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Today I heard a wonderful example of combining great customer service with “fun with a serious intent” Val at Beyond the Numbers was telling me how her team had realised that many of their conversations with clients include jargon that we expect clients to understand.  Phrases like “we’ll journal that in your accounts” or “we…

It can be quite lonely running an Accountancy Practice can’t it. In our personal lives we have family and friends who we can share companionship with, air feelings, frustrations and emotions with.  But in our business lives we don’t always get the chance to do that do we?  Even having a team of people or…

I had the pleasure of attending Accountex this year for the full 2 days, being able to take some time to speak to accountants in practice about the challenges they are facing at the moment. There seems to be a lot of talk about what to use as a practice management tool, with there being…

In a nutshell  Goddards Accountants is based in West Molesey, Surrey and is an independent firm made up of highly experienced finance professionals. Manager, Derek Williamson, is passionate about the future of his firm and the accounting industry, that’s why he has built a team of young and enthusiastic qualified and part-qualified accountants. The team…

In two previous articles, I spoke about different ways in which you can systemise your business. The first of these was to take a look at your to-do list and look at which things would be easy to systemise. The second was starting with your customer facing systems and ensure that every time you interact…

There are many Accountants offering services to their clients and prospects. Some would be best described as Traditional and some Forward Thinking. Here’s a great method used by many AVN Members of illustrating the difference and where they sit. This fairly outdated Nokia makes phone calls and texts which is a fundamental aspect of what…

Recently I was presenting to a room full of partners and directors of Accountancy Practices, most of whom referred to themselves on their websites as ProActive Accountants. I posted the question to them, what exactly do they mean by ProActive? I was met by stunned silence. Eventually, a few suggestions were made but no-one was…

In a nutshell Based in Edinburgh, Beyond the Numbers is an accountancy and business consultancy Practice. Made up of a small but longstanding team of five, including owner Val Wishart, the company helps small businesses with their financial performance. The close knit team place a great deal of importance on building strong client relationships and…

Helping Accountants improve their Accountancy Practice, so they in turn can spend more time with their clients and help them improve their business, has always been AVN’s purpose. I recently surveyed the members of AVN to ascertain how quickly and effectively they are transforming their Accountancy Practice and I compared that to a survey I…