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About Andrea Wenborn, Principal
Assisting business owners to not only understand how their business is performing financially, but also how to improve it’s performance is extremely gratifying. While BAS Angels initially started out as a small business bookkeeping service, I quickly realised that many of my clients were hungry for more information about how they could use their financial data to make more strategic and astute business decisions. They also wanted to have the entire process demystified and made simpler to understand", said BAS Angels Principle, Andrea Wenborn.
Andrea's qualifications and experience in the financial services industry make her uniquely qualified to help business people in this way. Andrea is a qualified accountant with a Bachelor of Business Accounting Degree, an Advanced Accounting Diploma and a Certificate IV in Business Studies. She has also completed further qualifications in bookkeeping to become a registered BAS Agent. "My working life has been a little unusual, to say the least. You could best describe me as a "Jack of all Trades". I think this is why I relate to and understand business people very well. They also know how it feels to wear many hats in their business. What my clients appreciate about me is that bookkeeping and looking after their financials is one area where they can comfortably hand over the work, knowing that it will be completed quickly, accurately and efficiently, while they can get on with running and growing their business. Over 20 years, I have worked all around Australia in various financial and company accounting roles. Amongst others, I have worked for:
I tell you this simply to demonstrate the variety and scope of the financial management projects I have worked on throughout my career. From preparing and lodging GST and BAS returns to compiling financial reports and forecasts to Federal and Local Government authorities, Grant boards and private company management, I have pretty much done it all. I have managed teams of staff on large projects, been an IT and administrative 'trouble shooter', and mentored and trained staff on accounting software and financial management strategies. But in reality, the thing I love the most (and where my strengths lie), is in introducing efficiencies in businesses of all sizes, which make them more profitable, efficient and easy to manage. There is nothing better than working side by side with a business owner and their team to show them how they can make more money. I enjoy co-ordinating with their accountant to avoid double ups and productivity leakage (that ultimately cost them money). These are challenges that help me to stay sharp and constantly learning, because our tax laws are ever changing, and it is critical to stay abreast of them. Because of my background, I am extremely adept at embracing change, which is a pre-requisite for being effective in our industry. For many of my clients, I started out as their bookkeeper, but my role has morphed into more of a financial controller or virtual partner. I am obviously quite invested in improving your financial position. Financial rescues are a particular strength, however, I would much rather see clients start out on the right foot instead of going through the terrible stress that this process can bring. As in most things, prevention is always better than cure when it comes to your business financials. With this in mind, I have developed a "Discovery" process for potential new clients to gather important insights (usually for them as well as me) into the financial health of their business. From there, I can formulate recommendations on the basis of their business aspirations and budget. The great thing about this process is that it puts us on the same page with regard to where the business is, and where it needs to go, and it also gives both parties a feel for how well we 'fit' together. Qualifications
Accreditations
Contactp: 1300 227 264
m: 0402 301 667 e: [email protected] |
TestimonialsShe gets the work done quickly and efficiently, and is fantastic about thinking outside the square ...
I have known Andrea for many years. When I first met her, she was working for a firm I was also working for myself. Over the years, I have branched out into my own business, and I found that I was just too busy to do my bookwork myself. I was also a little anxious about the bookwork, because I was never entirely sure that I was doing it properly. It is very important to me that everything is done accurately. Although Andrea specialises in Xero, she was happy to work on my books, even though I use Quickbooks Online. She is very flexible that way. Andrea’s depth of knowledge is extremely impressive, and I really appreciate that she can work on my books very independently, and just let me get on with working my business. She gets the work done quickly and efficiently, and is fantastic about thinking outside the square. When I hand over my books, I am completely confident that everything will be done as it should, and in far less time than it would take me to do it. — Anthony Rees Andrea put systems in place in our business which immediately made everything easier ... Prior to meeting Andrea at BAS Angels, my wife was doing the bookwork for our business. This is not something that she had had experience doing before, and she was basically learning as she went. She was feeling a great deal of pressure as a result, because she was already quite time poor. I was looking for someone who could take that stress away from us, and free us up to get on with running our business. And I was also very keen to make sure it was someone who was experienced and qualified to do it properly. From very early on, it was obvious that Andrea was not just your average bookkeeper. Andrea put systems in place in our business which immediately made everything easier. She helped us merge MYOB to Xero, which means that now everything is electronic and stored in the Cloud. Every task takes a fraction of the time, and there is no risk that paperwork can get misplaced. Andrea is so flexible to deal with, and she always responds quickly to our calls and requests. She takes the time to explain accounting and bookkeeping concepts in straightforward, plain English, and never uses jargon or industry babble. I always know exactly what she is talking about, which helps me to make decisions in my business. At the moment, she is helping us to integrate Ezydebit into our business, so that we can improve our cash flow by getting our clients onto direct debit arrangements, and we can also streamline our debt collection. Not only has our business benefited with these new efficiencies, but the family has also benefited, as my wife is not snowed under with bookkeeping, and I have more time to spend with the family. Andrea is just awesome. — Shane Holland Managing Director, Cold Pro Pty Ltd She had empathy for the stress & issues I face as a small business owner From my initial conversations with Andrea, I was blown away by her expertise, ability to speak the same business language, in simple terms, and I valued that she had empathy for the stress and issues I face as a small business owner. I felt such immense relief to have spoken to her, and knew that Andrea was going to be a healthy, necessary, and positive change that I needed to move forward with my business. — Helen Pope Andrea also takes an interest in the business as a whole, how it is run and how it could be improved I first heard about BAS Angels from a friend who recommended their service to me. It was a big step for me to engage the services of a professional bookkeeper because I had always done the books for my business myself and I consider it to be a task that needs to be performed with a high level of interest and conscientiousness. I decided that I needed a professional bookkeeper because I couldn’t keep up with the job myself. My business had grown and the other tasks were taking up all of my time leaving nothing to keep up with the books, I had fallen quite far behind. During the first meeting I could see right away that BAS Angels offered the kind of high level of professional service I was looking for. I was finding it difficult to get time to get away from my shop so Andrea from BAS Angels came to my work to meet. At the first meeting we discussed where I was with my accounts and what could be done to bring my books up to date and keep them that way. I was very impressed with Andrea's qualifications and experience in the field. I was a little reluctant to switch over to the Xero cloud-based system at first, it wasn’t compulsory but I went with the recommendation to switch and I am really glad I did. I love the way the Xero system works, it’s easy to use and best of all I can use my log in details to access my accounts from any computer and they are up to date so there is no sending files back and forward or wondering if I have the latest version of the accounts file. Andrea not only is meticulous in the keeping of the books and accounts in order, but also takes interest in the business as a whole and how it is run, how it could be improved and how the various aspects of the business are affected by the finances. It is only since engaging the services of BAS Angels that I have discovered how beneficial having well maintained financial records can be to the other areas of my business. It not only allows me to see where the business stands financially but also gives me a greater confidence as a business manager in the decisions made in other aspects of the business such as budgeting, purchasing, marketing and cash flow. This has allowed for more efficient and precise cash and stock management and a more profitable business in general. — Sean Hancock, Hancock Guitars Andrea knows Xero and Receipt Bank and gets everything done perfectly and for a fraction of what my time is worth I started using BAS Angels in 2014 after finding that I simply could not keep up with the bookkeeping for my business. There is so much detail required, and I found that it was taking me a huge amount of time to keep things up to date. As a result, the work was always behind. I would end up spending my weekends feeling frustrated and struggling to get on top of it. If I didn’t get to it, I felt quite stressed because I knew how disorganized it all was. Over time, it built up to the point that is was a huge, overwhelming job. Handing the work over to Andrea gave me immediate relief, and more importantly, peace of mind. I knew everything was being done meticulously, and in a fraction of the time it was taking me to grapple with it. Andrea knows Xero and Receipt Bank and gets everything done perfectly and for a fraction of what my time is worth. Andrea is super responsive. In fact, it is as though she is working in my business with me. She has an enormous amount of experience to draw on, so she always gives me extremely practical advice. Because Andrea has taken care of my business for a while now, she has gotten to know it and ‘gets’ all the nuances involved. Andrea is incredibly transparent in terms of her invoicing and time reporting. There are no nasty surprises each quarter when she sends me the account. Andrea also does my budgeting and reporting and hands it directly to my accountant. This has dramatically reduced my accounting fees (and freed up my Sundays!). — Angie McWilliam, Director, Censo Consulting |