What a few days in Cairns. The 2026 First Class Accounts National Conference brought franchisees and business partners together from right across Australia for three days of learning, connection and celebration, and it closed the way it always does, with a gala dinner and a room on its feet for the year’s award winners. Here is what happened, and what it says about the network behind the name.
Where strength embraces change
For 26 years, First Class Accounts has been built on trust, professionalism and relationships. That is the idea the whole conference was built around this year, under the theme Where Strength Embraces Change.
Technology keeps moving. AI is reshaping how the profession works. The network’s answer is neither to resist that nor to chase it, but to protect what matters most while embracing what comes next. Built on experience, inspired by possibility.
The workshops followed the same four ideas. Protecting What Matters looked at maintaining quality in a changing world, cyber security and risk, and professional standards for the future. Embracing What’s Next covered practical AI for bookkeepers, the move from compliance to advisory, and building a future-ready practice. Built on Experience drew on lessons from 26 years and what the network knows now, including success stories from franchisees themselves. Inspired by Possibility looked at the next generation of bookkeeping, leadership and succession, and new revenue lines.
Why do franchisees fly across the country for three days?
Because running your own practice is wonderful and it can also be quiet. Conference is the week in the year when the quiet goes away and everyone who does what you do is in the same room, at the same tables, for three days.
That is where the real value sits. The sessions put the big questions on the agenda, from pricing advisory work to keeping client data safe. The conversations in between are where franchisees swap what actually worked, what cost them money, and what they would do differently. New franchisees leave with answers it would otherwise take them a year to find. Experienced ones leave with a few of their own.
In Deb Stanton’s words to the network afterwards, it was three inspiring and memorable days, full of valuable insights and fresh ideas, and plenty of laughter, connection and celebration.
Celebrating our 2026 award winners
The gala dinner is the highlight of the week, and this year there was plenty to applaud.
Niamh Campbell of First Class Accounts Wanneroo was named Franchisee of the Year, with Nikki Douglass of Canberra Central runner up. Renae Pitargue of Ovens and Murray was welcomed into the Hall of Fame.
Abbey Vu of Point Cook took Best Emerging Franchisee, with Akanksha Maheshwari of Scarborough runner up. Zac Thomas of Hobart won Business Performance, Single Operator, with Sarah Tice of Broadbeach runner up. Samantha Parker of Artarmon won Business Performance, Employer, with Vanessa and Tony of Surfers Paradise runner up, and took the Community Service award as well.
Jana Aldhaibi of Bass Hill was recognised for Service to the Brand. Trudy Mendis of Carlingford and Deepak Vallabh of Balgownie shared the Brand Ambassador award. Summer To of Terrigal won Innovation. And Steven Jeanes of Narre Warren received the Hank Middleton Award, which celebrates franchisees who contribute to their community and support their fellow franchisees.
Congratulations to every one of them. Their achievements, dedication and contribution to the network deserve to be celebrated.
Why does recognition matter in a franchise network?
Because of what the trophies are actually for. Growth is in there, of course. So is the franchisee who picks up the phone when someone newer is stuck, the one who gives their time to their local community, and the one who tried something nobody in the network had tried before.
That is what celebrating bookkeeping excellence looks like at First Class Accounts. Not a leaderboard. A set of people who are rated by their peers for how they run a business and how they treat everyone around them.
What it looks like if you are thinking about your own practice
Most people weighing up their own bookkeeping business are not worried about the bookkeeping. They can do the bookkeeping. It is everything around it that keeps the decision unmade. What to charge. Where the first client comes from. Who you call when something goes sideways and there is no senior down the hall any more.
Three days in Cairns is the visible answer to that. The support behind a First Class Accounts franchise is the everyday one, with a defined territory, marketing running from the day you open, national office on the phone, and a network of people who have already solved whatever you are about to hit.
Franchisees run their own businesses. They simply never run them alone.
And that is a wrap on Cairns
Next year the network heads across the Tasman, with the 2027 conference in New Zealand.
If you would like to understand how the model works before then, the franchise pages cover the training, the territories and the support, and our online information evenings answer in an hour what most people spend months trying to work out on their own.
Frequently asked questions
What happens at the First Class Accounts National Conference?
Three days of workshops and training for franchisees and business partners from across Australia, a welcome dinner, a gala dinner and the annual franchisee awards. The 2026 conference was held in Cairns under the theme Where Strength Embraces Change, covering cyber security, practical AI, professional standards and advisory work.
Who won Franchisee of the Year in 2026?
Niamh Campbell of First Class Accounts Wanneroo, with Nikki Douglass of Canberra Central as runner up.
Where is the next First Class Accounts conference?
New Zealand, in 2027.
How do I find out more about joining?
The franchise pages set out the model, and the contact page will put you in touch with the recruitment team.
