Recap of CAA’s Accounting Conference
Sarah and Vita were honoured to be invited to speak at Chartered Accountants (Australia and New Zealand) Accounting Conference in May 2025. They spoke on Building an Accounting Firm That is Extraordinarily Rewarding for Everyone Involved. Let’s jump into a little recap!
The CAA Accounting Conference was held on the 21st to the 22nd of May 2025 and covered topics from AI to tax strategies, and professional development.
We were introduced by the wonderful Liz Stamford (General Manager Smaller Practices CAA) - “Sarah and Vita - the founders of Bramble & Briar built the modern accounting firm they wished existed - people-first, genuinely flexible, and values-aligned. “
COMPANY HISTORY
VITA: “It’s funny I can’t tell you how many times we’re told, you don’t look like your stereotypical accountant”
From the beginnings of our careers Sarah and I never really fit the mould. So when we set about building our own practise we knew a few things right off the bat:
We won’t be wearing fussy suits
We won’t be booking meetings before we’ve had at least one cup of coffee
We’ll use language that our clients actually understand
We will create a safe space for us and everyone we work with.
WELCOMING DIVERSITY
SARAH: “The gap between most flexible working policies and their success are the edge cases. If you can make it work for the carers, then it is significant progress for everyone.”
When my eldest daughter (shared with her permission) was two she had a new type genetic testing which revealed that she was one of two children in the world with a rare genetic deletion.There was a lot of uncertainty around what that might mean for her long term. However there was certainty that we would continue having many specialist appointments, and early intervention.
Flexibility was a must.
VITA: “We knew we were great at what we did and still had so much to offer, but the system didn’t work for us anymore.”
To operate in a truly flexible environment, difficult cultural expectations need to be challenged because keep in mind it’s not just parents that want and benefit from flexibility in the workplace.
THE VISION
SARAH: “We started with our primary goals, and then teased it out over some very good coffee.”
Recruiting great people
Making sure we were retaining those great people
Targeting growth businesses, which probably had the same problems as us.
Focus on our culture
Being ethical and sustainable in how we run our business
But always focused on giving clients the expert advice. if it’s not us, making sure we’re referring to the people that are.
That was 10 years ago and not much has changed in the time since.
FLEXIBLITY
VITA: “We were acutely aware of how many inefficient days were spent in the office in pointless meetings or waiting around for others or just commuting back and forth.”
We knew we could get just as much, if not more work done and be so much happier working flexibly around our lives. At the time, the corporate sector wasn’t ready for the type of flexibility we envisioned, because it would require major system and cultural change.
BUT, we have since built it and proven it can work.
HR policies don’t create flexibility or culture unless you live and breathe them at every level of the business.
PEOPLE
“VITA: We’ve seen members of our team really flourish when they’ve been given the licence to work in areas they they’re passionate about.”
We believe in the power of alignment—matching individual strengths, passions, and expertise with the needs of the role. It’s not just about filling positions; it’s about ensuring that each team member is empowered to thrive where they’re naturally strong.
We take the time to understand people’s unique capabilities and career aspirations, so we can shape roles that unlock their potential and deliver exceptional outcomes. When the right people are in the right roles, innovation, satisfaction, and success follow naturally.
HOW WE WORK
SARAH: “We will not profit by burning out staff, and they don’t profit by bunking off.”
One day office day for the fun team vibes
No formal office hours (choose your hours and days each week)
Device Security without tracking (no mouse jigglers required)
Part-time with time in lieu (or cashed out)
Public holiday pro-rata system
We came up with a pro-rata public holiday. If you work full-time in victoria, say you have 12 public holidays in a year.
If you work 4 days a week, then January 1st, you received ⅘ of the annual public holidays as a credit. You then choose when you will take those days. Many business are effectively doing this with Australia day, by allowing their team members to choose the day they would like to celebrate.
MANAGEMENT
VITA: “To make all of this possible, you need to nail project management and planning is everything.”
The core pillars of our operations are:
active workflow management
everything that needs doing is attached to a project with regular reviews and tracking
communicate, communicate, communicate, both internally with your team and externally with clients
manage expectations and stick to it, if we say we’re going to do something by a certain date, do it. If not, communicate in advance
Workload and project status is visible to everyone in the team at a moments notice (just because someone isn’t available doesn’t mean everything stops).
TECHNOLOGY
SARAH: “Tech facilitates and supports all of our projects, client deliverables and communications. Flexibility is not possible without good tech.”
Having always been a remote first firm, we always were going to invest heavily in technology. We're so paperless, we don't even own a printer.
We have very fancy shredder instead. It doesn't mean it works for all people, but we're okay for that.
Importantly, we do not outsource. Everything is done in-house, in Australia, by a real human who understands the work.
Yes, that does mean we run a pretty substantial tech stack. But we always use the best tool for the job.
If a platform we already use only solves 70% of a problem, and there’s a better system out there? We’ll integrate the better one.
COMMUNICATION
SARAH: “Comms are key, but they’re pointless if you spam everyone to the point that they tune out they need to be targeted and relevant to the person/business receiving them.”
Our client emails are segmented and tailored based on that very tidy data set. I will add the caveat that this is not an insignificant technical challenge which is why we did build a application that takes our XPM client data and transforms into the segmented information in our automated email software.
VALUES AND CULTURE
VITA: “What does sucess look like to us?”
We set our own hours that work for our lives and aren’t office bound.
We have amazing clients who we enjoy working with and appreciate what we do.
We genuinely enjoy hanging out with our team and feel very lucky to have brought such a great group of people together.
We created a workplace with real flexibility, not just a policy that has lots of promise but doesn’t deliver.
Lastly, despite all of the naysayers, we have a profitable business that has grown year on year. We love what we do and genuinely look forward to what the future brings.