Just recently we had a conversation with an Australian accountant. They’d been using a provider overseas with poor results. By way of background, this Australian accounting firm is one of the what we would term newer firms, i.e. without legacy systems and legacy employee issues. This is a Xero only firm, with a homogeneous and process driven approach, where there …
Economy in Transition – Startups, innovation and a workforce for the future
The paper, Economy in Transition – Startups, innovation and a workforce for the future, was recently released by StartupAUS, the national start-up advocacy group. The discussion paper warns up to 4.6 million jobs may be at risk if Australia does not prepare its workforce for the digital future. The paper was produced with global networking firm LinkedIn and Sydney startups Expert360 and CodeCamp, and suggests few jobs …
Tomorrow’s Digitally Enabled Workforce
Earlier this year the CSIRO released a report on “Tomorrow’s Digitally Enabled Workforce”. Whilst this report is quite a read at 122 pages, this contains significant nuggets of information that give important offerings for accountants, and accounting firm owners. The move to the knowledge economy, offshoring and automation, and the new entrepreneurial freelancer models. As to why this report has …
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 …
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 …
Offshoring: Pursuing a more efficient frontier
Constant pressure on the bottom line and a desire to do more with less have resulted in a number of SMSF businesses investigating offshoring opportunities as a viable way to cut costs, improve efficiency and increase their profit margins. Odyssey Resources which started a decade ago and is the largest offshore services provider to Australia, now has around 250 staff …
Do Labour Hire firms need to register with the TPB?
The TPB has released an information sheet on 8 January 2016 [TPB(I) 26/2016 Labour hire/on-hire firms] to assist labour hire/on-hire firms involved in the provision of tax related services to understand the operation of the tax agent services regime and whether or not they need to register with the TPB. If the labour hire/on-hire firm is involved in placing a …
An IPA member’s review of Odyssey Outsourced Accounting Services
A letter from David in Sydney after a visit to our offices To one of his accounting firm clients in response to their question – “How was the visit?” . . . 27th November 2013 As we have discussed in the past, Odyssey Resources is a Vietnam based company that prepares Australian tax and accounting documentation for accountants and advisers …
A CA member’s review of Odyssey Outsourced Accounting Services
A letter from Tony. In response to our email asking – How did we do last year… 10th July 2013 Hi Dave, I have been in the unique position of having knowledge of how accounting firms in Australia operate; having provided management consulting & tax consulting services to a number of chartered accounting firms in Brisbane, Gold Coast & Sydney …