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COV ER S TORY
David Evers and Troy Marchant – AdviceCo Making our clients wealthy ADVICECO CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS roots go back to the mid 1980’s with National mid-tier accounting firm Love & Wallace. Love & Wallace had a branch office servicing some of the Central Coast’s larger companies such as Sterland Bros and Kingstone Homes. After a change in leadership in November 2016, the business rebranded to AdviceCo Chartered Accountants & has gone on to become one of the leading business advisory firms on the Central Coast with close to 30 staff. Managing Director David Evers and Director Troy Marchant, have had a long association with AdviceCo. “I joined the business in 1986 while I was studying Commerce at Newcastle University” says David. “I have had close to 40 years with the business, excluding a brief period where I worked in North Sydney for Bennell Innes.” In 2000, David set up its Financial Planning business, partnering with Count Financial (“Count”). Count are one of Australia’s largest financial planning licensees with over 200 accredited firms across Australia. “We believe in growing our client’s wealth, so it made sense to offer Financial Planning and advice”, says David. In 2009, AdviceCo partnered with Countplus – a national accounting firm aggregator listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. This provided the firm with the foundation to expand its advice offering with access to specialists across the
CENTRAL COAST BUSINESS REVIEW MAY 2022
country, but more importantly, provide a platform for the team to grow their professional careers with a national brand on the Central Coast. It was also around this time that Troy Marchant re-joined the business, after a stint working in the UK with Deutsche Bank, to help setup a Business Coaching division offering workshops & seminars to small business. “I went overseas initially on a cricket contract. It was during this time that began to see what high performance coaching looked like. From that point of view, coming back to AdviceCo to setup the Business Coaching division really made sense.” With that, the scene was set for the practice to provide a holistic advice service to clients and to encourage staff to become a part of the business. In rebranding AdviceCo, David and Troy set their business plan in four core values for the firm’s future - They call them “the 4-Pillars” • Clients • Team • Shareholders • Community This new direction and change in leadership brought about a new culture within the firm. As the name implies, AdviceCo is a business advisory service, the focus on being pro-active accountants. “When we set about rebranding, we kept coming back to the word “Advice”. Everything we do is
about advice,” says David. While Troy says, “We believe one of the main reasons to have a good accountant is to help you grow your wealth through planning, tax strategies and advice.” David adds, “The Central Coast SME market responded positively to the rebranding and renewed direction we took, with our client base doubling in the last 5 years.” He adds further, “Importantly, by using technology effectively with software like XERO, we have managed to keep costs down and pass the savings onto clients, while at the same time, not overly increasing our internal headcount.” They have invested in the team, with all the staff empowered and encouraged to use the experience and resources of the firm. As the name implies AdviceCo is a business advisory service, “It’s all about leadership,”. Troy adds, “Since 2016, wwe have capitalised on our strengths and gotten rid of our weaknesses, the old leadership model was broken and road blocked. We needed to reinvent, which we did successfully.” Clients The whole team keeps in touch with their clients, they don’t wait for clients to call them. “We are there to help our clients achieve their goals,” says Troy who adds, “Our clients see us as an extension of their business.” The most important aspect of business management is financial reporting, the
