Award-winning small business accountant KATIE BRYAN’S firm Propeller Advisory offers audiology practices nationwide a unique approach to handling their finances and growing their business.
Mrs Katie Bryan is not your usual accountant. Instead of just focusing on tax, her business offers a subscription-based service that zeroes in on the financial health of a business and offers strategic advice to help practice owners get the fundamentals right.
Propeller Advisory is a remote service whose monthly subscription options provide year-round service including meetings and masterclasses to ensure the practice is on top of their financial goals and obligations. There’s also benchmarking to see how an audiology practice might be performing against industry norms.
As a working mum, Bryan is proud that rather than just helping practitioners run a business and get their numbers right, “we’re also helping them build a business that gives them the flexibility to be able to do what they want with their time”.
“So many go into business to be business owners but end up stuck doing the clinical work and everything else: admin, finances, reporting, you name it,” she says.
“But with the right advisor and the right advice, especially early on, they can step fully into the business owner seat. We help them build the right team, put the right systems in place, and create the business they actually set out to build… not one that keeps them stuck after hours catching up on paperwork.”
Bryan’s motto is accounting can be done differently. “It’s one thing to tick, flick and lodge a tax return, but it’s another thing to get the right help to build and grow the business that you’re looking for,” she says.
“I think a lot of audiologists don’t realise that it’s available, that they can have help in other ways, and they don’t need to do it all themselves.”
Three subscription tiers
Propeller Advisory, led by Bryan, has a team of 14 accountants, bookkeepers and virtual admin assistants. It offers three tiers of subscription – Keeping You Compliant, Best Practice Biz Owner, and Strategic Go Getter.
The first package offers basic Australian Tax Office (ATO) compliance, Bryan says.
“If you just want to tick the boxes, and that’s totally fine and normal, then this one is for you,” she says. “Lots of business owners just want their tax done, and if that’s the case then that’s your package. It gives you everything the ATO needs you to have from the bare minimum standpoint.”
The second package includes basic compliance but is the next level up.
“It’s a better service and includes regular catchups with your accountant, and a monthly masterclass and reports,” Bryan says.
“The top level is for businesses that want high growth; they want more, a virtual chief financial officer. This one’s very popular with our audiologists as they want a 12-month budget.
“They want an active cash flow system, to do business planning and work on their goals and strategy. Our audiology clients come to us for that package, which also comes with a quarterly meeting with me. They add on bookkeeping and tax later.”
Propeller Advisory has many allied health clients, but Bryan says the audiology profession is different due to quirks such as the Hearing Services Program (HSP) which must be considered when doing financials.
To ensure she is tuned into the profession’s needs, she attends the Hearing Business Alliance’s main seminar annually to keep updated on what’s changing in the industry, including HSP updates.
“It’s a unique industry, and from an accounting and finance standpoint, it has little quirks that need specialist accountant knowledge” she says.
“Having an accountant who understands the different systems, how CounselEar works and integrates with Xero, and the flow of information is invaluable for our clients.”
After graduating in commerce and as a chartered accountant, Bryan worked for others in various areas of accounting.
“That’s one of my points of difference – I haven’t just worked in tax, I’ve worked in business advisory, insolvency, and mergers and acquisitions,” she says. “In Melbourne I met lots of accounting firm owners and noticed the same thing everywhere – older men with piles of paperwork on their desks.
“I thought, ‘I could do this differently. I could start my own firm, run by a woman, we could go straight to the cloud and do everything remotely’ – rather than just a tax perspective, let’s go at it from a business health perspective, and help people get the fundamentals of business right.”
Bryan was inspired by the book, The Perfect Firm, which advised setting up with fixed fee, subscription-based services to avoid bill shocks for clients. She has done just that and everything is upfront on the website.
The subscription service was a pivotal part of the business from the moment she founded it nine years ago. “People thought it was cool because they’d say, ‘I just got this big bill from my accountant, I wasn’t expecting it, I don’t even know what they do for that money!’
“I’d say, ‘we have the perfect solution because I’ll tell you upfront exactly what I’m going to do, how much it’ll cost, and we’ll break it up over 12 monthly payments.”
Benchmarking benefits
Bryan says her team has worked with every office management system platform for audiology so understands proper set up and integration with other systems.
“The biggest benefit is we can help our audiology clients benchmark themselves against other players within the industry,” she says. “We can let them know whether they’re pricing themselves correctly, are spending too much money on wages or administration, if their hearing aid costs are too low, or they’re not doing enough private consultations.
“We look at their profits and losses and can give that sort of information freely.”
Another tool, the Finance Launch Pad, has also been popular, particularly with audiology clients. “It teaches them the fundamentals of finance – how to read their profit and loss and balance sheets, build a budget and so on. It also involves group coaching,” Bryan says.
Propeller Advisory has won multiple awards and is a Xero Platinum Partner, signifying a high level of expertise and experience in using Xero’s cloud-based accounting software. Bryan was three times named one of the Top 50 Women in Accounting Worldwide by Ignition billing automation platform and won the Women in Finance Principal of the Year award in 2021.
“Propeller means to drive forward and that was always the goal, to help businesses drive themselves forward and grow,” Bryan says.
For more information, visit: propelleradvisory.com.au.
ADVICE TRANSFORMED KNOX AUDIOLOGY: CEO
One of the most valuable aspects of working with Propeller Advisory is its monthly subscription model,
according to Ms Helen Campbell, CEO of Knox Audiology in Melbourne.
She says it helped transform the audiology business in just two years, assisting it to gain clarity and focus action to elevate it from a solid business to a purpose-led enterprise that is constantly learning, adapting, and thriving.
“Rather than seeing an accountant once a year at tax time, we receive ongoing, hands-on support,” Campbell says. “This includes monthly feedback on how we’re tracking against our budget, advice on staffing and expansion, and help integrating new software and systems that suit our specific operations.
“Katie liaises with our bookkeeper to ensure everything entered is accurate and purposeful, allowing her to give us the most relevant and strategic advice.”
Campbell discovered Propeller Advisory at a HBA conference and was inspired by Bryan’s “unique ability to make sense of the numbers that underpin every business decision”.
“Her presentation wasn’t just about accounting, it was about empowerment through understanding,” Campbell says. “That’s what led us to start working with her and her team two years ago, and it’s been one of the most transformative decisions for our business.
“The Propeller team demonstrated not just technical expertise but a rare insight into the workings of audiology businesses like ours. They helped us pinpoint where money was slipping through the cracks, guided us in goal setting, and supported us in implementing systems that keep our business profitable and purpose-driven.”
Campbell says Propeller’s knowledge of audiology practices including understanding programs like HSP set it apart. “They’re not trying to apply a generic accounting model to a specialised business; they truly ‘get’ our field and the challenges and opportunities we face.
“Monthly education sessions run by Katie help the business understand key financial concepts such as profit versus tax and what a balance sheet really tells us. These sessions have not only lifted the financial literacy of our leadership team but have helped foster a culture of ownership and transparency.”
Campbell says that, as a visionary CEO, she needed someone who could help translate vision into action, and Propeller provided that bridge through strategic planning and actionable targets. “Katie has helped us break our goals down into monthly milestones and made sure we stay aligned with our ‘why’ – keeping people connected to themselves, their families, and the world.
“That mission is more than words for us. For every patient we see, we donate through B1G1 to causes around the globe. Katie helped our leadership team to champion our impact work, helping us create and manage the strategy to support projects like my 2024 trip to Ethiopia with the Hamelin Fistula Foundation.”
Propeller helped structure Knox Audiology’s $6,000 fundraising target over the year and integrated it into its business goals so giving remained central, not additional.
“Katie’s leadership and mentorship go beyond accounting. Her monthly inspirational messages and personal reflections help our team stay grounded and motivated, especially as leaders navigating the complexities and solitude that can come with business growth,” Campbell says.
“Katie and her team are, in many ways, the glue that holds the strategic side of our business together, offering structure and inspiration. With their guidance, we’ve moved from good intentions to confident, data-backed action. The result is a more efficient, connected, and impactful business.”
For more information, visit: propelleradvisory.com.au.
