KPCB’s Mary Meeker has become a legend for publishing the annual compilation of the most critical statistics and trends in technology. The 2016 Internet trends report was released last month with the slides available here. It’s well worth spending some time going through and having a look at some amazing trends, and new businesses that have sprung up virtually overnight …
The Third Screen and its impact on Accountants
If you start the count with accepting that movie screens and televisions are the first screens, with personal computers being the second screens, then there has been a lot of marketing documentation released recently about “the Third Screen”. The first screen, television, was a one way medium, for which there could be little real knowledge of the consumer. Marketers took …
The Australian accounting world just got smaller… LinkedIn “Freelancer for hire” service
You might have noticed in the news just recently that Microsoft and LinkedIn announced they have entered into an agreement under which Microsoft will acquire LinkedIn for an all cash transaction of $26.2 Billion. Whilst some people are scratching their heads at the amount paid, some others are explaining the underlying reasons, including quite possibly the largest database of connected professionals on …
Capacity planning… We don’t need no capacity planning
Or perhaps it was badges we didn’t need… With a nod to the 1927 novel “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”, we head off to discuss the hotly contested issue of capacity planning. Wikipedia notes Capacity planning as the process of determining the production capacity needed by an organization to meet changing demands for its products. Capacity planning is normally raised …
Lessons for accountants from the mattress industry
Just last week there was a news article that spoke about the indignation of some customers hearing that mattress companies had 300% markups, huge profits, and hundreds of near identical mattresses sold under different names and prices. The mattress article above mentioned beds that retail for $10,000 are being made for as little as $1,500 overseas. That is, the manufacture cost …
Australian Accountants are using offshore outsourcing
Just last week a news article came out with the heading: “Australian accountants are using offshore outsourcing” In an era where newspapers search for newsworthy news, this might be as shocking as it gets in the accounting world. The first interesting question is why, after a week of the article being online, there are yet no comments. Perhaps this isn’t …
Periscope, drones, and annual compliance
If you’ve been watching the news in Australia recently you’ve probably noticed, if not been amongst, some pretty ordinary weather recently. If you think of the way we now receive information, there have been huge remarkable changes in the past 20 years. It’s difficult to imagine many people waiting for the local evening news on television. So while some look …
Joining the Dots… Decision making for a new era
Now that accountants have been advised of the need to rely less on compliance revenue, there is a lot of talk around pushing into new areas to support their clients, with business consulting being one of the newly touted revenue streams. At the same time, it’s worth looking at Management accounting, the oft overlooked relative. The AICPA and CIMA have been …
Cloud accounting and automation threatens compliance jobs. A lesson from Driverless cars
You’d probably have been in a secluded cave if you haven’t heard about the internet of things. However, we’re now on the edge of driverless cars, with many countries now having working cars available, but just needing regulations on how the vehicles will communicate on the roads. We’re now on the cusp of seeing some incredible things that we’ve only …
Sometimes the freelance model doesn’t cut it…
Our Business development frequently receives calls comparing the freelance model to our hourly model. A lot of times these phone calls reveal accounting firms have been using freelance staff from freelance sites with success in roles such as virtual administration, IT support, IT coding, photography, website design, public relations, marketing, sales, and SEO. However, when the same firms look to …
