Manchester’s exclusive one-day accounting conference just got bigger, with 10% increase in attendance for 2019
The second edition of Accountex Summit North – an exclusive one-day accounting conference and exhibition – was on record-breaking form earlier this month, with over 1,200 attending the event at Manchester Central on Tuesday 10 September.
That was 10% up on last year’s launch event – and it came just four months after the flagship Accountex event in London attracted a huge 9,000 attendees.
The list of visitors included top accountants, finance directors, accounts managers, tax professionals, heads of IT, bookkeepers, and sole practitioners (working in practice, industry, and the public sector) from leading firms, businesses and institutions.
Among them were representatives from organisations as diverse as Procter & Gamble, Mars UK, Siemens UK, FirstGroup, HMRC, Lush Cosmetics, BNY Mellon, WOCO, Euro Garages, Nottingham University, Royal Museums Greenwich, North Wales Wildlife Trust, Beauty Bay, and more. Plus top accountancy firms including PwC, Grant Thornton, BDO, Saffery Champness, Haines Watts, Crowe UK, UHY Hacker Young, TaxAssist Accountants, Armstrong Watson, MHA Moore and Smalley, Cowgills, Beever and Struthers, Mitchell Charlesworth, Garbutt & Elliott, Bennett Brooks, Bulley Davey, and PM+M.
They came to discover the best new tech, products, services, solutions, and innovations from more than 80 leading exhibitors, and to access more than 18 hours of free seminar content delivered by a line-up of 24 expert speakers.
Glowing testimonials have been coming in thick and fast. Excellent, exciting, well organised, fun, fantastic, informative, interesting, relevant, varied, and superb are just some of the words that attendees have used to describe the show so far.
Summing up his experience at Accountex Summit North, Dean McMullan, partner at Allens Chartered Accountants described it as “a jam-packed day of accounting software and technology with an exciting choice of speakers.”
“An extremely good use of a day – informative, relevant and also an eye-opener to the technology available today,” agrees Hugh Tracy-Forster, managing director at T4 Consulting.
“Accountex Summit North 2019 was a great place to find new software suppliers, meet my LinkedIn contacts for the first time and to attend some useful seminars,” says Lorraine Ellison, owner of Simply Additions. “The most useful element was hearing about what is coming next, which allows me to think about the impact on my business, and how it will affect my clients. It feels good to be ahead of the game!”
“It was great to hear from HMRC on their implementation and plans for new tax regimes and put faces to the support helplines of our existing software providers,” says Sharon Turner, chartered accountant at Bryan Redhead & Co.
“A perfect platform to learn, great opportunity to make professional connections and gain 8 CPD hours. A must-attend event to know the latest in the world of accountancy and finance,” says Prav Tyagi, principal accountant at TaxAssist Accountants Manchester South.
Keynote highlights
From standing room only sessions and packed panel discussions, to big-name Keynotes and topical seminars, Accountex Summit North’s three theatres were a hive of activity throughout.
Gordon Gilchrist, author and speaker at 2020 Innovation, kicked off the day with an industry update, before BBC Broadcaster Joe Lynam took to the stage to deliver his insightful Keynote talk on Brexit and the current state of the UK economy. In a packed Theatre 3, HMRC’s Rebecca Hutton gave an up-to-the-minute update on Making Tax Digital, while in Theatre 2 Taxwise presenter Amanda Chadwick tackled mental health in the workplace, and FreeAgent’s Nick Longden talked AI and open banking to an audience spilling into the aisles in Theatre 1.
This year’s line-up also featured sessions from industry experts including: Verna Gellvear (HMRC), Glen Foster (Xero), Philippa Hume (Intuit QuickBooks), Chris Downing (Sage), Andrew Hubbard (Taxation Magazine), Amanda C. Watts (TwentyTwo Agency), Matt Garman (SalesEnabla), Alastair Barlow (flinder), Des O’Neill (OmniPro Group), Richard Sergeant (Principle Point), Lucy Whittington (Brilliant Business Things), Josh Riffe (FUNancial Services), Alan Woods (Woods Squared), Janice B. Gordon (Scale Your Sales), Nick Elston, Brian Coventry (Envision), Martin Bissett (USP), Carl Reader (Small Business Champion), and Jo Edwards (JE Consulting).
“We launched the show last year to bring the best of Accountex to accountancy professionals in the North – and we’ve been overwhelmed by the level of enthusiasm the industry has shown,” says event director Zoe Lacey-Cooper.
“We’re thrilled to have notched things up for our second year with an amazing 10% increase in attendees and delighted that the brand continues to go from strength to strength. Accountex is the best platform for bringing the industry together and the sense of one community uniting to network, support, share, and learn from each other at both our Manchester and London events is inspiring.”
She continues: “A huge thanks, as always, to all of our exhibitors, visitors, speakers and partners for their phenomenal support, we couldn’t create these fantastic events without you. See you at Accountex 2020!”
Save the date for Accountex 2020
The flagship Accountex event will return to ExCeL London on 13-14 May 2020. To register your interest in attending or for further information, please visit www.accountex.co.uk/london.
The next edition of Accountex Summit North will take place at Manchester Central on 21 September 2021. To register your interest in attending or for further information, please visit www.accountex.co.uk/summitnorth.