Accountants Daily Podcast Network

Ahead of the Women in Finance Summit and Awards 2023, we're catching up with some of the leading women in the financial services space. Joanna James is an advocate for constant reinvention and resilience, having adapted to change over her career in the finance space herself. Having worked in the lending space for more than 20 years – including as the general manager of non-bank lender Mortgage Ezy...

Ahead of the Women in Finance Summit and Awards 2023, we're catching up with some of the leading women in the financial services space. Tanya Sale co-founded mortgage aggregation group outsource Financial with Andrea Tassis 13 years ago, with Tanya now one of the very few female CEOs in the mortgage industry. In this episode, Annie Kane sits down with Ms Sale to find out: How a piggy bank triggere...

Maxed-out credit cards together with household savings at a 20-year low are alarming portents for the looming recession, says turnaround specialist Michael Fingland. The founder and CEO of Vantage Performance said the increased costs of servicing a mortgage had depleted cash built up during the pandemic and it was business as usual for credit card debt. "Inflation is coming down because the househ...

Enforcement action without warning is an unmistakeable sign that the ATO has adopted a tougher line on debt recovery, says a tax debt specialist. "We're absolutely seeing an increase in enforcement action, an increased focus on individuals – so directors and not just the company – and an increase in enforcement action without any warning," said Olga Koskie, a director and principal at tax debt neg...

Artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies throw up fresh ethical challenges for accountants who need to be aware of the pitfalls, says RMIT honorary professor of accounting Brendan O'Connell. Speaking on the latest Accountants Daily podcast alongside CPA Australia ethics policy senior manager Keddie Waller, Mr O'Connell said AI brought issues such as privacy and consent to the fore....

Artificial intelligence will never usurp accountants, although firms that fail to embrace the technology have the most to fear, according to the marketing leader for accounting and advisory at Intuit QuickBooks, Damien Greathead. "I don't think it's going to replace accountants," Mr Greathead said on the latest Accountants Daily podcast. "I think it's going to replace those accounting firms, bookk...

We are effectively in a recession already with near-zero GDP growth and many industries under pressure, says turnaround specialist Michael Fingland. Mr Fingland, CEO of Vantage Performance, said its focus on helping to save troubled businesses meant it witnessed changes in the economy "roughly six months before the insolvency profession". "It's feeling very eerily a bit like the onset of Covid and...

A 90-degree turn from healthcare to financial health turned out to be a winning move for Isagani Manaois of TaxSmart Cafe, who was named Property Specialist Accountant of the Year at the recent Australian Accounting Awards. "When I moved to Australia I started studying accounting because of the flexibility," he said, after the 24-hour shift work of nursing had taken its toll. It was a double win f...

Awards are vital to boost accounting in the eyes of students, says Mazars Sydney managing partner Matthew Ashley, because attracting talent to the profession is a key challenge. Mr Ashley, who won Partner of the Year at the recent Australian Accounting Awards for the second time in a row, said everyone faced the same problem but awards were part of the solution. "We need to be doing more things to...

"Never give up!" is the message from Natalia Clack, winner of the Excellence Award at the recent Australian Accounting Awards, who overcame the challenge of learning a specialty and setting up her own business after moving here from Russia 20 years ago. "If you decide to come to another country and things are not going smooth, just push and be resilient, and make sure that you make your decision t...

Tax on Chain discusses some of the major tax issues in the cryptocurrency space and the strong demand for specialist tax services involving crypto assets. Director of Tax on Chain, Oliver Woodbridge, outlines some of the biggest gripes for accountants dealing with crypto assets and the difficulty in navigating the tax framework. With regulatory guidance in the area of crypto severely lacking, he a...

Specialist accounting firm Darkwave discusses the outlook for creative industries and where accountants can play a guiding role. Darkwave director Meredith Fannin highlights some of the challenges facing those working across entertainment, music, performance, TV and film over the next 12 months, including the rising cost of living and advancements in AI. As a firm specialising in the creative indu...

Accountants and their clients will have some unique strategy dilemmas to consider in the lead up to 30 June this year. In this episode, we share a conversation with one of our sister brands, The SMSF Adviser Show. Tim Miller,  SMSF technical and education manager at Smarter SMSF and Smarter SMSF chief executive Aaron Dunn share a range of tips, traps and strategies SMSF professionals can look to e...

KeyPay co-founder and head of product at Employment Hero Phil Bernie outlines some of the upcoming challenges with payroll for the year ahead and where Australia's employment system could be improved. Mr Bernie discusses what some of the main hurdles will be for accountants next financial year including the continued rollout of single touch payroll phase 2, the start of payday super in July 2026,...

The current advice framework creates significant issues for unlicensed accountants looking to provide advice on the proposed $3 million threshold, warns CA ANZ. In this episode of the Accountants Daily podcast, Tony Negline from CA ANZ shares his thoughts on some of the recent developments happening with advice reforms and superannuation policy. With the government looking to introduce legislation...

Accountants are prone to a raft of common mistakes that hold them back but can be avoided with planning, says Rob Pillans, founder and principal consultant at Planet Consulting. A former accountant himself, Mr Pillans admires the profession "but I do see some things a bit too often that I would love accountants to be doing a bit differently", he said. "I've categorised those things into three broa...

Ignition's Top 50 Women in Accounting Awards has gone from strength to strength and now has global recognition, says its originator Guy Pearson, the CEO and co-founder of the company. He established the awards six years ago to acknowledge the many women who had been instrumental in his early career but who "undersold themselves". "We can move the needle in terms of helping women put their hand up,...

Too many practices are "suffocating in their own workflow", says the head of accounting at Intuit QuickBooks, Shaye Thyer, but too many keep doing things the hard way. Speaking on the latest Accountants Daily podcast, Ms Thyer said a recent Intuit QuickBooks roadshow had revealed the surprising extent to which practices tolerated unnecessary burdens, such as re-keying data, simply from inertia. "I...

Accountants can learn a lot from other industries, says Rob Pillans, founder and principal consultant at Planet Consulting, and some of the examples are surprising. Speaking on the latest Accountants Daily podcast he said Appliances Online, for instance, had identified two pain points when it comes to buying whitegoods. "Firstly, how long is it going to take to get here? When your fridge breaks do...

Interest rates will remain at today's "elevated" levels and the only way from here is up, says the senior manager of business and investment at CPA Australia, Gavan Ord. Speaking on the latest Accountants Daily podcast, h e said the low rate levels of a year ago, before the run of RBA rises, were unlikely to return. "We will have elevated interest rates for quite some time — above the average of t...

The SMSF Association and CA ANZ highlight some of the grey areas and potential policy positions that could be taken with the proposed threshold. SMSF Association head of policy and advocacy, Tracey Scotchbrook, and superannuation and financial services leader at Chartered Accountants Australia, Tony Negline, share their latest insights about the proposed $3 million threshold for members with large...

The ATO believes small business is the big culprit when it comes to compliance with FBT and it's on a mission to round up the missing millions, says specialist Paul Mather on the latest Accountants Daily podcast. Mr Mather, who is founder of FBT Salary Packaging Solutions, said the tax gap with FBT – the difference between what the ATO collected and what it believed it should be collecting – was 2...

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has taken the tech industry into "uncharted territory" and venture capital now seeks more solidity in its investment targets, says Damien Greathead of Intuit QuickBooks. The company's head of marketing for the accountant and adviser group, speaking on the latest Accountants Daily podcast, said a mood change was detectable months ago. "Just before Christmas and t...

About 50,000 business owners a year are simply handing back the keys and walking away, says the chief executive of insolvency body ARITA, due to a "dysfunctional" wind-up system. John Winter of the Australian Restructuring, Insolvency and Turnaround Association said the issue was starting to appear on government radar because the numbers involved were four to five times higher than formal insolven...

Small business pay practices have become a target for Fair Work and big fines await those with compliance shortfalls, says KeyPay co-founder and head of product Phil Bernie. Speaking on this week's Accountants Daily podcast, Mr Bernie said millions in underpayment by big companies captured headlines but Fair Work was putting small business pay records under the microscope too. "There's a trend par...