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.

Fall in love

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That special feeling

Love is in the air with Valentines Day. It’s one of the days to celebrate the joy and happiness that comes from when two people find each other. That feeling you get when you think about them and how much they have made a difference in your world. The excitement it gives you to tell your friends and family how much they mean to you and the difference they have made in your life. That feeling you get when you see them. The little things they do for you that makes you feel extra special and them so extra special to you. You couldn’t imagine your life without them.

But you’re missing out on having these same feelings and emotions with your bookkeeper and accountant.  The beautiful relationship you could be missing out on.

having that special someone

Missing out on the feeling of both joy and relief you have when you find everything is much better and simpler by having them involved in your business. Your missing the feeling of excitement to tell others about what your bookkeeper has done for you. The feeling you get when your bookkeeper has done all your bookkeeping for you is like when you come home after a hard day of work and find your partner has cleaned the house. You know they care about you and that feeling of stress relief from not having to do it. Yes, we can sometimes take these things for granted in our relationship, but it makes your life so much easier by having them in it.

Telling your friends and family about how much they have changed you and your business with the new addon they recommended. It’s like your partner buying you a new foot massager or fragrance. It makes you feel special to know they’re thinking about you and how happy that makes you feel to know they want to make you happy.

Spending quality time with them

But your relationship is so much more than doing things for you. It’s the quality time you spend together, talking and getting to know one another. Knowing your loves and passions and what experiences you want to have with the people around you. Let’s be honest, we want to spend more time with the people we care about and give them the best in life. We don’t want to be working all the time and not being able to share quality time with the people we care about.

Make a regular date time to talk and communicate with your management accountant. Take the time to talk about what you have been doing and what you would like to do. taking time to discuss what your plans are for the next month, quarter or year. Talk about that holiday you want to take overseas, the house you want to buy, the school you want your kids to go to. Share with them both your good and bad times. Tell them about the rotten experience you have just gone through. Share with them how you haven’t had the best time lately. Sharing with them will let them know what you want, need and desire. Life is meant to live and be shared with loved ones.

Finding ‘The One’

Sometimes we have to learn from our experience in relationships. Sometimes we stay in relationships because we feel it’s ‘good enough’. You start out okay but you may feel they are not doing enough in the relationship. You feel they don’t listen, or don’t even bother to ask how you are. They are only there for one thing in your relationship. This relationship can be damaging to you and the people you care about. Sometimes we feel like in our search for ‘the one’ we settle for ‘good enough’.

You want to find someone who makes you a better version of you. Who makes you more than you are when you’re together. But do you feel satisfied in your current relationship? Are you wanting more? Do you deserve more? Do you feel your relationship is not allowing you to be more than you are? Do you feel your goals and aspirations are not aligned with one another? Do you feel there is someone out there who has more to offer you?

At Foley Business Management we want to build a relationship with you. We want to a have a trusting relationship where you feel comfortable talking with us. Tell us your dreams and aspirations for you, your business, your family, your community. We want you to enjoy our time together and look forward to our conversations. Where we take the time to listen and to understand what you are going through. We want to help you grow and become more than who you are right now.

 

 

MYOB INCITE Roadshow 2017

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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.

10 Things to make your hobby a business

Many businesses have started from humble beginnings as a hobby. The hobby expands as word spreads. You have to decide whether to keep your hobby as just that, a hobby you do in your spare time, or you look to develop it into a business.

“If you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life.”

Here are 10 things to make your hobby a business

  1. ‘Failing to plan is planning to fail!’

    Starting the conversation with someone, such as your accountant or business consultant, is an important step. Preparing for the transition is important!

  2. Legal structure.

    Will your business be a sole trader, partnership, company, trust or joint venture? These are the different possible legal structures your business will be set up in. Don’t rush to your solicitor for this straight away until you have spoken with your accountant.

  3. Register a business name.

    You need to decide on your business name. But more importantly, you need to register it.

  4. Get an Australian Business Number or ABN.

    This is done after you decide what legal structure your business will be and its business name, though you can add the business name later if you wish.

  5. Take out insurance.

    A given for nearly every business will be insurances. Getting the right insurances is important to cover you and others. Speaking to an Insurance broker will identify the insurance types you will need.

  6. Legal contracts.

    For consultants and service providers you may need contracts with clients. Providers of goods may require terms and conditions of sale. These can be in many forms, but they maybe the difference between a good and bad outcome for you and your customers.

  7. Funding your first year.

    You will need to look at what your ability is to fund the business. This can come in various forms as self funded ie from your own money, borrowed from family and friends, or taking out a loan from a loan provider. Knowing how much you will need is important. What’s more important is going in big and borrowing more than you can repay. Many start-ups in technology financed their beginnings with student loans and credit cards.

  8. Marketing.

    This can range from a logo, business cards, social media, email and websites. With many businesses needing to have an online presence, getting it right can be critical to your success! Having an online business also means you may be selling your products online. This also requires someone to look at your accounting package for linking to your online account.

  9. Bookkeeping.

    You will need to have some type of book keeping in place to record your income and expenses. It is also a requirement that you issue your clients a tax invoice for sales. This might be a simple set up as an exercise book and a receipt book from the local stationery shop. But having a good small business accounting package can help you manage this. Speak to an experienced bookkeeper to know which one is best for you and your business.

  10. Budget.

    With many of what we have just talked about, you will need a budget of how much everything is going to cost and how much you need to be making before you can quit your day job. Getting this wrong could be a costly mistake. Sitting down with someone who understands you and your business and who has experience in preparing budgets is critical to your success.

  11. BONUS: Don’t quit your day job.

    Seriously, until you’re confident the business can fund your personal needs, don’t quit your job. Try to work on your business outside of your employed work hours and build it from there.

Why does Foley Business Management want you to know this? Well our purpose is to build sustainable communities and to create a better world for our childrens’ children. Many businesses fail in their first year, causing immense pressure on those involved. Knowing whether to start a business is the right thing to do 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, going into 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. Taking your from a hobby to a business can be a rewarding experience for you, your family and your community! Let’s make sure you do it the right way.

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