The Business: Macquarie Business Accountants (MBA) is a progressive accounting firm located in Port Macquarie on the NSW Mid-North Coast. It offers tax, compliance and business advisory services alongside self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) administration.
Products: SMSF Sorted & Workpapers Sorted
Industry: Accounting & SMSF
Interviewees: Christina Mainey, accountant; and Marcus Venables, accountant
Cloudoffis Customer: More than five years (SMSF Sorted); less than one year (Workpapers Sorted)
Key Results:
Before adopting SMSF Sorted in the early 2020s, Macquarie Business Accountants helped its SMSF clients through a PDF binder system, which relied on collating supporting documents into one long file or saving them in a simple folder structure on the firm’s drive under a client code. While the process worked, Christina Mainey says it wasn’t built for scale: reviewers had to scroll through documents that could run to 200 pages, checking calculations and cross-references page by page.
On the business accounting side, the firm’s workpapers process ran through a well-known industry platform. For accountant Marcus Venables, it was workable but not fit for where the firm wanted to go. The process also didn’t match how accountants are taught to build workpapers and simply took too long for the future-focused firm.
“It was good, but it just wasn’t good enough. We weren’t achieving what we wanted to, so we had to look at other solutions.”
The platform also required staff to log in three or four times just to open a single document, on top of slow processing and loading times.
“We were using a top software provider, so we kind of expected it would be the best software,” Marcus says. “But it didn’t help us to achieve what we wanted to.”
Christina first came across SMSF Sorted at an industry conference in 2019 and the firm moved onto the platform the following year. Six years on, MBA now runs all of its SMSF clients through SMSF Sorted.
The shift to Workpapers Sorted came later, prompted by growing frustration with the firm’s existing workpapers platform. MBA has been using Workpapers Sorted for around six months. While Marcus admits it’s still early days, it has been long enough to see a marked change in how quickly efficiency can be built.
For Marcus’s team, one of the standout changes was how much friction Workpapers Sorted removed from the day-to-day. Where the previous platform demanded repeated logins, Workpapers Sorted connects directly through the firm’s existing accounting software login, keeping staff signed in for up to 24 hours at a time.
“It took out all of the unnecessary logins for starters,” Marcus says. “You log in once and you’re essentially in that software for as long as you need.”
Document generation improved just as dramatically. Excel and PDF files that used to be produced and passed between separate programs are now generated inside Workpapers Sorted itself.
“Generating Excel documents, generating PDF documents – almost instantaneous,” Marcus says. “There’s no external software you’re using when you’re using Cloudoffis. You just go to one central location and that’s all you need.”
For Christina’s team, the connection that made the biggest difference involved the auditor using Cloudoffis too. Because Cloudoffis also offers audit functionality, MBA sought out an auditing firm already using the same platform.
“There’s an audit side to Cloudoffis,” Christina says. “Instead of having to download documents from Cloudoffis and upload them to an audit portal, it’s just a click of a button to send to the auditor. With Cloudoffis, it’s all in one when you download it at the end of the year – it’s huge.”
MBA now uses BDO for auditing purposes.
“We’ve been using them for the same amount of time we’ve used Cloudoffis, because it works so well,” says Christina.
For both accountants, Cloudoffis’s support and pace of development have been just as important as the platform’s day-to-day functionality. Marcus points to how often Cloudoffis ships new functionality in response to customer feedback.
“This software is changing nearly every month,” he says. “They’re really good at taking feedback. I’d recommend firms become familiar with the support Cloudoffis provides, because they’ve been incredibly helpful with their time and their knowledge.”
On the SMSF side, the shift away from lengthy PDF reviews has had a flow-on effect across the whole review-to-audit pipeline.
“It was definitely a huge improvement for review time,” Christina says. “Instead of the reviewer having to look through a 200-page PDF document, scrolling up and down, they could just click a button and be taken directly where they needed to go. It definitely cut the lag time between preparation and audit, so everything gets to audit a lot quicker, and turnaround is better.”
The impact has extended to the team itself, Christina says.
“The team’s happier, which is a big plus. Clients are happier too, because their work gets done quicker. We can do more work in the same amount of time, basically it helps us keep growing – both as a business and as a team.”
On the workpapers side, Marcus has seen turnaround times shrink dramatically in just six months.
“We’re able to turn over jobs within the day, really, whereas normally it would take multiple days,” he says. “It integrates with our current software too, so it’s a good ecosystem. Clients are essentially getting a cleaner job, with better reference points and an improved level of work.”
Both accountants see Cloudoffis’s pace of change as a strength, provided firms are willing to move with it.
“Be comfortable with change,” Marcus says. “Cloudoffis is new now for Workpapers Sorted, but it’s going to be completely different in a year’s time — much more advanced. You can tell the company is driven to change, which is great, and a lot of other companies aren’t.”
Christina agrees the payoff comes once firms lean into that pace, rather than resist it.
“Once you start embracing it, it gets a lot easier to keep the momentum going too, because you start to get excited about what they come out with – new ideas on how to make stuff work better,” she says. “Cloudoffis is good at taking that on board and putting it into their future developments.”
For firms weighing up a similar move, Christina and Marcus offer the following advice:
For Marcus, the willingness to adapt isn’t just about getting comfortable with new software, it’s also becoming a competitive necessity for the profession.
“The accountants who don’t like change will probably get left behind,” he says. “It’s not easy making a profit in this day and age and wages are going up. The demand for accountants is increasing and we need to be able to deliver — and without a good software provider, we can’t do that.”
Working with a platform that is still growing and evolving is part of what makes the relationship worthwhile, he adds.
“That’s why it’s exciting working with Cloudoffis — they’re a relatively new developer and software provider, so it’s exciting.”
Book a demo with a Cloudoffis expert here.
The Business: Macquarie Business Accountants (MBA) is a progressive accounting firm located in Port Macquarie on the NSW Mid-North Coast. It offers tax, compliance and business advisory services alongside self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) administration.
Products: SMSF Sorted & Workpapers Sorted
Industry: Accounting & SMSF
Interviewees: Christina Mainey, accountant; and Marcus Venables, accountant
Cloudoffis Customer: More than five years (SMSF Sorted); less than one year (Workpapers Sorted)
Before adopting SMSF Sorted in the early 2020s, Macquarie Business Accountants helped its SMSF clients through a PDF binder system, which relied on collating supporting documents into one long file or saving them in a simple folder structure on the firm’s drive under a client code. While the process worked, Christina Mainey says it wasn’t built for scale: reviewers had to scroll through documents that could run to 200 pages, checking calculations and cross-references page by page.
On the business accounting side, the firm’s workpapers process ran through a well-known industry platform. For accountant Marcus Venables, it was workable but not fit for where the firm wanted to go. The process also didn’t match how accountants are taught to build workpapers and simply took too long for the future-focused firm.
“It was good, but it just wasn’t good enough. We weren’t achieving what we wanted to, so we had to look at other solutions.”
The platform also required staff to log in three or four times just to open a single document, on top of slow processing and loading times.
“We were using a top software provider, so we kind of expected it would be the best software,” Marcus says. “But it didn’t help us to achieve what we wanted to.”
Christina first came across SMSF Sorted at an industry conference in 2019 and the firm moved onto the platform the following year. Six years on, MBA now runs all of its SMSF clients through SMSF Sorted.
The shift to Workpapers Sorted came later, prompted by growing frustration with the firm’s existing workpapers platform. MBA has been using Workpapers Sorted for around six months. While Marcus admits it’s still early days, it has been long enough to see a marked change in how quickly efficiency can be built.
For Marcus’s team, one of the standout changes was how much friction Workpapers Sorted removed from the day-to-day. Where the previous platform demanded repeated logins, Workpapers Sorted connects directly through the firm’s existing accounting software login, keeping staff signed in for up to 24 hours at a time.
“It took out all of the unnecessary logins for starters,” Marcus says. “You log in once and you’re essentially in that software for as long as you need.”
Document generation improved just as dramatically. Excel and PDF files that used to be produced and passed between separate programs are now generated inside Workpapers Sorted itself.
“Generating Excel documents, generating PDF documents – almost instantaneous,” Marcus says. “There’s no external software you’re using when you’re using Cloudoffis. You just go to one central location and that’s all you need.”
For Christina’s team, the connection that made the biggest difference involved the auditor using Cloudoffis too. Because Cloudoffis also offers audit functionality, MBA sought out an auditing firm already using the same platform.
“There’s an audit side to Cloudoffis,” Christina says. “Instead of having to download documents from Cloudoffis and upload them to an audit portal, it’s just a click of a button to send to the auditor. With Cloudoffis, it’s all in one when you download it at the end of the year – it’s huge.”
MBA now uses BDO for auditing purposes.
“We’ve been using them for the same amount of time we’ve used Cloudoffis, because it works so well,” says Christina.
For both accountants, Cloudoffis’s support and pace of development have been just as important as the platform’s day-to-day functionality. Marcus points to how often Cloudoffis ships new functionality in response to customer feedback.
“This software is changing nearly every month,” he says. “They’re really good at taking feedback. I’d recommend firms become familiar with the support Cloudoffis provides, because they’ve been incredibly helpful with their time and their knowledge.”
On the SMSF side, the shift away from lengthy PDF reviews has had a flow-on effect across the whole review-to-audit pipeline.
“It was definitely a huge improvement for review time,” Christina says. “Instead of the reviewer having to look through a 200-page PDF document, scrolling up and down, they could just click a button and be taken directly where they needed to go. It definitely cut the lag time between preparation and audit, so everything gets to audit a lot quicker, and turnaround is better.”
The impact has extended to the team itself, Christina says.
“The team’s happier, which is a big plus. Clients are happier too, because their work gets done quicker. We can do more work in the same amount of time, basically it helps us keep growing – both as a business and as a team.”
On the workpapers side, Marcus has seen turnaround times shrink dramatically in just six months.
“We’re able to turn over jobs within the day, really, whereas normally it would take multiple days,” he says. “It integrates with our current software too, so it’s a good ecosystem. Clients are essentially getting a cleaner job, with better reference points and an improved level of work.”
Both accountants see Cloudoffis’s pace of change as a strength, provided firms are willing to move with it.
“Be comfortable with change,” Marcus says. “Cloudoffis is new now for Workpapers Sorted, but it’s going to be completely different in a year’s time — much more advanced. You can tell the company is driven to change, which is great, and a lot of other companies aren’t.”
Christina agrees the payoff comes once firms lean into that pace, rather than resist it.
“Once you start embracing it, it gets a lot easier to keep the momentum going too, because you start to get excited about what they come out with – new ideas on how to make stuff work better,” she says. “Cloudoffis is good at taking that on board and putting it into their future developments.”
For firms weighing up a similar move, Christina and Marcus offer the following advice:
For Marcus, the willingness to adapt isn’t just about getting comfortable with new software, it’s also becoming a competitive necessity for the profession.
“The accountants who don’t like change will probably get left behind,” he says. “It’s not easy making a profit in this day and age and wages are going up. The demand for accountants is increasing and we need to be able to deliver — and without a good software provider, we can’t do that.”
Working with a platform that is still growing and evolving is part of what makes the relationship worthwhile, he adds.
“That’s why it’s exciting working with Cloudoffis — they’re a relatively new developer and software provider, so it’s exciting.”
Book a demo with a Cloudoffis expert here.
