Progress report from a millennial accountant
Accounting Insight Editor Ian Moss enjoyed a round-table discussion by sole practitioners at Accountex Summit North. Afterwards, he asked one of its participants - a young accountant from Manchester - if he'd like to share a few of his thoughts. And here they are...
So, I was asked to write a guest blog to note my ideas and how I ended up setting up my own accountancy practice. My ego said yes and I thought how hard could this be?
Thirty minutes staring at blank screen with a zero word count and now I am starting to regret my “say yes and figure out how later” mantra!
Hi, my name is Sam Kellali and, two-and-half-years ago at the ripe old age of 32, I set up "yourFD" (www.imyourfd.co.uk). I did an economics degree at Loughborough university, enjoyed the accountancy modules and, upon graduation, went to work with a large practice back home in Manchester to gain those lovely ACA letters after my name!!
Started to acquire some great clients
Once qualified, I moved to a smaller firm in Bolton. Here I was tasked with going out to win my own clients. Sounded easy, but, wow, it took me a long time to work out how to do this properly! After a while, I got the hang of it and started to acquire some great clients.
They tended to be relatively young business owners who had fast growing start-ups. Their lack of experience in running a business led me to getting more involved and in hindsight this was where the idea for yourFD came from.
We are all aware technology has and will continue to cause a massive disruption to the accountancy industry. However, it is this same technological advancement that has allowed many new businesses to grow at an alarming rate.
New type of business owner
I had one client who had an online men’s fashion brand. His sales were at £500k in year 2 and that was without any prior experience in the industry! This type of business would have been virtually impossible to create 15-20 years ago. This led to a new type of business owner, a business owner who wanted/required a new type of relationship with their accountant.
yourFD was created to take advantage of such technological advancements and, more importantly, the need of business owners who require more from the traditional ‘once a year accountant’ yet are not at a stage where they can justify the £70k a year salary of an in-house FD.
I also still have lots to learn and have made plenty of mistakes along the way. However, the business itself has grown significantly since formation. Here a few things that have helped along the way…
Treat your business as No1 client!
- Treat your business as your number one client. There is no point goal setting and profit forecasting with your clients if you have no plan for your own. How many clients do you want? What will the average fee be? Practice what you preach!
- It is OK to say no. For every four prospects I may only take on one. I know this can be difficult in the early days (There were a few that slipped through the net) but please be disciplined on only working with your ideal client.
- Get all clients on fixed fees and direct debit. The hourly rate model only encourages inefficiency!
- Regularly ask for client feedback. My business must complete a minimum three client surveys a month. There are two reasons for this. 1) We genuinely are interested in what clients think of us and their suggestions on how our service can be improved. 2) It is a systematic way of asking for referrals and in turn growing our business. (We always ask for three referrals rather than one! If you ask for one people may say no but ask for three and they are more likely to provide one!).
There will be a panel discussion by millennial accountants at Accountex 2018 on 23-24 May at ExCel in London.
