OUR STORY
Hi, I’m Rachel. Whatever state your books are in, you’re welcome here.
I’ve been doing this work for more than thirty years — first as an employee in accounting practices and businesses, and running my own Bookkeeping Practise "Hate The Books". In that time I’ve worked with hundreds of businesses, at every imaginable stage. Some had everything beautifully in order. Some hadn’t opened their bookkeeping software in eighteen months. Most were somewhere in between.
Whichever camp you’re in, I want you to know two things upfront. First, the work I do isn’t just bookkeeping — it’s sitting alongside you to make sense of what the numbers actually mean for your business, your cash, and your next move. Second, there’s no judgement here. Ever. If you’ve been avoiding your books because you don’t know where to start, the bravest thing you can do is reach out. That’s where every good client relationship I have began.
The team
Hate The Books is me and a capable team supporting all our clients. The team brings deep bookkeeping, payroll, and advisory experience to every engagement we take on. The team you come to know today is the same team who’ll know your business next year — that continuity matters, because good financial conversations are built on the small details a stranger would miss.
What we believe about this work
Wherever you’re at, please reach out
The hardest part of asking for help with your books is usually deciding to ask. After that, it’s honestly the easiest conversation you’ll have all week. Whether you’re completely on top of things and just want a second set of eyes — or whether you haven’t reconciled a bank account since 2023 — the first call is the same call. Warm, no pressure, no judgement, no jargon. Just a conversation about what’s going on and whether we’re the right people to help.
If we’re not the right fit, we’ll tell you that — and we’ll point you somewhere useful. Either way, you’ll leave the call with at least one thing you can do this week to feel more in control of your business.
Giving back
Each year we choose a small number of community organisations doing meaningful work and support them with training and consultation as they grow. We’re currently proud to support Heart Hub South West Inc, a not-for-profit doing genuinely important work in their community. If you’d like to see what they do: hearthubsw.com.au.
Plain English, always. Accounting jargon exists to make smart people feel stupid. We don’t do that. If you want detail, we’ll go deep. If you want the short version, we’ll give you that too.
No judgement. None. Running a business is hard. The books getting away from you doesn’t make you a bad operator — it makes you a busy one. We’ve seen every level of order and every level of mess. We get you sorted; we don’t make you feel bad about the starting point.
Real conversations, not report dumps. Numbers in a PDF don’t change anything. A monthly conversation about what those numbers mean for your business does.
Pick up the phone. If you need us, you can reach us. There’s no meter running on a quick call. The relationship is the point.
A few principles run through everything we do:
Most people come to us after something went wrong — a missed deadline, a surprise tax bill, a payroll error they didn't catch in time. We work to make sure that never happens again. Not by automating everything and hoping for the best, but by actually knowing your business, watching your numbers and staying one step ahead.