ESS BIZTOOLS Podcast (Accountant's Minute)
Peter Towers, creator of ESS BIZTOOLS, tools written for accountants so they can quickly and easily offer business advisory services to their SME clients, presents news topics that accountants should be aware of if they work with SME clients.
Episodes
Buying a business can be one of the biggest financial decisions an SME client will make — and accountants, bookkeepers and business advisors can play an important role in helping them make an informed decision.
In the latest episode of Accountants Minute Podcast, we explore how you can guide clients through the buying process, including due diligence, debtors and suppliers, working ca...
Are your tradie clients charging enough?
In this episode, Peter Towers explores how accountants, bookkeepers and business advisors can help tradie clients establish the right charge-out rates to achieve their targeted profit.
Discover the key factors that influence charge-out rates, including labour on-costs, productivity, overheads, material markups and profit targets ...
Making the sale is only the beginning. The sale isn't complete until the business gets paid.
In this ESS BIZTOOLS podcast, Peter Towers discusses how accountants, bookkeepers and business advisors can help SME clients establish an effective Debtors Management System.
Discover the importance of credit assessment, Debtors Days Outstanding (DSO), payment terms, debtor foll...
Are accounting firms doing enough to support SME clients beyond tax compliance?
In this episode, Peter Towers explores why accountants, bookkeepers, and business advisors need to embrace advisory services, predictive accounting, business planning, cash flow forecasting, KPI monitoring, and capital raising support. Discover how firms can strengthen client relationships, create new revenue op...
In this episode of Accountants Minute Podcast, Peter Towers explores why accounting firms, bookkeepers and business advisory firms are at a critical crossroads: remain focused on compliance or begin building structured advisory and Virtual CFO Services.
Peter reflects on the original FMRC vision for accountants to become trusted business advisors to SMEs, then compares that ambition with to...
Why are so many firms struggling to attract and retain accountants?
In this episode of Accountants Minute Podcast, Peter Towers explores the talent challenges facing accounting firms in Australia, and why younger accountants are looking for more meaningful, advisory-driven work. He discusses how broadening your services beyond compliance can help your firm build stronger teams, deliver grea...
Discover why only 15% of SMEs see their accountant or bookkeeper as a Key Strategic Partner, while many firms believe they are already delivering that level of service. In this episode, Peter Towers explores the disconnect, the missed advisory opportunities, and the practical questions firms need to start raising to become more valuable to their SME clients.
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How do you start offering advisory services without disrupting your firm?
In this episode, Peter Towers explains why advisory services are too important to ignore – and how accounting firms, bookkeepers, and business advisory firms can begin with a simple, practical step-by-step approach. Discover how to start small, deepen client relationships, and position your firm as a true Key St...
Advisory services can create significant value for clients, but they do not sell themselves.
In this episode of Accountants Minute Podcast, Peter Towers of ESS BIZTOOLS explains why accounting firms, bookkeepers and business advisors need to actively position, communicate and sell advisory services if they want to be seen as true Key Strategic Partners. Featuring insights from the Intuit Qu...
In this episode of Accountants Minute Podcast, Peter Towers of ESS BIZTOOLS and Darren Gleeson of TaxFitness discuss the growing need for accounting firms to move beyond compliance and deliver real advisory services. They explore benchmarking, business improvement opportunities, and practical ways accountants, bookkeepers and advisory firms can strengthen client value and work towards becoming a true Key Strate...
In this episode of Accountants Minute Podcast, Peter Towers (ESS BIZTOOLS) and Darren Gleeson (TaxFitness) explore how benchmarking transforms client conversations, drives behavioural change, and unlocks measurable profit growth. Discover why comparing clients to the top 20% in their industry provides the clarity, context, and commercial focus that traditional financial reports often miss.
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Only 15% of SMEs rate their accountant as a Key Strategic Partner. Why is that – and how do we change it?
In this episode of Accountants Minute Podcast, Peter Towers (ESS BIZTOOLS) and Trevor Marchant (The Boss Factor Library) unpack what it truly means to move beyond compliance and become your client's go-to advisor for growth, strategy and innovation. From debtors management and cas...
Only 15% of Aussie SMEs see their accountant as a Key Strategic Partner — the go-to advisor driving growth and success.
In this episode of Accountants Minute Podcast, Peter Towers, Managing Director of ESS BIZTOOLS, is joined by Darren Gleeson (Founder, Tax Fitness) to show how top 20% benchmarking turns "advisory" into a repeatable system – fast, evidence-based, and built for q...
In this final Accountants Minute Podcast episode for 2025, Peter Towers is joined by Darren Gleeson, Managing Director of TaxFitness, to explore how benchmarking and virtual CFO services can transform struggling SMEs into top-performing businesses. They discuss why benchmarking against the top 20% (not the average) is critical, how to turn profit gaps into advisory opportunities, and why accountants and bookkee...
In this episode of the Accountants Minute Podcast, Peter Towers explores how predictive accounting reports turn a business plan into a live early-warning radar for SMEs — with budgets by operation, key drivers, cashflow forecasts, projected balance sheets and KPIs all working together. You'll hear real stories of how weak communication, poor debtor and creditor management, and hidden inventory or capex bl...
In this episode of Accountants Minute Podcast, Peter Towers introduces Stage One of the Innovation Journey — where every breakthrough begins with a simple idea. You'll discover how accountants and bookkeepers can guide SMEs from that first spark through R&D eligibility, record-keeping, prototype development and commercial planning.
This is your roadmap to becoming the internal aud...
Transforming from "tax technician" to true key strategic partner is no longer optional.
In this episode of the Accountants Minute Podcast, Peter Towers unpacks the uncomfortable gap between what 75% of accountants think they deliver and what SMEs actually say in the Intuit QuickBooks SMB Navigator Report. You'll explore why so many firms are still seen as "transactional", how to test your o...
In this episode of Accountants Minute Podcast, Peter Towers unpacks why only 15% of SMEs currently see their accountant as a true Key Strategic Partner – and what you can do to change that. You'll discover how to reposition your firm from "tax return provider" to virtual CFO, delivering Financial / Commercial / Management Accounting advisory services that help SMEs survive, thrive, and scale up. Peter als...
In this episode of the Accountants Minute Podcast, Peter Towers explores why so many SMEs are still failing – and how accountants, bookkeepers and advisors can change that story. Drawing on Michael Gerber's "Dreaming Room" concept, real client case studies and the ESS BIZTOOLS Starter Package, Peter shows you how to build systems, introduce virtual CFO-style support, and position your firm as the strategi...
Turn "it's a buyer's market" on its head.
In this episode of Accountants Minute Podcast, Peter Towers shows how advisors can double an SME's sale value by planning early – embedding systems, documenting IP, driving weekly performance, building real business plans, and running annual valuations – so the multiple moves from "average" to outstanding. If you help clients prepare lik...
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