Leaders in Business

What Leaders in Business does

Leaders in Business Pty Ltd is a Melbourne-based, founder-owned software and training company founded by Brent Szalay FCPA. It sells a Strategic Advisory Operating System to small and mid-market accounting firms in Australia, enabling them to deliver structured, repeatable, and commercially priced strategic advisory services rather than rely on informal, partner-dependent conversations. The core product, the Advisory Workspace, is a cloud platform containing structured diagnostics, session templates, planning tools, dashboards, action tracking, client-ready resources, and AI agent tools, all built around the proprietary Business By Design Framework and a 5-Step Advisory Method (Discovery, Insights, Goals, Actions, AI & Resources) refined over nearly a decade inside Szalay's own accounting practice, SEIVA.

The business operates a two-tier training-to-licensing funnel. Individuals pay a one-time fee for Level 1 Advisory Method Certification ($500 + GST, a live 3-hour online session awarding 6 CPD points) and/or Level 2 Advisory Delivery Certification ($3,000 + GST, an immersive 2–3 day workshop held at CPA Australia venues in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane). Firms then licence the Advisory Workspace on an annual subscription with per-user pricing billed monthly in advance. A free Advisory Readiness Quiz (ScoreApp) functions as the top-of-funnel lead generator, and the Advisor Club provides post-sale community support. The company has no external funding, ~5 employees, and the founder remains actively involved in SEIVA, where the methodology was originally developed.

Name

Leaders in Business

Legal name

Leaders in Business Pty Ltd

Website

https://leadersinbusiness.com.au

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Leaders in Business provides accounting firms in Australia with a cloud-based Strategic Advisory Operating System, certification training, and licensed methodology tools to deliver structured, repeatable, and priced strategic advisory services beyond compliance work.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Accounting Advisory Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132), Management Consulting Services (54161)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Strategy & IT Advisory (BPAEAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Corporate Strategy Advisory (BPAHADAA), Business Owner & Executive Financial Planning (FSAEAAAO)

Keywords

• Strategic advisory software
• Accounting firm advisory training
• Advisory methodology platform
• Business consulting certification
• Advisory workspace tools

Headquarters

HQ city

Melbourne

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Advisory Certification Training: One-time fees for Advisory Method Certification (Level 1) and Advisory Delivery Certification (Level 2) training programs. Level 1 is a live 3-hour online session priced at $500 + GST; Level 2 is a 2-3 day immersive workshop priced at $3,000 + GST with limited places per cohort.
2. Advisory Workspace Annual License: Annual subscription license (12-month initial term with auto-renewal) giving firms access to the Advisory Workspace, practical tools and templates, ongoing updates, and dedicated support. Billed monthly in advance on or about the first business day each month. Fees vary based on number of users/logins.
3. Advisory Readiness Assessment: Free lead-gen assessment tool accessible to prospects, used to identify advisory readiness and generate salesqualified leads for training and licensing conversations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Leaders in Business sells the Strategic Advisory Operating System — a cloud-based Advisory Workspace platform combined with a proprietary advisory methodology and a two-tier certification training program (Level 1 Advisory Method Certification and Level 2 Advisory Delivery Certification). The product is sold to Australian accounting firms and individual accountants who want to deliver structured, repeatable, paid strategic advisory services to their small business clients. The annual subscription licence grants access to the Advisory Workspace, tools, templates, and ongoing support, while training fees are paid one-time.

Product overview

Leaders in Business offers the Strategic Advisory Operating System (OS), a comprehensive platform and methodology for accounting firms to deliver structured, repeatable strategic advisory services. The core offering consists of the Strategic Advisory OS and Advisory Workspace, supported by a two-tier Certification Training program (Level 1 Advisory Method and Level 2 Advisory Delivery), the Advisor Club for ongoing support, and a suite of licensed digital assets including templates, worksheets, reports, and proposals. Firms can licence the complete model to implement advisory at scale, or individuals can pursue certification training to build personal capability and confidence in delivering strategic advisory conversations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Strategic Advisory Operating System A complete operating system accounting firms use to deliver strategic advisory. Provides one connected workspace, methodology, and implementation pathway to operationalise advisory through structured, repeatable sessions and ultimately deliver paid advisory revenue within 30 days.
• Advisory Workspace The digital environment where strategic advisory is delivered. Contains structured diagnostics, session templates, planning tools, dashboards, action tracking, client-ready resources, and AI agent tools supporting advisory conversations before, during, and after meetings. Provided as part of an annual subscription licence to accounting firms.
• Level 1 Training — Advisory Method Certification A live, online, interactive 3-hour training session teaching the foundations of high-impact advisory conversations. Includes the Business By Design framework and 5-step Advisory Method. Certification awarded upon completion with 6 CPD points. Priced at $500 + GST per attendee.
• Level 2 Training — Advisory Delivery Certification An immersive 2-day workshop (in-person or equivalent online) for advisors ready to implement advisory. Covers building real strategic plans with clients, running full strategy sessions end-to-end, and turning advisory into a commercial offering. Priced at $3,000 + GST per attendee.
• Advisory Workspace Annual License Annual subscription licence giving accounting firms access to the Advisory Workspace platform, tools, templates, ongoing updates, and dedicated support. Billed monthly in advance on or about the first business day each month, with fees varying based on number of users/logins.
• Advisory Readiness Quiz A free lead-generation assessment tool that evaluates where structure, clarity, and confidence will make the biggest difference in a firm, helping prospects understand their advisory readiness and qualifying them for sales conversations.
• Licensed Materials (Templates, Worksheets, Reports, Proposals) Co-branded questionnaires and reports, worksheets and templates, sample proposals, and email templates provided as part of the subscription licence for delivering and marketing advisory services within an accounting firm's own brand.

Quantifiable outcome

• Delivers structured, paid advisory in 30 days through guaranteed implementation pathway
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• CPA AustraliacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCPA Australia is a key strategic partner providing endorsement, venue access (CPA Australia offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane for Level 2 workshops), and co-branding on certification training. Level 1 certification is delivered 'In partnership with CPA Australia' and provides official CPD points. The partnership lends credibility and access to CPA Australia's extensive member network of accounting professionals across Australia.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Spotlight Reporting: Reporting and dashboarding tool that helps accountants deliver visual advisory reports to SME clients. Provides partial overlap with LIB's diagnostic and planning outputs but is narrower in scope.

Direct peers

• Karbon: Workflow and practice management platform built specifically for accounting firms. Karbon competes for the same accounting-firm software budget and increasingly offers advisory-workflow features that overlap with the Advisory Workspace.
• Practice Ignition: Client engagement, proposal, and billing platform for accounting and bookkeeping firms. Like LIB, it focuses on helping accounting firms package, price, and operationalise advisory-style engagements rather than just compliance work.
• Financial Cents: Workflow and project management software purpose-built for accounting firms. Competes for the same operational tooling budget and shares the 'turning informal advisory into a repeatable practice' positioning.
• Canopy: Practice management suite for accounting firms that bundles CRM, workflow, document management, and client portal. Targets the same SMB-to-mid-market accounting firms that LIB sells Advisory Workspace licenses to.

Regional players

• BlueRock: Australian advisory firm serving SMB clients. Regional peer that illustrates the type of professional services firm that LIB's methodology is designed to equip — useful as a comparable go-to-market reference in Australia.

Broad incumbents

• EOS Worldwide: Established operating-system methodology (Entrepreneurial Operating System) for advisory delivery to SMBs. A larger, mature analogue demonstrating both the commercial viability of methodology-plus-software plays and the structural benchmark LIB is positioning against.
• Xero: Dominant cloud accounting platform with Xero Practice Manager and a growing suite of advisory tools for accountants. Represents a broad incumbent that could expand down-market into structured advisory tooling.
• MYOB: Major Australian accounting software provider with deep reach into the same accounting-firm customer base LIB targets. Potential incumbent competitor as it extends from compliance software into advisory enablement.

Others

• Right Networks: Cloud hosting and managed IT infrastructure provider for accounting firms. Adjacent ecosystem participant rather than direct competitor, but sits within the same practice-stack procurement decisions.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/leadersinbusiness

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Leaders in Business