Every Tuesday over the next month CPA Australia Podcast will present a mini podcast episode from Excel Expert Neale Blackwood CPA, who has more than 20 years’ experience using and writing about Excel for accountants. Neale will explain why double clicking is a must-know shortcut for accountants using Microsoft Excel. (6 mins 14 sec)

Not many people openly talk about the day they plan to sack themselves.  In this episode, Jason Cunningham CPA explains why it’s important to create a self-sufficient business. Jason’s shares his experience with prioritising the team over the importance of the individual and how that can deliver a business that will continue to grow, even if he decides to give himself his own marching orders.

This episode is part six of a seven part podcast series about the seven key ingredients of business success, featuring Jason Cunningham CPA. 

Do you want a little more out of life? Searching for that promotion at work? Really want to save money? Do you feel that something is holding you back? We talk to Anthony Bonnici about mental barriers or ‘Brain Blinkers’ that are like road blocks in our brain. They prevent us from achieving our best, from exploring our world, from connecting with others. They can reinforce old unhelpful rituals and help explain why people get stuck in a rut. They explain why we can sometimes struggle with change. By taking a closer look at our own beliefs around change, we can substantially affect our response to change and thus the outcome of change.

Artificial Intelligence has the potential to transform the way we work. In this podcast, we explore the implications of machine learning on the future of the accounting profession. This podcast explores why we should not fear Artificial Intelligence and instead embrace the fantastic future ahead, should we choose to seize it.

In this podcast, Clare Mann, Managing Director of Communicate31, discusses the role of business owners in mitigating mental health risks in the workplace and the characteristics of a workplace that is mentally healthy.

This podcast discusses Michael Samu’s financial planning journey hints and tips for those who are starting as well as those in a renewal phase of business. Hear out how Michael continually adds value to his clients via his one stop shop and how he engages with millennials’ to position his firm for the future.

Money, money, money, money. Most businesses are driven by numbers. But according to Jason Cunningham CPA the numbers we focus on are often the wrong ones.

In the podcast, Jason explains why just focusing on historical data limits your strategy to outcomes but are not the key drives of success. And he outlines exactly what you should be looking at, and how, to keep your business on the money.

This episode is part four of a seven part podcast series about the seven key ingredients of business success, featuring Jason Cunningham CPA. For links to previous episodes, scroll down to the further resources section.

If the key intangible resources of a business such as its powerful brand are not legally protected, they may be freely used by others without limitation. IP Australia discusses trademarks, the most common IP right that a small business should consider as it distinguishes your client’s goods and services from those of their competitors.

Raising taxes can be a death sentence for any government. How, then, do governments adapt and thrive in an environment of economic scarcity – when they’re required to do more for the community with less revenue? The challenge of any modern government is how to raise additional revenue without passing the burden to taxpayers. But, as governments get smaller, budgets get tighter – could good, old fashioned accounting be the answer? Join the City of Melbourne CFO Phu Nguyen and Municipal Association of Victoria CEO Rob Spence as they discuss how finance professionals can add value to this age-old conundrum.

Part three of a seven part podcast series with Jason Cunningham CPA about the seven key ingredients of business success which is based on Jason’s book Have Your Cake and Sell It Too. Our latest podcast explores the importance of customers and how you can best serve your clients. It’s looking at your business through the eyes of your customer and understanding that you can’t be all things to all people. Jason explains why you must put your customers first and the difference between marketing and selling. The bigger picture says get as many people through the door as possible - this episode will help you get the customer mix right.

Medium Charities are able to obtain a review instead of an audit and small charities are not obliged to have either. Nevertheless, many of those charities continue to obtain an audit, even though that is more onerous than a review and is required to be conducted by a Registered Company Auditor. Mel Yates at the ACNC discusses with CPA Australia whether charities should be encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity for red tape reduction and what impediments to the conduct of reviews need to be overcome.  Or does an alternative solution need to be explored?

The ACNC was created in 2012 by the ACNC Act and has now been in operation nearly 5 years. Read the inaugural commissioner’s, Susan Pascoe, reflection on those first 5 years in ACNC five years on: Reflections of the Inaugural Commissioner, Susan Pascoe AM in which she notes that, under the Charities Act, the ACNC Act is required to be reviewed after five years in operation. That review is expected to be announced in 2017 and stakeholder input sought.

Do start-ups innovate better than corporates? Yes - they do! Why do so few corporates have a strategy for external innovation to harness disruption? What brands are doing this well around the world? What's the solution and how can we create a process so that both sides achieve amazing commercial outcomes? Karen dares to show you how.

Part two of a seven part podcast series with Jason Cunningham CPA about the seven key ingredients of business success which is based on Jason’s book Have Your Cake and Sell It Too. Today’s topic explores the importance of understanding your business, including the development of a mission statement and gaining clarity into exactly WHY you are in business.

In this podcast representatives from both the AFL Players Association and Hall and Wilcox Lawyers talk to CPA Australia’s Head of Policy about the ATO’s draft public consultative guideline on the tax treatment of payments for use and exploitation of a professional sportsperson's public fame or image. The draft public consultative guideline pragmatically offers a safe harbour for certain sportspeople, and if fully adopted it will help cut a swathe through tax red tape for both the players and ATO.

Following the release of the 2017 budget on Tuesday 9 May 2017, Stuart Dignam, General Manager Policy and Corporate Affairs at CPA Australia, is joined by his colleague Paul Drum, Head of Policy to discuss the finer points of Treasurer Scott Morrison’s second budget in more detail: What is the expected economic impact over coming years? How realistic is the Australian government’s optimism about GDP growth? Are we too reliant on world growth to support our own prosperity? Have the structural issues in our economy been effectively addressed?

This podcast reports considers how integrated reporting has influenced Boardroom decision making.  Interviews with Directors of top Australian and South African companies reveal what integrated thinking means and how ideas about what is of value are changing.  The research was funded by CPA Australia and conducted by Carol Adams.  In this podcast John Purcell asks her about her findings.

Thomas Ryan, assistant commissioner of debt at the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), reveals to Mark Morris, CPA Australia's senior tax counsel, how the framework can assist individuals and businesses to manage their tax debts.

Changes in the international business environment have led to new levels of cooperation and information sharing, says Greg Williams, Deputy Commissioner of Taxation at the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

With some 73,000 individual franchisees generating 13 billion annually, franchising is an attractive business model for many small business owners wishing to expand.
But franchising is not for the unwary as Jason Bertalli, Director BNR Partners explains to Mark Morris, CPA Australia’s senior tax counsel.

Robin Parsons, R&D Tax Partner Asia Pacific, Ernst & Young and Nick Weston, Chief Executive Agenix join Mark Morris, Senior Tax Counsel, CPA Australia to discuss what it takes to turn an innovative idea into a commercially viable product or service.

Thomas Ryan, Assistant Commissioner - Debt , Australian Taxation Office, talks with Mark Morris, Senior Tax Counsel, CPA Australia about the ATO's differentiated approach to debt using external debt collection agencies.

Paul Kruspe, Assistant Commissioner - Lodgment talks with Mark Morris, Senior Tax Counsel, CPA Australia about the ATO's approach to lodgment including an update on the lodgment differentiation framework.

Professor Jeremy Moon explains the key developments in CSR and the role of the accounting profession, including CSR developments in Australia and Asia.

David Vasudevan and Andrew Yeo, Business Recovery and Insolvency Services, Pitcher Partners, discuss business insolvency and their experiences with Mark Morris, Senior Tax Counsel CPA Australia.

Jennifer Moltisanti, Assistant Commissioner, ATO, talks with Mark Morris, Senior Tax Counsel CPA Australia, about the ATO's dispute management plan and refund integrity verification measures.