Do your customers understand how much value you’re able to provide? Are you generating the income you deserve? Catalina Smith CA believes that many accountants undersell themselves – and she’s on a mission to put that right.

“We, as accountants, are facing an industry branding problem,” she says. “We’re seeing a growing gap between what we actually do and what the market thinks we do.”

Smith founded her company, Socials for Accountants, to help accountants make the most of all things social. As a CA, designer and wordsmith with a deep understanding of marketing, she has ideal credentials for the job.

Pictured: Catalina Smith CA

A love of numbers

Smith started her accounting journey at her father’s family practice.

“By the time I was 10 I was already sifting through shoeboxes of client tax receipts and keying in them into Excel,” she says.

After gaining a bachelor of commerce (accounting) at the University of Queensland, she was selected from hundreds of hopefuls for a graduate accounting role with Deloitte.

“I gained an invaluable skill set there, and it was also a lesson on the scale and magnitude of accountancy as a profession,” she says.

Along with numbers, Smith also has always loved writing and design. Deloitte recognised her talents and allowed her to design internal campaigns such as Movember and Impact Day.

“I was also on the board of the philanthropic Deloitte Foundation,” she says. “I helped with fundraising, facilitating various campaigns and working on pilot programs including the partnership between Deloitte and Multicultural Australia.”

During her four years at Deloitte she also completed the CA Program.

Award-winning success

Smith moved on to become an accounting and marketing manager at an SME practice.

“They needed help with moving into advisory areas such as virtual chief financial officer, tax planning and monthly reporting and forecasting,” she says. “I was able to take the marketing, lead generation and sales generation systems to the next level. This increased the uptake of advisory work by increasing visibility and awareness of the services we provided.”

More opportunities followed, along with industry recognition for her work at her SME practice employer, including FY22 and FY23 Community Partner of the Year at the Xero Awards. When Smith realised how much she loved the balance between marketing and accounting, Socials for Accountants was born.

“I’ve seen accountants in every situation, from small family practices through to Deloitte, and my time in practice opened my eyes to a few hard truths,” she says. “Many SME practices find it very difficult to communicate their value. They want to progress from being seen as a ‘once a year at tax time’ business to providing advisory and other high-value services, but they don’t know where to start.”

“Many SME practices find it very difficult to communicate their value. We partner with accounting firms to spread that message through social media.”

Socials for Accountants helps clients to understand and communicate their true worth.

“We partner with accounting firms to spread that message through social media – everything from strategy, messaging, graphics, reels, filming, ads, direct messaging and lead generation,” says Smith.

Free social media audit!

Social for Accountants is offering a free social media audit for all CA ANZ members. Discover your potential for growth here.