It's not Just the Numbers

No, we're not talking Star Wars in this episode. Instead we're talking about a common trap many practitioners fall into when they're thinking about their next hire. Too often the default next hire is another technician, another accountant or another bookkeeper. In other words trying to clone yourself. If that's the case, you're likely thinking about this wrong. Instead of hiring another you, what...

Today we dig deeper into defining "Advisory Services". Building on Penny's four quadrants from episode 6 we discuss the AICPA definition outlined in this article . Ultimately it comes down to defining the deliverable so that the clients understands the benefits of that deliverable. Rather than hiding behind 'reporting' it's important to make it tangible for the client. Likewise technology is not t...

Without a clear vision, and your constant leadership your team can sometimes get led astray buy other team members with their own agenda. As the the business owner you can't delegate this leadership responsibility. If it's not constant and consistent, someone will fill this void for you. Penny shared an email she received this week from a client with an internal saboteur. Unfortunately the owner l...

We have our first guests! We also have our first major technical difficulties. We’re delighted to be joined on the show by Brian Lang and Mike Chawner, two CPAs out of Austin Texas who are former colleagues and former business partners. They share with us their journey from starting their firm together through to later dissolving the partnership and going their separate ways. As Brian and Mike wil...

In today's episode we make our first attempt at defining 'advisory' and provide listeners with a framework to help better define their service offering. In Penny's upcoming book she breaks advisory services into four quadrants: The Catalyst The Strategist The Steward The Operator Where you choose to operate is up to you, but it's important to put a stake in the ground and help your clients un...

We're focusing today's episode on bringing your team along for this ride. Your success is dependant on your team delivering an exceptional level of service day in day out and remember they're the ones who will be using these tools, implementing new workflows, and a whole lot more. But don't forget that change is hard, so you'll need to be clear and consistent when you communicate what you're doing...

In episode 4 of Strategy and the Virtual Controller, we discuss the importance of leadership in business. Too many firm owners get stuck as the technician doing the work and are never able to set an intentional direction for the firm. For those firm owners that are able to set time aside for strategic thinking, the next biggest challenge is to lead the team and get their buy in. We talk through di...

Penny is on the road! And has attended her first conference since this whole pandemic kicked off. We decided to catch up on Friday afternoon (Saturday morning Sydney time) to debrief on the key themes. What conferences are you headed to in 2021? Send us a message: Find us on Twitter - @SATVCpodcast Penny Breslin - LinkedIn | @PennyB57 Damien Greathead - LinkedIn | @Damien_GH

Big news! We have intro music - we're almost a proper podcast. Episode 3 feels like a #selfhelp class, but it's an important episode because we get to the heart of what makes a business a success - and that's being very clear on what you do and what you don't do . To get to this clarity, you need to go through a challenging process identifying what you love and don't love about your business (proc...

What are you in business to do? Today's episode focuses on asking yourself the hard question of do you enjoy what you're doing? Or have you just fallen into being a Jack (or Jill) of all trades. Especially what we've been through in the last 15 months, now is the time to be very intentional about what you want to do. It's OK to say no, and in fact you need to become comfortable with saying no. Say...

Welcome to episode 1 of the brand new podcast, Strategy and the Virtual Controller. The podcast title comes from David Maister's great book Strategy and the Fat Smoker. We often (or even usually) know what we should be doing in both personal and professional life. We also know why we should be doing it and (often) how to do it. Figuring all that out is not too difficult. What is very hard is actua...