As thousands of bookkeepers and accountants across Australia join the Roadshow, they’ve been exploring how technology can bring their differing definitions of success to life, whether that’s a better work-life balance, faster growth, or a desire to scale back and simplify.
Here we talk to fast-growing gold partner, Matt Sharwood of Advise Accountants, to learn what success looks like to him, and discover where he imagines himself in five years.
“I came out of a large accounting firm, then did some consulting work for about five years,” Matt explains, reflecting on the steps that led him to start his own financial advisory firm, Advise Accountants, back in 2010.
“I ended up opening my own accounting practice because I found that accountants can be really good at ‘doing’ the numbers, but not so much at really understanding the numbers – to tell that story for their clients. So we position ourselves firmly in this advisory space.”
Advise Accountants was Xero Australia’s fastest growing partner of the 2016 financial year – adding the most new Xero organisations as an adviser. When we asked Matt what his team does that’s so different, his answer pointed to the way he views success.
“We don’t just do the numbers – we teach people. This may cover what affects our clients’ cash flow, or it could relate to tracking wages back to sales, for example. Because of this level of analysis, we can go through a whole business in a short time and know what the biggest challenges are. We proactively track this kind of information.”
Testing the model
Since discovering how much his clients value this learning and advice over the last 16 years, Matt’s future version of success is clear.
“My ultimate goal is to run a learning organisation,” he says. “That’s my goal, that’s my mantra. Xero helps me reach toward this goal by doing all the reporting for us. It gives us the platform for this learning to take place – whether face to face or digital – using real-time data.”
Matt’s educational aspirations are starting to shape shape; he and the team now work with computer-savvy tradespeople, who have a thirst for more business knowledge.
“We already running a program for local tradies,” he explains. “Often they are young, and because of this, very comfortable with technology. They want to learn, they just don’t know where to go where to learn. And that’s where we come into it.”
A community of advice
A futurist at heart, Matt’s imagines a future where he uses products as a collaboration tool.
“In five years, I want to build a community of advice for business owners,” he says. “One where we run digital and face-to-face workshops all the time to, help people become better at running their business.
“Xero is at the core of this because it’s simple to use – everyone gets it and everyone loves the dashboard. It means clients can ring up and we can look at figures over the screen together, to help our clients learn about their business challenges in greater detail.”
For Matt, future success is as much about imagining what he wants as it is about being flexible and responsive to changing trends.
“Automation is the biggest change ahead for accountants,” he says. “I reckon in the next three to five years all accountants are going to really experience this if they aren’t already. The kind of advice and learning we offer now – and will continue to – is where the future is at for all accountants.”
Roadshow in focus
Likeminded partners, accountants and bookkeepers will be able to access product learnings at any of the 24 events running across Xero Roadshow Australia 2017 nationwide, between 30 January through to 17 February.
The season has already begun. To quickly register your free spot – visit the Roadshow homepage.
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Source: Xero
