The accidental accountant

摘要

When Wellington chartered accountant Richard Francis saw his first client "box of receipts" back in the 90s, he admits he had serious doubts about his career choice. "I decided at that point that I'd rather find, and be involved in, the fun part of the accounting industry." So over time he shifted into an advisory and consulting role for Horwath Wellington (a large accounting firm that later became BDO), assisting entrepreneurs and business owners. "I absolutely loved the fact that, by using our professional training experience and expertise, we could transform business outcomes." In the early noughties, such an approach by an accountancy firm was almost unheard of, he recalls. Of course, since the turn of the century the accountancy landscape has changed dramatically with the advent of cloud software and the rise of Xero and its associated partners -igniting the desire to be paperless.