RunningYourPractice
Managing early growth
Pictured above: Craig Dyer
Early decisions set the tone for your firm’s growth potential and capacity, but the process doesn’t have to feel daunting
The early days of trading and taking on your first clients is a delicate stage. You have completed the process of setting up and initially it’s about building up a client base and establishing regular, reliable cash flow.
Juggling that process while putting in place scalable systems and infrastructure, and knowing how and when to increase capacity, are all crucial areas of judgement for firms in early-stage growth. AT caught up with some licensed members who have been through it to find out how they navigated early challenges and decisions.
We were actively trying to grow the business. We wanted to get our basis right to then expand in the right way.
Have a plan
Having a clear plan in place helps many founders through those early months and years. It enables them to be more purposeful when it comes to decision-making and enables them to more clearly define their firm in terms of values and client profile.
Craig Dyer MAAT AATQB, founder and managing director of CA Dyer Accounts & Bookkeeping, says: “When I first started, I didn’t have that plan. It was only probably after three or four years of being by myself and then having a small team that I thought I should because we were actively trying to grow the business. We wanted to get our basis right to then expand in the right way.”
Once Dyer had settled on an approach, he set it in motion methodically.
“I made sure that systems were in place and just tried to really think of it strategically as opposed to practically,” he adds. “I didn’t look to fast-track growth, either. I slowly increased to having one employee, two, then three over the years. [I was] trying to make sure there was some elements of a plan going forward, and ensuring we were ready for each step we took.
“My early days trading were very reactive, but if you have set up your business and you have a clear three- or five-year plan and set yourself particular KPIs, you set yourself and your business a set of values essentially.”
Realise Finance founder Will Blower MAAT (left)
Get your infrastructure right
The decision of how much you invest in software is a significant one for all early-stage accounting firms. On one hand, high-quality software offers the opportunity to automate mundane and repetitive tasks at high volume, freeing accountants up for more strategic work. However, in the early stages of a firm’s development at least, much of this software can be too expensive. Indeed, some of the functionality can also be extraneous for many start-up firms.
“We have some way to go in terms of some of the softwares,” Realise Finance founder Will Blower MAAT says. “We don’t have GoProposal, for instance, which is a really popular application that you'll see a lot of accounting practices use. That helps keep our fees down because it’s an expensive service. And we don't use AutoEntry.
“We have gone with the Xero add-on called Hubdoc. It’s a free alternative, so we find the solutions in there to provide the service our clients are going to need. It’s always about that.”
Heather Palmer FMAAT, who founded Ascot Bookkeeping & Accounting Services Ltd in 2017, takes a similar view, warning that software can become a major source of expense at a time when maximising income is extremely important.
She says: “You’ve got your accounting software, proposal software, you might have data capture software, banking software, open banking – the list goes on. Before you know it, that has really eaten into your profit.”
With that in mind, Palmer advocates putting in place the functionality you need to enable a good start with room to grow, without feeling pressurised to add on unnecessary “bells and whistles”.
Get a network and mentor
Something Palmer, Dyer and Blower all promote is networking and finding a mentor to provide support and guidance as you and your firm find your feet.
Quite apart from sharing huge amounts of knowledge and experience, mentors are often able to help parse issues and help mentees negotiate challenges successfully. They are also hugely powerful when it comes to networking, often introducing new contacts.
“When you are growing your practice, you need to be in a really good network of other accountants and you need to bounce ideas off them in a secure environment,” Palmer says. “I’m a member of a group and it’s great. We can just go on a call every Thursday at 1pm and if you’ve got any problems, or if you don’t know how to do something, you’ve got a sounding board.”
Dyer concurs: “One piece of advice I would give to somebody looking to start up would be to get a link with somebody who has gone through it themselves. Having somebody who has gone through it already is very powerful, and they can help you troubleshoot and speak from experience. There’s no substitute for that.”
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