With a passion to help small businesses work smarter, we are Phil & Lynette Astley. We believe we're able to help - but who are we?

We're a couple of Kiwis who both started in big organisations. Tired of inflexibility, politics and bureaucracy, we had our own accounting practice from which we have now retired. We now work on a smaller scale with smaller businesses that feel they can do better.

While many believe bigger is better, we love being away from bureaucracy and the freedom that comes of smaller - whether in business or other areas of life. Small promotes teamwork and cooperation and leaves more room for personal relationships. For those who haven't heard of it, "Small is beautiful" was published by Oxford economist E F Schumacher in 1973 - we're not the only ones for whom huge is not necessarily good.