Who are the top accounting influencers in Australia?

Australia's most-followed accounting voices include Heather Smith of ANISE Consulting, named Accounting Thought Leader of the Year in 2024 and host of Cloud Stories; Aly Garrett, founder of the award-winning Adelaide firm All In Advisory; Clayton Oates of QA Business, who has advised firms on technology for thirty years; and Karen McWilliams of CA ANZ on regulatory reform. Demographer Bernard Salt is also widely followed by firm owners for the client and hiring trends behind the profession.

Where do Australian accountants follow industry voices?

LinkedIn is the main venue for the Australian accounting conversation, ahead of X or Instagram. Podcasts carry a disproportionate amount of the substance — Cloud Stories and All In Aussie Accounting Adventures are both Australian-hosted. Conferences matter more than in larger markets simply because the profession is small enough that the same few hundred people meet in person each year.

Is the Australian accounting scene different from the US?

Yes, in two ways that matter. Australian commentary is far more accessible — the profession is small enough that most well-known figures will reply to a message, which is rarely true in the US. And a large share of widely-circulated accounting content is US-specific on tax and regulation, so Australian practitioners need local voices for anything technical rather than relying on the larger American conversation.

Read · Evergreen guide

The Australian accounting voices worth following

Most lists of "accounting influencers" are the same twenty-five American names recycled between directory sites that have never read any of them. This one is regional, deliberately short, and says what each person is actually good on.

Updated 2 August 2026 — reviewed annually.

Australia has a small profession and a genuinely good one — the useful voices are accessible in a way their US equivalents are not. Most of these people will reply if you message them.

Who to follow

Listed alphabetically, not ranked — a league table of real people is a fight nobody needs.

Aly Garrett

Founder, All In Advisory (Adelaide)

Built an award-winning boutique firm from scratch in 2018 — Xero Cloud Champion of the Year, and Accountants Daily Boutique Firm and Start Up of the Year. Also hosts All In Aussie Accounting Adventures. Strong on what running a modern small firm actually involves.

Karen McWilliams

Business Reform Leader, CA ANZ

The clearest voice on the regulatory change actually heading for Australian practices — insolvency, corporate governance, AML and sustainability reporting. Follow her if you would rather hear about a reform before it lands than after.

Clayton Oates

Founder, QA Business

Thirty years advising Australian and international firms on software, and one of the few people who has watched every wave of accounting tech arrive and be oversold. Useful precisely because he is hard to excite.

Bernard Salt

Demographer and futurist

Not an accounting commentator, which is the point. If you want to understand the demographic and social shifts reshaping your client base and your hiring pool, he is the most readable source in the country.

Heather Smith

ANISE Consulting; host, Cloud Stories (Brisbane)

Named Accounting Thought Leader of the Year in 2024 and sits on the CA ANZ Council. Has covered the Australian accounting app ecosystem longer than most of the apps have existed, and interviews the people building them.

Disclosure: our own team

The Firm is published by the same people behind Vinyl and Journey, and Vinyl also sponsors coverage elsewhere on this site. They're listed here rather than in the list above, because a publisher ranking its own founders among independent voices isn't a ranking worth reading.

Trent McLaren

Founder, The Firm; co-founder, Vinyl and Journey

Writes most of our AI coverage — practical implementation for firms rather than speculation about the future of the profession.

Liss McLaren

Co-founder and Head of Product, Vinyl (Gold Coast)

Previously Transformation Lead at TOA Global. Works on turning messy firm workflows into software that people will actually use — a discipline the accounting tech market is short of.

Who have we missed? This list is only as good as the corrections it gets — tell us who belongs on it.

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Common questions

Frequently asked questions

Who are the top accounting influencers in Australia?: Australia's most-followed accounting voices include Heather Smith of ANISE Consulting, named Accounting Thought Leader of the Year in 2024 and host of Cloud Stories; Aly Garrett, founder of the award-winning Adelaide firm All In Advisory; Clayton Oates of QA Business, who has advised firms on technology for thirty years; and Karen McWilliams of CA ANZ on regulatory reform. Demographer Bernard Salt is also widely followed by firm owners for the client and hiring trends behind the profession.
Where do Australian accountants follow industry voices?: LinkedIn is the main venue for the Australian accounting conversation, ahead of X or Instagram. Podcasts carry a disproportionate amount of the substance — Cloud Stories and All In Aussie Accounting Adventures are both Australian-hosted. Conferences matter more than in larger markets simply because the profession is small enough that the same few hundred people meet in person each year.
Is the Australian accounting scene different from the US?: Yes, in two ways that matter. Australian commentary is far more accessible — the profession is small enough that most well-known figures will reply to a message, which is rarely true in the US. And a large share of widely-circulated accounting content is US-specific on tax and regulation, so Australian practitioners need local voices for anything technical rather than relying on the larger American conversation.