Overview

Can you be a strategic business advisor to your clients if you are not strategic in your practice?  Probably not.  Can you help your clients look into the future, and give appropriate business advice, if you are not looking to the future in your practice? Probably not.

This webinar will show accounting practitioners how to Work ON their business, and not IN their business, allowing them to then help their clients in the same way.  By assessing the structure of an accounting practice and its ability to scale, practitioners develop the skills to become strategic business advisors, helping their clients to develop systems and tools that not only save time, but also create a Unique Sales Proposition that results in business sustainability.

Content

• Structuring an Accounting Practice
  • Cloud accounting has many advantages, but some disadvantages as well like potentially increased communication and client access if the practice is not structured and organised in a way that controls and regulates communication frequency and methods.
• Scaling a Practice
  • Partners cannot sell themselves, and most practices have Partners that are too involved in the business - selling their time.
• The Financial Web
  • Third parties like banks and financial advisors are growing tired of waiting for financial information from accountants. They want to be connected to their clients. They also want to be able to populate their own internal software automatically without having to manually enter data - Cloud Accounting makes this possible.

Presenter

Colin Timmis, Head of Accounting - South Africa, Xero

Colin has over 12 years of experience in the accounting profession and is widely considered an expert in cloud accounting software implementation, development, integration and best practice.

Having registered as a professional accountant with SAIPA in 2004, he then went on to run a traditional SME accounting practice for eight years.

In 2011, he founded South Africa’s first cloud accounting practice, real time accounting, and was later appointed as the first certified Xero advisor in South Africa.

In 2013, real time accounting became Xero’s first Global Gold Partner and by 2014 it had become Xero’s third fastest growing partner in the global territory with offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

In 2015 real time accounting became South Africa’s first member of the US-based Thriveal CPA Accounting Network, a global network of accountants founded with the aim of supporting each other and sharing best practice. Colin currently works with BDO, and was recently also appointed as the Head of Accounting for Xero South Africa.