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Over the past 18 months, GPL Network have spent a lot of time with accounting firms across Australia and New Zealand discussing what an accounting firm is going to look like over the next 3-5 years. In that time, we have broken down the ‘core’ services and the ‘value added’ services that an accounting firm should be providing to their clients. What is the mindset of principles, partners and team members around some of these significant changes that will eventually need to take place? Our research uncovered that while a high percentage of accounting firms would like to provide the value added services to their clients, they are stuck orchestrating the day to day compliance work. In response to this, GPL have developed a ‘White Paper’ titled ”What an Accounting firm will look like from 2010 onwards”. This paper will delve deeper into the need to find a solution to completing compliance work to allow partners, managers and key team members the opportunity to work at a higher level with clients to provide that value added service. Enjoy the read! Paul Jansz 
1. Matt, why don’t you give everyone a bit of background on where Bourke Accounting has come from?
2. Matt, what does Bourke Accounting look like today? I rejoined the firm in 2007. Today the firm has 2 partners, 2 senior Accountants, 3 junior Accountants and 5 admin staff. We now have a financial service business, and are an AMMA Private Investment franchisee. Last year we also opened a second branch in Yarrawonga and have picked up a significant amount of work out of this. 3. Why did you decide the business needed to move towards using an outsourcing company? Being a country based firm, it is almost impossible to attract great qualified Accounting staff. We had some great team members with fantastic soft skills and client repour, and realised what a waste it was to have them bashing out tax returns and financial statements when the clients don’t really feel as though they receive any value from it. 4. Before you looked to use some sort of outsourcing provider to your business, what was your perception of outsourcing? How did you over come this mindset? We had always taken an open minded view of outsourcing, which may put us in the minority, however there were obvious concerns that we wanted to have alleviated before committing. We did initially consider opening an offshore office ourselves, as we felt the other outsourcing providers pricing to be too expensive. However, it was a matter of shopping around to find a suitable provider that was both professional and cost effective. 5. What was the team’s reaction on outsourcing certain types of jobs and how did you convince them to accept the idea? The team took some time to adjust to the idea. We were very careful to let it be known that we were using this as an opportunity to grow the business, not to cut cost and downsize. There were initial concerns of “so what are we going to do now?” which were soon alleviated after we explained that the team would be getting involved in more interesting and diverse work such as cashflows, business planning, structuring, asset protection, valuations and such. 6. Talk us through, from an accounting firms perceptive, what you had to do to be technically ready? About 6 months prior to changing models, we had made the switch to paperless/dual screen setup, so the transition was quite smooth for us. I do believe that the system will actually work fine with a single screen setup. All you need is a decent scanner, and access to the web based software. The software is great, and you get the job back in a hyperlinked folioed format for review. 7. Who manages the process/workflow aspect of your outsourcing division? The Workflow Manager role has become one of the most critical roles in the office. We actually trailed some other outsourcing providers and they merely requested an email from the client manager attaching the information, and it became a nightmare to work out what stage jobs were at. Our outsourcing system ensures that the workflow process is tight and accountability still exists. 8. If you move to outsource a large percentage of jobs, what are the team going to be doing? One point that none of the readers will argue with, is that every time you enter into a discussion with a client, an opportunity arises to provide additional services. Our Client Managers now spend around 7 hours a week on the actual tax side (answering outsource queries, reviewing jobs etc), which enables them to have the same output as if they were 85% chargeable. On average, another 7 hours are spent on post tax completion wrap up meetings. When strategic issues are discussed there is now a real focus on up selling value add services and looking for financial service, finance, insurance and AMMA referrals. 9. What type of staff training and mentoring are you providing? We have identified that this is a major area we need to continually focus on, therefore if a senior staff member is going to a client meeting, a junior staff member will attend to learn the soft skills needed to up sell and talk strategically with clients. We regularly send our managers to GPL’s conferences and workshops and ensure knowledge gained is shared amongst the team at regular meetings. At our end of week billings meeting, the person responsible for securing the value add job provides the group with a brief synopsis which is then saved in a resource folder for future reference. 10. Can you paint a picture of what Bourke Accounting’s business model will look like in 3 years time? We have identified that our outsourcing division provides us with a greater platform to acquire fees and expand the business. We are looking to acquire another $1.5million in fees in the coming years. Our current forecasts, including organic growth, will put the business at around $5million in turnover, with EBIT of around the $3m mark in 3 years. The next phase will be to outsource banklink processing and BAS, but for now we will continue along the same lines and really focus on the value add work. 
Despite the Federal Government’s current inability to define and progress their agenda for the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) and proposed Emissions Trading Scheme, climate change policy is no longer an issue you can afford to ignore in a 21st century accounting firm. If climate change and sustainability are a key strategy of the Big 4, why is it something that your firm is ignoring? The impact of a carbon constrained environment is already being felt and will continue to do so throughout our lifetimes. This issue isn’t going away. It is changing relative prices and costs, impacting demand structures and supply chains. It presents opportunities to those ready for it and will potentially wipe out those who aren’t. By partnering with leaders in the Australian climate change environment like Pacific Environment Limited and the Carbon Reduction Institute, GPL Network will provide you with a better understanding of the carbon exposures your business is facing and help you identify future opportunities to help your client base. What will happen when your business clients start needing advice about their reporting and compliance obligations under the ETS? If you can’t answer their questions, who will? You could refer them to one of the Big 4 or a mid-tier firm who will then gladly start offering them complete accounting solutions, or you could develop a new consulting division in your business that differentiates you from the firm down the street. Carbon accounting is a rapidly growing part of the new carbon constrained business environment. The more your firm is ready for it, the more prepared you are to meet the growing needs of your clients. GPL Network is currently running regular webinars to inform accounting firms on some of the key areas they need to be considering. We’ll also be hosting conferences in Sydney and Melbourne on May 25th and 27th. Click here for more information. 
Leadership09 Conference Manager Development Workshops 2009 Carbon Accounting Conference
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My business partner, Paul Rae, took the business over from my father in 2006 as a sole practitioner. At this stage, the Practice had 6 Accountants, one admin staff member, revenue was $550k, and EBIT was $170k. At this stage the firm was completing business tax returns as well as advisory work, however the advisory side of the business was often just absorbed into the tax work, and not identified or billed. 
