2022 has produced a focus on gender inequality in the accounting industry with both CAANZ and Intuit producing detailed reports about the current state of play.  Sometimes the story is told as a battle of Men v Women and that likely won't produce results that bring positive returns to firm owners and positive experiences for accountants impacted.  For many, actively engaging in the gender pay gap can be scary, for many, the floor is lava and we don't want to fall.  But without awareness progress can't happen so From The Trenches is proud to present this episode together with Intuit Quickbooks and their new Gender Equity in the Accounting Profession report   Get the Report Here  https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/gender-equity-in-accounting-addressing-the-career-cliff  In this episode David Hosts Intuit Head of Accounting Shaye Thyer who has assembled an epic panel including: Kylie Parker from Lotus Accounts who started her own firm and is one of only 2 female led firms in the 2020 AFR Top 100  Peter McCarthy from Principal Precision  - Taxation Accounting and Management who won the Australian Accounting Awards Diversity and Inclusion Award.  Paul Janzs from Professional Partners who advocates for equality so he can help raise his boys to the values he lives in his practice.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From The Trenches

8. Men Vs Women: The Gender Pay Gap Convo That Is So Hard to Have.

Listen to hear Paul Meissner flinch as someone who clearly isn't an accountant get's called on and these other fine stories. Best on Ground David There are a lot of acquisitions going on https://www.datadear.com/blog/2021/09/we-are-pleased-to-announce-the-technology-acquisition-of-datadear-by-intuit/?fbclid=IwAR0D2o4544adL3nTl8CZkh0G1pgC5oKN2suk0WZWdMs1kQDPcmCuyB8eO5o  https://www.enterprisetimes.co.uk/2021/10/05/sage-buys-proposal-software-vendor-goproposal/  https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/hub24-to-triple-customer-base-with-class-deal-20211018-p590sr    Elon Musk is an Accountant  https://www-businessinsider-com-au.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.businessinsider.com.au/elon-musk-productivity-hack-daily-routine-5-minute-slots-2021-10/amp?amp_gsa=1&amp_js_v=a6&usqp=mq331AQIKAGwASCAAgM%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16342519063940&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com     Paul   ChangeGPS is Xero's Practice App of the Year https://www.linkedin.com/posts/davidboyar_xeroawards-unbeatableaccountants-activity-6853906282974474240-0Z7M   Practice Protect Cloud Apps report is one glorious set of actual data that let's you know what apps firms are using. https://hub.practiceprotect.com/cloud-apps-report-2021  Orange Girl herds Xero's sh*t fixing team in a glorious corporate response https://twitter.com/orangegirlnz/status/1443927056669155364     Worst on Ground David When award winners go to jail https://twitter.com/eringriffith/status/1443563933357395978/photo/1  ITR pricing is too cheap https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-6849466529642352640-lqAH/   Paul A 5 year old blog isn't relevant anymore so don't post it on socials  https://www.linkedin.com/posts/markwickersham1_the-3-reasons-you-should-have-a-brochure-activity-6845718677178851328-cvLy    Linked in Polls need to stop     See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

8. Elon Musk is an Accountant | Award Winners Go to Jail | Stop Polling Us

David chats to ICB CEO Amanda Linton and Beyond Blue Deputy Chair Kate Carnell about why we should view investment in Mental Health training the same way we view investment in technology.  Register for their Summit Session https://summit.fromthetrenches.com.au/talks/mental-health-session/   Sign up to the New Access Program https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/newaccess  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

8. Want 8x ROI? Invest in Mental Health for Staff

What happened? It was Orange, it was loved, now it's Dext, it's three things not one and got dealt a savage hand by pockets of the social media world.  But the strategy makes sense if you dig in to it.  Listen to David Boyar ask Paul Lodder - Product Domain Expert (and a seriously accomplished accountant), What happened to Receipt Bank? Want more?  Register for Paul's session at Trenches Summit " https://summit.fromthetrenches.com.au/talks/dext-keynote/  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

7. What Happened To Receipt Bank?

54 Speakers 5 Industry Bodies 19 Event Partners 2 Plucky Hosts  1 Awards session Stupid amounts of CPD  September 13 and 14 2021 https://summit.fromthetrenches.com.au/  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

6. Trenches Summit: 54 Speakers / 5 Industry Bodies/1 Government Agency/19 partners

Get your early bird tickets to the Trenches Summit right now to keep up to date with a summit that has the best of the best without any of the worst. https://summit.fromthetrenches.com.au/coming-soon/ Best on Ground Paul   Speed Dating with your work hat off  helps you compare apples with apples when considering tech solutions. David  Learning has genuine value – it's the only way to improve anything that is keeping you down. Trent McLaren (Divi Pay) The side events, it feels like a 5 day music festival – Accountingpalooza  Jack Kay (ChangeGPS) The best ones are when expectation meets reality. Content is focused without marketing spin     Worst on Ground Paul    When tech delivers content outside the core problem the tech solves (wait for the stoush with Trent over why). David  Too many speaking slots in narrow talent pool. The slots are becuase vendors paid even if they don’t have quality content to deliver. Trent  With a Vendor Hat on it’s clear the pay to play model make ROI didn’t correlate . Events who used to charge 20k for an inperson event shouldn’t charge 20k for a virtual one. Content programs are commercially led and commercial outcomes can conflict with attendee priorities    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

3. Worst On Ground: Virtual Summits - We'll fix them.

Compliance is not dead, but it's not perfect so David Boyar interviews Paul Meissner to get the state of compliance revenue. The biggest problem is how revenue is generated. Some tech companies try to solve this by assuming revenue from compliance is a dying source but no one in practice really believes it's going anywhere. In this episode David Boyar interviews Paul Meissner to find the three problems with how revenue is generated from compliance services.  It's too easy to discount Too many services are bundled into the annual fix fee Don't do the annual price increase "just because you can" Some of these points may be relevant to you, some may bolster your confidence in what you are currently doing and some, well they might make you mad.          See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

2. Compliance is..................not perfect.

A linked in post titled Cotchy Vs Xero shows how well the accountant, Pat Mannix from Paris Financial, understood his clients (startups) and how different they were to the needs of his traditional 70 staff practice in Melbourne. Like most accountants Pat is passionate about what matters to his business, and his clients. Listen to hear why:- Client’s by because of the service they get not the tech the accountants use Discretionary (Family) Trusts are still an excellent tool for saving tax Accountants know more about SMSF’s than most other professionals yet still can’t advise on the them properly. Agree? Disagree? Think more info is needed? JOIN THE CHAT on www.fromthetrenches.com.au  Read the responses first! Response: Rebecca Mihalic FCA - When a family trust is not right for a trading entity  Response: Grant Abbott - How To: Use Deeds to Overcome Trading Trust Issues See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

1. It's Back-ish: Trading Trusts and Cotchy Vs Xero

Best on Ground  Paul Meissner A fact sheet released by the corporate regulator highlighted it would cost members $13,900 to operate a self-managed super fund, as well as a 100-hours-a-year time commitment. The ATO has refined these figures, showing operating expenses are closer to $3,923 a year. https://www.smsfadviser.com/news/18950-ato-figures-throw-light-on-asic-s-financial-fact-sheet   Great content by the ATO. Content from May 2016, can’t say I have seen it before.   https://www.ato.gov.au/General/Trusts/In-detail/Trust-tax-time-toolkit/Resolutions-checklist/#_Does_a_resolution   David Boyar Twitter is more often a dangerous place than a supportive one but this is #taxtwitter at its best https://twitter.com/kjb_cpa/status/1274905696052502528  Could this trigger a construction sector clean up? https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/directors-to-get-id-number-for-life-to-thwart-phoenixing-20200612-p55218  Is receipt banks' strategy to win on data quality? https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/technology/14498-receipt-bank-acquires-xero-app-partner  Dynamic Arrays are a new excel feature worth taking the time to learn  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2USJsIyIzvo  David Dahm is a proper leader  https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-16/coronavirus-leaves-medical-practices-on-verge-of-collapse/12359282   Worst on Ground Paul Meissner “The Lazy Accountant” - Is it just another software seller telling us how we are underperforming? https://www.linkedin.com/posts/davidboyar_tax-activity-6681346758121017344-cYYp    Deloitte will cut 7 per cent of its workforce, or at least 700 professionals, despite the firm growing annual revenue by 10 per cent to $2.5 billion amid the COVID-19 downturn. Partners were told on Monday that the firm was on track to deliver revenue growth of about 14 per cent over the first three quarters of the firm's financial year but that growth had collapsed in the final quarter due to the pandemic. https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/deloitte-to-cut-at-least-700-roles-across-the-firm-20200622-p554we  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

120. Lazy Accountants? Real Leaders, Excels Dynamic Arrays

The rant episode years in the making.  Online lives are fake  for both business and personal. This is spoken about often in our personal lives but when people are big noting themselves in business platforms, we're worried about the impact on our business lives.  Anyone can post any view or opinion they have now as fact. Facts no longer matter. Science is irrelevant and research is more often shared when it's commissioned by marketers who need data to sell their product. People are then emboldened by social sycophants that just agree with them.  And when that happens, an idea that isn't worth spreading gets spread. Anyone who tries a counter argument is labelled a troll or grumpy and risks damage to the professional reputation.  Facts don’t matter anymore, there is always a group that will feed you back your views, a comfortable confirmation bias is met. And if enough likes and clicks are made all of a sudden that person is considered a "thought leader". When all they did was share a self service opinion.  I often hear people pass off likes, supportive comments etc as proof that anyone holding a different view is irrelevant.  But we embrace the differing view. We like the friction and the debate.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

23. Social Sycophants & Ideas That Aren't Worth Spreading

The Weekly Challenge The feds are handing out support cash industry group by special interest group. It seems the squeaky wheel is getting the oil as industry leaders claim mass extinction if they don’t get aid:- $1b. For construction Money for the arts Grants for renovations My challenge, is to develop a strategic funding arrangement that set us up for the next century and not whittle away the 60b left from JK! Best on Ground David Boyar This just became the third most loved tweet of all time - the sheer power of words to reach millions blows me away and makes me think of the reach and influence of accountants.  https://twitter.com/andymilonakis/status/1266821069823975430  Business Depot have come up with another new way to engage with clients - ultra low cost and wide reach. If a client on the edge saw this, would they wonder why  http://offers.businessdepot.com.au/rebound-2020  Xero Document Packs have made digital doc signing the hottest tech stack piece of the month  https://www.xero.com/au/features-and-tools/practice-tools/tax/document-packs/?escape=true  Paul Meissner Grant Thornton: The main reasons people enjoyed working from home were the reduced commute time, having the flexibility to manage their own hours, reduced expenses, and having more time for exercise and family. The survey also showed 45 per cent of respondents had some discomfort about returning to the office. More than 60 per cent wanted to work both at home and in the office after reopening and only 9 per cent wanted to exclusively work in the office. https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/grant-thornton-kearney-reimagine-the-post-pandemic-office-20200601-p54yc8?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nc&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1591149136  Ask our competitors sales people to SHOW you each of these features in their software. Not TELL you their software has a feature,  BUT actually SHOW you the feature and HOW the feature works in their software. https://www.bglcorp.com/2020/05/25/not-all-corporate-compliance-and-smsf-admin-software-is-the-same/   Leading in a work-from-home environment, Accountants are exactly the right kind of workers to thrive in a work-from-home environment.  Good summary of the 4 challenges https://www.accountingtoday.com/list/leading-accountants-in-a-work-from-home-environment?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=accountingtoday-tw&utm_medium=social&utm_content=socialflow   Worst on Ground  David Boyar Doe’s Paul’s latest Linked In “give the masses what they want” post actually hit the mark? https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6673610747613978624/?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A(activity%3A6673526621976317953%2C6673610640814432256)  Paul Meissner  The Australian Comfort Group, which owns the SleepMaker and Dunlop Foams brands, delayed issuing invoices and the processing of customer orders in April, according to a source and documents seen by The Australian Financial Review. https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/ato-to-investigate-11m-jobkeeper-claim-20200531-p54y16?  “Finance Futurist and Podcast King” https://twitter.com/icmispeakers/status/1267365360145227776?s=20    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

45. Digital Signing Booms, Returning From Home & 2 Self WOGs

NEW SEGMENT!!! With so much change afoot we're challenging our institutions and leaders to actually have the back of the small businesses they keep saying are the backbone of the economy. Paul Meissner: I’ve long been critical of Cosboa, far too friendly with the medium end of SME, Their conference excluded small and micro business. My challenge - don’t screw this up. I’m ready to celebrate the success of this.  https://www.cosboa.org.au/post/small-businesses-set-for-boost-with-spend-local-campaign  David Boyar:IR reform - We need actual representation of small business at the table so it's unions v big corporates https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/28/morrison-government-will-push-on-with-ir-reform-even-if-unions-and-employers-cant-agree Best on Ground Paul Meissner Staying in touch with staff remotely is super important and this is a great quiz. Good example of responding.  https://www.smartcompany.com.au/coronavirus/atlassian-employee-survey-open-source/  Taking the mickey out of your boss isn’t grounds for dismissal apparently. BP dragged this out for 2 years and took it to the federal court. Just for offending management.  https://www.news.com.au/national/courts-law/worker-wins-twoyear-battle-to-take-the-piss-out-of-bosses-with-hitler-meme/news-story/3df34d53f3ceb09886adf0a619d5cb8c  A lot will be written about the future of work and the office. Online booking seems to be an obvious change. Not sure hotdesking dies in the end. Large commercial offices face a bigger test I feel.  https://www.itnews.com.au/news/nab-nixes-hotdesking-in-favour-of-app-bookable-desks-548390  Trust the data, what do you need a human to check it for. There are never errors… Political fighting here is interesting. Treasury is separate to government, staffed with the same people (largely) irrespective to who’s in government. Government always blamed.  https://www.afr.com/policy/tax-and-super/later-60b-jobkeeper-error-discovered-20200522-p54vkm  David Boyar Accountants are the real heroes  https://twitter.com/JosephCarrozzi/status/1263968097389514756 Peter the Great graces accountants  https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/6815904703351/WN_42ybOi-pT6mkRw1II7eBHg Would David be this aggressive in app marketing? Or is it just something BGL can get away with?  https://www.bglcorp.com/2020/05/25/not-all-corporate-compliance-and-smsf-admin-software-is-the-same/ Worst on Ground Paul Meissner Payroll is complex, errors bound to be made. Fair work found for the employee but hard to not see this go higher up the courts.  https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/qantas-dealt-blow-over-jobkeeper-payments-20200524-p54vve    https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/we-want-you-back-in-the-office-law-firm-tells-partners-20200524-p54vv6  End of year BS tax articles by people who don’t know their stuff.  https://www.westpac.com.au/news/money-matters/2020/04/making-sense-of-wfh-tax-tweak/  David Boyar Advocacy: Too Little too late? https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/tax-compliance/14412-practitioners-potentially-misled-by-ato-s-jobkeeper-turnover-guidance Does anyone know what EY is talking about?  https://twitter.com/BrandDNA/status/1265280824141701121/photo/1 AI/ML Universities and job ready candidates  https://twitter.com/filippie509/status/1265356259621912576       See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

21. Accountants are the Real Heroes & The S in COSBOA

Best on Ground Paul Meissner Best and worst. Best - Interesting view admitting that advisory disappeared in the last few months. Worst - Rob Nixon wrote this 10 years ago, firms globally are living this now.  https://www.accountingtoday.com/opinion/our-profession-has-changed-forever  David Boyar Strong Excel Twitter game  https://twitter.com/msexcel/status/1260932882463289345  CA’s transparency on the Exam Issue  https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/professional-development/14340-ca-anz-issues-mea-culpa-over-exam-hiccup  From the Trenches Live insane NPS is a credit to the community  https://blog.hubspot.com/service/net-promoter-score-benchmarks  Worst on Ground Paul Meissner MYOB cuts 130 jobs and warns of 'artificial economy' https://www.smh.com.au/business/small-business/myob-cuts-130-jobs-and-warns-of-artificial-economy-20200519-p54ua0.html   This is the most basic piece of content so out of touch with members. This content is more basic than what’s covered in the CA program. https://www.charteredaccountantsanz.com/news-and-analysis/insights/opinion/running-your-accounting-practice-in-tough-times-part-2   David Boyar The Tax Institute threatened us with legal action instead of picking up the phone  https://www.fromthetrenches.com.au/podcast/2020/5/12/live-with-ron-lesh-nat-lennon-and-lee-duffield Headline: Death of the Office - Copy: It’s too early to tell  https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/the-death-of-the-office-20200507-p54qm0 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

20. MYOB Job Cuts, Death of "XX", Scotie Pippen & Excel

This is a live recording of our inaugural live web event.  The chat box exploded as the audience interacted with this weeks show and with the awesome feedback we promise Trenches Live will be back soon.  After the usual best and Worst BGL Founder and CEO Ron Lesh is taken of the Lesh and delivers his usual direct shot of reality into the debate amidst calls from the chat box for him to run for PM!  Lee Duffield from All in Advisory and Nat Lennon from Two Sides Accounting,  two brilliant public practitioners, join to answer the questions that matter from those in the trenches What did you learn about yourself? Has your relationship with your business changed? News round up Best on Ground Paul Meissner Accountants and Bookkeepers handling JobKeeper, cash boost, etc. Psychologist (client) story.   Robyn Jacobson moves to the TIA. Interesting given this puts a tenacious advocate for taxpayers in to an organisation that has some clout. Could we see better advocacy from professional bodies?? https://www.taxinstitute.com.au/timediarelease/the-tax-institute-appoints-tax-leader-robyn-jacobson-as-senior-advocate    Tax jokes in TV series. Schitts Creek (Netflix) very funny scene on trying to claim personal stuff as a business expense. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mark-newman-accountant-for-builders-electricians-trades_thats-not-a-write-off-scene-from-schitts-activity-6661776582073425920-5a0y   David Boyar Early suggestions of tax reform - Nixing Consumption taxes the way GST intended https://www.linkedin.com/feed/news/car-sales-cut-in-half-by-pandemic-5185554/  Is the VCFOA back, great job and reframing different types of advice during a recession https://vcfoassociation.com.au/surviving-and-re-booting-are-2-separate-problems/  The DropBox Blog is beautiful. Relevant and  https://blog.dropbox.com/topics/work-culture/distributed-work-setting-boundaries?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=distr-work&utm_content=boundaries  Worst on Ground Paul Meissner Professional bodies lack of real support during this time Ineffective in Canberra No tools/resources No additional member contact, not even an email from the org, ceo, etc Only contact was selling/promoting products Hey hey CA video’s, I get it, it was fun, but where’s the practical effort. David Boyar Small biz accountants not at the table in canberra and thats why everyone got stressed.  The cause of stress wasn’t the ATO updates, it was that legislation did not consider how small biz accountants advise clients. ATO forced to run on its feet 3 big red marks - Accountants exemption, Franking credits, JK rules Bodies did an excellent job explaining AFTER the fact Accountants continually unsung  https://twitter.com/LieletteCalleja/status/1258218705571311616  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

44. Live! With Ron Lesh, Lee Duffield and Nat Lennon

Best on Ground Paul Meissner Xero builds good stuff, quickly.  https://go.xero.com/bas/jobkeeper   Denmark has announced any companies registered in tax havens will not be eligible for state aid programmes during the pandemic “The government also said that companies which pay out dividends, buy back own shares or are registered in tax havens won’t be eligible for any of the aid programs, which now amount to a total of 400 billion kroner, when including loans and guarantees.” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-18/denmark-extends-business-aid-to-increase-spending-by-15-billion     David Boyar  Quality lessons from GST https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/accountants-six-tips-from-2000-todays-challenges-scott-charlton/?trackingId=3BtqWlT7xMtAGuAO62hSBA%3D%3D Anthony Pratt’s Linked In nails it again - Long Term View https://www.linkedin.com/posts/anthonyjpratt_activity-6659961911041503232-JRQQ  Security Matters: Mailchimp offering 10% to signing up to SSO https://mailchimp.com/help/set-up-a-two-factor-authentication-app-at-login/ Chartered Accountants moved an education and events business online and EVERYONE wins  Worst on Ground Paul Meissner PWC cuts pay but not hours, then with the spare hours the staff were not given, they are forced to ‘volunteer’? Was it the same voluntary method used for the pay cut?? https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/business/14291-big-four-steps-up-with-largest-pro-bono-tax-offering-amid-covid-19  David Boyar  The ATO has made JobKeeper so easy businesses are doing it themselves - When UX is too good. “If I get one more email about mental health I’ll lose my mind”  David’s Dad  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

20. Still Cray Cray but Ok

In the age of FAKE NEWS, brave souls are needed to fight through the noise and give accountants in practice the support and information they deserve. David Boyar and Paul Meissner share a passion for the role Accountants play in the Australian economy. As the engine room of the economy, small - medium businesses rely on their accountant for technical knowledge, business acumen and professional (and often personal) support. As the way accountants work (through technology) and service (through new services like Virtual CFOs) changes, we have to ask If accountants are helping their client’s, who is helping Accountants? If you read the Accounting Industry news and listen to the industry leaders then the Accounting industry is at war. It’s a war against technology, the ATO and even UBER (apparently). The problem is that most of the leaders have never worked in practice. They are subject matter experts but can't offer the perspective of someone who had to actually have conversations with clients about implementing technology, actually moved to value pricing, actually compared technology features and how an entire team may be impacted by them. Each week in this podcast, 2 plucky Chartered Accountants will bring you the real stories ‘from the trenches’. This no holes barred, feisty, yet humorous take on the Accounting landscape will be entertaining while sending a message to the scaremongers, that the FAKE NEWS must end. By following a simple podcast formula, David and Paul will deliver rapid value straight to your earphones. With segments like ‘best and worst of the week’, ‘Fake News exposed’ and a the rapid format ‘5 questions in 5 minutes’ special guest interviews, what more could you want. This podcast won’t be for the faint hearted. https://www.fromthetrenches.com.au/

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From The Trenches

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