For a long time, accountants followed a legacy model to build a practice. Lease office space. Hire juniors. Serve local clients. Grow by working long hours.

But what happens when that rulebook doesn’t match who you are – your values, your lifestyle or the career you actually want?

Across Australia and New Zealand, more CAs are designing practices that match who they are and how they want to work.

Their stories show that a successful practice isn’t about following tradition, it’s about building a business that reflects what’s most important to you.

1. A scalable accounting business

Meryl Johnston FCA, founder and adviser at Bean Ninjas, always wanted a business that could grow beyond her. Her first consulting venture was typical – varied projects and software implementation – but hard to scale.

“I thought, ‘What am I doing? I’m working hard, but I’m not creating something that grows without me’,” she says.

When Johnston launched Bean Ninjas, it was built intentionally for scale and global reach. “I was more intentional about what I wanted from a business, like recurring revenue, a reason that clients paid monthly and something scalable, where you could build systems.”

A major turning point was specialising, rather than serving every client type. “Ten years ago, most chartered accountants would have too much pride to be running a bookkeeping business,” she says. But bookkeeping and management accounting offered international reach, unlike tax. “We ended up getting a whole lot of referrals, many of them based in the US.”

The niche was selected through analysis, not intuition. “We ranked clients by what industry are they in, are they good to work with, how profitable are they? We didn’t guess the niche; we analysed it and transitioned gradually.”

For Johnston, lifestyle was central to the business design. Based on the Gold Coast, she wanted freedom and flexibility.

“We prioritised freedom, which meant our team works remotely, with no set work hours,” she reveals. The team relies on a documentation-heavy culture built on “checklists, written processes, Loom videos and asynchronous communication”.

Hiring staff follows the same values. “We attract ambitious people who just want flexibility, interesting work and working with good people.”

After building a strong senior team in Australia, the firm added experts in the Philippines who shared those values. “Our team there weren’t doing data entry, they were reviewing work, leading people and meeting with clients.”

Top tips

• Pick a niche that values your expertise
• Design a business that supports the life you want
• Grow on your own terms. Headcount isn’t the only definition of success.

2. A tech-driven, education-focused practice

At 28, Natalie Lennon FCA, founder and director of Two Sides Accounting, became a 40% equity partner in a long-established firm and set out to modernise it.

After five years advocating for cloud accounting, fixed fees and better marketing, while being “treated like an employee” despite her partnership, she decided to build something new. “It was time to put my efforts into growing something of my own.”

Lennon noticed a gap in how traditional firms served clients. “At my old firm, we were just doing end-of-year work and clients were all on different systems,” she says. Many accountants were too busy to provide ongoing support.

Two Sides Accounting launched with a proactive model. Every client is on Xero and meets quarterly. “We do a 30-minute, quarterly check-in. It not only helps build the ongoing relationship, it moves those quick questions to a more structured environment, and helps clients understand their numbers and work with their accountant in more of a partnership and less of a once-per-year, transactional way.”

Lennon challenged the belief that accountants need an office. “I decided to be a 100% mobile/online accountant who works from home,” she says. “We had the office I had always dreamed of, with a beautiful boardroom and podcast studio, then I realised I wanted the flexibility and freedom of working remotely.”

Today, the firm has a distributed team and clients nationwide. “I finally have the confidence to revert back to my dreams for what I want the firm to look like and not someone else’s [vision].”

Instead of traditional marketing, Lennon uses her personal brand to connect at scale. “Everywhere we look, we are being sold to. People want to hear from people: real stories, not just marketing spin.”

Often, prospective clients approach her ready to work together. “Instead of me telling them why they should work with us, they tell me why I should work with them.”

Education is central to her approach. “We regularly run courses for our clients, such as Xero workshops and cashflow courses.”

Top tips

• Introduce clients to tech gradually, rather than forcing it
• Authentic, personal branding builds trust before the first meeting
• Educate clients because empowered clients become long-term partners.

3. A values-driven accounting practice for impact

Anthony Rohan FCA, co-director of Fairground, once felt like he lived two careers: helping businesses make money and helping communities through charity work. The turning point came after the Christchurch earthquakes, when he supported the Student Volunteer Army by running their finances.

“That was the first time I saw my accounting skills come together to help support a community in need after a natural disaster.”

Rohan realised accounting didn’t need to sit apart from impact work. “We didn’t set out intentionally to focus on impactful businesses, we wanted a business where we didn’t have to leave our values at the door when we went to work,” he says.

An invitation from a friend into a network of changemakers planted the seed – an accounting practice designed specifically to support organisations working for social and environmental good.

In 2017, Rohan’s accounting practice Enspiral Accounting rebranded to Fairground, with a mission to support organisations making a positive social or environmental impact.

“Accountants are perfectly placed to start advising and helping our clients measure their impact and sustainability,” he says.

He sees a shift in entrepreneurship, with the next wave of founders motivated by real-world problems, rather than a desire to “start an impact enterprise” as a branding exercise. These changemakers, he says, will need “trusted advisers alongside them, who have the understanding and empathy to support them.”

Fairground deliberately rejected traditional firm structures right from the start. “We decided to get rid of timesheets.” The focus became wellbeing, belonging and support.

“We changed the definition of sick leave to wellbeing leave. You don’t have to be sick to take time off. If you need a day to look after yourself, you can take it.”

These values also shape hiring and client selection. “Our team shares the same empathy our clients have because they’re in business for more than just making money.”

This people-first approach extends to technology. “We’re developing our own ethical AI policies because we’re aware of the environmental impact that AI is having,” Rohan explains.

Top tips

• Build the practice around your personal values
• Choose clients and a model that delivers both profit and purpose
• Hire people who care about purpose, not just profit.

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Take away

Are you considering starting your own practice? Look Before You Leap is exclusive to CA ANZ members and is a guide that helps explain the responsibilities, challenges and benefits of running your own firm. Search the title here.