Data Dear alternatives when its no longer available outside QBO
Data Dear is no longer be available to users outside of QBO. Late 2021 Data Dear was acquired by Intuit. I’ve spoken to the Intuit and the Data Dear team. The solution has been built [...]
Brisbane’s Top Xero Accountants and Bookkeepers
I personally know everyone listed below. They are modern accountants, utilising cutting edge technology, with a comprehensive knowledge of Xero. They provide all the Tax related services that you would expect: Tax Preparation, Personal Tax [...]
How To Deal With The Challenge Of Lack Of Accounting Talent
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON SOLUTIONS TO THE LACK OF ACCOUNTING TALENT?The ACCA Singapore 2021 Virtual Conference SMP attendees shared their biggest challenges was the lack of available talent. In the Shaping the Future of Your Firm [...]
Never Talk Directly to Clients About Cash Flow, and Other Secrets From the Cash Flow Queen | Martha Yasso
"Clients value that. They will pay for that person that's going to listen and provide... That's all your clients want, they want it off their plate, and that's freeing. That gets them focused again [...]
A Restaurant Solutionist Creating Magical Client Experiences | Kristen Nies Ciraldo
"There’s something in our social connectivity that is enhanced by the act of sharing food, in my opinion, and it’s why we need independent restaurants particularly." – Kristen Nies Ciraldo, The Friday Guide. Today [...]
Why an Accountant Started a Bookkeeping Business | Meryl Johnston
"One of my beliefs is about setting an example. I am always reading, listening to podcasts, learning, thinking about things...I also try and convey that to the team to build that environment of learning. [...]
Accountants empowering their client base through podcasting | Tim Garth and Dan Osborne
"What we want is for our customers to be able to take the bull by the horns with their own information, their own understanding, and make some decisions, and grow their business." –Tim Garth [...]
How hosting a podcast helped this bookkeeper develop active listening skills | Alexi Boyd
"This is the advice we give to all of our clients. Get the business name nailed, get the business name registered under your umbrella or whatever organisations you are, do that super quick, so [...]
20 Trends Changing the World of Work and Transforming the Nature of Careers in Accountancy | Kevin Fitzgerald FCCA
Subscribe to the Accounting Apps newsletter here. Kevin can you share with us a bit about your background? Kevin: Yes, and thank you for having me. It's always [...]
The Future of The Accounting Profession | Kenji Kuramoto
"One opportunity this pandemic did give us is it has allowed us to bring people together from all over the world. That is what we have here today truly a gathering of some of [...]
Has a black swan event changed this Evangelists views on niching? | David Leary
"Ultimately, if you're in the small business space and you're building an app that adds on to either QuickBooks or Xero, you're building apps really for accountants. You can't just build it for small [...]
Building a multi-disciplinary professional services business | John Knight
'Mongolia was about me taking myself out of my comfort zone. That was about me stretching myself to think differently. That was about having a bit of a breather, and climbing a mountain in [...]
Bridging the People Advisory gap | Will Lopez
I just believe it's actually the personal side of the profession. When you look at GL advisory, a lot of the deliverables are around an impersonal deliverable. We're looking at forecasting, we're telling the [...]
At 14 Years Old Meet, the Youngest Xero Certified Advisor in the World!
This is a bonus episode of Cloud Stories recorded for the beginning of the Australian Financial Year. Ollie Beale, Apprentice at Bookkeeping4U joined as a special guest of the Afternoon Community Supporting Community chat. [...]
Accounting World Domination | Liz Mason
I have the best people. I have nothing without my team. I have good ideas and I have vision, and I do have creativity and innovation, but I don’t have the ability to do [...]
How a modern future-focused firm scopes, selects and implements best of breed cloud solutions | Lee Duffield
I'm really fussy about the way salespeople contact me. If they start spamming me and if I think they've got my details illegally, I'm not happy at all. I would rather... like I know [...]
Living up to the critical role of “Recession-Proof Accountant” | Will Lopez
The two terms that came out of the Great Recession here in the US were 'Flat is Up', and the 'Accountant Recession' or the 'Recession-proof Accountant'. Flat is Up meant that accounting firms during [...]
How to create a scalable modern firm that can sell | Ryan Lazanis
"I mandated across the firm what type of clients we would work with, the personalities of those clients, the technology that was used, and the core service offering. So, that allowed us to standardise [...]
Playing the cloud game: how a computer game designer turned accountant built an app to transition his practice to the cloud | Paul Murray
Xero have been the first to say we're going to create a ecosystem and we're going to have an open API and you're going to be able to do all this cool stuff. But [...]
Natalie Lennon – Starting and running a 100% cloud-based practice
When a client comes in. We'll say, look what apps are you using? What's the workflow? What's happening there? Can we automate? And we either try and do it ourselves, I'm encouraging the team [...]
Michael Ly – A serial entrepreneur, building businesses, navigating cultural differences, and always learning
As an entrepreneur, you have to get really good at selling what you envision you want to provide and what you envision your ideal clients are going to be and your services are going [...]
People, Processes, Technology, Data – essential elements of a sustainable business
We've got some clients that have been going with us for over six years now and their team members are equally as good as any manager in Australia because they've been working for six [...]
An Inventory Nerd Solving Complex Problems with Simple Solutions | Jeri Wambeek
The biggest thing is time savings, and then, of course, if you're paying people by the hour time savings can also save money. And the other part is automating a lot of this stuff [...]
How Accountants Can Effectively Scale Power BI Analysis | Cameron Lynch
Today I am speaking with Cameron Lynch. Cameron is a Chartered Accountant and the founder of the Etani Business Platform. He believes he can help businesses survive and prosper in today’s disruptive environment. Cameron is [...]
Chris Hooper – World’s First Accounting Futurist
My name is Chris Hooper, and I'm the C.E.O. of Accodex, which is a market network for freelance accountants. Heather Smith: Excellent. Thank you. And I am glad to hear you pronounce it, Accodex. [...]
An Accounting Technologist embracing symbiotic relationships with software providers | Clayton Oates
Heather Smith: Thank you so much, Clayton, for being on Cloud Stories with me and our listeners today. I'd like to start off by asking you, Who are you and what do you do? [...]
Ep.48 Lessons learnt from Xerocon South 2016
Following on from Xerocon South 2016 a powerhouse crew from Brisbane came together to discuss and dissect the lessons learnt from this conference. The panel discussion and the audience q and a was recorded [...]
Ep.47 Sophie Hossack – Receipt Bank – An English Lit grad thriving
Today on episode 47 of the Cloud Stories podcast I’m talking with Sophie Hossack. Sophie is the Australia Country Manager at Receipt Bank. Receipt Bank is the bookkeeping productivity tool used by 4,000+ accountants and [...]
Ep.46 Andrew Van De Beek – illumin8 – Gen-Y accountant interested in new business, original ideas, and challenging the flexibility of the cloud
Ep.46 Andrew Van De Beek – illumin8 – Gen-Y accountant interested in new business, original ideas, and challenging the flexibility of the cloud Today on episode 46 of the Cloud Stories podcast I’m talking [...]
Ep.45 Wayne Schmidt – A trailblazer helping accounting and bookkeeping firms to grow, embrace change and drive profitability
Today on episode 45 of the Cloud Stories podcast I’m talking with Wayne Schmidt. Wayne has over 28 years’ experience in the accounting industry spearheading the Australian expansion for Xero, MYOB and Reckon. Wayne [...]
Ep.44 Jacqui Jones – tempted to templetize for quality and growth?
Today on episode 44 of the Cloud Stories podcast I’m talking with Jacqui Jones the founder of Way We Do, a cloud based standard operating procedures platform. Although Jacqui’s career started in film and [...]
Ep.43 Danetha Doe – Brazilians, beauty and bookkeeping – Financial Freedom is a journey of self love
Today on episode 42 of the Cloud Stories podcast I’m talking with Danetha Doe. She is a celebrity financial strategist and sought after speaker on the “Future of Accounting”. She was selected to be [...]
Ep.42 Greg Tuckwell – Achieving Platinum through Processes and Collaboration
Today on episode 42 of the Cloud Stories podcast I’m talking with Greg Tuckwell who’s been the Director of Poole Group since 1993 and CEO of Zerobooks since 2013. Greg joined Poole Group after [...]
Building a Cloud Banking solution from the Ground Up | Jessica Ellerm
Today on episode 41 of the Cloud Stories podcast I’m talking with Jessica Ellerm who is the Partner Development Manager for Tyro, Australia’s nextgen bank. She is responsible for the rollout of Tyro’s deposit [...]
Ep.40 Matt Wilkinson – Online Marketing for Accountants and Bookkeepers
Today on episode 40 of the Cloud Stories podcast I’m talking with Matt Wilkinson who is the founder and CEO of Bizink. Bizink helps accountants and bookkeepers grow their practices through their websites and [...]
Ep.39 Richard Francis – The Perfect Advisory Relationship
Today on episode 39 of the Cloud Stories podcast I’m talking with the Richard Francis who’s the founder of Spotlight Reporting. His company have recently released a whitepaper called The Perfect Advisory Relationship. In [...]
Ep.38 Lisa Martin – The ultimate guide to delivering quality Xero training
Today on the Cloud Stories podcast I’m talking with the Lisa Martin owner and manager at GoFi8ure. The business offers one-on-one or one-to-many training at your doorstep or in-house. The tagline is ‘get training [...]
Ep.37 Bernadette Schwerdt – Secrets of Online Entrepreneurs
Today on the Cloud Stories podcast I’m talking with Bernadette Schwerdt. Bernadette is the author of Secrets of Online Entrepreneurs: How Australia's Online Mavericks, Innovators and Disruptors Built Their Businesses ... And How You [...]
Ep.36 Geni Whitehouse – Even a Nerd Can Be Heard
Geni Whitehouse divides her time between working as a winery consultant at Brotemarkle, Davis & Co in the Napa Valley and writing, speaking, and tweeting about what some might consider nerdy subjects. As a [...]
Ep.35 Blake Oliver shares apps he recommends for accountants, bookkeepers and his clients
Subscribe to Episode 35 of Cloud Stories on iTunes In this episode Blake Oliver and I discuss his recommended apps for accountants and bookkeepers and his clients. I'm now using Overcast as my preferred [...]
Ep.34 Dan Schmidt – The Emerging Business CFO
Based Missouri, USA, Dan Schmidt has embraced Xero as the core solution for his clients. Dan likes to solve problems. He helps clients adopt a suite of cloud solutions that improve their daily operation. In the [...]
Providing Businesses With a Stop Shop | Jamie Davison
Focused, driven, committed and energetic. Jamie has a whole host of traits that have led him to where is he now; director of Perth’s multi award-winning Carbon Business Group. Coming from a property investment [...]
Ep.32 Mick Devine – Calxa – a cashflow forecasting software company that has donated over $1M to grassroots organisations
Mick Devine is the CEO and co-founder of Calxa, producers of the leading budgeting, reporting and cashflow forecasting software in Australia and New Zealand. He’s an accidental accountant with a strong desire to solve [...]
Ep. 31 Peter Vessenes – ProfitSee
Subscribe to Episode 31 of Cloud Stories on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/cloud-stories-heather-smith/id908333807 Peter Vessenes has served as a high level corporate advisor since 1983. Projects that began with assisting presidents of Fortune 100 companies broadened to include [...]
Ep.30 Paul Meissner – 5ways Group – Should accountants offer cloud integration services?
Subscribe to Episode 29 of Cloud Stories on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/cloud-stories-heather-smith/id908333807 Heather: I'd like to start off by asking you what's the most dangerous thing you’ve ever done? Paul: Dangerous. I'm not much for danger [...]
Ep.29 Matt Flanagan – BlueHub – helping businesses automating complex business processes
Subscribe to Episode 29 of Cloud Stories on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/cloud-stories-heather-smith/id908333807 Heather: Matt - what actor would play you in a biopic of your life? Matt: What actor would play me in a biopic of [...]
Ep.28 Guy Pearson – Practice Ignition – Developing an on-boarding & management solution for accounting practices
Subscribe to Episode 28 of Cloud Stories on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/cloud-stories-heather-smith/id908333807 Heather: Guy, who would you like to have coffee with and why? Guy: Wow! I would have said Steve Jobs, but obviously that can’t [...]
Ep.27 Sonia Cuff – Computer Troubleshooters – Building a successful home based IT support business
Highlights of my conversation with Sonia Cuff Challenges and successes of Computer Troubleshooters Shifting her business to a 100% Xero practice How she successfully builds her brand and expertise whilst working from home Subscribe [...]
Ep.26 Marcus Wilson – Surgical Partners – Cloud integration for practice management systems
Heather: So Marcus, why did you start Surgical Partners? Marcus: I started Surgical Partners to address a gap in the market. There didn’t seem to be any integrator services in the healthcare industry that [...]
Ep.25 David New – Building teams and growing businesses in superfast time!
Highlights of my conversation with David New Addressing safety and security concerns in cloud-based practice Experiences and challenges in the software solution industry Building brand awareness and credibility His philosophy on achieving work-life balance [...]
Ep.23 Andrew Sims – The Full Suite – organising accounting files in the cloud
Highlights of my conversation with Andrew Sims Helping accountants achieve a fully cloud-based modern practice Growing a product focused company that evolves with customer needs Zero downtime for conversions to the cloud Subscribe to [...]
Ep.22 Steven Shelley – Deputy – business cultural improvements through staff rostering
Highlights of my conversation with Steven Shelley Zero time theft From solving an internal problem in an aerospace company to launching Deputy Solving staff rostering in over forty countries Global growth and looking for [...]
Ep.21 David Tuck – Chaser – politely and persistently chasing debts
Highlights of my conversation with David Tuck From accountant to launching and growing a startup SAAS based in London Working with Stripe to provide a global currency gateway The surprises of starting a start-up, [...]
Ep.20 Lisa Martin – GoFi8ure – The world’s first Xero Hero
Highlights of my conversation with Lisa Martin Working with a mentor to develop leadership skills Quality Management in a bookkeeping business Social media, referral and paid advertising Building brand equity in a bookkeeping business [...]
Ep.19 Blake Oliver – Cloudsourced Accounting – One of the first Xero endorsed US bookkeeping and cloud integrators firms
Highlights of my conversation with Blake Oliver One of the first US based bookkeeping firms and cloud integrators to be listed on Xero site Acquisition of Cloudsourced Accounting by Harshman Phillips & Company and [...]
Ep.18 Nick Hazel – Café Bookkeepers – the ultimate café cloud solution (Hint it includes Xero!)
Highlights of my conversation with Nick Hazel Benefits of focusing on a niche customer base Unexpectedly becoming a business coach in the café industry Xero plus other cloud solutions used in a growing bookkeeping [...]
Mastering Your Day with an Affordable Appointment Scheduling Solution | Ryan Baker
Highlights of my conversation with Ryan Baker Promoting Work Life balance with a 100% remote team Scaling a business: insights from Fairfax, Trade Me group acquisition of previous business. The Microsoft Bizspark programme for [...]
Ep.16 David Watson – Fathom – Helping you understand what’s happening in your business and how to improve your business’s performance.
Highlights of my conversation with David Watson Benefits of cloud integration for franchise businesses What you need in place to offer advisory services How cloud technology is disrupting traditional business intelligence Benchmarking for small [...]
Ep.15 Alex Falcon Huerta – Creating a 100% cloud accounting practice in the UK
Highlights of my conversation with Alex Falcon Huerta founder of Soaring Falcon Accountancy Technology used in a 100% cloud accounting practice Helping clients review future trends Where small business owners can look to improve [...]
Ep.14 Saul Colt – The world’s greatest intrepreneur embracing the role of Xero’s Chief Evangelist
Highlights of my conversation with Saul Colt Ruffling feathers by being interesting, original and fun: the story behind the cloud writing about a cloud company and the levitating man Word of Mouth marketing insights [...]
Ep.13 Steven Renwick – transforming an Oxford MBA assignment into a Cloud Credit Control Solution success story
Highlights of my conversation with Steven Renwick Offering cloud credit control and accounts receivable solutions to small business turning Oxford MBA projects into a cloud success story utilising the crowd equity funding platform seedrs [...]
Ep.12 Barry Dowling – TransferMate Global Payments – Minimising costs and complexities associated with foreign currency payments seamlessly from within Xero
Highlights of my conversation with Barry Dowling Spending time understanding your client Using client feedback to tweak the solution offered Achieving the milestone of $5US billion in transfers Using referral links as a marketing strategy [...]
Ep.11 Tejaswi Raghurama – ZapStitch – Growth hacker automating accounting for ecommerce stores
Highlights of my conversation with Tejaswi Raghurama Save 300 administrative hours per month Automates accounting for ecommerce stores Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India Increasing monthly recurring revenue and reducing churn Subscribe to Episode [...]
Ep.10 Hannah McIntyre – Crunchboards – Demystifying the numbers and making analysis, super simple, easy and beautiful
Hannah McIntyre and Amy Harris Crunchboards Highlights of my conversation with Hannah McIntyre Inspiration for launching CrunchBoards The early design of CrunchBoards Working in a global community Business support in Britain Moving from compliance [...]
Ep.9 Cameron Priest – TradeGecko – Kiwi cloud inventory solution calling Singapore home
Cameron Priest CEO and co-founder of TradeGecko Highlights of my conversation with Cameron Priest Singaporean Government fostering a technology hub Global adoption of add-ons Setting up a start-up in Singapore Growing a business with [...]
Ep.8 Peta Ellis – River City Labs – Insights into the Brisbane tech start-up community
Peta Ellis General Manager at River City Labs, Brisbane Australia Highlights of my conversation with Peta Ellis Benefits of working in a co-working space Brisbane tech Start-ups successes Various events held at River City [...]
Ep.7 Dan Fairbairn – Waypoint – the emergence of the cloud integrator
Dan Fairbairn CEO and founder of Waypoint - Discussing the emergence of the cloud integrator Highlights of my conversation with Dan Fairbairn Rolling out cloud solutions across franchises Analysing and improving business workloads The [...]
Ep.6 Chris Wheatley – Scope Accounting – Starting a new accounting practice
Chris Wheatley founder of Scope Accounting Highlights of my conversation with Chris Wheatley Naming a new business How to get your add-on in front of an accountant The relationship between the accountant and bookkeeper [...]
Ep.5 Tom Wallace – Re-Leased – from a family business managing properties to a cloud based property solution
Tom Wallace CEO & co-founder of ReLeased Highlights of my conversation with Tom Wallace New Zealand’s talented tech community Family business managed property – and saw an opportunity Re-Leased - cloud property management solution [...]
Ep.4 Jared Armstrong – MinuteDock – building a time tracking solution that meets diverse needs
Highlights of my conversation with Jared Armstrong Internal collaboration tools Inbox Zero Providing a product that presents exactly the features, exactly the complexity that is needed for the specific business that is using it [...]
Ep.3 Gayle Buchanan – Number Nurses – Virtual Xero bookkeeping, support and training
Gayle Buchanan Chief Number Nurse & Xero Gold Partner Highlights of my conversation with Gayle Buchanan Running a virtual Xero bookkeeping, support and training business Managing learning new solutions from the Xero eco-system Licensing [...]
Ep.2 Colin Hewitt – Float | Xero Emerging Add-on Partner of the Year 2014
Highlights of my conversation with Colin Hewitt Insights into pitching and attracting the right venture capital The impact on the business of working with an investor Experience of being part of the Xero add-on [...]
Ep.1 Valerie Khoo – Australian Writers’ Centre | Identifying your passion and turning it into a business success
Valerie Khoo is National Director of the Australian Writers’ Centre, the country’s leading centre for writing courses. With campuses in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Online, the centre has helped more than 17,000 students to [...]
GoCardless
I’ve been meaning to write something about GoCardless for ages. I’ve now been using the solution for years. I opted to try GoCardless for their low fees. Logging In. Logging in always seems to be [...]