young gun of the year award nominations close on 19 September
*14 hours of CPD available
COVID CANCELLATION GUARANTEE
Our 2022 Young Guns Workshop features speakers & innovative thinkers including:
David Smith Smithink
David Smith Smithink
David Smith is Australia’s most experienced specialist independent IT consultant, having over 25 years involvement with accounting businesses. David was Managing Partner of PKF Sydney; President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in 2003; created PKF CRS and Superfund software; and coaches practitioners in practice strategy, management & process improvement.
Mark Holton Smithink
Mark Holton Smithink
Mark Holton has more than 30 years experience as an Accountant and Tax Agent in practice. Mark is also the Managing Director of Dynamic Taxation and Training Services, as well as the founding CEO of 2020 Asia Pacific. Mark has developed specialised skills in the area of adult education and training with extensive experience in both private and public sector industries in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and North America. He is also a respected consultant in taxation and business management.
Pam Macdonald Broadspring Consulting
Pam Macdonald Broadspring Consulting
Having made multiple successful career transitions, Pam Macdonald has turned her passion for people (along with her energy) into powerful and practical coaching and leadership development. Known and respected for her ability to cut to the chase, Pam is also highly effective at guiding people into new and effective levels of leadership performance.
She has worked in several prestigious professional and financial services firms, including as National lead for learning at Perpetual Trustees and National HR lead for Bendigo Bank. Pam is an experienced facilitator, trainer and coach known for asking good questions. Her sense of fun and philosophy of living life to the full is obvious from the outset, as is her passion for helping people and teams to be their best.
John Tsoulos Indigo Financial & Global Business Camps
John Tsoulos Indigo Financial Services / Global Business Camps
John Tsoulos is the Managing Director of Indigo Financial (an accounting and tax firm in Adelaide) and the founder and lead presenter of Global Business Camps. The business camp is an innovative 2 or 3 day event for accountants and SME’s and with thousands of people attending these events over the years they are going from strength to strength.
Having worked closely with businesses from different parts of the world, he has vast experience in applying business strategies producing excellent results. John will share with us the ‘4 simple processes that they use in their practice to engage clients into business advisory work’.
John has presented at conferences, business building events, business camps and team building events in Australia, New Zealand and the USA.
John is focused, dynamic and passionate, and believes in the 6 Secrets™ to any business.
Steven Allan Say A Few Words
Steve Allan Say A Few Words
What does the NRL Grand Final, State of Origin, Canterbury Bulldogs, Greater Western Sydney Giants, and the New South Wales Swifts have in common?
The unmistakable voice of Steve Allan on the microphone.
As a six-time Best Sports Presenter Provincial at the Australian Commercial Radio Awards, Steve adds exemplary sports knowledge to any event or broadcast.
Petris Lapis Author Presenter Director
Petris Lapis Author Presenter Director
Petris has worked in accounting, law, academia, banking, business and training. She has consulted to government and industry and published several books and hundreds of papers. She has studied commerce, law, coaching, NLP and hypnosis and is passionate about helping professionals thrive and succeed.
Matthew Feehan Salt Financial Group
Matthew Feehan Salt Financial Group
Graduating with both law and accounting degrees in 2009, Matthew has over a decade of hands-on experience in accounting, specifically with high-net-worth families, growth-oriented businesses, and Self-Managed Super Funds. Matt became Director of Accounting at Salt Financial Group in 2017. In 2021, he made the shift from Compliance Accounting to build Salt’s Business Advisory team. For Matt, strong relationships are the bedrock of good business, and his passion for transforming “the numbers” into meaningful narrative has continued to make him a trusted advisor to his clients and their families.
Meg Granger Dynamic Taxation
Meg Granger Dynamic Taxation
Meg Granger joined Dynamic Taxation in 2009 as a trainee Accountant and progressed to becoming partner of the firm in 2019, completing a university degree, CPA Program and CPA Public Practice Program along the way. Meg is also a Registered Tax Agent and Current Director of the Central Coast Academy of Sport, and the President of A Country Practice Accountant’s Group. Meg has the approach of working pro-actively with clients, becoming their trusted adviser, to help them reach their goals and to reach their full potential in business.
David Francis APS
David Francis APS
As a Business Consultant and Leadership Coach David has worked with established and emerging leaders in a broad range of industries on maximising their personal effectiveness.
For the last 8 years he has been working with the biggest and best Accounting Firms in Australia and New Zealand as the General Manager of APS.
Joe Papadatos Odee
Joe Papadatos Odee
Over the last 19 years, Joe has built and grown Icon Visual Marketing into the largest marketing company in greater Sydney. A marketing and business leader, Joe helms a successful and leading strategic marketing agency that offers the full suite of marketing services for both B2B and B2C clients.
Joe’s pedigree as a strategic marketing thought leader guides Icon’s problem-solving approach to helping clients grow across a wide range of industries. Joe has built Icon Visual Marketing and Orange Canvas on its ability to work at a highly strategic level, while ensuring that all activities are aligned with overall marketing and business goals.
His passion and dedication for helping each and every client grow their business creates uniquely integrated and innovative sales and marketing strategies. More recently the need to support small businesses to grow has led to the development of Odee. A first of its kind., Odee is a full Marketing Services platform. This allows Advisors and small businesses access to the best strategy analysis and the marketing activities needed to help them grow.
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And we are thrilled to announce, for the first time ever, the exclusive
Annual APS Young Guns Awards, in the following categories:
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Young Innovator of the Year
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Young Adviser of the Year
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Young Influencer of the Year
For full details CLICK HERE!
Who should attend?
Designed for emerging partners, managers, supervisors, intermediates and other accounting team members to develop their knowledge of the business of accounting firms. Your future leaders!
Why you need to attend:
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Learn how to get business advisory services working in your firm in a divisionalised structure similar to financial planning and other diversified services.
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Learn how to manage the most important asset in your accounting firm… People individually and in teams.
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Discuss the emerging technologies and plan for their delivery now.
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Discover the benefits of doing work with charities and other not for profit organisations.
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Interact with fellow Young Guns who have succeeded in their firms and leverage their experience and viewpoints.
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Develop and enhance your presentation skills with presentations that really engage.
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Consider what the firm of the future looks like in an interactive workshop format.
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Develop your questioning style and skills to engage with clients and expand your value added services.
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Meet like minded young professionals and build a long-lasting network.
Objectives and goals:
Unlock your potential to create greater personal and firm success in the future.
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Develop the skills and knowledge to become a future leader in the profession.
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Manage the people within your teams and firms effectively.
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Develop and enhance your presentation skills to get the right message across to clients.
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Learn how to leverage the latest technology in your firm.
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Develop diversified income streams in your practice that will really excite clients
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Learn how to ask the right questions of clients.
Program
Get ready to spend two jam packed days developing the skills and knowledge that will help take your career to the next level.
Day 1
Monday
10 October
Registration
Leading Teams
Accountants lead teams so they provide excellent service to clients and retain their high quality staff, the people who deliver the service. In this session you are encouraged to:
- create clarity between managing and leading and why we need both
- discover tricks and tips to lead up, lead across and lead teams
- find ways to easily express the alignment of vision, brand and culture for your firm when talking to existing and prospective clients.
Pam Macdonald, Broadspring Consulting
Sponsor introduction: T4 Group
Morning Tea
Developing the Right Advisory Structure and Infrastructure for your Firm
Do you want accelerated business advisory growth for your firm? The typical advisory business service is underperforming. Revenue growth is flat and successful diversification into business advisory remains elusive. With a growing realisation that compliance and transactional services may be under fee pressure, the time is to act, not just hope. This session will focus on developing a business advisory division and provide the structure, the infrastructure, the engagement and delivery models to achieve sustainable, accelerated growth.
Mark Holton, Smithink
The Future of Technology... What’s Next?
With the abundance of cloud based solutions that assist with the collaboration of data developing your services should not be as difficult and it was in the past. The question now is what will happen in the future. David Smith will look into the future and predict how will interact with clients? How will big data and machine based learning affect our service delivery? Will Blockchain affect our core business service and many more exciting yet challenging initiatives.
David Smith, Smithink
Sponsor introduction: FYI
Lunch
The Art of Questioning
As a professional and trusted advisor, the ability to influence is paramount. A key element of inter-personal influence is the strategic use of questions. This session will give you the theory and practice application of ‘the Art of Questioning’:
- To influence a range of stakeholders
- To unlock value
- To raise my profile
David Francis, APS
MENTAL HEALTH INSIGHTS AND STRATEGIES FOR ACCOUNTANTS
This session will cover an introduction to mental health issues and mental health first aid in the workplace for accountants. It will also address how to ask if someone is OK and where to refer them for help. Explore practical steps for better mental health care for yourself and your team members.
Petris Lapis, Author Presenter Director
Sponsor introduction: Dashboard Insights
Afternoon Tea
YOU’RE THE VOICE
Winston Churchill once said.... “Of all the talents bestowed upon men, none is so precious as the gift of oratory. He who enjoys it wields a power more durable than that of a great king. He is an independent force in the world.” In this one hour session, Steve Allan, The Voice of the NRL Finals and State of Origin for two decades, will share his knowledge and expertise so that you can speak confidently in front of an audience of any size. This is more than just a public speaking workshop; it’s a spotlight on great communicators and what makes them so effective....and it’s interactive - you could be selected at random to Say A Few Words!
Steve Allan, Say a Few Words
APS Young Gun of the Year Award presentation
Hear from the three finalists for the Young Gun of the Year Award - we'll be announcing the:
Young Innovator of the Year
Young Influencer of the Year
Young Adviser of the Year
And the overall winner of the Young Gun of the Year Award.
NETWORKING SESSION WITH DRINKS AND CANAPES, HOSTED BY PAM MACDONALD
In this “live” session you actually practice networking after being introduced to:
- importance of networking to your career and success
- critical inhibitors to investing in your network
- easy to use techniques to take the fear out of it.
Day 2
Tuesday
11 October
Harnessing the power of marketing data for your clients
In your role as a business advisor, accessing the complete data picture for your clients is crucial to understanding business performance. With many businesses investing heavily in marketing to grow their business, understanding how this data can work for, or against your recommendations is crucial to helping your clients thrive. This session will provide you with an understanding of:
- What is Google Analytics and how can you interpret the data to give you a complete picture of your client’s business
- The power of the 3 tier marketing
- How you can integrate marketing data and financials to build a comprehensive picture
Joe Papadatos, Odee
The Benefits of Working with Not for Profits
Often in the accounting industry, we are asked to sit on Boards of not for profit organisations. One consideration is should I accept the appointment and what due diligence should I do first. The other is the benefit of helping others, doing “your bit” for the community and growing your network of contacts. This session will focus on my experience and the personal benefits gained from working with charities and other not for profits.
Mark Holton, Smithink
Sponsor introduction: Jazoodle
Morning Tea
HELPING CLIENTS DEVELOP A STRATEGIC PLAN
Strategic planning is a huge opportunity to engage clients in more diversified services with your firm. This session will cover how to develop a strategic plan that will get amazing buy-in from clients. You will work through a process that is thorough, focused and provides step-by-step guidelines that result in a strategic plan that is accountable and measurable?
John Tsoulos, Indigo Financial Services and Global Business Camps
The Critical Keys to Creating Capacity in Your Firm
There are two critical factors that restrict business advisory service delivery – commitment and capacity. In reality, you can never build a business advisory practice if you don’t create enough capacity in your firm. David Smith will highlight how firms have successfully created and managed capacity to create space for firm leaders to engage more deeply with clients. We’ll show how the engine of the firm can continue successfully despite reduced involvement at the top.
David Smith, Smithink
Sponsor introduction: TOA Global
Lunch
Moving to a Leadership Position - Lessons Learnt
Meg Granger was just 28 when she became a Director of Dynamic Taxation Services in Terrigal NSW. Meg will highlight the challenges she faced moving to a leadership position at such a young age; lessons she has learnt and her recipe for success for young people wishing to succeed in their firm.
Matthew Feehan graduated with both law and accounting degrees in 2009, Matt became a Director of Accounting at Salt Financial Group Camberwell in 2017. In 2021, he made the shift from compliance accounting to build Salt’s Business Advisory team.
Meg and Matthew will also highlight their vision of the firm of the future as well as harnessing resources to provide new service opportunities to assist clients in developing and managing their businesses.
Mark Holton, Smithink + Meg Granger, Dynamic Taxation Services + Matthew Feehan, Salt Financial Group
THE ACCOUNTING FIRM IN 2025 + OPEN FORUM
It’s 2025. What will an accounting firm look like? What will clients need? How will accounting firms be organised? Step into the future as we have a bit of fun and debate the future of the profession and consider what firms should be doing now to be successfully positioned in the years to come.
Mark Holton and David Smith, Smithink
Workshop Close
Pricing
Super Early Bird Pricing until 19 November 2021
(discounted pricing)
$795 First attendee
$650 Additional attendees from the same firm
Non-Member firms
$1050 First attendee
$895 Additional attendees from the same firm
Early Bird Pricing until 10 September 2022
(discounted pricing)
$995 First attendee
$750 Additional attendees from the same firm
Non-Member firms
$1250 First attendee
$995 Additional attendees from the same firm
Standard Pricing from 11 September 2022
(discounted pricing)
$1250 First attendee
$995 Additional attendees from the same firm
Non-Member firms
$1450 First attendee
$1250 Additional attendees from the same firm
Event Cancellation Policy
If the event is unable to go ahead due to COVID-19 border closures, we will fully refund (or hold in credit) your full workshop fee.
If you can’t attend the event for other reasons, we will provide a full refund for written cancellation requests sent to: [email protected] within 21 days of the workshop date.
Hotel/accommodation cancellation policy
Should circumstances beyond reasonable control (including, but not limited to, acts of God, governmental authority, declared war in the country in which the Hotel is located, or terrorist attacks in the city in which the Hotel is located) make it illegal or impossible for the Event to take place or affect your ability to attend the Event. The affected party may cancel this booking without liability upon providing written notice to Hilton Surfers Paradise within ten (10) days of any such occurrence.
If the Event is cancelled due to a valid Impossibility occurrence as described above, then upon your written request, we agree to refund to you all prepaid deposits or advance payments paid by you to us without penalty.