When was the last time you looked back at your calendar and asked whether all those meetings, commitments and hours were actually a good use of your time?

In this episode of the Accounting Apps Podcast, I unpack the monthly calendar audit I use to understand where my time has gone, identify follow-ups that may have slipped through the cracks, and question activities that perhaps should not be there at all.

My process combines Google Workspace, Google Calendar, Google Apps Script and Google Sheets to turn a month of calendar activity into something I can review line by line. Colour coding and categorisation help me separate personal activities, non-billable administration, speaking engagements, podcasting, writing, CPD and other commitments.

The audit is not simply about productivity. It gives me distance from my calendar so I can consider my energy levels, protect productive hours, manage meetings more deliberately and ask whether the technology supporting my workflow still makes sense.

• Audit where your time actually goes. Reviewing your calendar at the end of each month can highlight low-value commitments, non-billable work and meetings that took significant time without delivering meaningful outcomes.
• Use calendar colour coding and categorisation. Google Calendar categories make it easier to group activities and understand the balance between personal time, client work, administration, CPD, speaking, writing and other commitments.
• Protect your productive hours and energy. A calendar audit can reveal patterns around when you do your best thinking, whether meetings are consuming those productive periods, and whether late-night international commitments require additional buffer time.
• Use the audit as a second check for follow-ups. Looking back over meetings can prompt forgotten action points, unanswered requests, CPD that needs recording, projects that need finalising or conversations that require another follow-up.
• Audit the technology as well as the calendar. Calendly offers useful functionality such as meeting buffers and automated emails, but Google also provides appointment scheduling. Reviewing overlapping technology can identify opportunities to simplify workflows and reduce subscriptions.

A calendar audit takes time. Mine can take two or three hours, but that is partly because I use the process to stop, think and review what happened during the month.

It gives me an opportunity to ask some useful questions. Why did I take that meeting? Did anything come from it? Should it have been an hour, or would 15 minutes have been enough? Am I protecting my capacity and bandwidth? Is my calendar supporting the way I want to work?

The goal is not to create the perfect calendar. It is to become more deliberate about where time and energy are going, recognise what is working, and make better-informed choices about what deserves space in the calendar next month.

Episode resources and links:

Descript, Camtasia, ChatGPT, Google Workspace, Google Calendar, Google Apps Script, Google Sheets, Calendly, Microsoft

If this episode helped you, the best way to support the show is to leave a review somewhere as it helps more people find us. And if you want to continue the conversation, come find me Heather Smith | Accountant and Storyteller on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/HeatherSmithAU/

Accounting Apps newsletter: http://accountingapps.io/

Accounting Apps Mastermind: https://www.facebook.com/groups/XeroMasterMind

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/ANISEConsulting

X: https://twitter.com/HeatherSmithAU

AI is helping accountants and bookkeepers work faster, automate repetitive tasks and reduce cognitive load. But as AI moves beyond calculation and automation into writing, analysing, explaining, brainstorming and reasoning, an interesting question emerges: what happens to the thinking skills we developed by doing those things ourselves?

In this episode of the Accounting Apps Podcast, I explore how AI may be changing the way accountants and bookkeepers think. I look at neuroplasticity, the “useful struggle” involved in developing expertise, and why professional judgement becomes even more important when AI can produce a polished answer in seconds.

Technology has always allowed accountants to shift attention away from repetitive activities. Spreadsheets removed much of our manual arithmetic. Accounting software automated processes that once took hours. AI is another step along that path, but there is an important distinction between using technology to remove cognitive clutter and allowing it to do the valuable thinking for us.

• 🧠 Neuroplasticity and accounting expertise: Repeatedly completing tasks such as bank reconciliations builds pattern recognition and experience. When we stop practising particular cognitive skills, the way we use and develop those skills can change.
• 🤖 AI can remove cognitive clutter: Summarising information, drafting routine correspondence, extracting information and preparing meeting notes are examples of where AI can reduce workload and create more space for professional thinking.
• 🔍 Don’t outsource the useful struggle: Investigating something that doesn’t look right, testing ideas and forming hypotheses are part of developing accounting expertise. Rather than immediately asking AI for an answer, spend time developing your own view first.
• 💡 Use AI to challenge your reasoning: There is an important difference between asking AI, “Tell me what’s wrong,” and asking it to test a hypothesis you have already developed. AI can act as a second set of eyes while you remain actively involved in the thinking.
• 🎯 Professional judgement becomes more valuable: Materiality, professional scepticism, ethics, context, relationships and knowing when something simply doesn’t smell right become increasingly important as AI produces more of the first draft.

Episode resources and links:

Debunking Brain Myths: What’s Really Holding You Back from Change with Sarah McKay

https://podcasts.apple.com/bm/podcast/debunking-brain-myths-whats-really-holding-you-back/id792555885?i=1000700760179

Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/392560878_Your_Brain_on_ChatGPT_Accumulation_of_Cognitive_Debt_when_Using_an_AI_Assistant_for_Essay_Writing_Task

Exam Study Expert

https://examstudyexpert.com/dr-sarah-mckay/

Dr Sarah McKay home page : https://drsarahmckay.com/ (Neuroscience for real life, with a focus on women’s brain health. For women, professionals and organisations.)

If this episode helped you, the best way to support the show is to leave a review somewhere as it helps more people find us. And if you want to continue the conversation, come find me Heather Smith | Accountant and Storyteller on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/HeatherSmithAU/

Accounting Apps newsletter: http://accountingapps.io/

Accounting Apps Mastermind: https://www.facebook.com/groups/XeroMasterMind

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/ANISEConsulting

X: https://twitter.com/HeatherSmithAU

AI and automation are changing accounting, but the bigger opportunity is not simply automating individual tasks. In this episode of the Accounting Apps Podcast, I speak with John Munden, Chief Strategy Officer at Cloud Office, about rethinking workflows, connecting fragmented data and preparing accounting firms for a world where more compliance work happens automatically.

We explore why successful technology adoption starts with understanding the problem you are trying to solve. John shares his perspective on change management, including mapping workflows before introducing new software, involving the team in the process and developing internal champions who can support adoption.

Key discussion points:

• Rethink workflows before adding AI. Rather than bolting AI onto existing processes, firms should understand how work moves through the practice, identify the problem they are solving and redesign workflows around the capabilities of their technology.
• Connected data creates a stronger foundation. John discusses overcoming data silos through integrations, APIs and two-way syncing, with the goal of creating a reliable single source of truth across the practice.
• Experimentation needs a path to production. Vibe coding, bots and AI-powered automations can accelerate ideas and create useful prototypes, but firms also need to consider maintenance, security, data storage and what happens when the person who created an automation leaves.
• The accounting career pathway is changing. As more junior-level production and compliance work becomes automated or completed offshore, firms need new ways to help emerging accountants learn what good work looks like and develop professional judgement.
• Communication, advisory and professional judgement become increasingly important. As technology handles more repetitive work, accountants have an opportunity to spend more time interpreting information, communicating with clients and providing meaningful advice.

The conversation ultimately comes back to what accountants can do with the time technology gives them. Automation may increasingly handle repetitive compliance and administrative work, but professional judgement, relationships and responsibility remain important. The opportunity is to use AI, automation and connected technology to create space for accountants to have better conversations, deliver stronger advisory services and spend more time being accountants.

Episode resources and links:

John Munden https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmunden/

Cloudoffis https://cloudoffis.com.au/

If this episode helped you, the best way to support the show is to leave a review somewhere as it helps more people find us. And if you want to continue the conversation, come find me Heather Smith | Accountant and Storyteller on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/HeatherSmithAU/

Accounting Apps newsletter: http://accountingapps.io/

Accounting Apps Mastermind: https://www.facebook.com/groups/XeroMasterMind

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/ANISEConsulting

X: https://twitter.com/HeatherSmithAU