After years of talking to Accounting firm business owners, we’re starting to see a trend. Older accounting firm owners are starting to be pushed out of their firms, or just closing shop. And it’s not just us noticing the trends: ‘The doomsayers are wrong’: Accounting industry younger and thriving ATO Assistant Commissioner Colin Walker has revealed new demographics for the …
Workpapers: Australian accountants dirty little secret
This week seemed to be a meeting of a number of issues that led us to consider the future of Australian taxation compliance. We believe that Odyssey completing some 50,000 jobs annually for some 500 Australian accounting firms gives us the opportunity to have higher level visibility than most firms. This week started with receiving a garbage set of prior …
Are you listening to respond, or truly listening?
Last year I went for a 9 day hike, and got sick likely on the 1st night. It was super cold, and by the next day I could feel the cold starting. As it was a long term hike, I was carrying a small medical kit, but not much in the way that could deal with a cold that was …
End of Compliance work.. Are we there yet?
For those that had some holiday reading time over the Christmas break, or even those that are looking at social media, there has been a lot of recent interest in continual improvements in time-saving devices, cloud and automation, as well as AI bots. Somewhere through the noise there is substance to two important undisputable facts for Australian accountants: The future …
The best moments
The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. As we roll into February and everyone gives up on their new year’s resolutions it’s a good time to take a step back and think about the best moments from last year, or even …
2018 Reflections, and 2019… what great things will you achieve this year
So 2018 is done and the new year is with us. Have you reflected on what you achieved in 2018. Likely we won’t. but we should. The big question for 2019 is what will you achieve. What lofty goals have you set, and are you going to get in there and do it. I’d like to borrow an excerpt from …
2019 – It’s a New Year!
So here we are in 2019 – what’s your new years resolutions?! When we are young, we are too busy focused on the new years day, and probably the headaches that arrive with the new year. Then as we hit our 20’s we’re totally into new years resolutions: whether it be cleaning up our life, our house, putting things in …
The 7 top challenges in auditing SMSF’s over the next decade
With many recent developments in the SMSF area, it’s hard to take a step back and take a hard look at the future of the SMSF audit, and even the SMSF auditing profession as a whole. Certainly, there are some very close “in your face” issues that are at the forefront of SMSF auditors minds: Visits by the ATO, ASIC or …
Why Generational differences matter for Australian compliance preparers
Change continues to happen at a massive pace in the Australian accounting compliance industry, and in this current time we have interestingly several different generations participating in the preparation of the same sets of compliance work, but using vastly different tools and different skill sets. I was thinking the other day about an accountant that I’m in discussions with, who …
Navigating Change – why minds are stuck on old tracks
I was thinking the other day about generational differences in approaches to navigating, and how we all achieve the same (compliance output) but approach it in many different ways. When I was younger (pre internet), I’d watch my dad drive using maps for longer distances, and street maps for local situations. Maps were studied diligently before the journey, with landmarks …
