The Future of Accounting: The Next Decade and Beyond

Speaker 1: 0:00

Ellie, I'm a little worried about the future sport of Olympic skiing.

Speaker 2: 0:08

Oh, why is that Andrew?

Speaker 1: 0:09

It's just going downhill fast.

Speaker 2: 0:13

Oh, that's a goodie.

Speaker 1: 0:14

I like that one yes.

Speaker 2: 0:16

You've been doing a bit of research on dad jokes.

Speaker 1: 0:18

It's up to level. I'm going to bring a second one, if that's okay. This is a new season and I feel like just this one, so I'm going to have a second one oh gosh, bring a second one, if that's okay. This is a new season and I feel like just this one, so I'm gonna have a second one, gosh. In the future water will be like sarcasm, no one will get it.

Speaker 2: 0:34

Like I can't, like I don't get your jokes sometimes that's good, it's good.

Speaker 1: 0:39

But seriously, ali, I mean, the future freaks me out, honestly it does. I don't know about you. Do you freak out about? The future freaks me out, honestly it does. I don't know about you. Do you freak out about what the future looks like?

Speaker 2: 0:47

Oh, do you know what I think? I'm going to de-freak you today.

Speaker 1: 0:50

Oh, that sounds a bit inappropriate.

Speaker 2: 0:53

Since when have we been inappropriate I?

Speaker 1: 0:54

don't know, maybe, yeah, okay, well, de-freak me please, because I'm concerned. There's the future, there's the future, there's things, there's stuff that I can't control.

Speaker 2: 1:03

Yeah, yeah, let's talk it through. I can be your therapist. Let's talk it through, okay.

Speaker 1: 1:07

All right, well, before we do, you know what we have to go to Theme music, Theme music. Thank you, david. Hit it now. All right, ellie. So I've got three kids now. I know, right, I run a handful of different businesses. Welcome to my world. Well, not that world yes, I've got a pretty wicked beard, you do, it's actually looking very full. I've got some average tattoos, some good tattoos.

Speaker 2: 1:38

Yes.

Speaker 1: 1:39

And the future freaks me out. If I'm honest, it's something that I always look at. I don't know what is it, though. What is it about the future that's freaking you out? I think it's the difference between when you're 18 and the future is like big and wide and open and cool, and you have just go with the vibes you've got no restrictions.

Speaker 1: 1:57

You know like you haven't got a, you haven't got kids that you need to care for. You haven't got a partner. You want the best for you, haven't got. You know mortgage and debt. You haven't got a partner. You want the best for you, haven't got. Mortgage and debt. You haven't got employees, you haven't like all this kind of stuff. Back then it's like it's kind of free, but I feel like now it's like I'm at that age, you know, 38, real old.

Speaker 2: 2:13

No, you're young. Thank you, come on, come on.

Speaker 1: 2:15

I appreciate you saying that.

Speaker 2: 2:16

You're welcome. I'll say it for the rest of my Because you're younger. Yeah, I am. You said it.

Speaker 1: 2:23

But I feel like that future, I feel like there's almost more riding on it now for me personally and the people around me that I care about the most than there has been in the past, because back in the day I was like 18.

Speaker 2: 2:35

I'm like sick, I'm going to go drink a beer and that'll be rad, I think there's so much more responsibility, especially when you have people like employees as well, and especially when you have people like employees as well, and there are a few things that I actually do here because I have a fairly full life just on a day-to-day basis that kind of de-stress me, de-freak me right. Yep, there's this famous Bill Gates saying that we overestimate the change in 10 years, but we underestimate the change in two.

Speaker 1: 2:59

Okay.

Speaker 2: 2:59

And so when you look too far ahead, we overestimate, right we?

Speaker 3: 3:03

freak ourselves out.

Speaker 2: 3:05

So I think the task here is to actually scale it back to a more manageable future timeframe. What can I do in the next two years, in the next year, in the next month, in the next day, in the next?

Speaker 1: 3:17

hour. See, I don't even think it's about what I can do. It's about what will the future look like? I look at and I go like let's talk about running an accounting business. You know people where will I find them? You know tech what will it look like? Government regulation how will I manage it? You know things like sustainability what that would be. What will my business model be? How will I price the things?

Speaker 2: 3:38

I'm not talking tomorrow. We need to break this down.

Speaker 1: 3:40

I'm talking like 10, 15 years in the future, and maybe, maybe it's not even going to impact me, because maybe in 10 to 15 years I'm not running an accounting firm. Who the heck knows? This is the thing. Well, can it even be?

Speaker 3: 3:49

a thing in 20 years of course it will look.

Speaker 2: 3:52

I think we this is where my strategy brain kicks in right like this is around well, looking at what we have today, looking at doing continual learning and development around what is coming out in the future, and the tech guys help us with this right.

Speaker 3: 4:05

They do, they put a lot in front of us.

Speaker 2: 4:06

So I think it's about not burying your head in the sand and saying, well, I'm just going to do what I've always done. That's the danger here, right? So it's really around looking at the strategy behind it. But I want to challenge you, and sometimes the tech that's currently available is just forming part of our lives. So, for instance, one day you wake up and all of a sudden, your SMS and text messages or emails are pre-empting the next word. That wasn't there yesterday, but are you using it?

Speaker 2: 4:32

Yes, I am so sometimes when we break it down into those daily steps, and this becomes this organic change in our lives and we learn to do a little bit more change management.

Speaker 1: 4:42

Okay, so you're saying I'm not going to wake up and it's 20 years later? No, I'm going to wake up every day.

Speaker 2: 4:47

It's gradual change, it's gradual change that, if you are willing to accept it, move with it, be adaptive, have change management strategies in place, then I think we can manage it. But it's also about as leaders. We look to the next month, we look to the next year, we look to the next year, we look to the next 10 years. We build strategy behind that. And how do we have support? It's tech, it's community, it's learning.

Speaker 1: 5:12

Yeah, okay, I'm picking up what you're putting down, oh, nice. I'm so glad For me. I love the future, don't get me wrong. I love it, I love what it could be, I love how it could go, but but at the same time, like I said, it does freak me out, because there is, there is always so much uncertainty and we've we've heard about for the last, you know, 10 to 20 years about this, you know, impending doom and change and stuff within our industry. That turns out it's not quite that we've evolved.

Speaker 2: 5:37

This is the thing, because it didn't have any big chunks. It happened in little steps and so we've evolved. But but, in saying that, the tech piece for businesses I think we're going to have a huge leap this year right, huge leap with AI, generative AI, machine learning, ai. We're going to start seeing some AI assistance coming through and you know we can talk about this a bit later, but, seriously, some of the tech that's coming through. So I think it's super important that we actually get on top of what is it? What does it mean? Actually start to lean into it, start to get some of our teams onto it right, start to get, start to envelop as part of our business planning and part of our business strategy and not ignore it. And I think that's the danger if we actually ignore it.

Speaker 1: 6:14

And the danger in ignoring it is when you start to freak out about it and I think you look at the, the ignoring it for a while, and and and not that I think I'll ever face this, face this, but there might be listeners who are going through this or who might go through this or have gone through this. Is that point where it's like zero came and you know, single ledger technology and cloud tech was all of a sudden there like, ah, I'm too old, I'll get around to it. And then, five or ten years later, when they're like at the end of their career and they're looking to exit.

Speaker 1: 6:43

What are they trying to release now? They've got a business that hasn't adopted or thought about what an approach to a modern accounting business looks like, and all of a sudden they're falling behind, they're getting stressed and for them to then implement it, it's like a much bigger jump.

Speaker 2: 6:57

It's a burden, it's a hurdle.

Speaker 1: 6:58

Right, so you're not doing the wake up every morning. It's better You're doing a holy crap, I need to do five years of change today Instead of doing a little jump, you are doing a leap. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 7:07

A massive leap, and I want you to think about this question, because I've thought about this recently.

Speaker 1: 7:11

Somebody posted to me. I'm a deep thinker, I can do this.

Speaker 2: 7:13

What has changed in technology in your business in the last 10 years? If I go back 10 years, I looked at 2011 around potentially starting up a firm and at that point in time, for me, when I looked at the cost hardware server, the whole shebang it was too expensive, it was too prohibitive, the technology wasn't there. I revisited that in 2018 and Boom All In was born because the technology shift had moved to cloud solutions, monthly subscriptions, low hardware integrations and platforms.

Speaker 2: 7:46

So just in that seven year period, I was able to set up a business and fly so it enabled you absolutely. But if, when I looked at 2010, it wasn't there and if I could have said, oh well, I'm parking that forever, but I had to revisit it so I think this, this plan of revisiting of strategy, of daily you, daily implementations or I've heard of people saying I'm going to do a small change every 90 days it's all of those things that add up as a cumulative balance. What were you doing 10 years ago in your business?

Speaker 1: 8:18

Illuminate was two years old. We were cloud accounting from day one. We were server free from day one.

Speaker 2: 8:25

I mustn't have done my research, you must not have done your research at all. But that's okay. No, but see, I was still looking at the integration platforms at that point and you must have been a very early adopter, because I looked at it Not with intention.

Speaker 1: 8:39

Simply, it was like oh, we'll do this Great, oh, this great, oh, I don't want to go spend that much on a thing, oh we just, we'll get it hosted via a virtual server in queensland somewhere and then, like a few months later, we don't need that.

Speaker 2: 8:51

But the other thing is I had a client base that I needed to service from day dot with everything at a certain level, and so it might have worked for me if I'd had nothing and I was going to build from there yeah but I actually needed systems so play that were all cloud solutions and that would integrate it.

Speaker 1: 9:06

We had a smallish existing client base, but it didn't require a huge level of that as well.

Speaker 2: 9:10

What's the tech that has changed in your world in the last 10 years, though? That wasn't there before.

Speaker 1: 9:14

I'd say there's a huge amount of video. You know the video tech that's out there and the meeting conversational tech. So, the likes of Loom and Slack and Zoom, like the way we communicate.

Speaker 1: 9:29

I think that technology for me has been quite massive and quite fundamental in the way that we've been able to leverage and take advantage of that. But I also look back and I say, well, 10 years ago I was 28. In 20 years time I'll be 58. And so my potential capacity and ability to react to the change, to embrace the change, to take advantage of that, I wonder if I'll still be able to. Now you're closer to 58 than I am at the moment.

Speaker 2: 9:59

Yes, actually, yes, you're still a little way off. You've got 10 years away from it right Yep.

Speaker 1: 10:05

But I mean treat. And I don't mean I'm not trying to suggest that you're slow because you're older than I. Not saying that right.

Speaker 2: 10:13

I'm not saying that, Not purposefully, intentionally saying that You've lived a moment or two.

Speaker 1: 10:17

Have you found that throughout your career, thinking from a business perspective is that at certain points earlier on your career you are more nimble you're more flexible you're able to do things. And now, and it's the family.

Speaker 2: 10:30

That slowed me down.

Speaker 1: 10:31

It's a family but I love that um scale of business scale of business.

Speaker 2: 10:35

I think, you know, maybe I'm not as gung-ho, I'm not as that might be a smart thing, though, yeah I'm not as break down every barrier.

Speaker 2: 10:42

I'm not, you know, trying to, you know, win the world championship. I'm trying to win my championship. I'm a bit more realistic. I think I know what I'm really great at. I know what my limitations are, but what I really do focus on and I focus on this in my life in general and health is actually being adaptable and being able to be nimble and flexible and look after myself. And that involves daily challenges, that involves daily movement, that involves change management, that involves learning, research, development.

Speaker 1: 11:15

So you've really got to be like it has to be a focus.

Speaker 2: 11:18

You've got to be caring for yourself to be able to Some of these things came naturally in my 20s and 30s, but in my 40s I've had to really, really focus and make it a really intentional, conscious choice.

Speaker 1: 11:27

Yeah. So I can't just like sink a few beers and have a couple of cheeseburgers every couple of days and assume that I'm going to be able to still perform at that level.

Speaker 2: 11:36

That's right, because it'll impact your body. I can't just close my eyes and go.

Speaker 1: 11:40

I'm only going to communicate via email and then assume that I'll be fine, because that's my preferred method.

Speaker 2: 11:44

Yeah, and this is the thing the community changes around you. So the community changes, the clients changes, your team change, your kids change. You have to roll with it, like. I'll give you an example my daughter, 18 years old. Is she at home? Most probably never, like. She's working and going out with friends and whatever else. If I want to contact her, I would message her and I wouldn't get anything back. And I'd say honey, did you get my message? She'd say, oh, just don't use that platform. I'm on Snapchat, mum. So if you want to get me, you've got to use Snapchat. And I'm like okay, well, clearly I want to communicate with my daughter. I'm going to use Snapchat.

Speaker 1: 12:16

So you're on Snapchat, mate.

Speaker 2: 12:17

Yes, which isn't my native. I'm learning, I'm learning, but you have to be adaptable and I think you have to be open to it, because if you're closed and shut you will be left behind.

Speaker 1: 12:27

I guess if I think about that there is one like the future freaks me out but I'm excited about is like my kids teaching.

Speaker 3: 12:33

I can't wait for my children to start teaching me stuff I can start teaching me stuff, like I can't wait for them to be like oh no, dad, that's actually wrong. I'm like no, no, no, no. And they're like no, no, here's, it's actually wrong.

Speaker 1: 12:46

And I'll be like I've I've believed a lie my whole life, or I wasn't I didn't even know that was a thing, yeah, I look forward to that, although I do laugh. I I saw, um, uh, I think his parents, our, our social media feeds often get filled up with like just parents having laughing slash, complaining things about having young children and it's like like here is a, a toddler, um, trying to, you know, trying to put on their socks, and there's just crap everywhere and it's all over the place and I can't do it. I can't do it. And here is a toddler.

Speaker 2: 13:11

When they get access to your phone and it's like everything's working, you're like so true, they're good at what they want to be good at, yeah, but I mean, isn't that a skill that we should all learn? Oh, I don't want to do that, so I'm just going to be really bad at it. It's going to get someone else to do it is better that's why we always say hire people that are better.

Speaker 2: 13:28

They're better than you at something, yeah and this is where you know you get people with which are passionate about somebody and they just excel at something. You know, I think that's a skill set thing. But you know, I'm excited about what the next generation is going to teach us and I think it's going to be wildly different if you look at even the careers, like some of the jobs that exist today won't exist tomorrow, and some of the jobs that don't exist today will exist tomorrow. And so you know, I know that there's this fear factor around. Will there be accountants and I honestly believe there will.

Speaker 2: 13:55

Will it look like it does today? Most probably not. But did my job look like it did 10 years ago? No, it doesn't, it didn't. Yeah, and you know, I think some of those are choices because you most probably could. I'm sure there are firms out there still doing things the way that I did 10 years ago and 20 years ago yeah, and some of the stuff is brought out of like it's forced change some of the stuff is a certain environment creates it.

Speaker 1: 14:14

I mean, like, with a bit of a cheeky grin and whatever, like, think of OnlyFans. Right, like this is digital content of a certain nature which you couldn't get, a physical content during a period of time when we're in lockdowns and the like. That's right, and it went boom and now it's still there.

Speaker 2: 14:27

And look at things like TikTok. You know that didn't really exist, that long ago and now it's a new social media content and people are living lives through TikTok.

Speaker 1: 14:40

They make money through TikTok and OnlyFans.

Speaker 2: 14:41

I mean, they apparently make a lot more money than what they actually probably do because, like this, is how you make 16,000 figures a week and then at tax time they complain about how much tax they've got to pay and all us accountants work out how much income they got because of the tax they've got to pay.

Speaker 1: 14:53

And then you say if you're on TikTok, you should probably like look at Nat Lennon and see her telling you all that kind of stuff. Absolutely. Learn about it.

Speaker 2: 14:59

But this is an example. Nat Lennon 10 years ago wasn't using TikTok, but she's now.

Speaker 1: 15:05

Nat Lennon. Two Sides Accounting.

Speaker 2: 15:06

Two Sides Accounting Is literally built a business around it. She's now talking at conferences around how to develop TikTok in your business. Don't just say, oh, that's not going to work for me business. They, you know. Don't just say, oh, that's not going to work for me, it's going to go away. Those types of that commentary just doesn't fly anymore. And we, we move so quickly yeah and I think it's going to the. It's going to move even faster and I the pace of tech will increase all right on that.

Speaker 1: 15:32

We're going to go to some wonderful sponsor promos absolutely for our exceptional sponsors who are both here in the now, have always been here and in the future.

Speaker 3: 15:41

Oh, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 15:41

Let's have a listen to them. There's one thing that I'm rarely doing these days, ali it is staying up late at night fretting about how on earth I'm going to lodge my self-managed superannuation fund tax returns. And that's because of the incredible product Simple Fund 360 by our mates at BGL. And do you want to know why?

Speaker 2: 16:03

Because they're the number one SMSF administration, corporate compliance and investment portfolio software providers in Australia and New Zealand, based on market share.

Speaker 1: 16:14

Wowee, that's incredible.

Speaker 2: 16:15

I know and do you want to know what I use CAS360 at All in, and it is amazing. It makes your corporate compliance seamless and you don't need to worry about those nasty ASIC late fees coming to bite you in the bum which cost you money when you, you and your team are on top of it.

Speaker 1: 16:31

Whoo it sings. That's amazing and these guys have been around for a while so they know what they're doing. Founded in 1983 with two employees that was two years before I was born they are now more than 150 people across the globe.

Speaker 2: 16:45

That is crazy. And do you want to know something else? There is a new kid on the block Simple Invest 360. It streamlines the administration of trusts, companies and individuals and it's got some automated CGT record keeping and portfolio reporting. Andrew.

Speaker 1: 17:00

That's pretty incredible. You know what the guys at BGL. They are good quality people making good quality products, so why don't you check it out for yourself where all good accounting is done? As you might know, the team at Illuminate historically have been all onshore based. However, I'm pleased to let you know that for the last five months, we've been working closely with TOA Global, with an administration offshore personnel, and I can tell you we're absolutely loving it. In particular, what I love is having that resource really frees our local team up to focus on value and the impactful aspects of their role, so they can continue to make our clients' lives even better.

Speaker 1: 17:45

Now, ali, I know that you've been using toa forever. Talk to me, mate. What do you love about it? What's so good? I mean, it's specialized accounting stuff, right, absolutely amazing, highly recommend. If you are looking for some support with your team struggling to find anyone, reach out to Toa Global. They've got expertise in filling more than 100 specialised finance roles, plenty of peace of mind, and they can help you to grow without the risk. One of the biggest challenges accountants face on every single day is managing their workflow. What on earth do they actually need to do that day to ensure that they go home ticking more boxes than they started with. Now one of the technologies that we use here at Illuminate to solve that problem is FYI. Ali, I know you and the crew at All In have been using FYI for about a year and a half. Can you tell me one amazing thing that FYI has changed for the good within your business?

Speaker 2: 18:48

100% document storage. It was our biggest pain point. It is solved, my friend. The ability to search, the ability to file emails, the ability to share documents securely with clients, it's the bomb, it's the one-stop shop.

Speaker 1: 19:00

It is becoming a bit of a one-stop shop. Fyi now has incredible integrations with a number of all the best accounting apps out there that you would know of, like XPM, like BGL, like AccountKit and countless others. They are incredible product creating incredible integrations. But what I really love about it is their automation side of things. Think of any time you've had to do something more than once and now forget about ever having to do that again, because you can build those workflows and those automations utilizing the different integrated apps and things that need to happen inside of FYI. And whenever that quarterly meeting cycle comes around, you click a button and 50 things happen all at once.

Speaker 2: 19:39

So, in a nutshell, the FYI team has looked at every aspect of how an accounting practice works and designed FYI so that you can save a click here and a minute there. It all adds up to making your days more productive and more rewarding.

Speaker 1: 19:58

Jeez, that's good to have nice sponsors, isn't it like just oh they're, they're honestly, they're the bomb it's still great, we're six seasons into this thing, yeah, and it's ridiculous like we're nearing 30 000 downloads on our podcast.

Speaker 2: 20:10

We've got newsletters, people listen, or it's just one person who really really likes it it's just my mum.

Speaker 1: 20:17

My mum, she loves it, but but actually I should. I should throw that out there, like if you are not subscribed up to our newsletter you should absolutely be, absolutely get amongst that um, hit us up if you uh, you are not, and we can make that happen so there'll be links and socials and all those things and how you can do it.

Speaker 2: 20:33

So yeah, yeah, ali's looking at me like how the hell did I do that? Technology, it's a future thing.

Speaker 1: 20:38

No, it's currently happening so there's stuff through so, so, do that, but, but. But I guess what I want to touch on before you move to a certain element of future is that, um, I think I feel like sometimes there's this assumption that I have to, I have to do the change if the change is coming, the pressure, the pressure, because everybody else is part of it so if we look at that in the accounting, so you had to do this, this, you have to do advisory, you have to use cloud tech, you have to do that, like I think some of them are hot on.

Speaker 1: 21:02

Is this a if I don't do it like there'll be massive consequences, or is it if I? Don't do it, I might lose out on an opportunity, so I think there's.

Speaker 2: 21:10

I think there's like a negative and a positive thing. I think that's a really good point, because I, you know, I'm excited about it, but it doesn't mean that somebody else is, and it doesn't mean that just because we're doing something that somebody else should, we are all individuals.

Speaker 1: 21:21

Totally.

Speaker 2: 21:22

And we all make our own decisions and you've got to do what is right for you and what's right for your business and what you're comfortable with.

Speaker 1: 21:35

So if you're saying at this point, well, I'm not going to, well, okay, that's okay, you don't have to, I have no intention to do that. That doesn't mean that you're not, you're whatever. Now I know that there's still a lot of potential and good stuff, so I need to be mindful of it. But I think it's like what do you actually need to?

Speaker 2: 21:49

achieve. Maybe not right for now. Not for now, and this is the thing I was trying to say before you might say don't say no for never or forever. Sorry, don't say no forever like it's not.

Speaker 1: 21:59

It's not a you're locking the door it's like hey, like right now I've got a different focus and I think that is important, like what is the priority? Yeah what is the thing you're focusing on, whether it's in your life, within your business or whatever? Because I was chatting with someone for breakfast yesterday and about there's all this noise about these things that accountants can't do or that they're struggling with, or that their challenges are.

Speaker 2: 22:20

Compliance is going to die.

Speaker 1: 22:22

And they really want to do this. They really want to, but they just don't get around to doing it. And I challenged him and I said I don't know if they want to, yeah.

Speaker 2: 22:29

I agree with that. I think they feel like they say they have to, but realistically they don't want to.

Speaker 1: 22:34

If you really really wanted it, you'd do it. You would have done something about it.

Speaker 3: 22:37

And.

Speaker 1: 22:37

I know that there's challenges with time and capacity and all that kind of stuff, but if you were saying, I'm really struggling with this kind of stuff and I really want to, well, you'd release some clients.

Speaker 2: 22:47

Yeah, and I think sometimes this comes back to the strategist in me. Okay, so you know, just because everybody else is doing, it doesn't mean that you should look at your strategy. You look at your why, you look at your purpose, you look at your team, you look at your client base and you say is this something based upon all of those factors that I should be doing?

Speaker 1: 23:02

and if it is, then maybe you should look at it, but if it's not, then that's okay, park it, and it's a no for now and if you've got so, if you're, if you run your business with values and if you have objectives, mission, vision that kind of stuff. You should take the thing that you're contemplating, if you have the ability to and you should have a very quick and succinct way to analyze, you know. Is this a majority vote? Am I value suggesting that I should be doing this, or are they suggesting that maybe I shouldn't or?

Speaker 3: 23:27

that I don't need to but I could if I wanted to, so where?

Speaker 1: 23:29

does it lie? Is it yes? Is it a no? Isn't it maybe yeah? If it's a no, cool, you're empowered to say no if it's a yes, if it's a yes, you probably should be doing something, and if it's a, maybe that's a park. For now, I think, I think if it's a no, it's a no.

Speaker 2: 23:40

Well, this is how I treat them separately. No for now is a. It's not a hard. No, it's a no for now, not forever In the. Maybe I need to do further research.

Speaker 2: 23:48

I need to look at it tag it with my team. Tell them that it's a maybe in the future thing. I'm not Love your opinion. If it's a yes, then it's a. What is my strategy, what is my plan, what is my incremental change? Because the moment we make it too big, it goes off the radar. What are the little things that I could do right now as quick wins to get me to my bigger?

Speaker 3: 24:10

goal yeah.

Speaker 2: 24:10

And I think that kind of breaks down the whole thing for me so that it's not so scary, so that it doesn't freak you out, because I think the thing when I get freaked out by something, it's usually because I don't understand it or it feels too big yeah and so when I defreak anything, I just lean into learning see I'm so.

Speaker 1: 24:29

I'm my thinking and the way I look at things is in such a big picture format that I am often looking at the end outcome and end experience like this is what's going to look like, feel like, be like. But the detail, from like today to that point is that's the detail that I often struggle to be able to properly articulate to someone. And so what I would love? Ellie if you can build this thing, create this thing, make this thing, be this thing or someone out there.

Speaker 2: 24:53

I'm just going to give it to AI, but give it a go. What do you want I?

Speaker 1: 24:56

just want someone to uh in my back pocket be the detail. But I don't want to actually have to provide I need that to just happen?

Speaker 1: 25:04

I don't like I don't need to be like oh andrew, can you? I don't, I don't want to be like this, that I need someone to be able to go. I'm hearing what you're saying and I'm just deciding out the detail for you and I need you to give me a yes or a no all right, and this is where I think AI is actually going to be really, really useful.

Speaker 2: 25:18

So, I want AI and it's not there yet to be like my executive assistant Right. So it sees my calendar.

Speaker 1: 25:25

You just don't want to pay people. I see what's going on.

Speaker 2: 25:27

I do want to pay people, but do you know what I just haven't found anybody that kind of vibes with me and kind of gets me, so I think that I guess I will, so, so, I think. So you know, it's about looking at my calendar, reminding me of things, or this is the thing that, if it can actually integrate into my life, be seamless, be usable so the usability is really really easy, but implementation, I want it to Nike it. I want you to just do it. Don't tell me about it, just do it. And, similar to you, it's the devil in the detail, right? I want you to say this is in your calendar, you need to do this, this and this. But hey, I've done this, this and this bit for you.

Speaker 1: 26:05

Sounds like you just need a chip in your neck Like a biometric implant. Just implant me and I want you hooked up to my Google account.

Speaker 2: 26:14

See, now, that freaks me out. Read my emails.

Speaker 1: 26:15

I want you to hear the words that I'm saying when I'm nowhere near my computer. I want you to track. Okay, cool, I can see that you're sitting here with Ali.

Speaker 2: 26:22

This is what you're thinking about. I've just done it.

Speaker 1: 26:24

Yep, I heard that you said I need to do these things. I've added them to your to-do list and said hey, you said you need to do these things, are you sure? But I've already done this this and. Ta-da.

Speaker 2: 26:36

Yeah, see, we were doing a little bit of planning today, Andrew how good would it be if we had an AO assistant to do all of the things that we just needed to do, I just have to do everything for you, Ali. It's just so hard. I know I'm the burden that you need to carry. That's why I work so hard in being healthy, so you don't have to carry a heavy load. I appreciate that.

Speaker 1: 26:55

No worries, but I guess what we've just talked about in a bit of a crazy fanatical way of like implants, and like, like we always do.

Speaker 2: 27:03

How is it any different?

Speaker 1: 27:04

But like that might be a thing.

Speaker 2: 27:05

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 27:06

But I would be surprised if that would be a thing in our lifetime.

Speaker 2: 27:10

No, but I'm not.

Speaker 1: 27:12

You reckon implants and reading our words and actioning and doing things for us implants, not on the phone.

Speaker 2: 27:18

But that's what I'm saying. We couldn't have imagined our phones 20 years ago in the way that we use them now. Like the technology is evolving and moving, we don't know what's coming.

Speaker 1: 27:27

But I just feel like the idea of implants, that's.

Speaker 2: 27:31

Do you know how many young people would line up for it if it did stuff?

Speaker 1: 27:35

I have no idea about any of this kind of implant and body shit, so I'm just going to say Look, I come from a religious background and there is stuff biblically that says there's microchips oh yeah. So depending upon your background and where you come from, that could be super freaky right, but surely there's a legal line that you cross when you're going to inject people with something to track their life versus. You can use a piece of technology.

Speaker 2: 28:01

Is it not different between somebody that says yes, I want it, versus somebody that says I don't?

Speaker 1: 28:06

But I think, yes, but there's, I don't know, I feel like there's going to be way more legal. Oh, they would be. I'm not saying they wouldn't be, but to get that approved.

Speaker 2: 28:15

Can we just go back to COVID? Hello, we were having to. I don't want to start this conversation because it gets a bit political.

Speaker 1: 28:21

This is cool, this is fun. All right, we're going to move on. We're going to move on because we've got a few minutes before we're going to wrap this thing, but what I want to do is, in case you haven't picked it up, this season is going to be all about the future, yep, about the future?

Speaker 2: 28:36

Yep, love it. The future freaks me out.

Speaker 1: 28:37

Look, it doesn't freak me out as much. There's maybe a little bit of a play. But I have got young children. I look at their future, I look at my future. I look at the ability to navigate these things and I know I've gone through stuff and I know I'll go through things, but I look at it from the accounting business and I say there are so many things as over the next 10 to 20 years.

Speaker 1: 28:57

Yeah, and I don't want to talk about what we're going to face tomorrow or next week or next year or even in three to five years. I want us to talk for the next season. Yeah, I'm talking 10 to 20 years.

Speaker 2: 29:07

Yeah, let's go. Let's go, let's project. You might be retired by this time. Let's get the crystal ball. I will still be around. I'm not the 30s.

Speaker 1: 29:17

Yeah, you will but you might be retired. You know I've built a great business. I don't need to be here.

Speaker 2: 29:22

No, I love what I do. I'm so passionate about it. I just can't see it. But do you know what the wonderful thing is here, Andrew?

Speaker 1: 29:27

Yep.

Speaker 2: 29:27

Is that I'm excited about it. So now we're getting two different, very polar opposite views I mean like uber excited my heart races like let's just get there. I want it to happen now Like go, go, go, go go.

Speaker 1: 29:43

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 29:44

So we can most probably be in a bit of balance between us.

Speaker 1: 29:47

There's a lot of change I would love to see, but what we're going to do over this season?

Speaker 2: 29:52

is Because there's so much to unpack in this. Is there not Like? What are we unpacking?

Speaker 1: 29:56

But before we even get there, we're not even going to be talking about what will happen, because we're talking so far in the future. We want to blow open the thought process of what could the future look like and what might it be. We're going to break it down into a bunch of things. We're going to talk about the world of people, like where are people, humans involved in this?

Speaker 2: 30:12

So that's clients team us.

Speaker 1: 30:14

Yep, we're going to talk about technology, so AI security more kind of you know all that kind of stuff when it comes to tech, how we use it, our clients and that stuff. Yeah, um, we talk about sustainability, so it's a huge thing about the environment and the impact on accounting firms and what that looks like. We know that carbon accounting, those things- are there.

Speaker 2: 30:31

Yeah, how are we going to actually lift our game on this one?

Speaker 1: 30:34

it's coming and what I might throw into the sustainability and equity as well, like equality and those kind of things there are there there's reporting diversity, all this kind of stuff.

Speaker 3: 30:41

So we're going to talk about that.

Speaker 1: 30:43

We're going to talk about regulation and legislation.

Speaker 2: 30:47

Because we think it's moving fast. But honestly, to go to keep up it's got to go a bit quick. What does that look like?

Speaker 3: 30:54

Is it?

Speaker 2: 30:55

real-time legislation, will they?

Speaker 1: 30:56

lack certain legislation, will they tighten certain legislation? Will they lack certain legislation? Will they tighten certain legislation? Will it allow us to do more work? Will it restrict us? Will it mean?

Speaker 2: 31:05

that we become more expensive Business models.

Speaker 1: 31:11

What? Does a business model for an accounting firm in 20 years' time. Look like Services. What services are we doing? How do we price it? How do we make it accessible? How do we make sure we have the skill set?

Speaker 2: 31:20

What are our clients going to look like at that doing? How do we price it? How do we make?

Speaker 1: 31:22

it accessible? How do we make sure we have the skill set? Yeah, what are our clients going to look like at that?

Speaker 2: 31:25

point what do they need?

Speaker 1: 31:26

And we know that clients are asking for more and more now.

Speaker 3: 31:29

What are they going to be asking for? Yeah, Community.

Speaker 1: 31:31

What does our community? What is the accounting community? We know it's like. If I look even back four years, like the day before COVID hit to now there is such a massive growth in online communities.

Speaker 2: 31:43

Community absolutely and just breaking down barriers and community over competition, and we literally spoke about this just last night at the podcast.

Speaker 1: 31:50

We did. We did the FOMO Valentine's Day last night, yeah with Clarity Street, so you know it's super important.

Speaker 2: 31:56

I want to know what that looks like and how can we prepare for that. How can we support each other through all of these things?

Speaker 1: 32:03

But what even does it look like? What does that community look like? And this will touch on things like registrations. What registrations should we need to have for CA and CPA and tax and BAS? What does that look like from that community? But also what does it look like from the community of how we support each other? You know, do we see more and more accountants collaborating, but through their own things? Do we see them business models or something, but do we see more mergers?

Speaker 2: 32:28

and acquisitions. Is our community even just accounting anymore? Yeah, are there others that kind of fit in this holistic space that we need to bring into the community, are we?

Speaker 1: 32:36

need to bring into the community? Are we going to become more comfortable with like, okay, a bit more open, or are we going to need to close and restrict some of?

Speaker 2: 32:42

that because of that.

Speaker 1: 32:43

And then, obviously, we like to always wrap up a season, and our plan for the end of the season will be the future. But what can we rely on?

Speaker 2: 32:51

And this is where we really want to bring back that positivity. So much changes, but there are some things that just don't.

Speaker 1: 32:58

Yes, like my beard, but there are some things that just don't. Yes, like my beard. I dreamt my beard. I shaved it off, like a week ago. I dreamt it and I was like oh gosh.

Speaker 2: 33:04

Did you cry?

Speaker 1: 33:04

I didn't cry, but I had this really weird, awkward, shameful feeling. Really, yeah, it was weird. I was camping with my eldest daughter for a few nights in the Cathedral Ranges, which is beautiful. You should go there and yeah, it was like one night I was in the tent.

Speaker 2: 33:24

I reckon I woke up. I feel like I woke up and I didn't want to roll over in case you saw me. It was like this weird shameful feeling. Do you know? I've, for each of my children, I've had dreams where somebody has cut their hair too short and I've woken up just in panic mode I've told you the story about how I shaved the side of my daughter's head.

Speaker 1: 33:33

Yeah, yeah, and I freaked out and I couldn't believe that I couldn't believe it, whilst my wife was listening and I think we have discussed that story before and I remember thinking oh dear god, you would be in so much trouble if that was me I would absolutely have gone to town on you and in the future, you probably know, you probably would have like belted me one up into the future all right.

Speaker 2: 33:55

Well, you know what I? I'm super pumped to a time over this we're looking forward.

Speaker 1: 33:59

We're going to try and do a few interesting magical stuff as well as don't forget, there is the tech edition podcast absolutely, amy and jack are recording and they're doing some, uh, really cool stuff in terms of like what they're going to be sharing around tech in the accounting space, as well as the fact that jack's just transitioned into a new role where he's now leading a tech a kind of of company in the Australian region.

Speaker 2: 34:21

Yeah, absolutely so. That's really cool, super exciting. Lots of change in your life, lots of change in my life Now.

Speaker 1: 34:26

I've been running a plumbing store for eight months. You know I've got to keep my son's turning one tomorrow, my daughter's turning 10 in two days Like there is so much change, and this is why I said the future freaks me out, but I'm also excited.

Speaker 2: 34:38

I'm excited, bring it on.

Speaker 1: 34:39

I hope everyone else is excited. Well, do you know?

Speaker 2: 34:41

what Everyone join us on this adventure. It's going to be a good one.

Speaker 3: 34:45

Good Catch you later. See you everyone. Hooey, wasn't that a fun adventure. My friends, thank you so much, so incredibly much, for hanging out with us today. Ali, you've been amazing. Andrew, you've been all right. How good is it to be able to have adventures together it so is, and you know what.

Speaker 2: 35:10

Keep following us. We are all over the socials at accounting adventures. Check us out on the website. Give us a bit of a like.

Speaker 3: 35:17

You know how much we love that stuff the best thing about the adventure is the people that we do it with, so thank you so much for listening, thank you so much for hanging out with us, and please bring all the ideas. Keep re-coming. We can't wait to share more cool adventures with you we love you guys.