Cloud Stories | Cloud Accounting | Business Tools | Xero, Qbo, Myob | Ecosystem | Apps

Today I’m speaking with Tyler Caskey, Partner at The Bean Counters In this episode, we talk about . . . Accounting industry trends in 2024  Crafting accounting stories for clients, marketing and career coaching. AI, Automation & ChatGPT in accounting.  Remote work trends and virtual teams in the accounting industry.  Pay raises, career progression, and work-from-home impact.  The role of accountants in strategic business planning and advisory Trends in practice management software for accounting firms.  This episode is kindly sponsored by Employment Hero: The All in One HR, Payroll & Benefits Platform  https://employmenthero.com/ Translucent The Multi-Entity Accounting solution  https://www.translucent.io/  Technology Mentioned Account-Kit https://www.account-kit.com/  AirWallex https://www.airwallex.com/au  Dashboard Insights https://dashboardinsights.com/  Employment Hero https://employmenthero.com/  FYI Docs : https://fyi.app/  Handisoft : https://www.theaccessgroup.com/en-au/produc

The biggest kept secret in the Australian accounting industry: The acquisition of Change GPS by Access Group. This episode is kindly sponsored by Employment Hero: The All in One HR, Payroll & Benefits Platform  https://employmenthero.com/ Translucent The Multi-Entity Accounting solution  https://www.translucent.io/  In this episode - David Boyer reflects on his upbringing in his father's accounting practice and early ambitions ( he was going to be CEO of Coca Cola!) - He discusses founding an association of CFOs and lessons learned from scaling advisory work   - Boyer shares how he joined Change GPS and their aligned values (with Timothy Munro) in transforming accounting firms - Insights are provided on data analytics in accounting tech companies and marketing approaches, including wearing a suit ! - Accountants take umbrage at people who've never had an accounting practice telling them what to do. - The acquisition of Change GPS by Access Group is explained as a strategic partnership - Client experience

The big news is I'm rebranding the Cloud Stories podcast to the Accounting Apps podcast (fingers crossed) In this episode, I talk about . . . Summer adventures with family and Chester the Border Collie in Elanora and Crows Nest Catching up on admin backlog and office makeover Website update with recent photos and videos Rebranding Cloud Stories podcast to Accounting Apps podcast Introducing advertising to the newsletter and podcast Clarification on ACCA Global Council election results Embracing "StoryTeller" as the theme for the year Upcoming speaking engagements in Birmingham and Cairns Preview of the next episode with David Boyar, CEO of ChangeGPS Contact details: Accounting Apps newsletter: http://HeatherSmithAU.COM Accounting Apps Mastermind: https://www.facebook.com/groups/XeroMasterMind  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/HeatherSmithAU/  YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/ANISEConsulting  X: https://twitter.com/HeatherSmithAU   

2023 has been a brilliant technicolour year for me, and I’m delighted to end it on yet another high, hitting 20 000 podcast episode downloads during the year. As an accountant I do like a nice round number.  Thank you to the many listeners, especially those who hit the subscribe button. Thank you to the many guests who graciously share their time with me on the Cloud Stories podcast over the last year.  Thank you to the conference organisers for providing me with the opportunity to meet fascinating individuals and enabling me to share knowledge with our accounting & bookkeeping community. The Cloud Stories Wrap of 2023 is as an opportunity to answer the following questions:   Which accounting technologies saw the most significant advancements this year? What were the top 5 most popular episodes of 20 How did the podcast evolve over the past year? What were the biggest challenges faced in podcasting about accounting technology in 2023? What feedback from listeners surprised you the most? What w

Heather Smith delves into the transformative role of ChatGPT in the accounting sector. The discussion begins with an early adopter's perspective, highlighting the initial challenges and the evolving capabilities of ChatGPT. She explores its practical applications in tasks like email drafting and webinar planning, emphasising its ability to add creativity and efficiency to mundane tasks. The podcast then shifts focus to customise ChatGPT for more personalised and precise outputs. This includes tailoring the AI to align with specific language preferences, such as UK English, and ensuring the responses are concise and fit the intended audience's needs. Emphasis is placed on the tool's ability to mirror an individual's style and branding, making it a versatile asset in professional communications.   In the final segment, she discusses the importance of critically assessing AI outputs, acknowledging ChatGPT's limitations such as its tendency to "hallucinate" or provide incorrect information, and the inherent biase

Michael Wood truly lives and breathes the title entrepreneur. Currently he’s Founder & CEO of Translucent. His LinkedIn profile reveals he’s also the founder of 4 other companies. The company that you’re likely to know him from is Receipt Bank. Michael was the original co-founder and was there till April 2021, when it was acquired by private equity group HgCapital. Please be aware I strategically partner with Translucent. I was an early adopter of Receipt Bank, and also am an early adopter of Translucent. I’m sure you will find this interview enlightening! In this episode, we talk about . . . Michael’s journey from pursuing a Bachelor of Science in zoology to founding a marketing and growth consultancy firm, Tweed London. The origins and evolution of Receipt Bank, a digital receipt management platform.  The impact of Xero's API on the accounting industry.  Michael discusses how his experience at Receipt Bank led to the launch of Translucent, a solution for multi-entity businesses to manage their a

I had a brilliant time at the Expo. I delivered four sessions on Apps, Ai, ChatGPT & Habits and honestly was shocked at how packed they all were. Expos give me an efficient opportunity  to catch up with Sydney friends and, as it was not purely an accounting conference, but also a business conference, there were colleagues from different industries.  As well as speaking with lots of people, I attended a few sessions, and I’m not even sure how I managed it, but I recorded 8 interviews from the floor.   Bingham Archibald Presales Solutions Architect at Kodak Alaris document scanners, software, and professional services to streamline data capture workflows.   Malcolm Cameron Head of Solutions at MyTreasur-e manage and monitor their cash, payments, leases and risk activities   Chris Dodson Director Hero Blue Cloud based finance schedule creation and storage with Xero integration   Cathy Middleton Senior Licensing Manager One Music Australia Helping businesses meet their music licensing obligation.   Stan Corne

Xero co-founder Philip Fierlinger shares the story behind building one of the world's most successful accounting platforms, Xero He discusses his early inspiration from car dashboards and the gamification of bank reconciliations. Fierlinger also reveals how his latest startup Upstock is transforming the inefficient B2B food ordering process and levelling the playing field for small suppliers.    Many of our listeners will know Philip Fierlinger as one of the 5 co-founders of Xero, but let me share with you a bit of background about Philip: For over 5 years, Philip has been creating digital products and experiences that have set new standards of design, business and technology.  In 1992 a university project landed Philip an internship at General Magic where he conceptualised the “Mediaphone” a digital walkman, letting you download music anywhere, anytime. To give you some context this was 9 years before Steve Jobs introduced the iPod and 15 years before Jobs introduced the iPhone. Philip went on to create a di

A collection of interviews from TOA Global clients, staff, and partners, including a special interview with the emcee Kat Davidson, who shares some tips on public speaking. Relive your time at TOACon ‘23, or get a taste for what happened. Today I'm bringing you interviews from the TOA Global Transformational conference held at the Sheraton Mirage on the Gold Coast early November 23. I had the pleasure of attending the conference, courtesy of the hospitable TOA Global team. TOA Global specialising in providing outsourcing solutions for accounting firms. In this collection of interviews you’ll hear from TOA Global clients, staff, and partners. Even if you are not currently contemplating outsourcing, there is a lot of interesting content in this podcast, including a special interview with the emcee Kat Davidson, who shares some tips on public speaking.    Keep your finger on the pulse of the ever-evolving world of Accounting Technology. Subscribe to the Accounting Apps newsletter at HeatherSmithAU.COM.   My frie

What are your options when your tech stack is bursting at the seams? You’re struggling to get visibility over what’s happening. You’re balancing multiple spreadsheets and you’re spending a lot of time consolidating data.    If you are trying to resolving your business's data overwhelm there are a number of options:   Spring cleans all the files, and all the data.  Merge duplicates and expunge old data, and trim down the data files.    Call in the professionals: Engage a professional cloud integrator to review your set up and advice of any efficiency opportunities.   Multi Entity Consolidation solution : I work with the Fathom team and they have a multi-entity financial reporting tool to help you compare and consolidate your organisations.   A new solution on the market that you may not have heard of is Translucent.io who I’ve recently started working with. It turns your existing single-entity accounting system into a multi-entity accounting solution. You connect your existing accounting software (Xero, QBO,

Today I’m speaking with Sarah Rynja, Global Systems Manager of Grace Loves Lace In this episode, we talk about . . . - Grace Loves Lace was founded in Burleigh Heads, Australia to provide luxury boho-style wedding dresses without structure or boning - They have gained global recognition through their unique dress styles and having the #1 most pinned wedding dress on Pinterest - Grace Loves Lace manufactures all their custom-made dresses locally in Australia - They implemented NetSuite to help scale their growing operations across stores in multiple countries   - Key NetSuite features like WMS, dashboards, and OneWorld help with inventory, order tracking, financials, and multi-country operations - Sarahs Tips for optimally using NetSuite included leveraging dashboards operationally and getting involved in the NetSuite user community Subscribe to the Accounting Apps newsletter here http://HeatherSmithAU.COM  

Today I’m speaking with Scott Wiltshire, Vice President & GM, Oracle NetSuite ANZ In this episode, we talk about . . . 1. NetSuite was born in the cloud 25 years ago and customers are always working on the same version.  2. NetSuite's architecture and vision have remained consistent under Founder and EVP Evan Goldberg. 3. NetSuite provides two major upgrades and 300 minor updates each year. 4. Triggers for considering NetSuite include  - Outgrowing existing accounting software  - Having more than one person on the finance team - Having a manual or time-consuming financial close or consolidation process  - Struggling to get real-time visibility into the business to provide actionable insights - Not being able to provide accurate reporting to management or the board - Having to correct reported numbers multiple times - Needing real-time visibility 5. The NetSuite solution can start small and scale with consumption-based pricing. 6. NetSuite is introducing more flexible user licensing.  7. Key trends impacti

Today I’m speaking with Don McLean, CEO of PKF Digital, who shares insights and experiences from his 20 year journey with NetSuite.  In this episode, we talk about . . . 1. Don McLean's background and history with NetSuite over 20 years 2. The benefits of NetSuite's multi-tenant architecture and how it cuts costs 3. How NetSuite enhances business productivity through integration and visibility 4. Triggers for when a small business should consider an ERP solution like NetSuite 5. The partnership between PKF and NetSuite and how they work with customers 6. A case study of how NetSuite improved Thermomix's profits and efficiencies 7. Topics discussed at Suiteworld 2022 like AI, benchmarking, and productivity tools   8. Don McLean's key learnings around NetSuite's investments and applications of AI This is part of a series of interviews from SuiteWorld 2023. Many thanks to Oracle who kindly hosted me to attend SuiteWorld 2023 in Las Vegas. Subscribe to the Accounting Apps newsletter here http://HeatherSmithAU.COM

Join Alex and I as we walk around the floor of the Accounting and Finance Show Asia. We speak with: Namrata Goyal - Regional Manager Grab for Business  Julian Sng - Head of Marketing & Communications - Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) David Hanna - Co-Founder & CEO Finmo Darius Fong - Automation Evangelist at Blue Sheets Kevin Fitzgerald - MD Asia Employment Hero Koren Wines - MD Asia Xero Zac Hayes CFO & Captain of the Long Bar at Raffles Hotel Vikash Bengani - Cofounder and CFO Carbon Balance Erik Ingvoldstad - Co-Founder and CEO Careera   AFShowAsia

Today I’m speaking with Ash Brown, the Founder & CEO of Empiraa. Ash Brown, a former leader with 15 years of experience in SME management. Frustrated with the disconnect between business planning and execution, Ash created a solution to help businesses align their plans in a simple and effective way. With a strong belief that work should feel good, Ash is committed to making business simpler. Company Profile    Empiraa is a business planning and execution tool that takes business planning out of decks and spreadsheets and creates actions around them that your whole team can work on together. Unlike project management tools, which are good for single tasks and projects, Empiraa actually creates vision in your business as you can see what is and isn't working across the business. This is how Empiraa helps you feel good about business. In this episode, we talk about . . . Adapting to new situations and building resilience.  Career transitions and the development of a business plan execution platform  U

Today I’m speaking with Alex Ghiculescu, co-founder of both Tanda and Workforce.com. Alex is known for blogging and has a Substack newsletter where he shares stories from his 10+ years of building Tanda. Additionally, through Keen Strategies, Alex invests in B2B SaaS companies offering early-stage investments alongside technical and operational experience. In 2012 he received a distinction Bachelor of Business and Information Technology, Software Engineering from QUT (Queensland University of Technology). Tanda is an Australian Payroll, Rostering, and HR software designed for businesses that employ hourly workers. The company is headquartered in Brisbane, Australia, and also operates internationally as Workforce.com. Tanda offers an all-in-one solution that includes time & attendance, workforce scheduling, payroll integration, and reporting tools. In case you’ve not realised, Tanda stands for Time and Attendance. You can read the shownotes at https://heathersmithsmallbusiness.com/blog/ From here, I sugges

Today I’m sharing a panel discussion from the Weel CFO Summit ‘23. This discussion covered key considerations for finance technology procurement strategies, including expense management solutions, revenue collection processes, and spreadsheet vs reporting apps. The panellists provided advice on touching multiple solutions, negotiating pricing, and engaging stakeholders to understand pain points and maximise existing tools.   The topic was Finance Technology ROI 2023: Where to invest?   The panel participants were: Alex Miller Co-founder & CEO of Hudled  Jun Yan Director at Ravit Insights Laurel Grey National Manager, Digital Advisory at RSM Australia Tyler Caskey Partner The Bean Counters   In this episode, we talk about . . .   The typical procurement strategies The key elements to developing a procurement strategy. Challenges in the B2B market. Procurement process for larger purchases. Navigating step-up costs as part of a procurement strategy. The state of the fragmented expense management

In this episode, I’m sharing a talk I gave on Content Creation for Building your Brand at the Tropical Innovation Festival in Cairns on May 23. I talk about: Robot vs human-led content. How to leverage ChatGPT and other tools in your content creation process. Questions are a gift, how to leverage them in your content. Recycle, Reuse and Repurpose content Being clear on the brand and image you want to present to the world. It’s also brimming with practical examples. Tools mentioned in the talk included - Canva for creating visual content - Otter AI for transcribing audio recordings - Google Docs and Microsoft Word for voice transcription features - Grammarly and Hemingway app for proofreading - ChatGPT for generating content ideas and outlines - Loom for recording videos and conversations - MailChimp for newsletters From here, I suggest you join the Xero Mastermind group on Facebook for advanced conversations around the ecosystem. I suggest you  subscribe to the informative Accounting Apps newsle

Today I’m speaking with Sabby Gill, CEO of Dext. In this episode, we talk about . . . Sabby discussed his first 10 months as CEO of Dext and the changes he has implemented Sabby has been getting out to see accountants, bookkeepers and attending trade shows and regional shows. He has been listening to user feedback to better understand partners' needs. He wants to really focus on what partners are asking for. He has prioritised requested features like “Multi-account management” which allows you to manage multiple businesses or practices under one email address, enabling you to easily navigate between your business accounts from within your Dext account. https://help.dext.com/en/s/article/multi-account-management  Developed an expenses module that users had requested Dext shall be setting up regional advisory boards to get input from influential accountants and bookkeepers and a temperature check from the community. Dext will be launching a Chrome extension called the “Dextension” at Sydney Xerocon

Today I am sharing with you the audio from a recent webinar I hosted on behalf of Xero and Approval Max. The topic was "Tightening Your Internal Financial Controls: How to Develop and Enforce for Maximum Effectiveness" the experts joining the session were Simon Foster  GM Product - eInvoicing @ Xero and Cassandra Scott Director Laurus Bookkeeping, and Head of Bookkeeping - APAC ApprovalMax   How to Develop and Enforce for Maximum Effectiveness Are you aware of businesses that have suffered from fraud as a result of inadequate financial controls?  How do you ensure that the right person has access to the financial resources and systems? How do you get around fake emails and fake websites?  Have you ever used E invoicing for sending or receiving invoices?  Where the invoicing direct connection is going to help you is that because the information is coming in straight away.  Connect with me here:  Newsletter https://heathersmithAU.com  LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/HeatherSmithAU/ FaceBook: