David Evers and Troy Marchant AdviceCo

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 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

starting point for which is the tedious and time consuming bookkeeping process. Many businesses fail at this point because they are unable to cope with the demands of recording the transactions that a business generates every day. Automating these tasks and being able to quickly access the reports needed for management as well as taxation and other statutory requirements is where accounting software becomes the focus.

As the largest user of XERO on the Central Coast, AdviceCo utilises the benefits of cloud computing which gives them the added advantage of advising clients without necessarily carrying out personal visits, as important as they are on a regular basis. AdviceCo also embraces the latest technology to ensure that the firm operates at its maximum potential in terms of management and productivity. The Team David and Troy have invested heavily in the AdviceCo Team encouraging them to grow personally and professionally. Some have become shareholders, including Debbie Bloffwitch, Cherie Tracey and Fiona Booth. Debbie Bloffwitch has been with the firm for over 30 years and Cherie Tracey 14 years. Both are shareholders and Associate Directors in the areas of accounting and tax. Additionally, Fiona Booth holds a Masters of Taxation.

In 2018 Principal Gerard Andrews and Steve Walker amalgamated their Wyong practice Walker Andrews Chartered Accountants with AdviceCo giving the business a “footprint” an in the northern end of the Central Coast. Both are also

Countplus was founded in 2007 by wellknown financial planner Barry Lambert who also started Count Financial before selling out to the Commonwealth Bank in 2011. Historically Count has always had a strong link with accounting firms nationally.

AdviceCo’s Board of Directors is made up of David Evers as Managing Director, Troy Marchant and other representatives from Countplus, including respected industry figure, David Smith, who is the Board’s Chairman. Community Both David and Troy believe strongly in ‘putting back’ into the community in which they live and do business. Over the years a number of local charities have benefited from donations with funds raised by staff,

AdviceCo Team: (front l to r) Cherie Tracey, Troy Marchant, David Evers, Debbie Bloffwitch, Christine Hallowes. (far right) Fiona Booth, (centre back) Gerard Andrews. Missing from photo - Steve Walker

shareholders. In addition, Certified Financial Planner, Christine Hallowes joined four years ago after a 30 year career in banking and is a shareholder and Principal and has been a critical team addition in the Wealth Planning part of the business.

In 2021 the business revamped its employee offering, with a range of additional benefits to complement their career opportunities. Shareholders ASX listed CountPlus Limited, a network of professional accounting and advice firms, is a shareholder in AdviceCo Pty Ltd. As such they provide the resources accounting firms need in a complex business world as well as providing a succession strategy to enable the future leaders of the business to grow their careers.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 19

Across business, property, criminal, family law and wills & estates law, our teams include