09

Mar 2023

Remote working seems to be here to stay during challenging talent acquisition times

By: Odyssey Outsourcing
Tags: Australian Accountant, labour shortage, Outsourcing

The AFR recently noted that Bosses no longer mind (much) if you work from home and this seems to be driven from a recent survey which noted the top concerns of senior executives included: Employees working from home occupied a health 3rd position in the prior year’s survey, likely due to the unsettling times as a result of covid, coupled …

07

Jul 2022

Inflation and wage rises to affect Australian accounting firm owners

By: Odyssey Outsourcing
Tags: Australian Accountant, Indirect Costs, inflation, Outsourcing, wage growth

Over the next 12 months we can expect increased pressures on pricing for domestic Australian accounting employees. At the moment, the Australian Bureau of statistics has the November 2021 Full-time adult average weekly total earnings at just under $2,000, with specific higher demand industries being above average. The Australian accounting news sources are already reporting large salaries being offered to …

30

Jun 2022

Focus on the client and leave the Australian compliance tax work to Odyssey outsourcing

By: Odyssey Outsourcing
Tags: Accounting Regulations, Australian Accountant, Australian tax compliance, compliance, Outsourcing

Are you too busy? We recently received a comment from a client that pretty much summed up everything good about outsourcing your compliance work. Odyssey believes that Australian SME businesses are best served when Australian accounting firms are providing additional work outside the compliance space. And with a never ending raft of new tax laws, guidance notes, practice notes and …

16

Jun 2022

Why Australian accounting firm owners need to get out of the office (permanently)

By: Odyssey General, Outsourcing
Tags: Australian Accountant, australian accounting, compliance, Offshoring, outofoffice, Outsourcing, Post-COVID, Remote working

The successful practice does not need the Australian accounting firm owner to be present in the office, and should not need the owner to be contributing to the bottom line. Allow me to explain by way of the evolution of the accounting firm. In the first quadrant, an accountant gains experience through working for another accounting firm as an employee. …

09

Jun 2022

Best Practices in banking security

Australian Accountants, Time To Re-Look At Your Banking Security

By: Odyssey General, Outsourcing
Tags: Australian Accountant, australian accounting, Australian Accounting firm owners, Bank security, Outsourced Accounting, Outsourcing

In the last 3-5 years, there has been increased losses through lax security around bank accounts. Instances include loss of email accounts of senior executives and these accounts are used to email the junior payable accountants requesting payments to fraudsters bank accounts, all the way to loss of control of bank accounts through loss of control of mobile phone banking. …

02

Jun 2022

Best practice in phone security for Australian accountants

Australian Accountants, Time To Re-Look At Your Mobile Phone Security

By: Odyssey General, Outsourcing
Tags: Australian Accountant, australian accounting firm, Mobile Phone Security, Outsourced Accounting, Outsourcing, Phone Security

In the last few years, there has been increased activity by nefarious actors in the identity theft and bank hacking. Many bank hacks occur with the loss of control over the mobile phone number, frequently through SIM jacking. There are plenty of sites online that can give information on how best to protect your mobile number from being hijacked. Losing …

26

May 2022

Email security

Australian Accountants, Why You Need At Least 3 Email Addresses

By: Odyssey General, Outsourcing
Tags: Australian Accountant, australian accounting, email security, outsourcedaccounting, Outsourcing

In today’s secure environment, it’s no longer acceptable for Australian accounting firms to deploy just one email address. Indeed, Australian accounting firm owners should be deploying at least 3 email addresses. The 3 email addresses we suggest are: A public company email address A public personal email address A private personal email address Let’s get down to the reasons for …

19

May 2022

Delay of 3-5 years before immigrants, international students and seasonal workers return to pre-pandemic levels?

By: Odyssey General, Outsourcing
Tags: Australian Accountant, australian accounting, immigration, labour shortage, Offshoring, Outsourcing

Despite the Australian borders being open, there has been an unremarkable number of new immigrants flooding into Australia, with an indication that Australia might not be winning the competitive global war for talent. There are indications that there is a slowdown in offshore visa processing, with older and more experienced workers being discouraged and an out-of-date priority jobs list. There …

12

May 2022

cybersecutiry for accounting firms

How Australian Accounting Firm Owners Are Managing Cybersecurity Challenges in the Post COVID-19 World

By: Odyssey General, Outsourcing
Tags: Australian Accountant, australian accounting firm, cybersecurity, Outsourcing, Post-COVID

Impact of COVID-19 on cybersecurity The global pandemic significantly intensified fraudulent activities as many people become more vulnerable to cyber threats while working remotely. According to the Annual Cyber Threat Report 2020-21 from Australian Cyber Security Centre, there were over 67,500 cyber-attacks reported, an increase of nearly 13 per cent from the previous financial year. During the fiscal year 2020-21, …

05

May 2022

Inflation to affect wages and wage growth

We Live in Unsettling Times: Inflation To Affect Wages and Wage Growth

By: Odyssey General, Outsourcing
Tags: Australian Accountant, australian accounting, inflation, Outsourcing, wagegrowth

Headline inflation in 1Q22 rose to 5.1% and this is the highest inflation rate since 2001.  Yesterday the RBA surprised many punters by raising the interest rates by 0.25%. There is now discussion of increases in wages increases between 3 and 4 percent.   At the same time, the central forecast for 2022 is for headline inflation of around 6 …