Accountants Daily Podcast Network

Heather Smith and Tyler Caskey delve into the latest technology transformations and feature and functionality updates for the start of the year. In this episode, accounting apps specialist Heather Smith and Tyler Caskey, partners at TheBeanCounters, discuss recent developments in real-time banking transactions, direct digital receipting and multi-currency transactions. They also explore updates and new features in the reporting space across cash flow forecasting, automatic workflows, intercompany loan reconciliations and ESG. Heather and Tyler also chat about some of the big announcements in the accounting tech space including the launch of WorkflowMax by BlueRock and Xero ending classic invoicing later this year.

There are so many amazingly successful women in the finance industry, but only a small number have a strong brand and online presence in this traditionally male-dominated industry. As we celebrate International Women's Day, we want to help more women raise their profile and showcase the incredible professionals in this space. In this episode, partnered by Mortgage Choice (part of the REA Group), we're picking the brain of its executive manager, corporate communications, events & franchise marketing, Sally Chadwick, to find out: How to build a brand presence. The benefits of having a strong brand presence. Top tips to help you get started today. And much more!

Family businesses ripe to pass on often need help after getting stuck in their ways, says the principal of a financial advisory firm. A spike in succession planning in the wake of COVID-19 has created a wealth of opportunities for advisers and virtual CFO services, says one finance specialist. Principal of iFin Capital and iFin Advisory, Nathan Hogan, said some strong family businesses got stuck in their ways and needed some help to make the transfer. "We're seeing a real spike in the last 12 months of this activity of passing on things to generations," he said on the latest Accountants Daily Insider podcast. "A lot of it really is around really good family businesses that have done well and generally they've had an internal finance manager or someone who's started as a junior and worked their way up. "Sometimes those businesses have the biggest issues because there has been a bit of inaction for a long time and they might not be looking around the corner as much as you would like to see from your CFO."

Outsourcing will be part of the answer for some, but finding a senior locally will remain a problem, says Trent McLaren. The accountancy profession looks in vain for a talent shortage silver bullet and some firms face a tough decision about whether outsourcing is part of the answer, according to the co-founder of marketing and sales consultancy, Journey, Trent McLaren. "When we say there is a shortage of accountants, we're saying there's a shortage in Australia, right?" he said on the latest Accountants Daily Insider podcast. "There are people in other countries that are happy and willing to do the work that our new generation of people don't want to do. "This is something that some people will have to either bite with, say either I don't want to do any more work, I don't want to win any more fees … or they're going to see more people embrace this global, remote teams type environment, where my team member is just based wherever they need to be." "There's no silver bullet. That's the thing. Even if I go and load up on offshoring outsourcing, there's still a capability piece that I'll have to draw a line on at some point. "I'm still going to need a senior at some point locally."

Following the Women in Finance Summit and Awards 2023, we're catching up with some of the leading women in the financial services space. In this episode, we chat to Rebecca Warren, executive general manager of small-business banking at CommBank, about how she navigated a historically male-dominated industry over her 20-year career and why she believes inclusion and diversity are not just morally imperative, but key to achieving superior business results. Tune in to find out: Why she loves commercial finance. The secret power of 'quiet achievers'. How CommBank is creating a more inclusive and supportive work culture. And much more!

Following the Women in Finance Summit and Awards 2023, we're catching up with some of the leading women in the financial services space. In this episode, we chat to Suzanne Wood, state general manager residential broker Victoria/Tasmania at Westpac Group (and state chair of the Women of Westpac employee advocacy group), about how she climbed the career ladder in banking and the power of having strong female role models. Tune in to find out: How she learnt the art of having difficult conversations. The perils of unconscious bias and how to tackle them. How Westpac is supporting women through the Women of Westpac employee advocacy group. And much more!

Grammatical errors and other easy signs of fake messaging are gone and "wealthy, trusting" Australia has become a favourite target. AI has taken the rough edges off cyber scams and removed the easy "tells" in fake messages such as typos or grammatical errors, says one digital security specialist. "Now they just have ChatGPT correct the text – they just say 'write this email as an Australian business person," said Niek Dekker of Eftsure on the latest Accountants Daily podcast. "That was done the moment it came out." He said AI had also made some countries that were difficult to hack, such as Japan, more vulnerable. "They were always a bit out of target because not everybody knows the business culture or the language. Since generative AI has come, they see an increase in scams." He said Australia had become a favourite target for hackers because we were wealthy and trusting. "That makes us prime targets for these criminals."

The financial advice regime has failed to deliver guidance to SMSFs through its licensing rules and the Quality of Advice Review offers little prospect for change, according to the CEO of two fintechs aiming to bridge the gap. George Haramis said some accounting firms acquired licences to offer advice to SMSFs but providers fell away, leaving almost $900 billion in superannuation assets largely unguided. "We know that accountants can deliver tax advice, but in reality they get asked all the time to cross the line inadvertently by their clients," Mr Haramis said on the latest Accountants Daily podcast. "They don't. They fall back to the tax advice and guidance and refer people to financial advisers." "But it's always surprised me that the inability for them to give personal advice to some extent is not is not catered for by the government and the regulators – particularly what came out of QAR."

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. In this episode, we chat to Anjali Crossette, manager of motor operations at non-bank lender Liberty, about breaking barriers and misconceptions about car finance and why she believes the industry needs to showcase gender diversity across every rung of the career ladder. Tune in to find out: Why the finance industry is an attractive industry to work in for women. The progress being made in gender diversity in car finance. How Liberty is leading the way by example. And much more!

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. In this episode, host Maja Garaca Djurdjevic is joined by Olympian and financial adviser at HLB Mann Judd, Sarah Carli, to discuss how she made her way from the track to financial advice. Ms Carli, who competed in the 400-metre hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, reveals the valuable skills she has learned as an adviser that have positively impacted her athletic career, as well as how she balances being a professional athlete with working full time. Tune in to find out: The importance of a supportive work environment. How she balances her professional and athletic commitments. How there are more transferable skills between athletics and advice than many might expect. And much more!

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. Deslie Taylor, principal at Mortgage Choice Ormeau in Queensland, is one of the top brokers in the country, having settled over $1 billion in loans in her 16-year career and taken home numerous awards including Mortgage Broker of the Year at the Women in Finance Awards multiple years in a row. In this episode, we chat to Ms Taylor about how she runs her award-winning brokerage and find out from Aaron Slater, general manager of distribution at Mortgage Choice (principal partner of the Women in Finance Summit and Awards 2023), how we can help support and create more inclusive workplaces. Tune in to find out: The power of being an empathetic leader. The art of practising continuous improvement. How Mortgage Choice's Aspire program is supporting women in finance. And much more!

Tax debt hangovers from the pandemic are behind the rise in SME insolvencies but adverse economic conditions now drive company wind-ups and it will only get worse, say two specialists in the area. Speaking on the latest Accountant Daily podcast, Jirsch Sutherland national managing partner Bradd Morelli and Sydney partner Andrew Spring said people on fixed incomes were cutting back and hitting sectors that had barely recovered from Covid. "We might avoid a technical recession but we will definitely come into – if we're not experiencing now – a per capita recession," said Mr Morelli. "I struggle to see how the conditions can't worsen over the next 12 or 18 months." Mr Spring said economic impacts often manifested in tax debt. "The reasoning behind why the tax debt has accrued is impact at top line, at revenue line, which can largely be a result of the economic impacts at consumer level around discretionary spend, or higher costs."

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 – she now helps support women in building successful businesses through Artemis Space, a women's community group delivered by the Finance Brokers Association of Australia. In this episode, Annie Kane sits down with Ms James to find out: Why success is subjective. The power of visualisation, emotionalisation and manifestation. Why she believes the finance industry is a great industry for women. And much more!

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 triggered her love of finance Why she started her own aggregation business Why she believes support is critical to succeed as a female business leader And much more!

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 household savings rate is now at such a low level," he said on the latest Accountants Daily podcast. "Also through Covid the average credit card balance dropped by a third … it's just tipped back up at the end of the June quarter, back up to the peak of where it was pre-Covid." "The economy, in terms of discretionary spending, is now exhausting itself." "Look at the US and Europe – when you go into a recession with a very low household savings rate the recession is worse because there's just no buffer."

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 negotiation specialist Tax Assure. Speaking on the latest Accountants Daily podcast, Ms Koskie said two factors underlined a change of mood at the ATO. "One is a focus on compliance – on lodgements on time, on payments on time, and the history of the compliance of a company or an individual or a business is affecting whether or not they're getting payment plans," she said. "And the second is ongoing viability. So if they don't believe a company has the ongoing viability or is able to demonstrate ongoing viability, there may not be as many second chances."

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. "If you're using AI to solve a problem relating to a client, if you feed that into AI then it becomes a public document. So there's a privacy issue there," he said. "If you're analysing the data of a client, you want to make sure that you've got their consent to use it for particular purposes." Ms Waller said the accounting ethical principles, spelled out in APES 110, remained unchanged, but special guidance was being developed to cover emerging issues. "What the code has done over time in trying to respond to that is provide more guidance, more contemporary issues for … professional accountants to think about in how to apply those fundamental principles to the situations they're facing," Ms Waller said.

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, bookkeeping firms, that don't embrace it, that don't recognise that artificial intelligence can do certain tasks very efficiently and very effectively." Firms that adopted the technology would have more time to spend on client relationships because "accountants are in the people business". "They're in the business of helping their clients remain compliant, giving their clients peace of mind, helping them be successful in either their business or personal wealth. "I don't think that will ever go away, that relationship."

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 certain elements of the GFC," Mr Fingland said on the latest Accountants Daily podcast. "There are certain industries that are really starting to come under significant pressure. "GDP figures were 0.2 per cent growth – that looks and feels like a recession because that's an average score. When you're at such an anaemic growth level like that, it looks and feels like a recession in most industries." "Now June quarter I think will definitely be a negative and September most likely negative, so officially, we won't be told that we're in a recession until November." "But at 0.2 per cent GDP [growth], that's effectively recessionary territory."

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 for TaxSmart Cafe and for Filipino migrants, with colleague Joynivee Chua winning the award for Accounting Support Staff of the Year. Like Mr Manaois, Ms Chua studied to help her move but she began with a degree in computer science before making the switch. "It took a while, but I finally got an opportunity to start studying accounting," she said, after her software nous helped TaxSmart Cafe embrace a whole range of financial software. "I finished cert four in accounting and bookkeeping and now I'm continuing an accounting degree."

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 elevate accountants … celebrate success more as a profession," he said on the latest Accountants Daily podcast. "The more we can do in investing in PR for the industry itself will help ensure we're getting the talent pipeline coming through in terms of people leaving school and going to university wanting to study accounting and using it as a foundation for their career." If Mr Ashley needed proof that his approach could work he had to look no further than his own Mazars Sydney team, which was a stand-out at this year's awards with two other winners: New Partner of the Year in international tax specialist Lauren Hill and Rising Star of the Year Nadia Afrin.

"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 today and you follow through with your decision," she says on the latest Accountants Daily podcast. The experience of Ms Clack, who also won the award for Superannuation Specialist Accountant, resounds in a profession where more than 50 per cent of practitioners were born overseas. "Every day you try to improve your business, you try to grow your business, you face the challenges, and you think that all this effort doesn't get recognised," she said. "But at the end of the day, it gets accumulated. So whatever you're doing, bit by bit, drop by drop, you get this accumulation of your strength, of your success, of your achievements, of your mentality. "And at the end of the day, you will get your award one way or another."

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 also talks about the importance of the ATO providing further advice in this area. Oliver also highlights some of the developments happening in the cryptocurrency and blockchain landscape and what the next year ahead looks like for this space.

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 industries, Ms Fannin outlines some of the ways accountants can provide value to these types of clients through financial planning, cash flow management and detailed budgeting. She also chats about the recovery of the creative industries from the difficult COVID-19 period and what the next financial year is likely to bring for different parts of the industry.

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 employ with their clients in the lead up to 30 June. Mr Miller highlights some of the key contribution strategies to think about and why increasing mortgage repayments may drive an uptick in downsizer contributions, particularly in the 55 to 65 age group. He also discusses some of the dilemmas faced by SMSF professionals and their clients in relation to pensions with the general transfer balance cap set to index to $1.9 million on 1 July.

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, and a tougher compliance focus by regulators. He shares some of his predictions in terms of regulatory changes, including a move to paying BAS tax weekly or fortnightly, and also discusses some of the complexity in Australia's employment system and some aspects that could be simplified.

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 for the experienced pathway for advisers soon, Mr Negline discusses CA ANZ's views on the measure and concerns about the absence of a sunset clause. He also highlights the need for further reform to create a fairer regulatory environment for accountants and why the Quality of Advice Review didn't go far enough. He also explains why the $3 million threshold will create new difficulties for unlicensed accountants due to the way the existing framework operates and why it needs to change.

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 broad areas: team, clients, and systems and processes." He said the problems were perennial but getting the team right was always top of the list. "If you don't have that clear vision and direction for the firm that you can articulate to the team or get them involved in building it, go back and start there. Because if you get clear about that it guides a lot of the decisions that get made about the other aspects of the business."

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, be recognised and realise they can achieve perhaps more than they set out to," said Mr Pearson on this week's Accountants Daily podcast. Among the first 50 winners was Rebecca Mihalic, now head of accounting at Ignition and joint guest on the podcast, who said the momentum behind the awards had grown. "I didn't even see the original announcement of the first lot of awards … but now people wait for it. People want to nominate their colleagues, they can see this is making a great impact for women out there who are doing wonderful things but are flying under the radar." This year's winners included women from Australia, Canada, Cayman Island, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, the UK and the US.

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 still wonder what's in the way because I know that's not just reserved to our customers that we work with this. Accounting firms all over the country use a variety of tools – it's not because they only use one platform, they use different platforms – so they're aware of lots of options that could help them."

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 down … you don't have a long time before everything goes off. "And secondly, what do you do with the old one? "Appliances Online have, I think, very brilliantly solved that." The lesson for accounting firms – when the work was more complex than an H&R Block return – went to turnaround time on jobs. "Clients would love it if we could do this faster," he said. "So I'm thinking now, who's going to be the accounting firm to really ramp up the turnaround time?"

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, he 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 the last 10 years but more consistent with the average of the prior 10 years," he said. "If you listen to some economists, interest rates are actually coming back to where they normally sit. We've actually had a very long period of ultra-low interest rates from the Global Financial Crisis. "Will we go back to 0.1 per cent? If we did we'd be in some sort of economic crisis." RBA governor Philip Lowe said it would take more than two years to return inflation to the target band and Mr Ord said more increases were on the cards. "If you're doing your planning, expect maybe a couple more rate rises before they reach the peak. When will they start to reduce rates? We just don't know," Mr Ord said.

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 balances. Tracey discusses why an alternative model might result in fairer outcomes for members and also outlines some of the aspects yet to be addressed with the design of the policy so far. Tony talks about the reaction from the accounting profession so far and also the risk of the calculation methodology being adopted for other types of entities. Both guests also provide tips on how to approach the discussions about the measure with their SMSF clients.

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 22 per cent, the largest for any tax. "We've got a $4 billion revenue take on average and there's about a $1 billion dollar gap," he said. "The ATO believes that gap is predominantly with small business employers who are not within the FBT system." "The Tax Office acknowledges that tax agents are very good at working with income tax and GST with their clients, but not so good with FBT ... and they need to upskill a bit around FBT.

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 the end of 2022, I did see a slowing of capital and venture capital going into start-up firms," Mr Greathead said. "I think venture capital firms and investment firms were taking a step back. "I think firms are looking for much more stability and much more sustainability in the growth of their potential investment targets."

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 insolvencies. "We think that there is a wholesale failure within the Australian insolvency regime," Mr Winter said, speaking on the latest Accountants Daily podcast. "Over many years it's become far too complex." "Typically, a business which is solvent and is being closed down should go through a members voluntary liquidation. If it's insolvent, it's got to go through insolvency processes, but 40,000 to 50,000 businesses a year are not doing any of that."

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 particularly in agriculture where Fair Work are coming in and doing audits and reviewing farmers," Mr Bernie said. "Pay accuracy is one thing they're big on, but we saw the other day $20,000 fines being issued for record keeping. "You don't have to be employing 2,000 or 3,000 people to be on the radar for Fair Work. They are going out and targeting specific industries and you could just be employing 20 or 30 people and all it takes is for one person to query a pay slip or to raise a query with Fair Work and you could be on the radar."

Xero Australia country manager Will Buckley says artificial intelligence is rich with possibilities for the accounting profession and that he couldn't resist testing ChatGPT – the high-profile bot launched last November by OpenAI. "I was excited to get into it and just see what's capable of," Mr Buckley said on this week's Accountants Daily Insider. "A couple of the questions that I chucked in there I got complete nonsense responses!" "I started to go down the tangent of trying to figure out if it was capable of delivering tax planning advice. So I asked some questions [for example] how would you navigate through establishing a pretty good estate plan and self-managed super fund for high-net-worth individuals?" "Obviously, the technology is not all the way there yet!"

The ATO is gunning for the wrong target in its s100A approach because the authors of the law never intended it to apply to families, says Tim Munro, CEO of Change Accountants and Change GPS. Mr Munro spent three weeks trawling through Hansard from 1978–79 to examine the origins of the trust distribution law. "I disagree with the approach the ATO have taken with the application of section 100A," Mr Munro said on this week's Accountants Daily podcast. "It was introduced to stop someone, say a property developer, who made $10 million in profits, finding someone else not in the family with a loss company or trust and saying, 'Can I put my profits through your losses? I'll give you $1 million and I'll keep $9 million'." "That is your classic reimbursement agreement. I can filter my profits through, take it out tax free, I reimburse you $1 million bucks, and we're both better off. "That's why this was put into place." Note: This podcast was recorded before the ATO released PCG 2023/1 on work from home deductions.

Four out of 10 issues raised by small business concern "shabby" payment behaviour by the big end of town, says Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson. "Sadly, about 40 per cent of the matters that come our way are related to payment times," Mr Billson said on this week's Accountants Daily podcast. "The previous federal government introduced a reporting register so 7,000 of our largest corporates have to report quarterly on just what their terms are." "That was a bit of a show and tell, hopefully, a nudge to improve performance. "But it hasn't actually improved that much at all. We see far too many small and family businesses waiting way too long to get paid for what they do for their big business clients. "It's just shabby. It doesn't need to be this way."

Accounting firms need to focus on their real expenses and review their prices or get left behind by inflation and interest rates rises, says Rebecca Mihalic, a director at eastern seaboard accounting practice BusinessDepot. "We spend a lot of time focused on making sure our clients are still profitable and they're staying solvent – we need to have a look internally," Ms Mihalic said on this week's Accountants Daily podcast. "Even if you don't bill by the hour anymore, and there's lots of us who don't, you're still probably determining whether or not you're profitable on a client by looking at an hourly rate associated with a timesheet. "I would suggest that hand-in-hand with that you should also be looking at the actual costs that are going on in your business and whether or not those costs are being supported by your pricing. "I could guarantee at the moment – unless you've done huge pricing reviews recently – you're probably losing out and will continue to lose out moving forward."

Camilla Love started F3 — Future Females in Finance to bring more women into the financial services industry. The program — which won the Women's Community Program of the Year award 2022 from the Women in Finance Awards 2022 — aims to educate young women about careers and finance and nudge as many of the next generation of female talent into financial services as possible. In this episode of In Focus, partnered by Mortgage Choice, we catch up with the founder of F3 (and managing director of eInvest), Camilla Love, and Mortgage Choice's executive manager corporate communications, events & franchise marketing, Sally Chadwick, to discuss what more we can do to ensure greater female representation in finance. Tune in to find out: The turning point that led Camilla Love to start F3 What we can be doing to welcome more women into financial services What the future looks like for women in finance And much more!

An outdated approach to pricing means accountants have fallen behind other professions and continue to be paid inappropriately for the work they do, according to the head of accounting at Intuit QuickBooks, Shaye Thyer. The latest data on pay from recruiter Seek — which shows accounting salaries rising slightly ahead of the pack — was good news and overdue. "I absolutely celebrate that accountant salaries are increasing above average," said Ms Thyer on this week's Accountants Daily podcast. "I think this is a correction – I think this has been coming for so many years." She said the problem stemmed from an overdue reliance on pricing by the hour. "It's so limiting — it doesn't reflect the value of what we're doing whatsoever. "I don't know what the exact answer is, but I would love to see some more thinking around the way we structure these things because at the end of the day, we do need to pay our accountants better. And we will need to figure out a way to make that work commercially."

Hiring and retention costs have spiked with the low unemployment rate and a firm's value proposition has become vital to attracting and keeping talent, says Janet Daubney, head of people and culture at BDO Australia. "Firms are competing to attract and retain talent more than ever before," she said on the latest Accountants Daily podcast, produced in conjunction with Daniela Pasini, national director professional services, Business Banking at CBA. "Our people and candidates have more options on the table. This has created a significant spike in retention issues and rising hiring costs for employers across the board," Ms Daubney said. "We're also finding that for us to be able to differentiate ourselves amongst competitors, our value prop — and being able to provide a holistic experience for our people — is critical in attracting and retaining the best talent."

Labor's first budget stuck to its election campaign script but offered only glimpses of a holistic vision and no surprises, says CPA Australia senior policy manager Gavan Ord. Speaking on the latest Accountants Daily podcast, Mr Ord said it was a "cautious budget that suits the tough economic environment" with glimpses of future ambition in the areas of housing, manufacturing, and climate change. "The Treasury made it clear this budget was about just delivering on its election promises. This was really just a reprioritising of government spending towards its election commitments. "So it wasn't a traditional budget, there weren't really any surprises."

The financial services industry has historically been male-dominated but encouraging more women into the space is not only good for society, but good for business too. In this episode, partnered by Mortgage Choice, Anthony Waldron, chief executive of financial services and Mortgage Choice at the REA Group, outlines how the industry can move away from being "male, stale and pale" and encourage more women into the space. Tune in to find out: The barriers that might be holding back female representation What can be done to encourage diversity in industry Why Mortgage Choice is partnering with the Women in Finance Awards 2022 And much more!

It's an "amazing time" to start an accounting firm and inspirational role models – here and overseas – are showing what is possible, according to Damien Greathead, marketing leader for accounting and advisory at Intuit. Speaking on the latest Accountants Daily podcast, Mr Greathead said successful start-ups were moving away from the traditional approach of hanging up a shingle and waiting for custom. "Rather than just relying on whoever comes through the door," he said, "have clear intentions about the services you will offer. "You really see a different practitioner out in the workplace, and they're approaching their business model very differently. "It's very much built with intention in terms of the types of services they offer, the types of clients that they're working with."

Small business objections to ATO decisions leaped during the pandemic and a "significant number and proportion" were disallowed, says the Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman (IGOT), Karen Payne. Speaking on the latest Accountants Daily podcast, Ms Payne said a report by the IGOT on the tax objection system, released today, shows pandemic support programs prompted the rise, with small business and their agents struggling to keep up with the changes. "If you think about the nature of COVID stimulus measures, they're new areas of law," Ms Payne said. "The practitioner in particular has an obligation or an expectation that they will get themselves up to speed with those new areas of law. "The small business is then increasingly reliant on the practitioner to advise them on what are their rights and their entitlements. And so that's coming through in the data. "And I'm sure for practitioners who are listening to this, it's no surprise. Everybody was flat out trying to keep up with the reforms and to help the clients and small businesses in particular to keep ahead of it."

Auditors have a key role to play in achieving sustainability because it needs the same sort of scrutiny they apply to financial documents, says CA ANZ reporting and assurance leader Amir Ghandar. Speaking on a special Accountants Daily podcast to mark Auditor Proud Day — which this year has sustainability as its theme — Mr Ghandar said there were increasing demands for rigour in environmental claims. "Ideally, you'd want to have reporting on those types of issues that's just as rigorous and just as reliable as what you have on the financials," he said. "We're not there yet, for sure. But that's where we're trying to head to. "One of the problems is an issue called greenwashing, where you have a sustainability report but it's not a balanced and complete perspective on the impacts of the business around sustainability. It turns into a marketing document. "That's something ASIC has been focused on and it's something we were certainly concerned about."

Australia has lost its reputation as a marquee destination, and while the tide is turning, the managing partner of Mazars' Sydney office says there's still work to do. Speaking on this week's Accountants Daily podcast, Matthew Ashley said the firm's internal mobility programs were integral to the way it operates, but staff relocating to Australia needed reassurance about freedom of movement. "I think COVID-19 in Australia — its perception from the rest of the world — has created some issues. We're no longer that marquee destination that everyone wanted to go to," he said. "That's starting to change now that [we're] seeing that borders have remained open for a lot longer than they were, but it's still an issue we need to address a little bit. "If we are going to address this skill shortage, it definitely needs to be a big focus on making Australia that destination. We need to look at our migration policies. How do we make Australia that real marquee place that everyone around the world wants to go and work in?"