There were criticisms that last years budget did not offer real tax reform. What kind of changes is the industry lobbying for?

Further clarity in terms of ATO focus would be useful.

How would you describe the health of the accounting industry in Australia in terms of customer demand, fee pressure, and staff recruitment and retention?

The industry, in some respects, is in its most challenging times currently when looking over the past decade – significant opportunities for growth exist in terms of clients needing more from their advisers in terms of value. The days of being a compliance-only firm are dead. CharterNet, having been advisory focussed from Day 1, has enjoyed this challenge, and we’ve found that there is much more longevity in providing more services to the same client, instead of having a book of thousands of clients and seeing them once a year. As we now provide Finance Function, Tax & Advisory, Corporate Secretarial and Governments Incentives across our client base, we’re seeing much deeper relationships with our clients, as well as a focus on future-focussed industries such as technology, life sciences, medical/professional/financial services and the like. Staff recruitment is an ongoing challenge, moreso than retention. We find it difficult to bring in high performers who hit the ground running, but through the systems and processes we’ve created around coaching and development, our ability to then hold onto our best people is quite high.

Are there any services areas where demand has grown over the last 12 months?

We’re seeing increased demand across the board – for advisory-led firms, the opportunity to add value through deeper relationships and “doing more” for your clients has never been higher. Technology-led finance function, tax advisory, government incentives, and corporate secretarial services are all significant growth areas in the coming year.

What are your expectations for the next 12 months - are there any potentially significant developments in the pipeline?

With the uncertain state of the economy, high inflation and rising interest rates it will be interesting to see how our client base fares through this – technology companies have suffered significantly in public markets where fundamental business activity remains strong so opportunities will arise from this. It’s important for us to support our clients through the next 12 months as it won’t be smooth sailing for all.