By Andrew Erkins | 20 February 2026
Melbourne-based Private Media publishes SmartCompany, Crikey, and The Mandarin - three of Australia's most recognised independent media titles. When their long-serving accountant resigned, COO Ai Mawdsley had a decision to make
The accountant who left had been with Private Media for years. Knew the quirks of the business, the supplier relationships, the workarounds nobody had documented. Replacing that kind of institutional knowledge takes months, and Mawdsley didn't have months
"I quickly realised you can be exposed as a business if you are wholly reliant on one in-house role for a critical function," she says. "It takes time to recruit someone to a position and while that is happening the job still needs to be done"
Rather than posting a job ad and hoping for the best, she explored a different model. Digit was introduced through an industry contact, an accountant who felt the two businesses would work well together. The BCorp alignment helped. "They have a real focus on business sustainability and want to help people use Xero to grow purpose-driven businesses, which I really liked," says Mawdsley
That was April 2022
The people behind the numbers
Private Media's tech stack includes niche industry-specific platforms for subscription billing and ad revenue - systems the Digit team picked up as part of the engagement rather than needing prior experience with. The accounting is more involved than it looks from the outside - daily bank recs across multiple accounts, supplier invoices through Dext, weekly payment runs, revenue journalling from several platforms, payroll, BAS, provisions, management reporting every month
Three people handle the lot. Gaycel is a registered BAS agent who runs the bookkeeping and compliance side. Sherie holds a certified payroll specialist qualification and manages payroll. Dan is cross-trained on the account so nothing stops if someone is on leave or unwell
"Everyone at Private Media knows them by name," says Mawdsley. "They are really part of our team, and I love that it has been so seamless"
How embedded are they? Mawdsley asked whether Gaycel could be included in Private Media's internal annual performance review - the same process every other team member goes through. "They very quickly embedded themselves into the team and just have been so consistent, so reliable," she says. "The quality of their work has been excellent and they have amazing attitudes. I genuinely love working with them"
Beyond the scope
Private Media has changed platforms, brought in new systems, and evolved how revenue flows through to the accounts over the past four years. The Digit team moved with it
"Gaycel's not only been excellent at troubleshooting, digging through the audit trail and performing the classic accounting tasks, she's also helped me on some other projects," says Mawdsley. When Private Media needed to scope out specs for a systems change project, she brought Gaycel onto the call as the subject matter expert on the accounting processing side
"I wasn't expecting just how much of a part of the team Gaycel would be. Her input on even bigger projects, like platform upgrades or process changes, has been really, really positive. It's been a surprising delight"
When it went wrong
Mawdsley talks openly about one incident: a payroll payment date error that both Sherie and Ai missed, resulting in the team getting paid late
"Probably the worst mistake you can make," she says
Digit responded over the weekend and sorted it out, then built a process so it couldn't happen again. Every issue gets logged, and every fix gets shared across the wider team. "Not only is it an incident that never happens again for us, but it's something that they can learn from for their other clients," says Mawdsley
Four years later
Private Media has grown since 2022. They've acquired another business and expanded their operation. When another internal accountant left more recently, the Digit team absorbed the additional work and added another person to keep pace
Private Media previously spent significantly more on their in-house finance team. Three Digit specialists halved that cost, with more people on the job and nobody wondering what happens if one of them quits
"It's such a relief to know that our business continuity is covered by them and I don't need to worry about it"
"I can't speak highly enough about it," says Mawdsley. "The agency model is ideal for small-to-medium businesses, not just from a cost perspective, but also in terms of mitigating the risks that come with single-point dependencies"
"I'm extremely grateful for Gaycel and Sherie, and also for the extended Digit support we've had with Jen, Andrew, Scott and Dan. I really look forward to continuing to partner with the Digit team"
This story was originally published as a partner feature on SmartCompany
