About Peter Towers

My name is Peter Towers. When I noticed most SME accounting firms concentrated on preparing income tax returns, I spotted a major gap in the market. My experience showed me that SMEs do not employ an Accountant or a Chief Financial Officer in-house, and yet they still need someone who could go beyond basic bookkeeping and tax lodging to dig down into their financial records and provide a broader range of support. Who was there to provide much-needed input on financial health?

It occurred to me the ideal person to do this was an accounting firm that focused on business advisory services, so I created the tools that could help SME firms develop these services with ESS BIZTOOLS.

Strong Accounting Background

I have had the privilege of holding accounting positions early on in my career that opened my eyes to the key challenges for companies. When I joined Tancred Brothers Ltd as a Regional Accountant, I was exposed to a series of operations ranging from export and local meat works to twenty retail butcher shops in five separate cities/towns and from small goods factories to their hide and freezer store operations.

In this role, it was clear these operations each needed to be introduced to a number of accounting initiatives including Key Performance Indicators, Budgets, and monthly Financial Analysis Reports.

As my career progressed, I made my way up the ranks and was a Shareholder, Director, Company Secretary and Accountant for a number of SMEs exposing me to many different industries: from butcher shops to livestock transport businesses and from industrial and commercial builders to hotels.

This exposure formed the foundation for my ideas, offering valuable insights into the day-to-day problems of operating SME businesses. After eight years in the Company Secretary/Chief Financial Officer role, I decided it was time to operate my own business.

Eye Opening Accounting Philosophy

I started as a sole trader with a staff of two, joined by a partner who had previously worked with me in my first two years in a chartered accountancy firm. We were able to grow our firm by developing Business Advisory Services. However, the turning point came when I met Dr. Geoff Meredith (later Professor Geoff Meredith) from New England University, Armidale, New South Wales back in 1982. He founded the Financial Management Research Centre (FMRC) at the University.

He was awarded a contract by the joint accountancy organisations to persuade accountants to skip the marketing and instead focus on their own clients to expand their firms. He showed them how they could drum up at least 40% more work by simply offering a range of business management services. My business partner and I took training courses in Armidale that opened our eyes to the opportunities “real accounting work” offered.

Developing “The System”

We decided we wanted in on what we believed was a system being sold by Meredith and his key man at FMRC, Andrew Geddes. Much to our surprise, we were informed there wasn’t such a system developed, and that instead of buying it, we could make it ourselves. This was the moment we realized we could develop what is now known as ESS BIZTOOLS. It began as a highly successful selection of 30 papers and training courses for SME operators.

In 1991 I negotiated with my partners to take over the initial products that we had developed, and I rebadged it as ESS BIZTOOLS in 1995. The same year we offered marketing subscriptions to ESS BIZTOOLS in a marketing joint-venture with FMRC. Since 2013 we have made a number of significant modifications to ESS BIZTOOLS in an attempt to keep the product “modern” and relevant to accountancy firms.

The Art of Digging Down

The philosophy behind ESS BIZTOOLS is founded on what I learned in my career. Early on, it was apparent that the preferred method of operation for large companies could be applied to smaller businesses as well. Regardless of company size, operators and leadership within the business all face the same challenges, asking “what if” questions every day. When working with companies I would be asked these questions and would find it took me at least two hours per day to provide answers.

The accountancy industry has to be willing and able to supply this type of service to their SME clients, so they have the ability to not just survive, but actually compete against the larger businesses. We train accountants how to provide financial results and Key Performance Indicator data to help their clients win that uphill battle! This is the crucial art of digging down.

The Importance of Business Advisory Services

ESS BIZTOOLS teaches accountants how to “own” Business Advisory Services in a very proactive manner. They need to break out of their tax lodging shells and expand their horizons to open up their teams to a variety of interesting work that keeps them engaged in their careers. Now more than ever accounting firms have opportunities beyond taxes and even basic bookkeeping and budgeting.

A major boost in SMEs around the world in hand with new technologies and communications has increased outsourcing accountancy services demand.

As a result, they can grow their client base, and also grow with their existing clients by expanding into business advisory services.

Diversification improves their own income stream, so they no longer rely on the highly competitive, not to mention boring microservice of taxes. SMEs need a CFO mentor to guide them and help them meet their scaling up goals. With ESS BIZTOOLS accountants learn what they can bring to their clients, and use their new skills to tap into their existing client base to increase their own revenue.

Tech and Soft Skills Opens More Doors

What was once an area accountants were hesitant to enter, has become more available thanks to technology and software. We now have more accountants interested in using our tools to show their SME accountants how they can scale up, and also fill the very crucial role of a “virtual CFO” using the same theories and methods of major corporations to do so. When we teach our clients an appreciation of the benefits of Key Performance Indicators, they also need to understand how to teach their clients how to understand that information.

Technology allows accountants to expand their services and train their clients’ teams, so they understand the relevance of the information reports provide. It’s the same premise as if you give a man a fish he eats for a day, but when you teach a man to fish, they eat for life. We’ve really focused on the benefits of tech to open more doors for our ESS BIZTOOL subscribers. But we also encourage them to do things like experiment with public speaking to develop those soft skills like communication which are important in business today.

With tech and communication skills, our clients have the perfect combination to conduct webinars by Zoom and other communication technologies to further empower their own clients to become successful.

ZOOMing in on Industry Expertise

A big part of our success lies in our commitment to expanding horizons. By embracing ZOOM technology we offer webinars and meetings to our subscribers and prospects all over Australia. These presentations have included various experts from Crowd-Sourced Funding intermediaries to other accounting industry experts, and from government grant officers to sales trainers, Debtors’ Management experts and more. We ensure ESS BIZTOOLS provides a very broad range of services. This is how we enable accountants all over Australia to provide business advisory services advice to their clients, encouraging them to use the same technology to increase their reach.

WHY ESS BIZTOOLS?

I have a real desire to help accountancy firms create interesting and challenging work for their team members. With ESS BIZTOOLS accountancy firms can develop a diversified income stream and help guide SMEs with reasonably priced CFO services so they can scale up their businesses to meet their goals.

We are committed to helping Accountants, Business Advisors and Bookkeepers find their own potential so they can perform the “virtual” role that delivers ongoing input and advice to their clients. I’ve seen too many “doubters” who feel their only role as an accountant is to offer tax services. Instead, I want them to realize that as a small firm located in North Queensland (by way of example) they are just as capable of developing a service package that expands their business across all of Australia and New Zealand if they chose.

They can create a meaningful career and make real contributions that improve the performance of their SME clients. The way I see it, if we perform these services and adequately market and promote what we have developed I anticipate receiving a reasonable return on investment for our outlay of money and human talent. We don’t just offer “selling skills” to our subscribers, but instead, real skills that allow them to confidently develop the business advisory skills that nurture success and career fulfillment for themselves and their clients.

Peter’s Resume

1982 – 1985:

Independent Alderman to a major regional Council
1985:

appointed a Fellow of the Australian Society of Accountants (now CPA Australia)
1986 – 1989:

Involved as the Chair of a branch of the Australian Small Business Association
1991:

Admitted as a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and took over initial products developed from partners.
1995:

Rebadged as ESS BIZTOOLS and commenced marketing subscriptions to ESS BIZTOOLS in a marketing joint-venture with FMRC. Appointed as a business consultant to the AusIndustry “Business Network Program”
1996:

Became a member of the Institute of Management Consultants
1999:

Left the public accounting industry to concentrate on the development of ESS BIZTOOLS and operate a consultancy business.
2001 - 2011:

Accepted as a contracted business advisor to the Australian Government’s Commercialising Emerging Technology Program under my consulting company Towers Business Development Pty Ltd.
2011:

Accelerating Commercialisation contract convinced me to develop ESS BIZGRANTS as a grant-finding product within ESS BIZTOOLS.
2013 to date:
Significant modifications to ESS BIZTOOLS, including but not limited to:
- Survival In Difficult Times
- Chief Financial Officer Services
- Crowd-Sourced Funding Equity Raising
- Early-Stage Innovation Company
- Research and Development

Why Your Accounting Firm Must Begin To Offer Strategic Business Advisory Services To Clients

The accounting profession in Australia is presently undergoing a great transformation caused by two primary forces: Technology and Labour Offshoring.

Both of these forces represent an incredible opportunity to those accounting firms open-minded enough to see them for what they are.

It has been our observation that a combination of technology and offshore labour is freeing those entrepreneurial, ambitious and client-focused accountants from the shackles of compliance-based services towards a world of high- value, higher-impact engagements (often referred to in Australia as ‘Business Advisory Services').

Written to be easily digested and understood, this short paper reviews the diversifying of accountancy services and identifies why this is important, not only for the accountancy profession but also for the SME market, on which a significant number of accounting firms in Australia are reliant.