[October 2007]
PROFILE SUMMARY - Rick Freitag
Since completing his education in 1966, Rick has always been providing in-the-field customer service and support for accounting systems. For the first ten years with Burroughs (USA) as a Senior Field Engineer here in Australia maintaining mechanical accounting systems typically used by local banks, and then technical on-site support for the first of the mini main frame computers in 1971. For some 25 years now Rick has been self-employed in the area of providing support to small business bookkeeping and Information Technology. In March 1993 he became one of the first MYOB Certified Consultant's in Australia.
Rick has always focused on the importance of exceeding customer expectations thereby ensuring a more enjoyable “customer and user experience”. To this end, in 1997 a number of his client’s nominated him for an award that he was very fortunate to win in the category of ‘Excellence in Customer Service’ – from the Office of Fair Trading (Department of Justice).
For
many years now Rick has been responsible for organising regular bi-monthly
meetings for his fellow MYOB Certified Consultants here in Victoria, plus
free monthly
usergroup workshops for Self-Employed Bookkeepers and also
Accounting-Professionals in the Mornington area. In his spare time and very much
reflective of his dedication, passion and commitment to the whole of the bookkeeper
industry, Rick was sponsored by the Australian Taxation Office to attend their
Bookkeepers’ Symposium in 2003.
From the formation of the following, Rick was appointed to the national
ATO Bookkeeper Industry Advisory Group,
as a member of the
independent national Bookkeeper Industry Working Group, the
Institute of
Certified Bookkeepers Advisory Panel and also the Microsoft Small
Business Marketing Committee.
Rick personally believes 'Bookkeeping Can Be Fun', and that cost-effective
and on-going education is the key in working towards learning responsible
financial management for operating a profitable micro to small business. On 12 October 2005
during one of Rick’s usergroup workshops, the Commissioner Mark Brennan from
the Office of the Victorian Small Business Commissioner was aptly quoted as
saying: “No small business should fail through want of access to
information.”