Episode 51

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Published on:

8th Mar 2023

Special Episode: Celebrate International Women's Day

We have a treat for you for our 51st episode. You may have heard Penny talk about her business partners Nirmala and Sharmila who run the accounting firm in Chennai, India. With Penny in Chennai, we figured it was a great opportunity to chat with them to learn about what inspired them to take the entrepreneurial leap and start their own accounting firm.

Two women starting their own firm may not be big news in some countries, but in India it's quite remarkable. Even more remarkable is that they've grown from two people to 45. And this all-female firm is set for their next phase of growth with their recently expanded office.

We hope you enjoy the episode as Sharmila and Nirmala share what drives them and how they build a culture of inclusion, constant and never ending learning, and a passion for technology that makes client relationships more and more seamless.

As we celebrate International Women's Day, we celebrate Sharmila, Nirmala and their team.

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About the Podcast

Strategy and the Virtual Controller

Helping accounts and bookkeepers build the firm they want, their way

Your hosts Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead have more than 30 years of combined experience in the accounting industry. This podcast is to share their experiences of working in, and consulting to accounting and bookkeeping firms of all sizes, helping them grow.

Nothing discussed will be rocket science, instead they'll be discussing 'how' firms have successfully, and not so successfully, pursued growth. Penny and Damien will be sharing their insights on how firms can be successful by focusing on their people (clients included), their technology, and their processes and systems.

Ultimately how successful an accounting business will be depends largely on how the owners manage change, which alongside taxes appears to be the only constant.

We do want to acknowledge David Maister's great read Strategy and the Fat Smoker: Doing what's obvious but not easy as the inspiration for our title. Buy it on Amazon - https://amzn.to/3dhcUFC

Subscribe today for an upbeat and practical conversation about what's working and what's not in accounting businesses around the world.

About your hosts

Penny Breslin

Penny Breslin is the founder of MoneyPenny, a consulting firm specializing in helping accounting firms and other businesses embrace the power of technology to simplify their operations and increase their profit margins.

Drawing on her years of experience and her knowledge of what it takes to run a successful business, Penny oversees the development of back office processes for her client firms. From the initial evaluation of the firm’s workflow, to technology selection, and assisting in the on-boarding of the firm’s clients, Penny works with her clients to maximize the benefits of a paperless and cloud-based firm.

Damien Greathead

Damien has been working in the accounting industry for more than 15 years. In addition to getting his hands dirty preparing tax returns and doing bookkeeping, but the bulk of his experience comes from consulting to both accounting firms and the technology companies that serve the industry.

He set up 2020 Group USA which was a membership group for small and medium sized accounting firms and then went on to set up Receipt Bank (now Dext) in North America.

He regularly speaks to industry bodies on technology, marketing and change management.