Business intelligence wins
Shaye Thyer CA has been named the 2019 Young CA Regional Advocate, SA, due to her success executing digital transformation.
In Brief
- Shaye Thyer CA has been named the CA ANZ 2019 Young CA Regional Advocate, SA.
- Thyer advocates for the importance of the cloud to help businesses gather actionable data.
- She argues accountants need to do more than report P&L and balance sheets to deliver outcomes.
By Stuart Ridley
The first wave of digital disruption hit as Shaye Thyer CA started at a mid-tier firm in Adelaide. She quickly got up to speed with the latest software but was dissatisfied with having to spend hours wrangling data before she could add value.
Thyer, who previously worked as a financial controller and virtual CFO, admits that she was a late adopter of cloud.
“It was like the Holy Grail,” she says. “Instead of half a month faffing about gathering data to tell a story about last month, cloud gives you access to almost live information, and the tools to surface and analyse it so you can make smarter decisions. Back in the day when I was a commercial finance manager, if I’d had those tools I could have put my feet up half the week.”
She’s evangelised business intelligence at every opportunity since, including leading a key event for the SA Corporate Sector Advisory Panel in 2018, presenting at Xerocon, and mentoring app startups through Xero’s Practice Advisory Council.
Thyer acknowledges many business owners might lack financial acumen but argues they need accountants to do more than report P&L and balance sheets.
“We should help people understand the financial and non-financial levers across their businesses to deliver outcomes,” she explains. “Cloud is the 101 for this. CAs need a solid understanding of where data comes from and how it can be managed. Business intelligence is not an IT thing. It’s analytical and tactical.”
“CAs need a solid understanding of where data comes from and how it can be managed. Business intelligence is not an IT thing. It’s analytical and tactical.”
Thyer was recently named the CA ANZ 2019 Young CA Regional Advocate, SA. She is one of 12 Young CA Regional Advocates, who are shortlisted for the 2019 President’s Prize, to be announced in late 2019. The prize recognises CA ANZ members under 35 (at the time of nominations) who have made an outstanding commitment to the accounting profession and have used their skills in service of their local community.
Shaye Thyer CA
BDO Australia, director, BDODrive
Age: 36
Other roles:
2019 Young CA Regional Advocate, SA
South Australia Corporate Sector Advisory Panel (March 2017 to March 2019)
Xero Practice Advisory Council (XPAC), member since September 2017
Speaker at Xerocon 2018 & 2019
Speaker at Receipt Bank Exchange 2019
Volunteer adviser for Link4
