Careers & Conversations

 Meet Aleesha Bailey - Director, Business Advisory 

Aleesha Bailey leads RSM’s Strategic Outsourcing services in Sydney, leveraging extensive experience in financial administration to advise SME and listed clients, streamline internal processes, and enhance efficiency through automation and technology.

 Personal Life: 

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY DOING IN YOUR FREE TIME?

Travelling to new countries and experiencing the culture, patting ALL of the dogs mostly my beautiful boy Frankie, spending time at the beach, spending time with family and friends, trying new restaurants and balancing ALL of the food out with the gym and yoga.

WHO INSPIRES YOU?

My dad, both professionally and personally. Professionally how hard he has worked to achieve what he has, and his customer centric approach has always inspired me. Similarly, how he is always willing to give everything he has for the people around him, is what inspires me to do the same. 

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU ARE TRYING TO MAKE INTO A HABIT?

I don’t currently have any new habits I’m working on… during my transition into the leadership team to director, I worked closely with a business coach (shout out to Terry-Lyn Stevens) while I was working hard to build out the division, she quickly identified my biggest area to work on was boundaries and prioritising myself. Since I’ve built habit’s to not check my phone first thing in the morning, daily walks to the beach with my dog, fit in the gym or yoga a few times a week, no screen time an hour before bed and read every night. Building these habits have made me more focused in my role and life, in turn more productive with my time.

TELL US SOMETHING WE DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU...YET.

After my typical first job at Hungry Jacks, I worked in the family business from the age of 14 in mechanic shops. I worked in every position possible, bookkeeper, manager and even out the back, fitting and balancing tyres. I feel like this is where I got the understanding and importance of all operational and financial components of a business. This has now become my passion, this experience allowed me to assist our clients to drive their business from a multifaceted approach. To this day I still assist my father selling stores, hiring staff, expanding stores, managing cash flow and implementing new systems.
 

 Professional Life: 

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO PURSUE A CAREER IN YOUR FIELD, AND HOW DID YOU GET STARTED?

Now I reflect to a young age my initial inspiration came from working in my family business, since I was 14. I was always enjoyed talking with my dad around his day-to-day challenges for running multiple small businesses. So much I worked in several roles within the business up to 21, starting with the bookkeeping, thereafter, managing a couple stores, he owed Tyrepower mechanical shops. Being a female managing staff and customers in this industry was a challenge, helping me build resilience which has taught me A LOT which has helped throughout my career. From how to run a business, what’s involved, hard work (it does pays off) and working with a team to get the best results for our customers. 

I wanted to find my own career and passion, finding an accounting and commerce degree aligned to my interest in business. My first accounting role was a Graduate role in Business Advisory, after working in tax and compliance and with the adoption of cloud accounting, I often questioned my Partners at the time why we couldn’t be supporting our clients more frequently, giving them insights into the business and being a part of these discussions. There was born the first outsourcing service line I built within my prior accounting firm. 

Through my network I met Laurel Millar, National Manager of RSM Digital Advisory who introduced me to the Sydney Business Advisory Partners at RSM and found synergies to how they worked with clients and their mutual desire to support RSM clients with the services offering I had a passion for, Strategic Outsourcing.  

RSM Australia provided me the opportunity to assist build out our Strategic Outsourcing offering. The trust and opportunity I have been provided by the practice to allow me to build out something that I am passionate about and help form specialised career paths for our staff inspires me daily to keep developing the service offering and provide an exceptional offering to our clients.

YOU’VE WORKED IN THE UK. WHAT WAS LIVING IN LONDON LIKE?

Luckily the secondment was during summer months, otherwise, I may have not accepted with it with the UK winter weather. It was amazing! I was surprised at how similar it was working in the accounting industry on the other side of the world. I was also surprised at how ahead of the world Australia was (still is) in terms of the cloud-based accounting and operational technology is available to the market. I was teaching many of the staff about cloud-based accounting and reporting platforms while I was over there. Also, I have to mention the travel, almost every Friday I had my bags packed to explore a new country, it was an incredible opportunity that I am very thankful for.
 

 Life at RSM: 

WHAT IS YOUR ROLE AT RSM?

My role is to create processes and implement best of class technology for our outsourcing service line. Ensuring our teams efficiently handle the day-to-day core accounting functions for our clients to be an integral part of their business. The key focus is to provide key stakeholders with more regular insights into their business.

WHAT TYPE OF COMPANIES WOULD BEST BE SUITED TO OUTSOURCE THEIR CFO FUNCTION?

All sizes and life cycle phases, we can assist small businesses/startups unable to afford full-time finance staff or CFO. Larger clients with an internal accounting team we offer additional support to business owner or leadership teams by attending board meetings to discuss the performance of the business and strategic goals. Our outsourcing services is tailored to meet every client’s needs, be it fully outsourcing their core accounting function or requiring high-level business strategic advice, together with RSM full suite of services we can offer support our clients with a range of services and industry knowledge.

WHAT’S ONE PROJECT OR ACHIEVEMENT AT RSM THAT YOU’RE PARTICULARLY PROUD OF?

I’m proud of what I have built within the Strategic Outsourcing team at RSM in the years I have been here. To help build out the opportunity and career paths in this space for others. Starting with 2 employees in 2019, to now having a dedicated team in Sydney and seeing dedicated teams being built in our other offices nationally is a career highlight I’m very proud of. Additionally rolling out a reporting tool to our business advisory team with 350 staff nationally attending sessions on how to use a solution to support provide advisory services to their client. That was a bit of a pinch me moment.

CAN YOU SHARE A MEMORABLE CHALLENGE YOU’VE FACED IN YOUR ROLE AND HOW YOU OVERCAME IT?

Moving from my prior role after building out a successful service offering to start again within a new firm was challenging. Going from something I built out and was leading, having the past experience, relationships within the firm and with my clients was a big challenge to start from scratch. Having to build new relationships, trust and come into a division which had already formed the offering to review and restructure the services line took time, patience and perseverance to gain buy in for my approach and ideas for how the service offering could be structured. The challenge was worth it!

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT WORKING AT RSM, AND HOW HAS IT SHAPED YOUR CAREER?

Working with the people. The culture at RSM is what I enjoy the most. Working with people who are similar minded and passionate about helping their clients and people. The flexibility and trust to allow me to run with ideas and challenge the status quo. Allowing me to bring my full goofy self to work is what make my day at RSM and hopefully make the day fun for others I work with.