From The Oscars to Graduate Recruitment Videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zlEFTgk1tg

Within days of each other accountants have been in the ‘spotlight’ for getting laughs….. but not for the right reasons. First, the mix-up with an Oscars envelope for ‘Best Picture’ now termed envelopegate. Second, an ‘excruciating’ recruitment video from the Australian Department of Finance to attract graduates. So how are accountants viewed?

Trust is key

While we do have our moments, generally accountants are viewed as one of the most trusted professions. In fact we have been consistently ranked 11th in the Roy Morgan’s Annual Image of Professions Survey. Deloittes was ranked number one to work by graduates by GradConnections. But the accounting profession has been undergoing significant change.

Meeting client growing needs

Accounting firms are now calling themselves ‘consulting’ firms and their accountants now referred to as consultants. Why? Because the profession is now becoming a more broad service provider to business. No longer are we just ‘number crunchers’ and ‘bean counters’ preparing tax returns and financial statements. Our services have gone further into providing advice and information to business managers. This allows business managers to make more informed decisions. Technology now extends into providing information technology services in accounting. For larger firms they are becoming ‘one stop shop’ business service providers to business. This has seen them competing with consulting firms as McKinsey & Co, Bain & Co, Boston Consulting Group.

Remaining relevant with customers

Bookkeepers and management accountants are no different. With the introduction of Goods and Services Tax in Australia, the role of bookkeepers has become important. Our role with owners and management has become more intimate. Business is becoming more technology based through transactions, e-commerce, online banking, cloud accounting and many addon features. Our knowledge, skill and experience is critical to success. It’s becoming necessary for business to keep up with competitors. Remaining relevant with customer technology needs is required by business.

Technology key to innovation

To demonstrate how technology influences business, let’s look at some of the best performing USA stocks in the last 20 years. We see Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Apple. Watching Sky News “Smart Money”, Xero Managing Director Trent Innes identified the cost benefits to business using cloud based technology, allowing remote access to their business on mobile devices as smartphones and tablets. This allows business success through innovation and improved cashflow management. This is followed by CEO Simon Griffith from Who Gives a Crap, an online social enterprise. Their purpose is to build toilets for those in need by selling 100% recycled paper cleaning products online. They use tehnology to streamline their logistics and warehousing to minimise costs.

We’re human, but we’re needed

So yes, accountants or consultants are human. It is what makes the profession one of the most trusted and sought after. Our work is wide and varied as our clients needs change and evolve. Management accountants are sought for our intimate understanding of our clients. This allows us to provide insights they could not achieve on their own. Our role is no longer bean counting. It’s now advising and using technology to allow business owners and managers to make more informed decisions. Technology is now a growing part of the service provision for clients. Innovation is essential to for businesses to remain relevant with their customers, now and in the future.

 

Why Foley Business Management is relevant to your business

Our purpose is to build sustainable communities and to create a better world for our childrens’ children.

This is why we take a holistic approach to our clients, not just preparing financial statements and leaving it to the client to work out on their own. We provide financial management solutions to small businesses, not for profits and social enterprise so they can make informed decisions. For many people, owning a business is a big step. One that will affect you, your family and your community.

If you would like to speak to one of our consultants for a free 30 minute consultation, please contact us to organise a time that is convenient. A business can be a rewarding experience for you, your family and your community! Let’s make sure you do it the right way.

BEWARE accounting package addons- Don’t get burnt by the sizzle!

Addons for small business accounting packages, as MYOB, Xero and Quickbooks, are now becoming increasingly popular to use by small business owners. They offer an efficient and effective way to improve profits and reduce costs. But there are quite literally thousands of addons in the marketplace. So where do you begin? As a management accountant with experience with the addon industry, BEWARE. There is a saying in sales…..

“Sell the sizzle, not the steak”

What this means is that you do not sell the customer the product, you sell the benefits the product offers the customer. For example, you may buy a shirt not because you need a shirt, but because you like the colour and design of the shirt. The salesperson will compliment you on how it looks on you. But many people have experience in buying their own clothes. How many small businesses have experience in buying accounting addons?

Experience adds value

For the inexperienced, knowing where to find the right addon can be difficult. But what can be of greater concern is being sold something that is not right for your business, or your business doesn’t even need.

The makers of addons are out to sell their product. For the unknowing buyer, this can mean being sold a product that is not everything the seller is promising. For example, I recently contacted an addon supplier to be given a demonstration of their product as part of an evaluation for a clients problem. In being given the demonstration, I asked questions of the product as “Where does it extract it’s data from? Does it work with these features of the accounting package? Will you be making improvements in these areas?”. These questions allowed me to identify the addon was not suitable for the client.

Salespeople SELL!

These are important questions many small business owners will not consider as part of the product. Instead, the salesperson will lead them through to the buy. Is it the responsibility of the salesperson to tell the business owner to ask these questions? NO! The role of the salesperson is to SELL the product, not to put up potential reasons for the business owner not to buy. The salesperson is responsible to answer your questions or find the answer when asked. But sometimes the sales pitch doesn’t tell the whole story, or tells you what you want to hear.

Don’t get burnt by the sizzle!

If you’re not experienced, it’s very easy  to buy an addon that is not right for you because you were sold by the salesperson. DON’T GET BURNT BY THE SIZZLE! There are some ‘consultants‘ that also offer to find or sell you addons for your accounting package. What is not disclosed is the consultant may receive an incentive or commission from the sale. So you may be told that it’s the right product for you, when in actual fact it is the commission that determines what product they direct you to. I am currently seeing LinkedIn and Facebook posts for a particular type of addon being pushed by consultants. A product I know pays a very good commission based on the marketing strategy of the supplier. There is nothing wrong with this. As business owners we can relate to having a business where you want to maximise sales.

Does Foley Business Management receive incentive’s or commissions?

Yes we may. But we disclose this as part of our engagement with the client. We also make it clear we are acting in their interests as our client and not in the interests of the suppliers or our own. In fact, we have probably gone beyond this by announcing to the world in this article we may receive incentives and commissions! But we value the trust in the relationship we have with our clients by assuring them our advice is based on what is in the interests of them and their business, not what we are paid by the supplier.

Why does Foley Business Management want you to know this?

Our purpose is to build sustainable communities and to create a better world for our childrens’ children. It is easy to be sold something that is not right for you and your business. It can potentially make a good business go bad very quickly. Knowing what is best for your business is the right thing for all involved.

This is why we take a holistic approach to our clients, not just preparing financial statements and leaving it to the client to work out on their own. We provide financial management solutions to small businesses, not for profits and social enterprise so they can make informed decisions. For many people, owning a business is a big step. One that will affect you, your family and your community.

If you would like to speak to one of our consultants for a free 30 minute consultation, please contact us to organise a time that is convenient. A business can be a rewarding experience for you, your family and your community! Let’s make sure you do it the right way.

MYOB INCITE Roadshow 2017

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQKCT69gGv9/?taken-by=foleybusinessmanagement

Tomorrow, today

This event was predominantly for bookkeepers and accountants who use MYOB. The event opened with Gus Balbontin, former Executive Director of Lonely Planet. The theme of the event was ‘Tomorrow’. Gus spoke of how Lonely Planet had to adapt to the change of media and publishing from the ‘old media’ of papers and magazines to the ‘new media’ of the digital age where everything could be found at the click of a button. A reminder that if you do not move to meet what your customers want for tomorrow, then you will be left behind.

Customers buy holes, not drill bits.

The second part of the roadshow centred around add-ons and getting the most out of them. With a number of add-on exhibitors, this allowed me to re-acquaint myself with those I knew and those I had yet to meet. The event re-inforced the fact business needs are constantly changing. This includes accounting and financial management products. There are literally thousands of add-ons available and our business clients require us to be able to give them recommendations for these add-ons that will allow them to make informed decisions.

Leaders in Business

For this reason Foley Business Management invests time in understanding not only the needs of our clients, but the tools they require to make their businesses better to serve their clients. We are finding our services not only consulting to our clients, but to the providers of accounting and add-on software. Why? Because of our expertise in management accounting, we understand what is needed in software to make it a benefit to users. We are advising the makers of drill bits what the drill bit needs to be able to do and what it needs to do that serves the client.

  • Businesses need a hole.
  • Add-on providers make drill bits.
  • We advise Add-on providers what is needed to use a drill bit, such as a power drill, and how the client will use it, such as in hard wood or soft wood.

How we can assist you and your business or ‘make sense of your dollars’

Our purpose is to build sustainable communities. What we do is provide financial management solutions to small business, not for profit and social enterprise that allows their owners and board members make more informed decisions. We do this by providing bookkeeping, management accounting and consulting services, specialising in the Indigenous sector.

Your business is a valuable part of the community. You provide employment, spend money in the community, provide goods and services the community uses and needs. We want to assist you to do this better by allowing you to make more informed business decisions. Basically, we help to make sense of your dollars.