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Cassandra Scott 

Cert4 Financial Services (Bookkeeping) - is the Director and Senior Bookkeeper
(since 2005)

Having worked in Public and Private Sector organisations, she has over 30 years experience providing bookkeeping, office administration and business support services across a range of industries. Cassandra holds a Cert 4 in Financial Services (Bookkeeping), and is a Registered BAS Agent.

Cassandra is astute, confident and frequently relied upon to liaise directly with clients accountants, and their clients and suppliers to resolve issues efficiently and effectively.

Working at a strategic level with clients to support continued business growth, Cassandra has the ability to review and introduce internal accounts management systems to businesses to ensure bookkeeping costs are kept to a minimum.

Her skill base is constantly updated through involvement in professional discussion forums, and industry based training.

Cassandra provides mentoring services to other bookkeepers and regularly contributes to ongoing discussion and development of programs regarding the evolution of the bookkeeping industry. As part of Xerocon 2015 (the Xero Annual Conference) she was invited to participate in discussion panels talking about the Modern Bookkeeper and Modern Bookkeeping practices.  Over the years she has been invited to speak at a number of industry conferences, on webinars, and other events on topics around bookkeeping and the industry in Australia.

In August 2018, Cassandra was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Association of Accounting Technicians (www.aat.org.au), and assisted with the transition of AAT to becoming a division of the Institute of Public Accountants in June 2020.

From November 2020 to April 2023 she was a  Board Director for the Australian Bookkeeping Association.

In April 2023 she commenced a collaboration with XBert, in the role of Bookkeeping Industry Specialist and still currently holds that role. 

In May 2023, she was recognised as one of the Top 50 Women in Accounting for 2023.

When not crunching the numbers, Cassandra enjoys good food and wine, and the company of good friends and family.

Member: Australian Bookkeepers Association (Voting Member)

Follow our link to the Xero Advisor Directory

Debra Hair

B.Comm (Acct) - Senior Bookkeeper (joined in 2012)

Working with Laurus since February 2012, Deb loves working on our challenging projects, including reconstructing bookkeeping files and reworking clients bookkeeping to be compliant with ATO requirements.  With a strong eye for detail, and highly developed analytical skills, Deb can create organisation from chaos in a short time.

Deb has worked with clients to convert their bookkeeping from other software applications to Xero and can manage this conversion process on their behalf.  She loves helping clients to streamline their processes, meet their compliance requirements and understand and utilise Xero.

Before joining Laurus, Deb had extensive experience in bookkeeping with other packages and in preparing individual tax returns, which has given her an excellent background knowledge in all things bookkeeping, along with the compliance demands imposed by the ATO.  Holding a Bachelor of Commerce, Deb continues to develop her ongoing skills and expertise, and is a highly valued member of the Laurus bookkeeping team.

When not working with us, Deb balances the life of a busy mum, with 3 young daughters, and manages the bookkeeping work for her husband's business.

Carlene Wootton

B.Comm (Acct) - Senior Bookkeeper (joined in 2014)

Carlene joined Laurus in July 2014 and achieved Xero Advisor status shortly after. 

She was born in New Zealand, Carlene moved to Tasmania in 1989. A brief stint in Melbourne was followed by the move to Queensland in 1994. Carlene studied for a Bachelor in Commerce degree whilst her children were small and has subsequently been employed in a range of industries including Construction, Landscaping, Manufacturing & Project Management, and Accounting Services.

​Carlene has been involved in a number of community sporting groups, including Little Athletics, swimming and netball, holding a number of committee positions over the years. She currently coaches and umpires netball for a local association. When not attending sporting fixtures she can generally be found "dancing" her way around the local Latin scene. 

Samantha McKinnon

Cert4 Financial Services (Bookkeeping)
Bookkeeper (joined in 2023)

Samantha (Sam) is our latest recruit, and has been with us since January 2023. 

After starting her career working as a receptionist and legal secretary, Sam moved more and more into accounts clerk positions, across the legal, retail and construction sectors.  This has seen her gain close to 20 years hands on experience with Payroll, Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable duties in these environments.

Having this real life, hands on exposure to small business, made Sam an ideal candidate to join the Laurus team - these life experiences can't be taught, only learned and honed by actually doing.  She has great empathy and understanding on what our clients are faced with in their businesses, and is now keen to expand her bookkeeping knowledge and skills to support our clients.

Sam is mum to two wonderful daughters, and involves herself with school and sporting organisations.  When not wrangling families (and clients!), she heads out with family to the beach, travelling and camping. 

Michael Rowland

Principal, Rowland Financial Advisors - Maroochydore, QLD

When setting up my business it was clear that we needed a good bookkeeping solution and Xero in terms of software seemed to be it.  However, following on from that we needed professionals in the field who could get the most out of this asset and with Laurus we have found that expert.
  
Through their skills and taking the time to understand our business they have been able to build into our bookkeeping solution the many automated benefits that Xero provides.  We have found substantial time savings through while not forgoing quality and accuracy of work through areas such as streamlining of super payments and lodgements of BAS and IAS all of which are automated through Xero.  

Also as a reporting tool for the business its great to know that I can call Laurus and get the relevant information quickly and with no hassle at all so that I can spend more time on planning the future direction of the business, rather than wandering around in systems looking for the data that I need.   

​In short using the skills and expertise of Laurus, and in turn the benefits of Xero, within my business saves us a great deal of time and no doubt has added back capacity to my role and improve productivity.  We would absolutely recommend Laurus for bookkeeping requirements. 

Dianne Pulfer 

Principal, Blitzin Books

Anybody needing help with Xero Practice Manager, I highly recommend Cassandra.  She is well organised, full of intuition, knowledge and handy hints to help you out.  I found her session truly worthwhile and very reasonably priced.  It was an invaluable experience that probably saved me 50 hours of time just using her knowledge of the program.

Rick Mathies

Principal, Egoscue Inc - Austin, Texas

I switched our clinic's accounting software to Xero at the first of the year and decided I wanted some help making the transition from our old accounting software. I found Cassandra Scott from Laurus on the Xero forums where she was extremely helpful and we setup an arrangement where I paid her by the hour and in exchange could email her with questions as we proceeded, have her login and review how I was setting things up, etc... Both the decision to use Cassandra and to switch to Xero were great ones! I love Xero, as a small business owner it's making my life a lot easier, and Cassandra helped make the switch as easy and efficient as possible. If you're looking for a great accounting application for your small business, I cannot recommend Xero enough. And if you decide to make that switch, let Cassandra help you get it implemented. She has been a delight to work with and been a terrific asset to our company.

Matthew Giddins

Director, 3D Energy Pty Ltd - Brisbane

I would like share my great experiences when dealing with Cassandra at Laurus Bookkeeping. In 2010 / 2011, when I was in the early stages of setting up my electrical & solar business, my accountant referred me to Cassandra to help look after my bookkeeping. I knew very little about this back then, and not much more now given that I don't need to know the ins and outs of what Cassandra does. Cassandra efficiently set up the Xero account, all my templates, linked the bank account and set up receipt bank add on. Cassandra does all my BAS work, liaises with the accountant, keeps me updated with Xero add ons and informs me of all other changes that I need to know about. This allows me to not worry about the other stuff and concentrate only on what I do best within my field of expertise. I would highly recommend Cassandra for anyone's business!!

Heather Smith

Author Xero for Dummies, Speaker, Chartered Certified Accountant, XERO, MYOB - Brisbane

Cassandra is the Xero guru who the Xero experts turn to for guidance. Any situation, any problem, any issue, she has already worked her way through it, and come out of the other end triumphant. She knows Xero inside out and back to front. What Cassandra does not know about Xero could fit on a postage stamp. Further to this Cassandra’s expertise is not limited to Xero, she has a knack for intuitively understanding how Xero add-on solutions work. In fact she seems to have a greater understanding of how the Xero add-on’s work, than some of the providers do themselves!

Julie Parfitt

Principal, Parfitts Accountants - Brisbane

Being in public practice, I needed a bookkeeper who knew what they were doing, how to do it and could just get in and get it done !! Cassandra is that bookkeeper. Cassandra has a great deal of experience with both MYOB and Xero and her personable but profesional approach means that the work is done on time and on budget, everytime. Highly recommend her for either Xero or MYOB based work.

Jeremy Harris

Co-Owner, Gill, McKerrow and Associates - Brisbane

I have worked with Cassandra on the accounting function for mutual clients for around two years. We are very selective with respect to recommending bookkeepers, and I can say that Cassandra is in the top echelon for us. She looks after the detail level that clients shouldn't be paying us to do or to fix. Her skills give us the confidence to focus on our best value-add services for our clients, and her attention to detail gives clients confidence that their paperwork is compliant. Cassandra's experience in a variety of business environments, and her analytical approach, enable her to go beyond bookkeeping by helping clients to improve their business systems and processes.

Want to see if Xero is right for you?

We offer a full-featured demonstration and discussion about your business and how it could work with Xero for just $99! And, if you decide to engage our services further, we'll offset this cost against your first invoice. 

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