Corinne Smith, CEO and Founder of Abby | Best Accountants Near Me Podcast (Filmed Mar '26)

Watch on SavvyWise YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHXDUUtwvtc

[00:00:00] Welcome to another episode of The Best Accountants Near Me podcast, powered by SavvyWise. I'm honored to be joined by Abby today. Hi, Abby. My name's Corinne, by the way, AKA Abby. Love it. Yeah, we, we, um, met in person over at the, um, the, the pre-event. Yes. So, oh, yeah, we're at the Accounting and Business Expo at the moment, um, over at the Flight Darts.

Yeah. And, uh, yeah, you were saying that so many people come and go, "Hi, Abby." They do. It's, it's funny and, and it's fine because, like, they just tap me on the shoulder and go, "Hi, Abby." I'm like, "Hi, it's Corinne, actually, but that's okay. Call me Abby." Yeah. It's, uh, Corinne. Got it. Yeah, yeah. And the next question that comes is why, why have you called your business Abby?

So, um- Okay ... yeah. Yeah, tell me. Why? Yeah, [00:01:00] exactly. So, uh, two summers ago we were working with our developers when we were first, you know, setting out and creating our software, and we have a company set up in New Zealand and the acronym is ABI. And the developers started sort of kinda going, "Oh, ABI this, and ABI that, and let's get ABI to do this", because they were just talking about the acronym.

But it got me thinking and I kind of went I knew that I felt like our software needed a persona, and then I kind of felt like who's our target market? Who, in most accounting practices, does a lot of the heavy lifting and the work? No offense to you guys out there, but quite often it's the women. Mm-hmm. Um, it might be the bookkeepers, the administrators, you know, the accountants, the reviewers, et cetera.

Um, and I just felt if we, if we named our software and gave it a persona, um, it would kind of sit better with the accounting practice. And turns out, I hear my team, uh, when [00:02:00] they're, you know, eh- obviously at work and in the office and things, they talk about Abby as part of, uh, like Abby's a team member for them. Yeah. So I hear them say, "Oh, Abby will do that job. I'll just put that one through Abby. Um, use Abby for..." You know, and she's actually in our, um, job list and our job management program as a person. So Abby's, um, a massive team member in our team now. So I love the name. It kind of, the whole story worked out and, um, you know, I'm sure that give it time, people will be doing the same thing in their practice, going, "Just chuck, chuck the jobs through Abby.

She'll do it really quickly." And, um, allocate on your, um, either it's XPM or whatever job management- Yeah ... platform you use, um, you'll have a person in there called Abby. Yeah. Yeah. Now I can see the clash of, like, there's actually an accountant in the of- Yeah ... office called Abby. It's, "Which Abby?" Yeah. Oh, well that's, yeah, that's the next problem, but hey.

Yeah. So, yeah. Funny. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I like that. So, uh, before we get too far into the podcast- Yeah ... if people haven't heard about- Yeah ... what is Abby- [00:03:00] Yeah ... give us, like, what- Who and what is Abby? Yeah, yeah. Ca- I sp- what's the quick elevator pitch? Mm. And then we'll go into a bit more detail- Yeah. Cool

about it, right? Yeah. So Abby prepares, um, or automates, uh, using AI as well, compliance work papers- Mm-hmm ... for accountants and bookkeepers. Yeah. She prepares 40-plus work papers by integrating with Xero currently, and we will be moving on to other accounting platforms. Um, the ATO and the IRD in New Zealand, so the two tax offices- Yeah

and also reading source documents like bank statements, loan statements, you know, source documents. So that's how all the data gets into Abby. Um, she then prepares 40-plus work papers, like I said before, in 30 seconds. 30 seconds. 30 seconds. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. They are all pre-populated and pre-calculated. No input, no manual input is needed.

So gone are the days for us in my accounting practice, um, that accountants or [00:04:00] admin or bookkeepers or whoever sit there and key in numbers into spreadsheets and work papers. Mm-hmm. Those days are gone. We've been using Abby for 18 months. So the next sentence I will say is we are... So Abby saves for each job up to 75% of your time Because of that reason.

So we are getting annual jobs out about an hour and a half compared to six to 10 hours that some, you know, some jobs can take. Yeah. So, um, definitely a lot quicker. Um, the other point to note is the accuracy Yes, I was gonna ask about the accuracy- Ah ... so, yep. Yeah, so clearly- I feel like you've spoken to a few accountants before about this product.

Yeah. They, they do. They ask about that. Yep. And you can see that when you have a piece of software doing the same calculations, the same work papers, doing it the same way every time, the accuracy increases. Yeah. Yeah, okay. Yep. [00:05:00] Um, us humans, we're all great, but everyone has a different take and a different solution on everything.

So what we- we're also doing is standardizing the way people are doing work papers. Mm-hmm. Um, we also have customized work papers in our software, so if you don't like what you see or you need something else more so, um, you can just hit the customize button and, you know, create a work paper like that, too.

So there is flexibility. Yeah. Um, at the end of our software, not only doing work papers, um, automatically is a client agenda, uh, formulated for your end-of-year meetings. So as you work through- Oh, yeah? ... the work papers, yeah, you can pick up certain items and click what we call the plus button, add to client meeting- Yeah and all those items are added so that, um, when the partners or the accountants are heading into their, uh, client meeting, they're well-armed with facts, insights, key, you know, KPIs, um, and just notes about what they would like to discuss with their clients. They can add items as well, and they also have tools in there so [00:06:00] that they can work with their clients to sort of head them into the advisory world more so with, um, tools that are suited for those conversations.

Yeah. So you're... You, you mentioned that you've been using this in your own firm- Mm-hmm ... for 18 months? Mm-hmm. Right? Okay. So you're a firm director, partner, or whatever you wanna call it. Yeah. Owner. Yep. Yep. Owner. Partner. Yep. Yep. Um, okay, so take us through what... Okay, well, tell us about your accounting firm first.

Yeah. So, um, clearly, like I said initially, we're based in northern New Zealand. Um, we have a team of about eight. Eight? Yep. Lots of flexibility with my staff. With that, I mean some work remotely. Um, sometimes, you know, they c- all come in at different days t- into the office. They have flexibility with their family lives to, you know, uh, work from home or remotely or whatever.

Um, so what we've moved to is doing [00:07:00] everything, you know, using pretty much Xero work papers, um, to using Abby. Mm-hmm. So the first thing that we needed to do, which we did about six or seven years ago- Well, you go there. Yeah. How about... I ask the question, like, why? Why would you even- Why ... if Xero's got work papers- Yeah

why? Good question. What was, from your business objective point of view- Yeah ... what was... what's been the pain point, and why do this in the first place? Because Xero work papers were still, um, in my mind, manual work papers. Mm. So you were still keying in numbers. From the tax offices, from source documents, from Xero, and you were still uploading, you know, files to attach and all that kind of thing.

Really, um, it was a, a smaller take on business fitness work papers, which were Excel based. Um, so a lot of the outsourcing teams bring in all these Excel sheets into Xero work papers 'cause that's how they do the work anyway. Mm-hmm. Um, it was still very manually driven. Yeah. [00:08:00] So clearly Xero's a great product and a lot of businesses use Xero.

Um, but the work papers were clunky. They didn't really work for us accountants that well. They still took a long time to complete, and they didn't always have what we needed in the work paper, the functionality. Um, and you accountants will know what I mean by shareholders' current cal- calculations and, you know, when they're in debit.

Uh, finance leases, HP agreements- Yeah ... uh, that kind of thing. We were still using spreadsheets to work out what the numbers should be, and not doing the work in Xero work papers. We were just attaching files and putting in manually numbers. Yep. Yeah. Did you have, uh, many conversations with other accountants to verify that this was a- Bit of pain

a big industry-wide pain? Um- Because I suppose, like- Yeah, good question ... I, I'm thinking, you know, when I started SavvyWise, right, um, I'm working at, at Munro's. I'm a director there. Yeah. I'm experiencing this pain point, but one of the things I know when [00:09:00] they say, "Go, go and start your business," is before you really invest, make sure you validate this, and don't just assume just because it's your problem that everyone has it.

Did you get around to really verify that? Um- Or did you just go on that gut feel- Well- ... I already know this? Yeah, yeah. Uh, not so much already know this, um, but I knew through my career, so before I started my practices myself, I obviously worked for other accountants when I was a lot younger- Mm ... um, and I knew it was always the number one pain point just from doing that.

Mm. And then I got to, um, my practices and clearly they're still the pain point. Um, every accountant I've spoken to over the years, I've said to them, "What's the, what's the hardest and most painful thing you have to do in your practice?" And they always said work papers. It just slows them up, takes too long. It's not valuable for the client. Um, we're all sitting behind laptops, and then we can't even get out into the world and actually talk to our business owners and help them. Um, so I wanted to [00:10:00] change it for us, but my big driver, and it was always the driver right at the beginning of the idea, was I actually wanna help many, many m- many more accountants than just me.

'Cause I know that I can, and it's great to wrap a business around this, but I actually just wanna help accountants. Yeah. Um, we can go on at some point and talk about the flow-on from, you know, streamlining things so much and what the new modern practice could look like, 'cause that's what we're doing at the moment now.

Yeah, that'd be interesting topic. Mm. But I think before we go there, let's go through, you're working out, okay, I need to have these work papers in my, my practice. Uh, right, so- You've then gone to some developers- Oh, yeah ... to develop. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. So, um, yes, we do have developers, and all our SaaS, um, owners need developers, that's for sure.

So sort of formulated the [00:11:00] idea. Um, had lots of conversations with my husband, and he wasn't keen. Um, yeah, and I was just so like, "We have to do this. Someone's gotta do this." Um, so it did take about three or four months, uh, and then my husband realized this one wasn't gonna go away. Yep. This idea. So we then, he says, "Okay, no, that's cool.

Mm-hmm. Let's do some discovery on it." Yeah. "Let's go and find some developers and do a discovery piece on it." Um, he's like, "If we can do it." And, and my thoughts right then were, "What do you mean if? I know we can do it." 'Cause I know in this modern world, you know, you can get developers to do these things. The true entrepreneurial spirit.

And in law now that we know. Yeah. The true entrepreneurial spirit. Like, I'm doing this. Look The, the madness of being an entrepreneur- I know ... at this point, right? Yeah. This is what I've always respected about clients when I was at Munro's is like being- Yeah ... you know, their advisor to business. I'm [00:12:00] like, man, I fully respect people who go out and- Yeah

and operate businesses 'cause- Yeah, I agree ... yeah, people, yeah, talking with someone recently, they're like, "You gotta be mad to go out and run a business." Yeah. Just- Are you crazy? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, it is a thing, right? Starting any business, whether it's- Especially when you've already got a business, which- Yeah. Yeah I know, um, a few people have called me a serial entrepreneur 'cause I actually also have a children's swimwear business. Get out. Really? Yeah. Do you? And the fabrics are made from recycled fishing nets. Go figure. Wow. Yeah, so I think I... And some other stuff I've got going on, but definitely a serial entrepreneur. Yeah. Okay. But the thing I do like to do is do something and, and follow through and do it well, and I always have a purpose, a driver behind what I'm doing. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So clearly we don't, we won't talk about swimwear today, but, um, you know- We'll save it for the next podcast ... just about sustainable- ... yeah, stuff and children are my passion.

Clearly- Yeah ... I've got children myself. Um, but [00:13:00] yeah, the, the Abby thing was just like s- just gotta do this to help these accountants. Um, and at some point through the conversation you'll ask me why. Yeah. I'll- I'm sure ... I, I'm gonna ask- And you'll give the same reason ... I'm gonna ask why, why, why, 'cause I, I'm a... And so that, you actually get quite a lot of answers from that, from my son who is always asking why- Yeah ... why, why. It gives you a different understanding, hey, how do people tick? Okay, why? So, okay, you develop it, you've got something. You, you're doing it in your own firm, I gather- Yeah ... to really... And then- What happens next on the journey of Abby?

Yeah. So, uh, we actually came to... I'll just back up the bus a bit. We came to ABE last year purely to do market research. Yeah, right. Yeah. So we'd, we'd already finished the software for New Zealand, um, and we were using it then. Uh, but I, I... like I say, I just wanna help lots of accountants, right? Yeah. So we came last year and just thought let's see what the appetite is and what the accountants are wanting, 'cause it's a great way to interact in person with [00:14:00] your fellow colleagues really- Yes

isn't it? And you know that. Yeah. Um, so yeah. So we came here and we, we just... It was just such an overwhelming response. You know, they're like, "Oh my gosh, I'd love that in my accounting practice. I'd love it." So that then sent, sent sort of us on a different trajectory going, "Okay, let's really get serious about this." We hired a whole bunch more developers, um, borrowed some money from the bank, as you do. I was about to say, developers, man, they're not cheap. They're not cheap. Uh, and then we sort of came up with a very s- careful strategic plan on, okay, so we wanna get to the next ABE, which is where we're sitting today. Yep. And ideally we want, um, some software to offer to the Australian accountants, and that's what we did. So we really kind of went on steroids last year and, um, worked our asses off um, to come up with our solution. Uh, but we were already well down the track, you know, with the New Zealand software [00:15:00] anyway, so it was really understanding the tax work papers in, in this jurisdiction.

Yeah. Yeah. So we met some really cool people along the way- Um, and they help us shape up what the Australian work papers needed to look like- Okay ... and how they're calculated. So what does that actually practically look like when you're saying that you met some others, uh, you're talking about some other firms- Mm

that you're working closely with to develop these. Is this- Mm-hmm ... is this accurate? That is absolutely bang on. Yeah. Okay. So we've got some, um, cool accounting practices we've created relationships with. Um, and they were, like, really, really interested in what we're doing. They're like, "You're kidding me. I want some of that."

I said, "Oh, well, you wanna help us?" And, uh, yeah, so that's how that happened. So we have pra- a couple of practices in Melbourne, Brisbane, and Brisbane as well, um, who have helped us shape up what they do. Uh, and yeah, that they... The reason why they wanted to help us is they [00:16:00] were having the same pain points- Mm-hmm

and wanting to make the same decisions, but they really didn't have a solution end to end, and that was automated and all that kind of thing, that they could find. Yeah. So teaming up with you- Yeah ... they were like, "I don't wanna do it myself, but- Yeah ... absolutely loving what you're doing." Yeah. But count- if by getting involved, like- Mm-hmm

I def- that this would be something I would love to do- Yeah ... if I was back with that- Yeah ... former practice- Yeah ... would be doing that. And, uh, we've actually, on our journey with SavvyWise, yeah, gone through the process- Mm-hmm ... of getting it MVP ready. Yep. Um, that whole story is literally, uh, me and my co-founder were working away and, like, we wanna get this out into the hands of accountants as quickly as possible. So I remember it was one Wednesday and Ags, uh, our CTO, he tells me, "Oh, this isn't working really well. We're gonna have to, like, tinker with it and work out a solution. It's gonna take a little bit longer." Uh, and I'm like, "Man, [00:17:00] delays. I don't like delays." So I had a shower thought, um, that, that evening and then messaged him.

I said, "What about we do this?" Yeah. And Ags, like, pulled an all-nighter- Wow ... and the next day- Yeah ... uh, I was playing around with the system and I'm like, "It's not quite there yet." And then Ags is just like, "All right. Let me, let me tinker with it a bit more." And then- I don't know, can't remember what it was. A few hours later, I was asking her questions- Yeah

and I'm like, "Yes, this is it." This is like- Oh, how exciting ... this has hit the bar of this is, this is good enough. Yep. They say get your product out to the hands of your users- Yeah ... as quick as possible, as soon as it's good enough, so we got it out to them. Uh, and then, it made- Then from that journey, we went, got it out to the users, got feedback.

Yeah. Then one month later, talking back to these users who've been using it for a month, and then they start paying us. Yeah. We're like, "Oh, beautiful-" Love it ... uh, points. And then really we're al- always trying to work closely with users. And [00:18:00] the reason I was bringing this up is 'cause, like, it is a dream of ours to work closely with firms- Mm

the way you're doing it- Mm ... very specifically to those firms that are into it- Yeah ... and are ready to do it. That, I couldn't be more excited- Yeah ... to work with fellow accountants to- Love that ... to help them broadly. Yeah. So this is why, like, we resonate really well, uh- Yeah ... together, is just, like, the passion, the why behind everything is just- Yeah

helping our colleagues in the accounting industry 'cause- Agreed ... everyone's just drowned in- Yeah ... the compliance burden and- Yeah ... really less of the, the doing, more of the, the actual- Advisory stuff ... advisory part. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And advisory can take all sorts of shapes and forms too, because I used to think advisory was really, like, complicated and big, and you had to come up with all these fancy cash flows and forecasting and all of the things.

But- I realize now advisory can be something as simple as helping someone or a client get a bank loan. [00:19:00] Yes. Or it could be something as simple as being a sounding board, 'cause they're trying to make a decision. I was literally about to b- like, say that, yeah. It's just having a conversation sometimes. Yeah. You're not necessarily even trying to work through something. That's right. But when you actually have conversations, things come out and your mind actually just ticks away. Yeah. So you- And you can be really helpful ... you can just do that with a, a business client, just literally just go out and have a coffee- Yeah with them and y- and, and just talk about the business- Yeah ... and what's going through. And then this gets it out of their minds- Yeah ... and it might actually help them- Yeah ... come up with their own solution. Yeah. Which is o- it's the odd way where you're, you're barely doing anything other than just, like, being there and making them have that conversation- Mm

out loud. And probably because we're accountants, having that financial lens over it as well. Yeah. Yes. Oh, yeah, yeah. So I think that's where, that's where the value comes from all us accountants with our training and our experience and what, doesn't matter what level you're at in your career, um, I think that's what, you know, aside from getting their tax done and [00:20:00] stuff, 'cause everyone has to, um, those other conversations and putting a financial lens over those for business owners is where we should be, and I don't think we have been in, in any great capacity or done very well up till now.

Yeah. 'Cause we're just drowning. You absolutely hit the pain point. We're drowning in AML compliance, we're drowning in- Oh my God ... workplace compliance. That- We're drowning in all the deadlines- That AML side, yeah ... with the new tax offices. Uh, we're drowning in, you know, oh, this tax legislation says this, I'm not sure which way to go, so you guys can help with that kind of thing as well.

And like, we're just drowning in everything. Yeah. And if we can just take some of that burden and stress- Do you think we're drowning now? It's gonna get even more burdensome because once, uh, the tax regulator gets their hands on the automation and the AI- Mm ... all of a sudden they can do so much more reviews.

Mm. And what happens with the reviews? They look at something, then it's like, "Hey- Yeah ... look at this client." Yeah. "Check this", and it's gonna be more real time. Yeah. It's, it's just gonna add [00:21:00] extra burdens. Extra layers, yeah. And then the whole industry is like, "Man, we don't have enough talent here- Yeah ... so we need solutions like yours to help with the work papers.

We need solutions like SavvyWise- Yeah, great ... with the tax research. Mm. Uh, yeah. AML, if you're an accountant trying to do that yourself without the providers, I think you, you, you're dreaming. Yeah. You need to have- You do ... really good ones there. Mm-hmm. So there's a lot of places that technology can be really used- Yeah

well. Like Sarah Lawrence was sitting here- Yeah ... yesterday. Yeah Uh, having a podcast with her. It was an interesting chat b- uh, at, early on because I was like, "Oh, I'm getting a bit irritated with some of the comments out there- Mm ... uh, that are saying, uh, all this AI, if accountants don't, don't adopt it in- Mm 18 months, you know, doom and gloom." Um, it's annoying. I find it annoying- I do too ... 'cause I think it's, like, fear-mongering us into it. But Sarah was kind of pushing back, and I, it was great to have that pushback conversation 'cause she's, she's doing the things that are making, making, uh, the industry adopt really quickly. Yeah. I'm [00:22:00] like, yeah, don't get me wrong, definitely if you're an accountant with that mindset and you can go for it, go for it. Adopt this stuff. Um, but also don't get overwhelmed with- Mm ... I need to do it- Mm ... because things take time. Mm. Like, uh, things move at the pace of humans, uh, accountants, so they will slowly adopt it.

Yeah. But there's gonna be early adopters of Abby. Yeah, definitely. Uh, and you know, they are gonna get a huge benefit of being early- Yeah ... because we, you said 75% time savings- Savings ... right? Up to 75%, yeah. I mean, imagine what you can do with all that. Thank you. Um, that's- It's, that- Thank you. I'll, I'll interview you now 'cause that's- exactly what I need. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. That's, seriously, that is, that's game-changing. Y- Have you converted that into, like, the- Yeah ... FTE equivalent- Yeah ... of, like, savings? Yeah, and also dollar figures for that extra time. Uh, so we have worked out that if you're, let's say, a smaller practice with 600 clients- Yep okay? So you've got 600 [00:23:00] Blue Xero ledgers, and you do all that work for them. I don't know how many staff you've got, but it's okay. And you adopt Abby into your practice- Um, and create lots of capacity, like four times the amount of capacity. In just a numbers game, you could generate $1.5 million more revenue with that extra time if you wanted to.

Okay. So that revenue is just based on compliance work, by the way. Advisory's usually, uh, chargeable rates are a lot more. So if you just use that capacity, so grew your practice over time and you had four times more work coming in bec- with the same amount of people and resourcing, um, you could make $1.5 million more- Yeah money. Okay. Yeah. Sounds really great. It sound- But that's- But also, revenue, still, that's a vanity metric- Yeah ... if we don't think about the profit that comes with it. Yeah. And naturally there's- Yeah ... gonna be a cost to Abby. Yeah. So tell me about what, how does that- Yeah. Good ... actually play [00:24:00] out? Yeah. So the cost of Abby, um, just briefly what we're doing is anyone that signs up, they get a month's free trial.

Yeah. Good. Yep. We do all the training with them, and the onboarding doesn't take long. Training is in the form of we do your first jobs with you. So you pick one of your clients, and we can do training remotely, or we can come to you, um, and we do your first jobs with you. I love that. Yeah. That's a really good approach.

So it's very- Yeah ... very, very relevant. You're not doing a job on a demo ledger or anything like that. We're doing the first job with you. So we ask our on- you know- Is everyone open to that? Or are they like- No, they're closed ... oh, client confidential information- Oh ... things like that? So, um, yeah, that's a good question in there. So we- so client confidentiality and privacy, yes, we bring their practices on board, but no, we can't see all their zero ledgers. But if we- us, as Abby, in the, in the business, we can't see all those transactions. So they, if they have queries- Um, with Abby and the training, they [00:25:00] have to- we do sh- screen sharing.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. So the que- the queries, you can share a screen with us, or we can do, like, a TeamViewer approach. We use whatever- Yep ... we use the software there. But we can't log in to any of your ledgers or any of your data ourselves. Yeah. Yep. It's so crucial that people understand that, um, because that is completely the client's data, as we know, as accountants.

Um, they've signed up with Xero, so that's the client's data, and the accountants have access to that data because they're the, you know, their accountant, so... But we, we don't have access to it. Have you had... This is relevant, uh, because we were having breakfast- We'll come back to the extra pricing- Yeah, yeah

yeah Yeah, make sure we do. Uh, we were having breakfast, uh, before, and we, as a team, were talking about how we've got this feature called Firm Knowledge in SavvyWise, where, uh, accounting firms can upload documents into there, uh, so all their actual- they can use their IP for their own- Yeah ... research and [00:26:00] tasks, uh, with AI.

'Cause, like, I, I knew at Munro's we had so much great IP, but not accessible easily for search. Um, but when they do that, we're like, "Okay, that is only gonna be accessible- Mm ... to your firm- Mm-hmm ... and your users, and it's not used for AI training." Mm-hmm. So, um, we're talking at breakfast around, okay, th- uh, s- do you get any pushback from, we say this, but other people are like, "Yeah, are you just saying that?"

Or, like, "Where's the proof?" Like, for you, it's like, okay, are you just saying that you don't have access to this information? Does anyone ever gone and say, "Show me the proof," or are they- Well, the proof is actually in the pudding. Uh, yeah, and I like that question because they, they might send us, you know, a feedback support query that comes through to us, and they're like, "Oh, so can you fix such and such on this client?"

Or, "How do I do this?" Or, "Something's wrong," or whatever the problem is. And we're like, "Yeah, sure. Let's, um, you know, get online together, and you share the screen with us." And [00:27:00] they're like, "What do you mean? Can't you see it?" And I'm like, "No, no, no, no, we don't, we can't see. We don't have access to it." So the proof is in the pudding.

Yep. Um, if we can't solve it by sharing screens or phone calls or, or, you know, talking to the person, um, we then go, "Okay, so we can do a TeamViewer," and everyone knows what that is. So we can log on and kind of, you know, do it for you or move around your screen with you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, familiar with that. So, so the proof is in the pudding. Like I- Yeah, okay ... I, I must say, actually, one thing we talked about, I think, at the Flight Club was one thing accountants and all people hate is software providers always say they can do things that they can't. Or they might agree to go, "Yeah, yeah, we can do that," but they actually can't, or they're still working on it, or it's still under development, or whatever that, the case may be.

So one thing I will say, and I do this in the demos, is I actually don't like lying, and I like telling the truth. And when I go through my demo, because we are releasing Abby One to the [00:28:00] world, or Australia, um, I do call out certain items when I'm going through the demo and tell people, "This is, this is what we currently have, and this is what we're working on to get to this result."

Yeah. So I call it out, going this, you know, blah, blah, blah. And I really think people appreciate that, because you wanna set the expectation where the expectation should be in what you're doing. You don't wanna set it up here and not really tell the truth sometimes. Yeah, no, that's- So it's- Yeah, transparency- It's the worst thing you can do

is the way to go, yeah. Yeah. So, um, my team are the same, because clearly they have to do that too. But their values align with all of us anyway, so, um- I think that's what works well when it's, like, an accountant that's building this stuff, because- Yeah ... we- Agree ... really understand it, and we've got, like, this profession- Mm that we're behind and, and trustworthy, and we just, yeah. Yeah. It co- it gets, tends to come- Trust is a- ... a bit more n- Yeah ... naturally, maybe, in a way. But- Yeah ... um- Yeah ... yeah, trust is a big thing, right? Trust is the ultimate [00:29:00] currency. It's one of my sayings. Trust is the ultimate currency. Yeah. You know, you wanna enjoy working with the people you're working, whether, with, whether it's your staff, clearly, and your clients, 'cause all us accountants like to kind of make sure that when new clients come in, that they're gonna kind of be a, a good chemistry there and a good fit.

You know, that kind of thing. Otherwise, it's best not to. Um, but also with the, the providers that you wanna work with. You know, you wanna know that the team tell you honestly what's going on, they give you an honest answer to things, they showcase exactly what the product is, but they also can take you on the journey to show you what the developments and roadmap is too.

Yeah. That's really important. That's the part we get super excited about. And then Yep. Yeah. So okay, back to, back to the cost and the, okay, vanity metric- Yeah, sure ... you, you've now got over a million dollars in revenue, but then the cost of Abby is, uh- Yeah, so, um, what we're doing is, so the month's free trial, and we went over the training a bit.

Second step is, um, Abby is priced per [00:30:00] job. So not per seat. So for example, if we have four products, so the first product is Abby, and that is for those businesses that are registered for GST. Okay? Yeah. So those blue Xero ledgers and those clients that are registered for GST. So the price for an annual job on those clients is $350- Mm-hmm

plus GST per job. Yep. So we have worked out that is half the cost of outsourcing. Okay. Um, the next product, I'll move to subscription model in a minute, but the next product is, um, Abby Lite. So that's for those businesses that aren't registered for GST. Okay. So probably your sole traders, the smaller ones, some trusts, and things like that.

Yeah. So that price point is $250 plus GST for an annual job. Okay? Um, we've got a small product called Abby Rentals, 'cause lots of accounting practices like ours have lots of rental jobs. Yeah. So that's just a small... Abby Rentals, quick and easy, takes, you know, [00:31:00] of course, 30 seconds for, to run the work papers.

You could probably sign a job off like that in less than half an hour, easy-peasy. So that's $150 per job. Mm-hmm. And then Abby Snapshot, so this is the interesting one, and I've always had this in my mind- They're all interesting Okay. This is the most interesting one- Yeah ... in my mind from day one as part of the vision.

Abby Snapshot is a product where you go in and create a job, and you can change and alter the dates. So if you're in BAS time, you could do a quarterly job- Mm-hmm ... right, for that quarter. And you just put the dates in, um, you s- select Abby Snapshot, you run Abby, and she will do all of the work papers for that quarter, including all the work papers for your BAS.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, all those tax work papers, et cetera. Um, we are using Snapshot in New Zealand. We have two monthly GSTs, so my team just go in and run Snapshot over everything. All, all our returns, get the GST rec out for the two months, or in Australia, the [00:32:00] quarterly returns. Um, and we d- can just see if the GST reconciliation, as an example, is all looking hunky-dory and okay.

Because you can catch things during the year as you're going through the year. Not... I mean, Abby runs the full suite of work papers, insights, KPIs, everything on the Snapshot jobs. So you might also pick up that there's a cashflow problem, 'cause there's some insights that are coming through. Or you might pick up that, um, their sales have increased by 20% just in that quarter from the last quarter, or something, you know, something like that.

Mm-hmm. Abby will alert you, and you can go, "Oh, we better get onto this and chat to the client and see what's going on. Is this seasonal, or is this a trend, or have they got a big client come on, or..." 'Cause therefore, you need to start looking at their tax, you know, so there's no nasty surprises- Mm ... and what's happening with the cash and stuff.

So I can see... So Snapshot can be used for monthly accounts as well. You know, quite often accountants do monthly accounts. Um, or for- Yeah, I was thinking like- Yeah ... before the end [00:33:00] of the financial year- Yeah ... tax planning. Or for the bank. Yep, we've got a big one coming on that's, um, gonna be using Snapshot for a lot of jobs to help with their tax planning, so for nine months.

1st of July to, um, 31st of March. Yep And then, uh, we'll be extrapolating and using a bit of automation and AI to go, "Well, here's your next three months." Is that gonna be ready for this financial year? Um, not at the moment. Yeah. But ongoing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Good things take time, right? I- what exactly the same- With it being we can do it.

Yeah, no, we've got some- Yeah ... really good plans for SavvyWise and tax planning as well, uh- Cool ... support there, which will be complimentary for, for this. Okay. Um, but yeah, it's like- Yeah ... oh, we're already developing so much. I think if I, I said, "Oh yeah, we're gonna do it this financial- Yeah ... this financial year", um, Agse, my CTO, would be like, "You said what?"

I know, I get that too, the pushback, right? Yeah, don't put timelines on things if you've got no idea. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. So- So going back to Snapshot, that's, [00:34:00] um, $200 per job. And then to finish off, if people want to move their whole practice onto Abby, like use all of the functionality and all their jobs through Abby, um, we will then customize a subcri- subscription for them, and at the, the cost will reduce even more.

Yeah. So it'd be just a monthly subscription. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm trying to do the calculations in my head, but if it was what you're talking about before, it was the extra $1 million in revenue, we're only talk- we're talking low six figures- Yeah ... or based on that s- Yeah ... scenario, I believe, or- Depending on the mixture of jobs that you would like to do.

Yeah, so yeah, and then 'cause this is software- Mm ... you're not increasing all your other costs that, such as if you- Yeah ... were, had to do all this work where humans are doing it- Yeah ... you need extra office space- Yeah ... for them and all of that- Yeah. Yes ... comes with it, whereas so- Yes ... yeah, the overhead costs [00:35:00] don't- You got it

increase as proportionately- Yeah ... so you actually become more profitable- That's right ... based on that. You're doing more work. It's the opportunity cost, right? Yeah. Yeah. So, um, I think it, but one thing that would pop into my mind if, uh, we're back at Munro's would be like, "Oh man, if we can release all this time, brilliant." Okay. And we can do all this extra work. We're gonna have to find a way to get those clients- Yeah ... those extra clients. So the one thing with conversations with people and webinars we've been doing, is I do challenge accountants, and I said it yesterday in my presentation Once this technology gets hold, 'cause I actually can see that in three to five years time this will be the norm.

I think it'll be such- Now that is- ... a big uptake ... the, what I think the expectation is in terms of the rollout. Yeah. You know, we were talking before- Yeah ... about, oh, it's 18 months away and- Yeah. Three to five ... the three month regret. Yeah. Three to five sounds- Yeah ... probably about- Interesting ... right to me. And I challenge accountants to [00:36:00] go, "Oh, gosh, okay, let's start thinking about this."

I say to them, "So what does your next role look like in your career?" And they're like, "What? Sorry. What are you talking about?" I'm like, "I don't mean you're gonna change jobs or firms or practices or whatever. I mean, once the compliance work is done so much quicker, what's your next role? What- Mm. You need to start thinking about what you want that to look like.

Yeah. And start talking to the partners and the bosses and, you know, everyone else in your firm. What do you wanna start doing? Do you wanna start being an expert in business planning and get trained up in that? Yes. Yep. Do you wanna be also an ex- so you, the compliance work goes through, and you clearly go through the variances and sign the work off, and then your next step is, you know, you're an expert in business planning, or you're an expert in doing forecasting, or you're an expert in going out and having coffees and meetings with people to see what their needs are and what they would like.

Mm-hmm. So there's all sorts of different things that could [00:37:00] go on because of the compliance work is, you know, just done so quickly. Um, and I think accountants need to move their mindsets to that because this is, is gonna happen quickly, and this is your opportunity, grab it with both hands, to go, "Oh, my gosh, I can't be... I can't wait to do what I'm destined to do and what I'm really good at." Yeah. I don't have to sit behind a laptop anymore keying in numbers, you know? Yeah. And since this is like the, we're, we're right on the three to five-year time horizon, that's a perfect time to go, "What do I want to be?" Mm. And actually start just chipping away at the learning and developing the skill set.

Mm. 'Cause then you're not having to do it... 'Cause if, if you were the, if someone's a firm- Mm ... three years down the track and this is like literally- Mm ... becoming a big thing and you haven't even started that journey- Yes ... building those skills- Mm ... or saying you... That's when you've got that urgency, whereas now you can make a decision to start- Mm

that, that learning process. So yes and no- Yeah. Okay. Yeah ... to that one. Um, [00:38:00] my thoughts are- Like with this compliance stuff, we are solving a problem, which we talked about at the beginning. Yeah. We're saving people time and all things, but we're actually creating another problem, which I wanna be really proactive about helping to solve the next thing.

Oh, tell me about it. Yeah. So the next, the next thing is... Well, couple of things. We just talked about c- you know, I challenge all accountants to reinvent themselves and look at what they wanna do. Mm-hmm. Um, but also, how do we educate new people coming into our profession? Yeah. 'Cause all of that knowledge is gonna be lost to a machine in a way.

And, uh, we still need to educate our new accountants coming through on how to do a compliance job as a, as a Accounting 101 base. You still need to know how to do it, and what it means, and what the numbers mean, and what the calculations mean. Yeah, yeah. This a, this has be a common- Yeah ... common topic, right?

Yes. Yeah. What- Yeah, so- How are we gonna, how are we gonna train the future- Yeah ... of accountants- Yeah ... if they're not [00:39:00] doing- Yeah ... the way we trained? So we're trying to build into our software, uh, in all of the work papers an- and in lots of areas as well, uh, we've got links called Need Guidance. So on a work paper, let's take FBT for example, um, but they're everywhere all through Abby, Need Guidance.

Okay, FBT, and I'm a new user, and I'm like, "I don't even know what FBT is. Okay, so what does that mean?" So you just click on Need Guidance, and there'll be a whole bunch of knowledge in Need Guidance under FBT as to what it is, links to the ATO. Um, we also have a FBT calculator, so it'll tell them a bit about that and how they can use it and what it means, et cetera, et cetera, as an example.

So all through Abby is Need Guidance on all of the work papers. Um, we also have, aside from that, so that's tucked away in a link, so it's not cluttering up the screen, uh, we also have checklists on all the work papers- So, um, and they can be [00:40:00] customized to each practice as well, by the way. So, you know, for example, creditors or accounts payable, so the work paper there's got checklist items to tick off if you want to.

It's all very well marrying up Xero says this, and the figures are right in Abby, and all... There's some insights come through, um, just about creditors and, and, you know, all that kind of thing. But what else do we need to check in that area? It's not just about the numbers matching up. Yeah. So there's about eight checklist items, you know, how, you know, I can't remember what they are, but just an example of, please check these other things on this work paper outside the numbers or the reconciliation, you know, marrying up.

People can choose to use those or not. Mm. And you can tick them off, and you can customize them. So that's another area to help educate people coming through. So what we're finding- Really like that, how you're- Yeah ... you're thinking about- Next steps ... the, the, those- Yeah ... the, the learning journey of becoming- Yeah, yeah

a really good accountant and the assistance within the package. Yeah. So [00:41:00] what, what we're finding is in our practice, so some of the junior or intermediate accountants, or even one of my admin ladies, um, before we started using Abby, they were just doing their job description, but now they're, they're, you know, clearly we're all using Abby, they're starting to get to the point where they're completing even work papers off, the easier ones.

So by the time it gets to the senior accountant, half her work's done as well, because they're understanding and educating themselves on what each work paper means, and they're like, "Oh, yep, no, I can complete that one," you know, or sign that one off. And then a completed work paper goes into a different space.

So you've only got the ones left that need work on. Yeah, so it's actually already bringing my team through a lot of education and having the confidence, you know, that they can just do a compliance job. I can see lots of intermediate accountants starting to come through by using Abby, um- [00:42:00] And, you know- Abby natives.

Yeah. Love it, yeah. So coming through and, you know, they're really educating themselves, but they're also doing the seniors a, a jolly favor as well, 'cause- I, I was literally about to say. Yeah. As soon as you said- Yeah ... they're educating themselves, I was like, oh my God, as a manager- Yeah ... you'd be, "Oh, thank you."

Yeah, and you've got your, uh, Munro accounting hat on, right? So- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ... it's the same for me, 'cause, you know, I'm still reviewing. Um, so you get to the partner review state, that's where I normally sit. So now with the actual partner review, I've got all the things I need to hand, including the client query sheet- Mm

the comments, like, you know, the, the insights, the KPIs, and lots of tools and stuff. I can get a review done in 15 minutes now. Yeah, so it's making my life easier. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I think we've, we've had a really good chat now. Um, we should... I reckon we can go on for hours about this, but I know- I know we have, don't we?

you need to get back to your store. Yeah. Thank you. Um, I think you... One thing it was important to touch upon is the [00:43:00] why of being so passionate around this, uh- Do you wanna talk about that or- Yeah, of course. Why? So the why, I think I've said quite a few times through the podcast, is I really believe in helping a lot of other accountants.

Yeah. 'Cause I... All through my career it's just, you know, there's lots of pain points in there, and you're tackling them as well. Um, just helping provide a solution to tackle those pain points, um- Why do you think it's so important for you- 'Cause I went through- ... to tackle that? ... that pain all those years. Yeah.

Yeah, for all those years of my career. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that there's a lot of people out there that haven't reached their potential in the industry either. They're sitting there just tapping in numbers. So, um, they need to come out and have the confidence to do what they're really good at. And like I said, what is your new role going to look at like?

'Cause you can actually reinvent that yourself. Even if you are working for a firm, you just need to t- you know, go and talk to your partners and your bosses and your managers and, yeah, just reinvent yourselves and come up with a structure of what [00:44:00] your new practice is gonna look like. Yeah. So accountants helping accountants.

Yeah. Beautiful. Yeah. Really fantastic. Yeah. So, um, someone wants to learn more about Abby, what do they do? Yeah. So our website is www.cheersabby.com. Um, so jump on there, book a demo. Um, you don't have to have a demo if you don't want to. If you want a friendly chat, you'll get me and, um, we can work through, you know, the Abby, the Abby story, and have a look at Abby if you want.

Um, yeah, we, we have a team now that can go out to people as well, so we're, we're cruising around Australia quite a bit at the moment. So if you want us- Yeah ... to come into your firm, we're happy to do that too and demo- Yeah. You hitting up Perth soon? Perth? Yeah, Perth. I've got a beta tester from Perth that's on right now.

Oh, awesome. Yeah. Yeah. So he's going great guns. And, um, yeah, so we'll definitely be hitting Perth. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. 'Cause I, I'm gonna be throwing Abby Munro his way and say, "Look at this." Okay, cool. Um, yeah, definitely. Yeah. Uh, and then a, a few other [00:45:00] firms. Yeah. So what we're tending to do is if there's a few firms interested, we've just come back from Adelaide, so we had a week of meeting accountants in Adelaide, and we also did a Lunch and Learn series, um, with lovely Shay Thyer, who's speaking today.

Um, so we pulled a whole bunch of accountants into the room, put on lunch, went through an Abby demo and, um, just small groups. I think that works really well. Yep. And then we just lined up some other accountants we went to visit in-house and, um, we had a really good time with them. So- Excellent ... if anyone's interested, just reach out for that too.

Oh, wonderful. Thank you. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Uh- Thanks for having me. Oh, it's been a pleasure. It's really been really nice meeting you this week too. Yeah, nice. Love what you're doing. Yep. Yeah. Yeah, yep Goes s- both ways. Cool. Really like it. Um- Yeah ... yeah. Let's, uh, hopefully see each other- Just keep in touch

grow- Yeah ... um, over time, and the more accountants we can help, the better. Yeah. High five to that one. Yes. I love it. I love it. So that's another episode of The Best Accountants Near Me Podcast, uh, talking about the AI-assisted [00:46:00] future of accounting, uh, starting right now with SavvyWise and Abby. I love it.