cuts-into-profit-at-firms-20190518-p51oot It started with Paul's website being copied, now accounting firm website plagiarism is rampant. https://www.facebook.com/groups/977122739056681/permalink/1901865956582350/ Big 4 are Big cheats - KPMG cops a 50m fine for cheating on their oversight boards https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/kpmg-to-pay-50m-for-cheating-on-pcaob-exams If a hedge fund doesn't understand how to manage risk, what hope do we have? https://www.afr.com/business/banking-and-finance/hedge-funds/blue-sky-directors-in-shock-at-receivership-20190618-p51yti

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In this week's In Depth, Paul shares a client story that explores the role of the accountant in detecting and preventing fraud.

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David sat down with John Shepherd from the ATO to discuss all thing Single Touch Payroll.

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Best on Ground Talk about down to earth leadership, Trent Innes is leading from the front on the behaviour he wants in his team: https://www.businessinsider.com.au/xero-boss-if-you-dont-wash-your-own-coffee-cup-dont-bother-applying-for-a-job-2019-5 New apps:

Reckon STP App Aider.AI - Check out David’s interview with the founder Brendan Roberts here: https://www.sequelcfo.com/thefinancialmentor/episode-2.-your-business-has-nothing-in-common-with-gilette Chata.AI

Worst on Ground Small Biz wasting their time with IRR laws: https://www.smh.com.au/business/small-business/one-in-a-hundred-success-rate-sparks-small-business-sacking-reform-call-20190527-p51ri1.html Paul’s STP enthusiasm Sholto’s Death of Bookkeepers tweet. “Existential threat”: https://twitter.com/sholtomac/status/1134257674009292800

Indepth: QBC Wrap up, Our Top 6 Takeaways

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Coming to you from Quickbooks Connect 2019, David sat down John Dunkerley, Australia Country Manager at Intuit.

The discuss: what's next for Quickbooks the future of add on app ecosystem app advisory the role of AI in accounting software

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Straight from Quickbooks Connect 2019, David sat down with Cassie Divine, Vice President, QuickBooks Online Platform Leader at Intuit, to talk about the global small business landscape and inspiring female business leaders.

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BREAKING NEWS: Quickbooks Live is coming to Australia. David sat down with Rich Preece, Senior Vice President at Intuit, to ask the elephant in the room questions about a tech company offering bookkeeping and accounting services.

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Best on Ground We've got 5 free tickets for Quickbooks Connect, enter here: https://www.fromthetrenches.com.au/qbc2019 Australian Accounting Awards https://twitter.com/jak_knight/status/1131815074748817408?s=19 The bank of intuit https://twitter.com/mattpaff/status/1131657258968862720?s=19 Effective accounting marketing https://m.facebook.com/watch/?v=851256128545958&_rdr Great staff Venn Diagram: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6527289717006966784

Worst on Ground David at Accounting Awards Purple bricks: https://www.afr.com/real-estate/residential/purplebricks-to-quit-australia-20190507-p51kzo Jamie Oliver Jason Andrew’s post on the startup Anki shutting down after raising more than $200 million: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6528776576727941120

Indepth: 6 Tips to Manage Deadlines

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Best on Ground

Xero results are in and boy oh boy did the market like what they saw.

https://www.xero.com/blog/2019/05/full-year-results-2019/

Yet again, Accountants feature on the most trusted profession list but how are lawyers so high?

https://twitter.com/VladoBotsvadze/status/1129016560537001986?s=19

A win for the good guys as accountants deductions remains https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/tax-compliance/13036-cap-on-deductibility-of-accountants-fees-off-the-table-as-liberals-hold-government

ATO STP client list i just what's needed.

ATO SMSF infographic is filled with data!

Quickbooks connect is next week! Use SPEAKERFRIEND discount code for 40% off and hear David speak about “Transitioning technical workers into business leaders”

https://au.quickbooksconnect.com/speakers/

Worst on Ground

Be ware of the very salesy accounting coaches who seem to have a huge add spend on Facebook at the moment. If you get a coach, make sure you know what their background is. More fear selling

https://www.odyssey-resources.com/2019/05/workpapers-australian-accountants-dirty-little-secret/

In depth

The election produced one of the great upsets of all time! Paul and David discuss their 3 takeaways.

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This week, Emma Tibbals, joins Paul and David for a hearty conversation on freedom and what that means.

Emma is currently studying her Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Accounting at Monash University and a Student Representative for CAANZ.

Hear an emerging accountant's views on gender diversity, what freedom means and the threat posed by STEM jobs.

Best on Ground Great practical content for small business Vanessa Bamford: http://www.vbbusiness.com.au/work-smarter-not-harder-calculating-break-even-point/ Great breakdown comparing the 3 Accounting professional bodies by Amanda Loves to Audit - https://youtu.be/6Qg39Zo6sZk Workflow automation explained – top 5 tips from the experts - https://www.charteredaccountantsanz.com/about-us/ca-catalyst/insights-and-guides/workflow-automation-explained-top-5-tips-from-the-experts Accounting Web SWAG review https://twitter.com/AWebTom/status/1124319489611456513

Worst on Ground CAANZ Vote - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/chartered-accountants-australia-new-zealand-member-vote-con-abbott Do you need to be qualified: https://twitter.com/brettnealcpa/status/1119602270138585088?s=21 More Franchising issues: https://www.theage.com.au/business/workplace/bubble-bursts-for-tea-chain-giant-chatime-over-underpayment-20190424-p51gt0.html?btis Super ‘’Battle of the Sexes’’ clickbaits https://www.superguide.com.au/comparing-super-funds/gender-gap-super-boards-large-funds-perform-poorly

Indepth: Freedom - with special guest, Emma Tibbals

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Paul sat down with Ron Lesh from BGL to cut through the noise surrounding the election.

They cover: Bill Shorten's accountants rort comments Franking Credits Negative gearing Capitals Gains What should the industry do?

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Best on Ground Cocky tax startups - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/think-your-2018-tax-season-tough-check-out-visors-attempt-david-leary Vale Henry Bloch (H&R Block founder) - https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/3555032002 When important messages can’t get heard https://twitter.com/horizonaccount/status/1116306674178879489?s=19 What the marketers got wrong https://generationcfo.com/2019/04/17/automation-redundancy-is-fake-news-heres-why-part-one/

Worst on Ground Someone who wants to be Federal Treasurer caught miscalculating franking credits: https://twitter.com/paulmeissner_/status/1119169867209306112?s=21 Pilot bookkeeping raises $40m. Why? If it’s a tech play, they are building Receipt Bank again and playing catch up with others. If it’s a services play, then anyone raising for services businesses is an idiot. https://techcrunch.com/2019/04/18/index-ventures-stripe-back-bookkeeping-service-pilot-with-40m/amp/ Will tech really overtake this firm and what have we seen in the past that might indicate the future: https://futurefirm.co/will-accounting-tech-startups-overtake-your-firm/ I’ll never get tired of weird deductions https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/tax-compliance/12889-tax-agent-claims-family-pet-as-guard-dog-gets-booted-by-tpb

Indepth: How to fix conferences (and what’s wrong with them)

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This week, Paul sat down with Robyn Jacobson, Senior Tax Trainer at Tax Banter, FCA, FCPA, CTA, tax agent, blogger and podcast host at Tax Yak. She's also involved in advocacy and sits on a number of committees. The chat about: How training has changed with new technologies Why face to face training hasn't replaced How to apply legislative changes to real life business cases Using the structure of policy development to your advantage Top 6 tips for micro firms to keep up with the changes in tax

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Paul sat down with ATO Assistant Commissioner, Andrew Watson, to chat about how the upcoming tech changes are the changing the way tax agents work.

The last year has been huge, with transitioning Tax Agents from ELS to PLS, as well as the Agent Portals to the new Online Services for Agents. We look at what's changing, some exciting new features and some practical tips for agents.

Following recording the podcast, all tax and BAS agents have since been provided with access to the ATO’s Online services for agents. More information, including about user support tools, is available atato.gov.au/onlineservicesforagents

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Best on Ground Bold News from MYOB on Payments Advisory - https://www.myob.com/au/blog/bold-strategy-payments-accounting-business-expo/ Life as a Xero Community Manager - https://cloudaccountant.today/2019/03/29/life-as-a-xero-community-manager/ Great discussions happening between accountants and Judo Capital at the Water Cooler Lunch Series

Worst on Ground Are your small business clients ready for STP? 1 in 10 say no: https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/tax-compliance/12841-netflix-but-not-stp-1-in-10-small-biz-stp-ready Out of the US, Congress is considering a bipartisan bill that would make it illegal for the IRS to offer free electronic tax filing - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2019-04-16/congress-considers-free-online-tax-filing-ban-video Bill Shorten's comments regarding 'accountants tax rort', CAANZ nailed the response: https://www.charteredaccountantsanz.com/news-and-analysis/media-centre/press-releases/chartered-accountants-set-record-straight-after-opposition-leaders-abc-interview

Indepth: Three outcomes we want to see from the upcoming election

We lay out our wish list for the upcoming election for the accounting space, whether there is a change in government or not.

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Best on Ground Patti & Scott Scharf - Great catch up. Amazing how small the world of accounting is and how the conversations about advisory, technology, pricing, etc are far different to a lot of the general conversations out there, especially by salespeople. Compliance is far from dead in the USA: Sales Tax https://www.avataxrates.com/ Reading is good for your brain, listening about reading isn’t as much https://twitter.com/damonayoung/status/1114797728502935552?s=19 Sustainable Growth Vs Scaling = Great to see a big tech company having a realistic conversation https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/uncategorized/why-its-time-to-stop-thinking-about-scaling/amp/?__twitter_impression=true RBXxchange - the explosive bookkeeper v accountant conversation that ended in a very productive chat with ATT Director Cassandra Scott.

Worst on Ground Fathom's response to Goal Seek Analysis: https://support.fathomhq.com/using-the-analysis-tools/goalseek-analysis Accountants Daily article on the IGT report: https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/business/12875-igt-heralds-accountants-business-model-change More awareness of flexible work conditions done badly. https://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/a-full-time-role-in-part-time-hours-the-truth-about-flexible-work-20190405-p51b88.html

Indepth: Being Present - The victim of the work from anywhere culture

Work life balance used to be about the amount of time you spent at work. But with more and more people not really having an ‘’at work’’ mode or place, work is kind of everywhere all the time. This puts pressure on being present.

Now Australia overall doesn't have it that bad, according to the OECD better life index, we rank 30/38 countries for working "very long hours" (50 or more) with just 13.8% of us doing so and the trend is down .2% since 2005.

What impact does this have on: you, your family, staff and clients? This was an issue raised in an earlier FTT episode where we were joined by both Paul and David's FCA fathers - how does this new generation deal with being 'aways on'?

About Us

From the Trenches is brought to you by Paul Meissner from Freedom Mentoring and David Boyar from Sequel CFO. Proudly sponsored by BGL.

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Paul sat with Angus Capel, Xero Small Business Advocate and former adviser to Federal Small Business Ministers, Michael McCormack and Craig Laundy, to get an inside look at how the Federal Budget gets put together.

They talk about: what was the thinking behind moving the small business definition from $2m to $10m thoughts on the 2019 budget the process of how a small business initiative gets in to the budget how does the budget play out in terms of an upcoming election what does the budget look like if we end up with a minority government

About Us

From the Trenches is brought to you by Paul Meissner from Freedom Mentoring and David Boyar from Sequel CFO. Proudly sponsored by BGL.

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A Budget piece outside the budget news cycle? How dare we! But that is just the point of accountants. We care about the budget even when it doesn't give us clicks.

With David and Paul sitting on the Xero budget panel and live tweeting the event of the year (we believe that) this show is non stop action.

Best On Ground

A well balanced piece on how to get ready for the future of work

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffthomson/2018/09/26/automation-organizational-readiness-and-the-need-for-new-skills/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Worst on Ground

Hubdoc and Fathom produced a ''you have to do advisory'' article that missed the mark by so much, they edited it after Paul politely brought it to their attention on Twitter.

http://go.hubdoc.com/hubfs/Road-to-Advisory/Pre-Advisory-Checklist-Hubdoc-Fathom.pdf

About Us

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Best on Ground

David

Ignore the tech, focus on your business model first: https://hbr.org/2018/12/digital-growth-depends-more-on-business-models-than-technology?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=hbr&utm_medium=social

Best use of management and cost accounting - Hollywood style: https://www.instagram.com/p/BvSsQzZh_rZ/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=8w8o9yuh43pi

Paul:

The profitability of Deliveroo. More great work by Jason Andrew: https://sbo.financial/should-my-restaurant-offer-ubereats/

Paul’s old mate Gary V - “I’m scared for all the companies these days that are raising money … Many startups today aren’t actual businesses, they’re “financial arbitrage machines” built with the goal of raising the next round of financing.

And what will happen when all that money dries up (like it eventually will)?

We need to collectively begin celebrating that are actually making money over companies that are just "fundraising ' - really hope we start having this conversation more in the tech community.”

We need more honesty in startups: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6513433435393060864

Worst on Ground

A marketing company preaching the need to be personal but not walking the talk: https://bomamarketing.com/2018/05/08/modern-business-owners-want-an-accountant-who-goes-beyond-the-numbers/amp/#click=https://t.co/oXboXlusiX

Advice from a ‘’leader’’ in the industry is to drop prices to compete. Bad advice: https://www.autoentry.com/blog/how-to-compete-with-a-200-a-month-bookkeeping-service

David Ixnay on the Swear Words - Mark Bouris’ millennial appeasing makeover doesn’t need profanity: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:6514440049436745728/

In-depth

Celebrating 100 shows David and Paul discuss why they do this, Where to from here and what you can do to better our industry.

They also go off on 100 tangents.

100th show in 2 years

Why we still do what we do?

Paul - Support the industry, add a realistic/practical voice for the industry in a sea of marketing

Our challenges over the 2 years.

Time - PM 2 days per week, plus travel to conferences, plus arranging interviews

Sponsors (Acast)

Events

Where to now

Paul

Connect more with listeners. Want to include the voice of the people

Want to hear more about the UK and the US

David

We so proud of what people have done based on the show

Now it’s time to stop talking and start leading

We want you to act on what we say

We want you to lead

What’s changed in two years? 2 years ago was awareness. I think that at least IPA and CA have listened and i think we need to start engaging and working with the industry.

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This week, David is coming straight to you from Accounting Business Expo. He's joined by the biggest and brightest leaders propelling our industry forward for an epic panel discussion.

We are joined by:

Andrew Van De Beek - 2018 Thought Leader of the Year

Lielette Calleja - 2017 Au Firm of the Future Winner and AAT Director

Heather Smith - Literally wrote the book on Xero, Cloud App master mentor and cloud newsletter author

Steph Hinds - One of the first 100% cloud accountants who rivals Paul Meissner for strait talking

Ron Lesh - The founder of BGL, the tech company who has survived more change than most (and shares amazing insight as an exhibitor at ABE)

And a special cameo appearance by Sam Rotberg - a recent social media superstar (listen to find out more)

NOTE: Paul couldn't get to Accounting Business Expo but don't worry, he comes up often in this episode!

About Us

From the Trenches is brought to you by Paul Meissner from Freedom Mentoring and David Boyar from Sequel CFO. Proudly sponsored by BGL.

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Water Cooler Lunch Series

Request your seat to join David and Judo at one of our Melbourne lunches and learn about expanding your network of professionals to include CFO advisers (yes, Sequel CFO works with accountants) and new bank lenders.

Interview with Joseph Healy

With so much attention on the banking sector both David and Paul are sure that new entrants are going to have an impact. One such entrant is Judo Capital who is going to be able to compete at similar debt pricing to traditional SME lending banks.

David tracked down Judo Capital's co-founder and joint CEO Joseph Healy for a wide ranging interview.

The highlight of course, is his envy that bankers don't have the trusted relationship us accountants have with clients.

About Us

From the Trenches is brought to you by Paul Meissner from Freedom Mentoring and David Boyar from Sequel CFO. Proudly sponsored by BGL.

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Best on Ground Philadelphia bans cashless stores Anthony Pratt's best on social media Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce, responds to 10 year old boy's handwritten letter Young kids starting businesses Resurrecting the Dead Horse Theory

Worst on Ground Shoes of Prey went in to liquidation - when you listen to your customer, but your customer doesn't actually know what they want. Australia's Super funds legacy systems run on spare parts from eBay, 1950s programs 'Overnight success is a farce': Aussie founder sells startup last valued at $25.4m to American Express The battle for work/life balance is lost. The war for device/non-device balance has just begun. Kmart employees forced to join industry super fund Select Committee into Fair Dinkum Power Challenger bank, Countingup, launches invoicing from their smartphone app

Indepth: You don't HAVE to do advisory.

Something grinds our gears. And that something is: Generic conversations about accountants having to do advisory, from people who've never done it. It comes from this idea that because advanced use of technology means that it takes a lower amount of time to do traditional compliance work. It stems from a line Xero used to tout, 'Compliance is dead, you have to do advisory'. What's wrong with the way advisory is being spoken about?

About Us

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Thanks to MYOB, David got to sit down with some awesome accountants who have kept their firms on MYOB amidst rapid industry change. Their stories are compelling and enthusiastic!

We speak with: Shaun Borg and Vatche Medzoian from Mead Partners Tracy Brennan from BW Advisers Kyelie Baxter from IQ Accountants

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Best on Ground Head down to Accounting Business Expo to see David MCing the Business and Finance Theatre - Wednesday March 20 2019, ICC, Sydney - And if you are an FTT listener heading down, check out David's interview with ATO Assistant Commissioner of SMSF’s Dana Fleming and if you let us know beforehand, David will give you a shout out on stage! https://www.accountingbusiness.com.au/ Following last week's videos to promote better business, Deloitte are producing a topic featuring their own female leaders to promote women entering the STEM areas (Science, Technology, Engineering Maths): https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/press-releases/deloitte-ellaengineer-comic-book-collab-stem.html?id=us:2sm:3tw:4ellapr::6cons:20190226161100:&utm_source=tw&utm_campaign=ellapr&utm_content=cons&utm_medium=social&linkId=64080881 Earn Qantas points when you pay your accounting fees with Deloitte: https://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/pages/deloitte-private/articles/qantas-business-rewards.html You never have all the right information to tell the full story: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6507513599555096576 It’s ok to have a ‘’work voice’’ says David as Elizabeth Holmes is busted for changing her voice to a baritone for business purposes: https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/theranos-founder-elizabeth-holmes-desperate-deceptions/news-story/c27d04362607d5a66f3fe2b61debe49a The Gamification of Tax Compliance! https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2019/03/02/governments-use-receipt-lotteries-to-boost-tax-compliance

Worst on Ground

ATO has put its hand up and enforced the super amnesty despite its botched process into legislation:https://www.theage.com.au/business/workplace/ato-set-to-waive-unpaid-superannuation-penalties-in-wake-of-botched-amnesty-20190305-p511yn.html Despite Paul’s initial claim, it turns out accountants can learn from tech startups: https://www.accountingtoday.com/opinion/5-lessons-accountants-can-learn-from-tech-startups Korda Mentha Acquire Learning was solvent, despite Acquire paying Korda’s bill late: https://www.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/boom-1-million-for-the-boys-acquire-eyed-success-ahead-of-fall-20190306-p5128m.html The law doesn't care about your buzzwords. Aldi replaced “Employer” with “Leader”: https://www.afr.com/news/policy/industrial-relations/aldi-enterprise-agreements-torpedoed-over-a-one-word-change-20190301-h1bvck?&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nc&eid=socialn:fac-14omn0053-optim-nnn:nonpaid-25/06/2014-social_traffic-all-organicpost-nnn-afr-o&campaign_code=nocode&promote_channel=social_facebook

Indepth: ATO Scandal Part 3

Following the ATO’s scandal last year a parliamentary committee has made 37 recommendations for changes into the ATO handling of disputes.

See linked episodes: ATO Scandal: Part 1 ATO Scandal: Part 2

The recommendations have some good and some bad, so in true FTT style, David and Paul try to work out which ones will work and which won't.

Check our our interview with Debt Commissioner Robert Ravanello here.

You can check the full list of recommendations here.

https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Tax_and_Revenue/2016-17AnnualReport/Report/section?id=committees/reportrep/024240/26793&_lrsc=396f93d4-9f23-423f-8f1e-61c0bcc004de&trk=elevate_li

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Best on Ground This interesting hiring technique reminds us of the tricks lawyers use to test the compliance of their graduates. https://www.theblaze.com/news/2016/02/22/charles-schwab-ceo-reveals-how-he-tests-job-candidates-by-taking-them-to-breakfast-having-restaurant-mess-up-their-order/amp Another accounting software uses the Intuit bookkeeper thing as ammunition to prove they love their clients more https://www.accountingsuite.com/partner-page/ Xero is rolling out the same event strategy they used in Australia in Asia.https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6504165830408921088/ How inclusive is your culture? This awesome video from Pixar shows us how oblivious we can be to our exclusiveness and how just one person can change it. https://www.fastcompany.com/90303807/pixars-new-short-purl-takes-on-toxic-workplace-bro-culture Will you stay small and true to your values or become a profit hungry competitive corporate? This charming add from Chipotle reminds us why we go into business https://www.youtube_.com/watch?v=jGYhPheWS6g&feature=youtu.be

Worst on Ground Blockchain hacked!!! https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612974/once-hailed-as-unhackable-blockchains-are-now-getting-hacked/ Pitcher Partners fined: http://www.pubacct.org.au/news/accounting-firm-ordered-pay-client-3-3m-costs The ethics of conflict of interest disclosure and PWCs epic partner exit package: https://www.afr.com/business/accounting/accounting-regulator-chairman-bill-edge-still-being-paid-by-pwc-20190225-h1bo3m Pre accounting won’t replace bookkeeping in the eyes of our clients: https://blog.receipt-bank.com/pre-accounting-why-small-businesses-cant-ignore-it?hs_amp=true&__twitter_impression=true Enough with the misleading robot advertisements https://theconversation.com/robots-star-in-ads-but-mislead-viewers-about-technology-111584

Indepth: Accountants - You're on Notice.

We live in an anti-establishment world and accountants are perhaps the thread that ties the establishment together, so we need to be aware. With Royal Commissions into banking, aged care, mental health and pay day lenders, as well as parliamentary inquiries into franchising and even the ATO facing a Parliamentary committee, we have to be on alert.

Is our behaviour and action truly inline with our regulatory obligation and being the trusted advisor we think we are?

In the wake of these commissions and inquiries, many of which slammed the practices of sales and cash collection cultures, our industry is peppered with consultants telling us to grow, sell, use value pricing which charges...

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Best on Ground

Paul: Congratulations to Deb Anderson on becoming a director of the Tax Practitioners Board We all got excited when the story of Michael Cranston’s involvement in his sons scam hit the press and now, he has been acquitted. https://www.afr.com/news/policy/tax/michael-cranston-acquittal-afp-loses-its-26-million-scalp-20190214-h1b9l9 We all have cognitive bias https://www.visualcapitalist.com/18-cognitive-bias-examples-mental-mistakes/ Xero Americas have respond to the Intuit bookkeeping service: https://www.xero.com/us/partner-programs/partners/commitment/ Check out this great business resource https://www.business.gov.au

David Practice Management software is the biggest let down in the cloud space - almost 5 years on and we’re not getting this wishlist prepared by Lisa Callaghan https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140817064002-150577399-the-future-of-accounting-practice-management-software/?trk=hp-feed-article-title-comment We say farewell to Nicolette Maury who has stepped down from Country Manager at Intuit. CHECK OUT OUR INTERVIEW WITH NICOLETTE IN OUR INTUIT FROM THE GENERALS EPISODE

Worst on Ground

Paul: Futrli continues to push their own agenda in content marketing. This line in particular is not helpful because it isn’t true ““#Accountancy is a profession continually divided on the best way to serve clients. “https://www.futrli.com/advisory/can-advisory-and-compliance-coexist-in-2019/ ASIC have a new logo design, it cost $40k, and it is exactly the same Myob advisor: https://twitter.com/shailanpatel/status/1097261665433804800?s=21 Emoji number plates in Queensland, what’s wrong with letters and numbers? https://twitter.com/7newsbrisbane/status/1097415619148795908?s=21 We discovered that app providers at the Xero roadshow were sharing email addresses. If you do this, please stop. As participants we don’t consent to it and it may be illegal.

David: ABC seems to have no idea what an accountant does in this deeply confusing article https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-18/financial-planning-accountants-and-conflicted-remuneration/10820526 Franchising in the bad books again, The Yoghurtland story, a franchise system developed by an accountant who sold stores to his clients is a case study in bad old school franchising. David recommends what should have happened (besides the obvious massive conflict of interest)

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Jason Andrew is no ordinary accountant. Whilst running his own firm he found a way to spend 18 months writing a book about accounting for entrepreneurs.

David caught up with Jason in Brisbane to find out:-

Why accountants lost out on being the cool business people Why it's so hard to see what accountants do from the lens of clients Why empathy matters for accountants

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Best on Ground

It's great to see Accountants out in public entering the public conversation about business success Good on ya' Jason Robinson on Kochie and Jase Andrews on Your Money.

Go in the Draw to win a book https://sbo.financial/FTT

How good is Bruce Bardell's subtle tax tip on Linked In - ‘’Its never too late to lodge’’ https://www.linkedin.com/in/bruce-bardell-5074b69/

Tim Munro from Change GPS has an excellent template that shows you how to sack a client

Paul:

Good news, Accounting jobs are on the increase

https://www.theage.com.au/business/workplace/is-your-industry-growing-or-shrinking-find-out-the-future-of-your-profession-20190128-p50u2r.html

Worst on Ground

MYOB may have missed the pricing mark on their new corporate compliance fee structure

https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/technology/12619-myob-targets-compliance-work-with-beta-launch?utm_source=Accountants+Daily&utm_campaign=07_02_19&utm_medium=email&utm_content=3&fbclid=IwAR0K3UCRs3JM4TFy4ldcn35BwZ5vI2fLeRAuS0lG607QeNwOBpBZ4Z_alig

How come so many veteran consultants are advising banks to put customers first? Shouldn't this have been obvious?

https://www.afr.com/business/accounting/banking-royal-commission-put-customers-first-or-else-consultants-warn-20190204-h1at9s

One of the all time great reasons to not lodge a tax return

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/man-says-he-doesn-t-have-to-lodge-tax-returns-because-he-s-not-a-person-20190207-p50wbt.html

Indepth

Quickbooks have advertised a test to actually do the bookkeeping for small and micro businesses at a very low price point upsetting a lot of their fans. But we don't think it's such a big deal. Do you really want THOSE clients? At THAT price point? Doing THAT kind of work?

2017 Quickbooks Firm of the Future winner Lielette Calleja joins us to discuss the response from the Aussie bookkeeping community (almost nothing) and we ask if the fearful response is just a giant beat up.

Check out the news on this

https://www.intuitiveaccountant.com/general-ledger/is-intuit-building-the-h-and-r-block-of-bookkeeping/?#.XGHnfKTZWEc

And the well researched (if not fear mongering headlined) article from Blake Oliver

https://www.blakeoliver.com/blog/bookkeeping-is-dead

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Best on Ground

Forget co-working, take your office to the beach

https://workandco.co.za/nova/

Public accounting will make you fat miserable and diabetic, or will it?

http://entirethoughts.com/2018/02/02/avoid-public-accounting/

If client’s don’t care about the tech you use but rather what you do for them, then spotlight white labelling is a good option

https://twitter.com/spotlightrep/status/1089976962095988736?s=19

Will single solution tech ultimate let you down as the big players include their features.

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.ft.com/content/c91a5136-1fa3-11e9-b126-46fc3ad87c65

Congratulations to Tanya Titman a true leader of the industry

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/new-horizons-consolid8-acceler8-tanya-titman/

Great to see a new support business to promote the great women in accounting. Well done to Lielette Calleja, Kylie Parker and Kelly Chard on launching Accountek Global

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/empowering-women-finance-kylie-parker/

Worst on Ground

The big 4 fail in the SME space, again.

https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/practice/general-practice/kpmg-shutters-small-business-accounting-unit

Crypto Lock out

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/crypto-exchange-customers-cant-access-190-million-after-ceo-dies-with-sole-password-2019-02-04

Indepth

Check in the show for our discussion about why the Royal Commission couldn’t have been good because the banks share prices went UP! We also discuss how mortgage brokers are responding and why the lawyers always win.

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Best on Ground

Both David and Paul struggled to embrace slack (and didn’t eventually) but loved this use example of a firm that uses slack for customer service

https://www.firmofthefuture.com/content/seth-davids-top-tips-on-using-slack-with-your-clients/

Great tips on how accountants can improve their presentation skills - from an accountant https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:6492996181021589504

CFA earned great press as the most brutal exam in the world, this creates the allure of their brand for future candidates, why doesn't CA promote how hard it is? https://www.businessinsider.com.au/cfa-exam-questions-2018-4?utm_content=buffer5f6b4&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin.com&utm_campaign=BI-linkedin&r=US&IR=T

Anthony Pratt’s twitter account is the best billionaire twitter account because he seemingly does it himself -https:/twitter.com/anthonyjpratt2/status/1085599580710785024

Check out the UK's funniest Tax excuses: https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/tax/hmrc-policy/witchs-curse-spells-tax-return-trouble

Alex Malley has lost his Life Membership to CPA

The ATO's engagement with agents on Twitter is hilarious!

Worst on Ground

Xero wants to change the dictionary meaning of ''Accountant''. Is it just a gimmick?

https://www.change.org/p/oxford-english-dictionary-change-oxford-english-dictionary-s-archaic-definition-of-an-accountant?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=change_oed

More bad reviews for crypto currency by a hyper trusted group, this time JP Morgan https://www.businessinsider.com.au/jpmorgan-says-crypto-is-a-unique-hedge-for-those-expecting-dystopia-2019-1

Mark Wickersham’s blog post - yet more claims accountants will become extinct: https://www.wickersham.co.uk/blog/why-cloud-accounting-means-you-have-to-change-the-way-you-price

We still don't quite get startup valuations -

https://www.afr.com/business/retail/marley-spoon-secures-more-than -30m-in-funds-to-support-meal-kit-growth-20190129-h1als5

Indepth

When client's sack you here's what you may want to consider:-

Did the clients expectations match the way you run your firm?

Engage your staff, it's rarely their fault.

Make sure you communicate the way you work with clients.

Respond with strength, hit the business development track, find more leads, close the open ones. Get back into it!

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Best on Ground

Are Finance People full of themselves when talking about the value they create in new CFO roles?

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/finances-current-image-problem-delusions-grandeur-brad-eisenhuth

New Bank Update: Xinja is crowd funding is new way to engage investors

https://www.smartcompany.com.au/startupsmart/news-analysis/neobank-xinja-equity-crowdfunding/

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6488907600434987008/

Here's a great visual way to see what Zapier can do for your firm.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6488907600434987008/

FTT Special: If you like what Paul stands for check out the webinar he is running with Wayne Schmidt on how to achieve Freedom from your firm. Don't worry if you miss the live webinar, you can register and get it sent to you https://zoom.us/webinar/register/8615458913074/WN_-_nfyaK3RhCixyBsk-ixSA

Worst on Ground

Falling house prices/credit tightening/royal commission is bad for the Australian dream, as per our 2019 predictions, accountants need relationships with new lenders because home loan declines reached a whopping 40% https://www.mortgagebusiness.com.au/breaking-news/13042-home-loan-rejection-rate-hits-40

Paul Sold out and is now a thought leader http://sageadvicepodcast.com/meissner?tdest_id=282205

You are not a nothing burger https://www.accountingtoday.com/opinion/has-your-firm-become-a-nothing-burger

Not more nonsense about the robot uprising https://www.blackline.com/about

In depth

Here are 6 tech tips you didn't expect

If your firm runs on Microsoft Office, even better 0365 (Microsoft's cloud version) then have a look at Teams for your chat and video call solution. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of Slack but is built into your tech stack and you are likely already paying for it. Data Dear - firstly it not only proves excel isn't dead but that its the critical tool for month end and avoids the rubbish in rubbish out problem in off the shelf reporting tools with 2 way push and pull, month end journals Asana Email task creationis ado it yourself way to replicate Karbons great triage feature. Cloud HQ Gmail label sharing for team email searching XPM email my job Gmail subscription email filtering (label and mark as read) Xero URL bookmark lets you bookmark a report and it changes to what ever client you have open at the time.

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Best on Ground

David

A Vegan ETF proves capitalism and Vegan anti- Capitalists can co exist https://www.etf.com/sections/vegan-etf-filed?nopaging=1

McKinsey SLAMS Crypto - it’s so damning it makes the new game of thrones trailer look boring https://www.ccn.com/crypto-firms-speak-out-against-critical-mckinsey-report/

Receipt Bank has the most gamified partner program going around

https://receipt-bank.wistia.com/medias/zqf1qv2ikt

Paul

Nationalising Super could be a big big move. Could significantly reduce red tape and super compliance: https://www.afr.com/news/economy/will-the-morrison-government-nationalise-the-27trn-super-industry-20190115-h1a2oe

Robot trouble in Robot hotel: https://on.wsj.com/2D9SBcq

Chris Hooper on firm brands: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/do-you-know-value-your-firms-earned-owned-media-chris-hooper

Worst on Ground

David

Karbon is no marketing to all businesses, is this bad for accountants? https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/meaningful-contribution-way-work-gets-done-stuart-mcleod/

Is this the first of many app startup failures?

https://www.glassdoor.com.au/Overview/Working-at-Asset-Guru-EI_IE1746167.11,21.htm

Paul

Should a start up firm ever consider paying someone for marketing? I say no: https://www.accountingtoday.com/opinion/7-biggest-mistakes-among-accounting-firm-startups

Are Xero removing email support? Let us know if you like the new changes.

In Depth - Why get a mentor

David has 3 mentors and rotates 2 of them according to where he is and where he wants to go - all three have different relationships. Spiritual Mentor - This helps with wellness and mindfulness Sales -There's a big difference between talking and selling Marketing - David is obsessing over story telling now and Seth Godin is the king, with so much free content on line and a small investment in books he is a virtual mentor

Paul never formalised his mentors but always had people he followed and looked up to.

3 challenges Paul struggles with Mentoring

Time - to meet, organise, etc
High Cost - because the 1 on 1 model is expensive
It was only 1 view, and you never knew the bias’s.

Recently though Paul has gotten together with Wayne and Sally Schmidt and created Freedom Mentoring. They have re imagined the mentoring process with a mix of Q&A, self guided and practical content and a community of views. Check it out https://www.freedommentoring.com/

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Welcome to 2019.

We are pumped to be back and keen to get started, no mucking around. Our In depth this week is 2019 planning. We share the tips that worked for us.

Best on Ground

Paul appointed to Australian federal Govt Advisory group. With Kate Carnell and Peter Strong

https://www.minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/karenandrews/media-releases/empowering-small-and-family-businesses

New CA program pathways re opens debate on the value of professional membership https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6487091624361988096

BGL - 40 releases last year. When we talk about innovation we should be talking about this.

Voice Activated tech is all the rage at CES, will it take on for time sheets?

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:6488469065940762624

Second tier lender transparency Ondeck and Banjo

https://www.ondeck.com.au/smartbox/

My Prosperity Client Persona’s https://www.myprosperity.com.au/blog/5-common-client-personas

Special for our Listeners

Buyer personas are the start of your marketing plans. Sequel CFO (David's business) uses personas to define the type of franchisees he wants to attract, you can check them out here https://www.sequelcfo.com/franchising

To plan out buyer personas for your firm you can use the template David used https://offers.hubspot.com/persona-templates

Worst on Ground

NAB’s attempt to engage staff with the royal commission is cringe worthy

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6484170490406674432

With many law firms faking their ‘’new law’’ credentials, are there any accounting firms faking their innovation credentials?https://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/newlaw/24712-observations-on-newlaw-in-australia-in-2018

Virtual working doesn’t work hey? https://www.accountingweb.com/community/blogs/craig-smalley/why-the-virtual-office-doesnt-work-for-cpas

KPMG fines staff for not doing timesheets. https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/practice/general-practice/kpmg-employees-face-ps100-late-timesheets-fine

In Depth - 2019 Planning

David Don't think big. Stop thinking big for a 12 month plan Only have 2 Don’t include financials: This is the accountant’s mistake. This is budgeting. You budget to support your goals.

Paul Design CEO (run by Cameron Schwab) agent of trust worksheet. For everything you want to do you need to focus on what to stop doing. Check it out here http://www.designceo.com.au/ Where you want to be. “What...

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We wouldn't have much integrity if we didn't asses our predictions for the year and whilst we are heavily biased into thinking we got it all 100% correct, we didn't.

So in this weeks in-depth we mark our predictions out of 10 Matt Paff style and make 2 big predictions for next year.

Best on Ground

With Summer reading (And listening approaching) are audio-books better than actual reading? https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/08/opinion/sunday/audiobooks-reading-cheating-listening.html

Ferrier Hodgson made a video about financial information for lawyers and most accountants could learn something from it https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:6475613477447831552

R&D ''Expert'' Consultants under fire, is the PWC claim denial the start of a crack down? We hope so. https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/tax-compliance/12422-r-d-audits-to-see-businesses-forced-to-pay-back-millions

Did all this migration and skilled labour conversation confuse you? It didn't confuse Mel Meissner https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6476550858120269824

Worst on Ground

R&D experts should be allowed to earn their fee as the % of claim https://www.afr.com/business/accounting/pwc-slashes-rd-unit-after-being-targeted-in-rort-crackdown-20181209-h18whu

"Compliance is back in the conversation" say Receipt Bank, where did it go? The future? Hello? McFly?

https://blog.receipt-bank.com/top-5-accounting-trends-to-embrace-in-2019?hs_amp=true&__twitter_impression=true

Apparently there are 101 harsh truths accountants need to know about https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/101-harsh-truths-accountancy-firm-owners-need-face-james-ashford/

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As you get on in business opportunities will present themselves to you that cause you to stray away from your goal. In an era of constant notifications and updates, how do you stay focused?

Best on Ground

Deputy breaks fundraising records and David gets involved in the start up scene https://www.smartcompany.com.au/startupsmart/news-analysis/inside-111-million-deal-hr-startup-deputy-biggest-aussie-series-b/ thanks to Catapult for the invite https://mycatapult.com.au/

Microsoft's new in app and icon rebrand https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/microsoft-is-rebranding-its-entire-suite-of-office-icons/

Xero hits 1m subscribers https://www.afr.com/technology/xero-hits-1-million-anz-subscribers-as-its-accounting-platform-play-takes-shape-20181127-h18e87

Some great excel tips https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:6472005781259685888

Worst on Ground

Great training from CAANZ but wow it's expensivehttps://store.charteredaccountantsanz.com/Leverage-Data-through-Power-Pivot-Power-Query-2018?utm_source=e&utm_medium=e&utm_campaign=s-calendar-november-vic-au&utm_content=LeverageDataVIC&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWVdOa016ZGtZemhoWmpreSIsInQiOiJ5V1NoZU51SHF6REx3amF4MmlLMXVUUVRNT0ZvSFNvTHpQZnRjVjFocklaYWJMQ01rakpYOERvWDdWMkxtZGFqaXNTZTgxbWd2Slh3MTF6TmVtUmsyNjNGNTl4anNoN01ydkw5K3RWNTMySkZTVnRKZmlGZU03TGZpSUJnUmIwSyJ9

People are ripping off Paul's tagline https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/tax-compliance/12406-stop-the-fear-mongering-around-stp-says-software-providers

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David takes Paul to task on his Linked In (nearly viral) post where he boldly asserted that Tech Innovation has stalled. The response: Who cares, tech adoption is the challenge.

And we really want to hear from listeners in the UK about MTD and the real impact on your firm.

Best on Ground

Royal Commission into Banking Vs Management Speak '"It sounds so complicated when you say it, but you're a bank. Presumably your purpose is to be a bank. Is it?"'https://www.afr.com/brand/chanticleer/banking-royal-commission-nab-chief-andrew-thorburn-steps-through-haynes-pay-trap-20181126-h18cj2

ACCA's new emotional intelligence support program https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/professional-insights/pro-accountants-the-future/emotional-quotient-in-a-digital-age.html

Xero's new navigation changes https://www.xero.com/blog/2018/11/xeros-new-navigation-harnessing-power-change/

Lessons in marketing https://www.littlevillagecreative.com.au/blog/accountkit-xerocon-case-study

Worst on Ground

UK's House of Lords has won a battle against Making Tax Digital providing more evidence that Australia https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/tax/hmrc-policy/lords-slam-making-tax-digital-rollout

Australia isn't ready for a cashless society https://www.smartcompany.com.au/finance/economy/cash-dead-problems-digital-ecosystem/

Australia's Kodak Moment? Really?? http://www.pubacct.org.au/blog/accountants-embrace-change-will-flourish?utm_source=IPA&utm_campaign=IPA_Bulletin02_11_18&utm_medium=email

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On the sidelines of the World Congress of Accountants WCOA conference, we had the honour of chatting with Christopher Arnold, who manages the IFAC Small - Medium Practice sector as well as heads up Research. The2018 IFAC Global SMP Survey highlighted the latest challenges facing SMP Accountants around the world. Christopher breaks down the numbers and we look at how Australia compares to the rest of the world. Some really interesting numbers.

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With the calls of accountants dying a horrible slow death subsiding it's now time to take control back and be a part of a solution.

David and Paul share 3 ways each to get involved in the accounting industry.

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On the sidelines of the World Congress of Accountants WCOA conference, we had the honour of chatting with Monica Foerster, who chairs the IFAC Small - Medium Practice Committee the about the role IFAC play, what the SMP Committee do and the future of the profession. Enjoy

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From The Trenches: Recent Episodes

David Boyar

ato #tax #taxscams #taxreturns #australia: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:6554469965918023681