The Key to Success for FY22

 

During this financial year, a year like no other, we learnt that we were more capable of adapting than we once thought.

2020 was a trying year for everyone across the globe. In the business sector we faced many great challenges that made it difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We encountered tedious tasks like dragging our monitors home with us on the train, coming to terms that tracksuits were our new suit of choice and that life really does go on.

Staying true to our culture principal of “People Count”, we acknowledged the difficult times that both our clients and staff were facing. During the Covid-19 era it was important to keep all of our staff engaged. We are proud that staff were maintained continuous employment during the rollercoaster year of 2020. We continued to focus on our clients to provide reassurance, advice, and support even if it meant working out of our traditional work hours.

At ESV we believe it is important to share our knowledge and be generous with our insights on life. Our Partners have shared their perceptions on the passing financial year and have highlighted some of their key outtakes from this ever-evolving environment.

 

Tim Valtwies

The past financial year has emphasised how important it is to have a strong relationship with your clients. Working online can make it hard to facilitate a strong and trusting relationship. When you’re face to face with a client it is easier to pick up on cues, problem solve and work through issues together. Face to face communication, working collaboratively and building strong relationships with our clients during a time where working online was our new normal meant we needed to do things a little differently.

I also learnt that challenging times make you stronger. Our team was forced to adapt, overcome and look towards the future which ultimately made us stronger at the end of the day.

 

Kurt Baker

The past year has taught us many lessons on multiple levels.

From a leadership perspective, our team learnt how well we can adapt and work collaboratively to achieve great outcomes. ESV is very fortunate to have staff with a range of unique skill sets which contributed to us overcoming the many obstacles and challenges that we and indeed our clients faced throughout the 2021 financial year.

From a broader people perspective, we also found our staff challenging themselves, adapting and working to overcome barriers in our new world.  In many ways our staff is what kept everything moving forward for us and we became a stronger and a more resilient firm because of them.

Finally, at ESV we have always valued “work / life balance”. The last year has highlighted the continued importance of flexibility within the workplace and in our personal lives – a strong culture value that will be maintained in our firm.

 

Travas Burns

The key to success in this last year was to keep our staff, front of mind. People are what keeps the world going round and that is what ESV is all about.

I’ve learnt that there is always opportunity in a time of chaos. In the past year we have been forced to innovate at a faster rate. We now are looking for different ways of completing an audit and utilising all resources that are available to us. Our optimistic outlook will help us to achieve growth.

 

Geoff Tierney

The way we do business has changed forever. We are becoming accustom to greeting our clients through a screen which has resulted in a more comfortable and time efficient solution for some individuals.

I believe times like this emphasise the importance of being well organised from a financial point of view. Having a budget and plan in place can help minimise the impact of unforeseen circumstances such as a pandemic. We’ve also seen the importance of reviewing plans on a regular basis as the twists and turns in a Covid world have meant we need to be agile.

 

David Robinson

The last year has created an atmosphere of osmosis in several industries. I believe that fashioning the right environment for your staff is prevalent during challenging times. Showing leadership, resilience and flexibility provides opportunities to demonstrate trust between leaders and staff.

From a communication perspective, we have had to adapt and learn how to show empathy through a screen. Many people encountered hardships throughout the past year, meaning we had to adjust how we deliver our service. We learnt to appreciate in person communication and the importance of being in the office face to face.

 

Chris Kirkwood

FY21 involved hard work, adaptability, and resilience to put us in the position we are in today. In an environment full of uncertainty, our clients needed us more than ever. With direction from Governments being difficult to comprehend, client’s questioned “well what does this mean for me?” and ESV were there to answer that question.

This ambiguity gave ESV the opportunity for new business and enabled us to provide insights in a time of confusion. We also learnt the importance of our people and ensuring that our staff felt supported.

 

Maree Macphail

The benefits of updated technology certainty made for a smoother journey through the rocky road that was 2020. Having access to applications such as Teams made working from home a more personable experience than a simple phone call.

I also learnt the importance of keeping clients front of mind. In an undefined environment where we had to quickly adapt to new legislation, we wanted to ensure that clients understood what these latest changes meant for them.

Pivoting our service offering and ensuring we could provide information through different platforms was a welcomed realisation for us and a mantra we will continue to uphold.

 

David Prichard

The past year has emphasised the importance of continuous learning. In an ever-evolving environment ongoing professional development, even in a pandemic, is critical to business success. Like every business, we changed from face to face to virtual training to ensure we continually upskilled the team and our clients.

Some of the ATO compliance programs i.e. the Next 5000, may have been delayed by a couple of months but these new programs which are focussed on good corporate governance will not be going away. The ATO firmly has compliance in their sights as we enter FY22!

 

 

Through times of hardship arise times of opportunity. The past year has led ESV to stay true to their cultural principles.

The challenges we have faced have made for a stronger, smarter, and more resilient firm that all our partners are extremely proud of.