Most bookkeepers have never run a business. Sarah has run several.

A woman with blonde hair and glasses smiling with arms crossed, standing outdoors in front of a leafy green hedge, wearing a gray blazer, pink shirt, and pearl earrings.

Sarah Parkinson, Diverse CEO — Bachelor of Business | Certified BAS Agent | Xero Certified | ICB Fellow | Experienced Small Business Owner

That difference is the whole reason Diverse exists.

At 8 years old, Sarah Parkinson was selling farm-fresh eggs on the school bus — negotiating hard enough that the neighbours were buying from her even though they had their own chooks out the back. The instinct was always there.

By 2004, it had grown into something real: a fresh food business in Brisbane, 15 staff, and a front-row education in what financial chaos actually costs a business owner. Not in theory. In lost sleep, bad decisions made on gut feel, and weekends swallowed by admin. She sold that business in 2012 knowing exactly what she'd do differently.

She just didn't expect to be doing it from a town of 191 people, five hours west of Brisbane.

When Sarah moved to rural Queensland following a farmer — one small town, one pink pub, minimal career opportunities — she didn't step back from business. She built Diverse Bookkeeping from a property 400km from the nearest city, using cloud technology to do something that hadn't been done before: run a professional bookkeeping firm from the middle of nowhere, and prove that geography had nothing to do with quality.

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Ten plus years later, Diverse is 34 people strong.

More than half our team live and work in rural and regional Australia. We service 450+ clients across the country, and we've got the industry awards to back the reputation.

But what our clients tell us matters most isn't the size or the accolades.

It's that we actually understand what they're dealing with.

When you talk to Diverse, you're talking to people who know what it means to run payroll at 11pm, to make a pricing call because the numbers aren't clear enough to trust, to feel like the business is running you instead of the other way around. Sarah built the systems, the team, and the technology to solve those exact problems — because she experienced every one of them herself.

That's not a marketing line. It's the reason this business exists.

Our mission:

Help the humans at the helm of service businesses use innovative technology to build financial freedom—without sacrificing their lives to do it.

THE TEAM

34+ Humans Who Get It

Not corporate robots. Real people who chose this work for real reasons.

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Zero Outsourcing

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Maximum Automation

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34 Bookkeepers

100% Australian

Executive Team

  • A woman with short brown hair wearing a black sleeveless top and a gold necklace, standing outdoors in front of green foliage.

    Kim Sharman

    PEOPLE & PRACTICE MANAGER

  • A woman with short brown hair, blue eyes, and a light pink patterned shirt standing outdoors with green foliage in the background.

    Kylie Westlake

    OPERATIONS MANAGER

  • A woman with blonde hair tied back, wearing glasses, a turquoise blazer, and a striped shirt, smiling in front of a green leafy background.

    Sarah Louise Murray

    CLIENT SERVICE MANAGER

Team Leaders

  • A woman with shoulder-length blonde hair wearing a green button-up shirt smiling in front of a leafy green background.

    Kylie Buckley

    XERO CERTIFIED

  • A woman smiling outdoors with green leafy background, wearing a teal zip-up jacket and a pearl necklace.

    Tina Edsvik

    XERO CERTIFIED

  • A woman with shoulder-length blonde hair smiling outdoors in front of a hedge.

    Kelsie Cann

    MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTANT

  • A woman with short dark hair, glasses, and a necklace, smiling and standing in front of green foliage in an outdoor setting.

    Heather Ferguson

    XERO CERTIFIED

Team Members

  • A woman with blonde hair smiling, wearing a yellow blouse and a black top, standing in front of green leafy plants.

    Amanda Locke

    XERO CERTIFIED

  • Silhouette of a person's head and shoulders against a light green background.

    Amieka Edwards

    XERO CERTIFIED

  • A smiling woman with light-colored hair pulled back, wearing a light blue and white vertically striped shirt, standing outdoors in front of a dense green hedge.

    Amy Bornholdt

    XERO CERTIFIED

  • A woman with blonde hair and blue eyes wearing a navy blue blouse standing outdoors in front of green foliage.

    Arina Zuera

    XERO CERTIFIED

  • A woman with short, curly dark hair smiling, wearing a white embroidered blouse, standing in front of lush green tropical plants.

    Charlene Eckhardt

    XERO CERTIFIED

  • A young woman with light brown hair, wearing a blue and white patterned sleeveless top, and jewelry including earrings and a necklace, smiling outdoors in front of green leafy background.

    Claudia Short

    XERO CERTIFIED

  • Smiling woman with shoulder-length brown hair and earrings, wearing a white dress, sitting indoors near a large green plant.

    Emma Stringfellow

    SPECIAL PROJECTS

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    Jadi Coe

    XERO CERTIFIED

  • A woman with short brown hair, smiling, wearing a light blue denim jacket over a black shirt, stands in front of green leafy bushes.

    Jo Robinson

    XERO CERTIFIED

  • A smiling woman with glasses and earrings outdoors, wearing a blue and white floral top, with green foliage in the background.

    Kate Swinton

    XERO CERTIFIED

  • Silhouette of a person's head and shoulders against a light teal background.

    Leigh Head

    XERO CERTIFIED

  • A woman with short blonde hair, wearing a pink blouse, gold jewelry, and smiling, standing indoors near a large potted plant.

    Lisa Alewood

    XERO CERTIFIED

  • Smiling woman with light brown hair tied back, wearing a navy blue floral blouse, standing outdoors with green foliage in the background.

    Liz Weldon

    XERO CERTIFIED

  • A woman with blonde hair tied in a messy bun, wearing a black blazer and a turquoise top, smiling outdoors in front of green foliage.

    Melita De Leo

    XERO CERTIFIED | CERTIFIED BAS AGENT

  • A smiling older man with gray hair and beard, wearing black-rimmed glasses, a white polo shirt, and a black jacket draped over his shoulders, standing in front of a leafy green hedge.

    Michael Rush

    XERO CERTIFIED

  • Silhouette of a person's head and shoulders against a light blue background.

    Rebecca Lacey

    XERO CERTIFIED

  • A young woman with long dark hair, glasses, and a striped black and white shirt, smiling outdoors in front of a green leafy bush.

    Roberta Pagani

    XERO CERTIFIED

  • A woman with light skin, wearing a sleeveless navy dress with white floral pattern and ruffled high neckline, standing outdoors in front of large green tropical leaves and trees.

    Rowena Hutchinson

    XERO CERTIFIED

  • A woman with long blonde hair smiling outdoors, standing in front of green leafy foliage.

    Sara Jaques

    XERO CERTIFIED

  • A woman with shoulder-length blonde hair, smiling, standing outdoors in front of green leafy bushes, wearing a black t-shirt.

    Sarah Hogan

    XERO CERTIFIED | CERTIFIED BAS AGENT

  • A smiling older woman with short gray hair standing outdoors in front of green leafy bushes, wearing a striped long-sleeved shirt and a pendant necklace.

    Sue Scott

    XERO CERTIFIED

  • A woman with light brown hair standing outdoors in front of green tropical plants, wearing a floral dress and a necklace.

    Sophie Keeling

    XERO CERTIFIED | CERTIFIED BAS AGENT

  • A woman of South Asian descent with glasses, gold jewelry, and a red bindi, standing outdoors with green foliage in the background.

    Swapna Lavu

    XERO CERTIFIED

  • A woman wearing glasses and a blue denim shirt standing in front of a green leafy bush, smiling at the camera.

    Theresa Sabandal

    XERO CERTIFIED

While most bookkeeping firms outsource overseas or rely on manual labour, we've built something different: an Australian team empowered by sophisticated technology.

OUR TEAM SPANS FROM REGIONAL TOWNS TO METRO HUBS:

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Certified BAS agents and Xero specialist bookkeepers

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Industry specialists in medical, hospitality, trades, and professional services

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Team Leaders with 10+ years experience overseeing strategy and quality

Operations Manager overseeing quality and consistency

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WHY THIS STRUCTURE MATTERS:

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When your bookkeeper is sick or on leave, our automated systemskeep working.

Another team member picks up seamlessly.

When you need specialised expertise, we have specialists who've solved it before.

You're not paying for labor. You're paying for systems that work whether humans are present or not.

This isn't just about having backup.

It's about having the right combination of human expertise and technological leverage for every situation.

OUR VALUES

TEAM

Because two heads are always better than one. We are all people in it together. Whether it is our clients, colleagues or our local coffee guy, we are always about the people and working as a team to help our clients win at business.

INTEGRITY

We don’t talk integrity, integrity is part of who we are. Honest, reliable, straight forward people with honest, reliable, straight forward advice.

DELIVERY

We do what we say we are going to do and when we said we’d do it.

PASSION

That extra bit of pizazz for what we do every day. That thing you just can’t put your finger on.

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Awards & Recognition

✓Xero Bookkeeping Partner of the Year FY23

✓ Australian Accounting Awards Bookkeeping Firm of the Year Finalist (2024 & 2025)

✓ Australian Accounting Industry Awards Bookkeeping Team of the Year (2022)

✓ Xero Platinum Partner

✓ Dext Advanced Partner

✓ 450+ Active Clients

✓ 10+ Years of continuous technology innovation

Client Reviews

  • "I didn't have the time or skills to look after bookkeeping in-house. Diverse lets me leave the stress to them. I can focus on the business."

    — Angela, Lucinda Hotel

  • "I am a big believer in external consulting – and I think it works extremely well for us.  We get the best and the brightest at our fingertips which means we’re making better business decisions."

    — Siobhan Dooley, Dooley's Hospitality Group

  • "Kylie understood our business needs, coming from a trade background. She identified issues and helped us move forward."

    — Ian, Nailed It Creations

  • "I was snowed under with bookwork. Couldn't get in the field. Now I've got my time back and I can play golf on weekends."

    — Tim, Ag-Plus Health

Notice the pattern?

Large yellow quotation marks on a transparent background.

Not "they do good bookkeeping."

But "I got my life back."

"I can focus on my business."

"Wish I'd done it sooner."

That's what we deliver. Not just bookkeeping. Freedom.

Two women sitting on a sofa, working on laptops and talking on the phone, in a casual indoor setting.

Ready to Meet the Team?

P.S. — That map showing our 34 team members scattered across Australia? That's not a nice-to-have. That's access to the best talent regardless of location. That's redundancy that means you're never stuck. That's the advantage of building differently from day one.

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