Counting on Change

Learn the essential lessons from a 20-year career in the payments industry and tech sector. Get practical insights from Damon's journey. In this interview, Damon breaks down his professional trajectory, covering his time at major financial institutions like Amex, Visa, and WorldPay. Whether you are looking to navigate the complex payments industry or considering a transition into high-growth t...

Is the "traditional" accounting firm still a viable model in 2025 and beyond? And what does its evolution mean for the entire Accounting Tech ecosystem? This week, we're joined by Luke Farren, founder of The Modern Firm and a consultant who helps accounting practices navigate their own Digital Transformation. We explore the massive shift from people-heavy practices to lean, tech-firs...

Your activation rates are stalling and you're fighting churn. Before you blame the product, have you asked if your Customer Success team truly understands your customer's world? What's the difference between a CSM who just manages an account and one who drives deep adoption and makes your product indispensable? In this episode of Counting on Change, I talk to someone who has sat on bot...

If your SaaS or tech implementation feels broken, it might not be the tools – maybe it’s your processes. In this episode of Counting on Change, I’m joined by Bethanie Hawkins – digital transformation consultant and accounting tech ninja – to unpack why so many firms fail at change initiatives, and what to do differently.✅ We explore: • Why workflow mapping is your step zero in digital transformat...

Could Dubai leapfrog the UK when it comes to B2B SaaS tech adoption in accounting? In this episode, we dive into what’s really happening on the ground in the UAE, with a focus on accounting firms, cloud migration, AI-driven automation and the evolving role of vendors. We’re joined by Ayman Kaouri—former Xero EMEA strategy lead and now driving change at Scope—who shares insights on the rise of Duba...

Customer Success & Digital Transformation in Accounting What does good look like when it comes to implementing SaaS tools in an accounting firm? This week, I’m joined by Aleisha Hales (ex-Xero, now at Silverfin) to talk about the messy, human reality of accounting tech success – and how vendors and firms can both do better. We dig into: – Why enablement matters in SaaS customer success – The r...

Turning a challenge into a service line - how accountancy firms can take their digital transformation lessons and turn them into new service lines - and why this might be more crucial than you think. Ryan Pearcy shares his journey from a small firm to leading digital transformation teams, discussing the major hurdles firms face, the importance of AI, and the shift from compliance to assurance. The...

In this captivating episode, Billie Mcloughlin, an ACCA qualified accountant, looks into the explosive growth of artificial intelligence and its transformative impact on the accounting profession. With 16 years of experience, Billie shares insights on how AI models are evolving at unprecedented rates, predicting that 90% of Google's code will be written by AI within the next year. She discusse...

Counting on Change is the place to learn about how to embrace change and digital transformation in the accounting tech space. This episode I'm speaking to Andy Collings, who has a strong background in getting tech into large and enterprise-level practices and businesses, and is currently driving rapid growth at Active Workpapers, where he's trying to disrupt one of the few very few processes in ac...

Join us as Stephen shares his experiences and lessons (sometimes painful ones) of dealing with Vendors.  Stephen and his firm Valued Accountancy are bone-fide early adopters - with a ‘fastest growing partner’ award at Xero’s first UK Xerocon in 2012 as proof. They’ve dealt with all manner of vendors and account managers from the best in the business to… well, not the best. We discuss the importanc...

This episode - The Podfather Part 2. Phil Hobden returns to share what's changed (and what hasn't) in the accounting tech space in the last 18 months. Crucially, we discuss who will helped - and who will be hindered - by the coming wave of AI tools. Should you be pushing on with AI tools, or would you be better served by working on your strategy or foundational tech? Listen in to find out! This po...

This episode - Darren Glanville Darren was one of the very first people to start selling saas accounting software to clients. Since then he’s influenced a generation of tech-focused accounting and bookkeeping firms, countless account managers and has led successful sales teams in a number of roles. Darren’s advice will be invaluable to saas account mangers, sales leaders - but also to accounting f...

As Head of Sales at Xero UK, Ian Phillips has direct and indirect access to thousands of accounting and bookkeeping firms, so he knows a thing or two about tech adoption.  Ian is an incredibly thoughtful and observant guy, who absorbs data, combines it with his own anecdotal experience and grounded common sense - and churns out incredible insights. So who better to sit down and discuss the hard da...

This episode - Phil Hobden. Phil is highly regarded in the accounting tech space - having held influential roles at a number of companies - including Futrli, Capitalise and Wolters Kluwer. He's also a regular speaker at industry events, a podcaster and co-founder of a vendor community. We talk how firms challenges to adopt tech sometimes lie outside of the firms walls. We cover:🔸 Being honest abo...

This episode - Heather Elkington Strong, effective leadership is pivotal to effective change, so we discussed some of the fundamental tactics to: 🔸 Jolt the business out of inaction 🔸 Get the team to step up take initiative 🔸 Getting out of your own way And lots more. Heather is quickly emerging as a go-to expert on leadership in the accounting tech space - so this episode is packed full of act...

This episode - Rishi Ruparelia. Rishi Ruparelia  - possibly the UK's most loved account manager - discusses his view on these things in the return of Counting on Change - plus: 🔸 Lifting the curtain on vendors' priorities 🔸 Lessons learn from successful firms 🔸 Just offer the blue pill? Or blue, green, pink and... earthy green.

This episode - Ket Patel. Ket Patel is a change manager with a vast amount of experience. We talk about the change management lessons that accountants can learn, to make their digital transformation efforts run more smoothly. We look at: - Getting change started in your organisation - Does your project need change management? - Whether line managers should push back more Ket has spend more than 12...

This episode - Tony Stevenson "We wanted a Tech Stack, but we ended up with a Tech Splat" Tony Stevenson FCA is a man who knows his way around the sharp end of tech adoption in accounting firms... Having worked with over 1,000 firms, Tony has a *boatload* of experience, lessons and more than one or two funny stories to share. It was great to catch up with him to learn: - what mistakes fi...

This episode - Emily Deakin The Cloud Champion is a critical role in Digital Transformation, but the question is "What Makes a Great Cloud Champion?" 🧠 What the best personality type is for a Cloud Champion? ✨ How to develop and offer incredible client experiences? 👩🏻‍🏫 How to engage the rest of the team for effective training? Recently I caught up with Emily Deakin who is the #Clou...