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Aug 2013

August 2013 Newsletter

By: Odyssey Newsletter
Tags: $75 Xero conversion, APES GB 30 Outsourced Services, Australia’s Privacy Principles, CPA Australia Recognised Knowledge Partner

The Odyssey Annual Motorbike Trip 2013 – done and dusted!

Yes, we’re all back safely from the Fourth Odyssey client motorbike trip, and another toe-tapping video is available. Click here for a quick 5 minutes time out!

A letter from Tony

I recently received a letter from Tony who talks about the shortage of qualified professional accountants in Australia and outsourcing. It’s a sobering look at Industry trends and where accounting business owners will be sourcing resources – both onshore and offshore. Well worth a read as an independent (unsolicited!) piece of correspondence.

The Cloud is gathering pace. What do I tell my clients? Australia’s New Privacy Principles

New issues are arising from cloud use every day.  There’s sure to be plenty of issues with data being only in one location. What happens when accountants clients decide to leave – how do they get their bookkeeping data, how is the client passed to a new accountant? And what happens when practices split up –one partner could control all the data and lock the other partner out?  We’re seeing lots of interesting outcomes when people aren’t playing nicely.

Earlier this year the APES released a guidance note APES GN 30 Outsourced services and the AFR came out with a story in April 2013 headed “Accounting firms told to disclose outsourcing to clients”.  This is the first instance we’ve seen mention of the “Guidance” where (Section 3.7).” the Member should disclose to the Client the geographical location of the Outsourced Service Provider..”

The Charter came out with 3 stories in June “Short Fuse, Big Bang” (Digital disruption is heading your way fast), “The World of Outsourcing”, and “New Privacy APPs affect you”. The new Australian Privacy Principles (APP’s) come into effect from 12 March 2014. Of interest, “accountants will need to let individuals know that their information will be transferred offshore, and, if it practicable to specify, the countries in which the recipients are likely to be located”.

Our reading of the above is that Outsourcing is gathering pace, and controls are being put in place to see that the outsourcing arrangements are legitimate and professional.

Books

I don’t usually talk about books but I’ve seen a couple worth mentioning.

“The Third Wave: Micro-globalism and the coming employment crisis in Australia” by Scott Linden Jones.  An interesting read which examines how micro-globalism and offshoring are about to strip one million jobs from Australia.

“The Beach Bum Millionaire: How To Build A Million Dollar Business” by Anthony Khoury.  The second half of the book  is about marketing your business. Some of this is really good and gives some great tips on what to do and how to get started.  If you’ve got a bit of an idea of what it’s all about, this gives a great overview so you can talk intelligently to whoever is going to do it for you!

Odyssey now an Australian CPA Recognised Employer Partner.

In June 2013, Odyssey Resources was presented with our Knowledge Partner Status certificate as a Recognised Employer Partner. We were delighted to welcome  CPA Australia visit to our office on 18 June 2013.

Odyssey an Australian CPA Recognised Employer Partner

Odyssey and Xero.

We’re continuing to convert into Xero at $75 for a standard conversion. More info here.

Anybody out there? 125 and counting…

The outsourcing world is getting cluttered. SEO Optimisation from the Philippines, Virtual assistants, Bookkeepers, Odesk, Elance. And as of last count the number of outsourcing services providers helping Australian accountants and bookkeepers… 125 and counting.

Many thanks for reading. If you would like more information on Odyssey’s outsourced accounting services offering then please drop us an email or check out our website www.odyssey-resources.com.

From the team at Odyssey – 125 and counting!

125 Staff and counting
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