CPA Australia

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Channel • 4 Shows

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Updated Apr 1
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Updated Apr 14
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5D AGO

Template tips to boost workflows

Most finance professionals have made this mistake at least once. You open last month's file, update the numbers, hit save, and only then realise you should have saved it as this month's version of the file. This is where templates can help. In this episode, explore how Excel templates solve that problem while also improving consistency across your reporting. Main learnings: How Excel templates prevent accidental file overwrites The difference between workbook, sheet and task-based templates Where to find and manage built-in and personal templates How to create blank templates with pre-set formats and settings Using templates to embed headers, footers and branding Managing template storage, including system and shared folders How to apply templates across teams for consistency and control Tune in now. Host: Neale Blackwood CPA. He has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator and is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants. For more, check out the accompanying video - https://youtu.be/RJdT6FF-w58 Read more of Neale's Excel articles on INTHEBLACK. Loving this content? Don't forget to subscribe to EXCEL TIPS and share this episode with your colleagues and friends in the business community. Would you like to listen to more Excel Tips and other CPA Australia podcasts like INTHEBLACK and With Interest? Head to CPA Australia's YouTube channel. And don't forget to subscribe to the channel. You can find a CPA at our custom portal on the CPA Australia website. CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance and accounting: With Interest INTHEBLACK Excel Tips INTHEBLACK Out Loud Search for them in your podcast platform. You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

5d ago

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8 min
APR 1

Increment dates easily in Excel

What if you could simplify Excel date calculations with one powerful custom function? Well, this episode explains how. You'll learn: How to handle different date increments including days, weeks and months in one function Using the SWITCH function to create a lookup table How the LAMBDA function can be deployed Best practice tips for this custom function Listen now to improve your Excel skills. Host: Neale Blackwood CPA. He has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator and is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants. For more, check out the accompanying video for this episode. Read more of Neale's Excel articles on INTHEBLACK. Loving this content? Don't forget to subscribe to EXCEL TIPS and share this episode with your colleagues and friends in the business community. Would you like to listen to more Excel Tips and other CPA Australia podcasts like INTHEBLACK and With Interest? Head to CPA Australia's YouTube channel. And don't forget to subscribe to the channel. You can find a CPA at our custom portal on the CPA Australia website. CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance and accounting: With Interest INTHEBLACK Excel Tips INTHEBLACK Out Loud Search for them in your podcast platform. You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

Apr 1

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7 min
MAR 2

Master your messy data

Messy, unstructured data. It slows reporting, creates errors, and tests everyone's patience. Right? This episode breaks down how the new Regular Expressions (REGEX) work and how they help you find patterns in unstructured text, from email addresses to dates and hidden white space. You will learn: what REGEX is and why it matters for accountants and analysts how to use REGEXEXTRACT, REGEXTEST and REGEXREPLACE when to combine REGEXTEST with FILTER for smarter analysis how REGEX now works inside XLOOKUP and XMATCH ways to manage white space and non-standard characters why building a reusable pattern library will save time. Programmers have been using REGEX patterns for decades, but they've only just come to Excel. The good news is Excel's new REGEX functions give finance teams a practical way to take back control. Listen now to help improve your Excel skills. Host: Neale Blackwood CPA. He has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator and is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants. For more, check out the accompanying YouTube video of this episode. Read more of Neale's Excel articles on INTHEBLACK. Loving this content? Don't forget to subscribe to EXCEL TIPS and share this episode with your colleagues and friends in the business community. Would you like to listen to more Excel Tips and other CPA Australia podcasts like INTHEBLACK and With Interest? Head to CPA Australia's YouTube channel. And don't forget to subscribe to the channel. You can find a CPA at our custom portal on the CPA Australia website. CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance and accounting: With Interest INTHEBLACK Excel Tips INTHEBLACK Out Loud Search for them in your podcast platform. You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

Mar 2

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6 min
01/29/2024

Rachel Botsman on workplace trust in the digital age

What does workplace trust mean to you? Thought leader, renowned author and TED talk presenter Rachel Botsman is a trust expert, and she draws on her extensive expertise to explain the significance of trust in business. She unpacks what trust in the digital era means, how it relates to ethical leadership and what trust looks like in an organisational culture. Tune in now. Host: Jackie Blondell, Editor, CPA Australia. Guest: Rachel Botsman teaches people and organisations how to rethink their relationship with trust. She is a thought leader on the topic and has given three celebrated TED talks, written two critically acclaimed books and created Oxford University's first course on trust in the digital world at the Saïd Business School. You can learn more from Rachel Botsman at CPA Congress, where she is one of a number of highly anticipated speakers. CPA Congress is an annual event that brings the business community together to accelerate progress. This year's "Flex Forward" theme focuses on three key concepts – simplicity, versatility and trust – that will help you adapt your mindset to navigate complexity and create opportunity. CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting: With Interest INTHEBLACK Excel Tips INTHEBLACK Out Loud Search for them in your podcast platform. You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

01/29/2024

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25 min
FEB 2

Build Better Excel Models

You may know The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People as a cornerstone of modern business thinking. But what happens when those same principles from this book are applied to one of the most widely used tools in finance: Excel? In this episode, we explore how the seven habits framework can be applied by accountants and finance professionals to design and build Excel models. The focus is practical and grounded in real work, with key learnings including: How asking better questions leads to stronger Excel models Why planning and prioritisation matter before building anything Designing reports first and working back to the data Building proactive features that reduce errors and improve usability Using automation and AI thoughtfully to support the process The episode also looks at where Excel fits alongside tools such as Power BI, and why judgement and planning still matter even as AI becomes more capable. Listen now. Host: Neale Blackwood CPA. He has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator and is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants. For more, check out the accompanying YouTube video of this episode. Loving this content? Would you like to listen to more Excel Tips and other CPA Australia podcasts like INTHEBLACK and With Interest? Head to CPA Australia's YouTube channel. And don't forget to subscribe to the channel. Read more of Neale's Excel articles on INTHEBLACK. You can find a CPA at our custom portal on the CPA Australia website. CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting: With Interest INTHEBLACK Excel Tips INTHEBLACK Out Loud Search for them in your podcast platform. You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

Feb 2

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12 min
1D AGO

Tax reform insights from a global policy expert

Tax reform. It's one of the most hotly debated issues around the world. And as global tax expert Viva Hammer notes, the biggest barrier to tax reform in Australia is not policy – it is the pursuit of perfection. In this episode of With Interest, she brings a global perspective shaped by her work on significant tax reforms in recent US history. Her message is clear: progress comes from doing something better, not waiting for something perfect. Main learnings include: lessons from US tax reform and what Australia can apply why "better, not perfect" is critical for improving tax reform how predictability drives investment more than headline tax rates how to provide certainty for international investors the role of GST as a more efficient and sustainable tax base the fairness of corporate tax versus consumption and land taxes where Australia sits in the global tax competition landscape As we head toward the 2026 Federal Budget, it's clear that governments, businesses, and the accounting profession are grappling with complex and interconnected challenges – from investment certainty to intergenerational fairness and the future of our tax mix. This episode is a timely look at a key issue with one of the most respected global voices in tax. Tune in now. Host: Jenny Wong, tax lead, CPA Australia Guest: Viva Hammer, a leading global tax policy expert. Most of her career was spent in the US as partner in New York and Washington law and consulting firms as well as at the US Treasury Department and US Congress. She now brings that international perspective back to Australia. For more, head to Viva's website. And don't forget to check out CPA Australia's YouTube channel for the upcoming live Federal Budget 2026 webinar. Loving this episode? Listen to more With Interest episodes and other CPA Australia podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@CPAaustralia/podcasts And don't forget to click subscribe to the channel for a wide range of content that will help your career. CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance and accounting: With Interest https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/tools-and-resources/podcasts/with-interest INTHEBLACK https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/tools-and-resources/podcasts/intheblack INTHEBLACK Out Loud https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/tools-and-resources/podcasts/intheblack-outloud Excel Tips https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/tools-and-resources/podcasts/excel-tips Search for them in your podcast platform. Email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

1d ago

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20 min
JAN 1

Smarter, faster, easier: Here's what's new in Excel

Excel Tips Summer Season Encore presentation from October 2025 In this episode of Excel Tips, we explore the latest Excel updates that can help to boost productivity and simplify workflows for finance and accounting professionals. Listeners will learn: How to use TRIMRANGE for flexible range selection What's new with pivot table formatting and an exciting update on auto-refresh How the TRANSLATE function works for multilingual data The simplified syntax for BYROW and BYCOL functions How three new Regex (regular expressions) functions can use patterns to identify data. Packed with practical insights, this episode helps you explore Excel's latest upgrades to save time, improve analysis and elevate decision-making. Tune in now. Host: Neale Blackwood CPA. He has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator and is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants. The companion video and Excel file will go into more detail to demonstrate these techniques. Read more of Neale's Excel articles on INTHEBLACK. You can find a CPA at our custom portal on the CPA Australia website. Would you like to listen to more Excel Tips episodes? Head to CPA Australia's YouTube channel. CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting: With Interest INTHEBLACK Excel Tips INTHEBLACK Out Loud Search for them in your podcast platform. You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

Jan 1

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14 min
APR 14

The future of accounting in an AI-driven world

AI is reshaping finance faster than most accounting and finance organisations are prepared for. This episode explores what that means in practice and how professionals can stay relevant as roles evolve. From automation and agentic AI to cybersecurity risks and sustainability pressures, this expert-led discussion highlights the shifts happening across finance, accounting and business in a volatile and rapidly changing world. You will learn: The biggest forces changing the profession right now What AI fluency looks like in practice and why it matters now The emerging technologies or trends reshaping how finance teams work How finance roles are evolving towards judgement and decision making The impact of automation on career pathways and hiring patterns Practical steps to future-proof your career capability in a reshaped profession Listen now. Host: Patrick Viljoen, sustainability lead, CPA Australia Guests: Amantha Imber an innovation specialist and Anders Sormann-Nilsson, a futurist and keynote speaker. Loving this episode? Listen to more INTHEBLACK episodes and other CPA Australia podcasts on YouTube. Head to our podcast page CPA Australia - YouTube And of course, click subscribe to the channel today. We deliver regular content that will help boost your career skills and capabilities. You can also head to INTHEBLACK online for 10 accounting trends reshaping the profession and other insightful articles celebrating 140 years of the designation in our special April edition. CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/tools-and-resources/podcasts INTHEBLACK https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/tools-and-resources/podcasts/intheblack INTHEBLACK Out Loud https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/tools-and-resources/podcasts/intheblack-outloud Excel Tips Excel Tips | CPA Australia With Interest https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/tools-and-resources/podcasts/with-interest Search for them in your podcast platform. Email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

Apr 14

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25 min
12/01/2025

Unlock 7 underused Excel features you still need today

Handy new Excel features are added regularly – but some "older" functions are still particularly useful to your workflows. Smart power users know these older functions and their value – which is why this episode highlights some of the overlooked Excel features that are still valuable to your spreadsheet work today. Tips include: How multiple windows make it easier to copy and compare How the grouping feature works well with rows and columns How auto outline and subtotals automate structure and hierarchy in datasets Techniques for selecting visible cells to avoid errors during copying How custom lists save time and support non-alphabetic sorting This is a practical guide for anyone looking to sharpen their Excel capability, streamline reporting and improve their workflow efficiency. Listen now. Host: Neale Blackwood CPA. He has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator and is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants. For more, check out the accompanying YouTube video of this episode. Read more of Neale's Excel articles on INTHEBLACK. Loving this content? Would you like to listen to more Excel Tips and other CPA Australia podcasts like INTHEBLACK and With Interest? Head to CPA Australia's YouTube channel. And don't forget to subscribe to the channel. You can find a CPA at our custom portal on the CPA Australia website. CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting: With Interest INTHEBLACK Excel Tips INTHEBLACK Out Loud Search for them in your podcast platform. You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

12/01/2025

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16 min
07/28/2022

Tips for choosing between multiple job offers

INTHEBLACK Out Loud brings you a curated selection of audio articles from CPA Australia's award-winning magazine, INTHEBLACK. Stories span a wide range of topics, including business, career development and the economy, and offer key insights into strategic thought leadership and expert analysis. INTHEBLACK Out Loud is presented by CPA Australia. CPA Australia also publishes three podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting: With Interest, INTHEBLACK and Excel Tips. Search and subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcast or your favourite podcast app. You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

07/28/2022

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5 min

CPA Australia podcasts provide commentary and thought leadership across business, finance and accounting.

Website

CPA Australia

Top Shows

Template tips to boost workflows

Increment dates easily in Excel

Master your messy data

Rachel Botsman on workplace trust in the digital age

Build Better Excel Models

Tax reform insights from a global policy expert

Smarter, faster, easier: Here's what's new in Excel

The future of accounting in an AI-driven world

Unlock 7 underused Excel features you still need today

Tips for choosing between multiple job offers

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