Humanise The Numbers - for ambitious accountants in practice
Business & Finance
About
Welcome to the 'Humanise The Numbers' podcast series. Here you'll find a whole series of interviews with the leaders of accounting firms who are building (or have already built) a firm of the future now! You'll hear key insights, key skills and key habits that underpin the success of these firms. Insights, skills and habits that can underpin your firm's future success too. It seems that when an accountancy firm connects their team and their clients to the numbers that really matter to them they transform the results for everyone. This is accelerated when the humanity of the way they work shines through too. That's why we're talking about ambitious accountants humanising the numbers.Here's what a director of a multi-partner multi-national firm said recently ."What I like about your podcasts is that they are real. They are not scripted and I appreciate the fact that your interviewees admit they don’t have all the answers but are willing to let you put that fact out on a podcast. It is
Episodes
- Georgi Rollings, Co-CEO & Founder at Starfish Accounting
No doubt you want to feel a sense of pride about the way you and your team work – a sense of satisfaction that the work you do generates the results you want financially for the firm and for yourself, as well as delivering brilliantly for…
- Neil Campbell of Pure Path Advisory
I suspect that every one of your business clients seeks to work with you and your firm because you bring a dose of good business sense to everything you do with them. Yes, there's accounts. Yes, there's tax. Yes, there’s audit and other ac…
- Dominic Ashley-Timms, Speaker, CEO and Author of The Answer is a Question
One of the most influential and, I think, most important books I've read in recent times is The Answer is a Question , by Dominic Ashley-Timms. It’s important because it lays out a clear pathway to transforming the quality of conversations…
- Martin Wardle of TH Ward
What persuaded Martin Wardle to give up a partnership in one of the fastest growing firms in the Northeast to start his own business, not in general accountancy, but as a specialist tax boutique focusing only on tax returns. What were the…
- Derek Granger of Aris Growth
Given the current pace of technology, how can you know how it will impact your firm? Well, you obviously can't know for sure, but isn't it good to get an insider's viewpoint on how technology will change things? In this podcast with Derek…
- Luke Farren of The Modern Firm
When we discuss technology in relation to accounting, it seems that there has been a rapid pace of change with technology for years now, and it's only accelerating. And with the advancements in artificial intelligence, perhaps the speed of…
- Gareth Burton of Assure UK
When someone with an engineering background moves into accountancy, what skills do they bring along with them? What struck me in this podcast with Gareth Burton of Assure UK was Gareth's curiosity about the way that accountancy is carried…
- Phil Hobden, Head of Business Development at Sage
How do you ensure that you are continually delivering value to clients, so that they never question the fees that you charge, especially in this volatile, uncertain world in which we're living? In this podcast with Phil Hobden of Sage, Phi…
- Paul Miller, founder of Cornish Accounting Solutions
As an accountant, do you think of yourself first and foremost as a storyteller? Probably not. And I've not met many who do. But in this podcast episode with Paul Miller of Cornish Accounting Solutions, that's exactly what I found. Paul gen…
- Jonathan Gaunt of FD Works
Occasionally, you have the privilege of having a deep conversation with someone who's well-versed in the profession, has worked in industry, has set up multiple businesses, who runs his own accountancy practice and, at the same time, is do…
- Donna Field, Founder and Director of Autumn HR
When adversity strikes, how do you react? In this podcast with Donna Field of Autumn HR, we discuss how she faced adversity in the form of a business, one in which she was emotionally and financially invested, disappearing overnight. This…
- Steve Price of BWP Inspire
What does leading your ambitious accounting firm with purpose actually entail? In this podcast with Steve Price of BWP Inspire, Steve shares how they arrived at their core purpose, as well as how they've rolled it out and how they lead wit…
- Caroline Carter of Carter Clear Accounting
Think about the traditional route most accountants follow before going into practice. In this podcast, I explore the route taken by Caroline Carter, of Carter Clear Accounting. You'll find Caroline's route anything but traditional. From ha…
- Noel Guilford, Founder and CEO of Guilford Accounting
How do you get your clients to take monthly information from you, and not only to take that monthly information, but to sit down with you and go through it so that they can fully understand their numbers? In this podcast with Noel Guilford…
- Alasdair McGill, Managing Director of Ashton McGill
When you have a background in the big four accounting firms, a background in design thinking and a background with a deep desire to be curious and ask lots of great questions... …how does that all come together when you set up a firm later…
- Miranda Kendall, MD of Spotlight Reporting
When your background is in the corporate world and in the world of startups, how do you harness that experience when it comes to trying to sell a product to accountants that you know that they want, while sometimes dealing with resistance…
- Graeme Tennick, Chief Impact Officer at Tennick Accountants
How many firms do you know that have a Chief Impact Officer? Yep, me neither. So, you may want to join this podcast with myself and Graeme Tennick, of Tennick Accountants, as Graeme talks about his role and about how and why it came into b…
- Laura Taylor, Founder of Bright Flamingo
What's it like to start an accounting firm with £200, to grow it quickly over a period of five years, and then to decide to exit? And from the start of that exit conversation to completion, for it to take only 25 days? We'll cover all of t…
- Elinor Perry, Managing Director of Pentlands Accountants
A pressing question that every firm, every leader, every manager, should ask themselves is: how do you build long-standing trust with your clients and with your team? In this podcast with Elinor Perry of Pentlands, you'll hear Elinor unpac…
- Alan Farrelly, Managing Director at UHY Farrelly Dawe White Limited
How must it feel to found and to grow, over a period of almost 40 years, a busy, vibrant firm, from humble beginnings to over a hundred people? In this podcast with Alan Farrelly of UHY Farrelly Dawe White, based in Ireland, you'll find ou…
- John F Thompson - CEO Wisdom in Practice
There is a thing that’s been talked about in the profession for decades, something which has never really got traction in every firm in a leveraged way. It works in some firms in a small way and in a very few firms in a big way. It’s that…
- Russell Watkins - Lean Transformation Expert & Co-founder @ SempaiGuide
When you're trying to unlock the potential that you know exists within your team, within your client bank, within your firm as a whole, it can feel frustrating that you just can't seem to get to it, you can't unlock it. In this podcast dis…
- Sherelyn Cowles, Chief Business Development Officer at Gooding Accounts
We know that recruiting great people and keeping them is a huge challenge for your accounting firm, so how do you stand out from the crowd? In this podcast with Sherelyn Cowles, Chief Business Development Officer at Gooding Accounts, we di…
- Stuart Clark, Managing Director at Russell + Russell
What does a succession plan look and feel like from the perspective of those that are buying in? And once you’ve got that buy-in, how do you actually manage the expectations of your team and your clients, all while finding out yourself wha…
- Mark Allen, Co founder of the TAG Community
If there's a phrase that encapsulates the content of this podcast discussion with Mark Allen, it would be 'applied wisdom'. We tap into Mark's several decades of working within the profession, first as a board director of PLCs, then transi…
- Stephan Meier, Professor and Author – Part Two
In the second part of this 2-part podcast discussion with Stephan Meier, world-renowned author of The Employee Advantage , you'll be able to hear Stephan unpack a large number of insights, ideas and strategies that could ultimately deliver…
- Stephan Meier, Professor and Author – Part One
You'd probably like to get your hands on a competitive advantage that would lead to the future financial success of your firm, one that would enhance, or even transform, the results you're currently achieving. Where do you go looking for t…
- Dan Crowther, CEO of Thorne Widgery
Chances are that the vast majority of the people in your firm want to do a good job, whatever their role – accounts, bookkeeping, audit, tax or payroll. They get out of bed every morning to do good work. But to be successful as an accounta…
- Dan Cockerton, Founder, Digital Accountancy Show
It's a unique experience to have someone who is in the digital space in a deep way coming on the podcast to talk about humanising the numbers. Getting Dan Cockerton onto the Humanise the Numbers podcast has been an ambition of mine for the…
- Roger Knecht, President of Universal Accounting, Author and Podcast Host
It was exciting to welcome Roger Knecht, the president of Universal Accounting, onto the Humanise the Numbers podcast. And I wasn't expecting to have what essentially turned into a 45-minutes sales training session with Roger. That ultimat…
- Stephen Paul, MD of Valued
When you come across an accountant who happens to have 900 clients – business clients – and who has a page on his website called The Human Accountant, you can understand why we at the Humanise the Numbers podcast would be interested in hav…
- Russ Byrd and Vicky Link of Byrd and Link
It's such a privilege when you get the chance to speak to a couple of business leaders who founded a firm with nothing just a few years ago – in fact, set the business up during lockdown – and then have grown rapidly since then. Last year,…
- Richard Spofforth and Jennifer Williamson of Kreston Reeves
When you're fortunate enough to spend an hour or so in a deep discussion with two members of the leadership team of a 600-person firm, a team that have profoundly and consistently improved their firm's performance over the years, it's defi…
- Rhys Madoc - Chief Executive Officer at UHY International
It's a rare privilege to sit down with the leader of a top 20, global firm and chew the fat about the way the industry, the profession, is changing. So it's worthwhile listening to this discussion with Rhys Madoc, CEO of UHY International,…
- Billie Mcloughlin of 2020 Innovation Training Ltd
It's just brilliant to have a chance to speak to an accountant who has worked in practice – right at the centre of adopting technology – who then moves on to being a provider to the accountancy profession. But rather than being a provider…
- Richard Brewin and Richard Bertin of All in Place
In business, one thing that's absolutely certain is that a client’s perception of your firm is connected to their expectation of what you'll deliver to them, for them, with them. In this podcast discussion with the two Richards, Richard Br…
- Transforming Numbers into Relationships
Dive into this fascinating episode where we explore how listening serves as a cornerstone in transforming client relationships within the accounting field. Our discussion highlights the extensive barriers created by ego and preconceived no…
- Hayley Plimley, Director of Marketing & Communications at DJH
It's clear that, if you want to grow your accountancy firm, you need to master the art (or indeed science) of marketing and communications. On this Humanise the Numbers podcast discussion with Hayley Plimley, Marketing and Communications D…
- Dawn Marriott - Hg Serial Chair
If you - as a leader of your team, your department, your firm, even - want to build a profoundly successful business, you'll want data at your fingertips. You'll want the data that enables you to make the best decisions and that will enabl…
- Philippa White, Founder & CEO TIE Leadership, author and speaker
Stop thinking that return on investment is what drives the financial performance of your business, and start thinking that return on humanity is the ultimate starting point, the foundation of the success of your accounting firm. This is th…
- Jolawn Victor, Chief Growth Officer at Go Cardless
It’s sometimes easy to become distracted with the bells and whistles, the proactivity and the value-add of the way you serve and work with your clients and, as a consequence, you can lose the need, the essential need, of delivering brillia…
- Tracy Irwin, The Time Freedom Alchemist
I recently had the great privilege to spend an hour with a business leader who had sold their business just a few days before, after 22 years. That business started in their bedroom, and they built it up over time to just short of a millio…
- Kat Wellum-Kent, CFO of Fractional Finance and Speaker
What must it feel like to leave a promising, high-flying career with a leading firm and start up your own firm – to hand your notice in and, six months later, kick-start your accountancy firm with one client? Well, that's exactly what Kat…
- Andrew Botham, Investor and advisor - growth stage businesses
There’s something very remarkable about the work accountants can do to transform the lives of their business owner clients, transform the results of their business, and feel a sense of pride, satisfaction and passion for the work they do.…
- James Butterworth, VIP Commercial Manager and Senior Tax Consultant, Croner-i
When your clients feel at home, they tend to want to stay at home. That's a statement by James Butterworth, a tech and advisory specialist from the VIP team at Croner-i. In this podcast discussion, I was surprised by how this conversation…
- Stuart Hurst, Founder of Cloud 10 Accounting
When you dive into a deep conversation with a person who has worked in a village accountancy practice, someone who has also been part of a national firm and who has worked within an organisation to establish a new office, improving the fee…
- Aaron Harris, Global Chief Technology Officer for Sage
It's not every day you get the opportunity to interview the Global Chief Technology Officer of one of the landmark suppliers to the accounting profession. In this podcast discussion with Aaron Harris from Sage, we explored a few issues aro…
- Philippa Haynes, marketing expert and podcast host
It's not often you get the chance to chew the fat with someone who's worked with Ford, with Tata, with Levi’s, as well as with numerous other high-end, well-known, well-recognised international brands, and be able to talk to them about wha…
- Rebecca Mihalic, Director at businessDEPOT Sydney, Head Of Accounting (APAC) at Ignition
When you listen in to a conversation with a leader of an accounting business with over 100 people, and you hear how seriously they take investment in their team now so that it delivers a return in 12, 18, 24 or even 36 months, it's well wo…
- Craig McKell, Asia Pacific GM at AdvanceTrack
It's simply brilliant when you can spend some time with a chartered accountant, one who spent 17 years with EY down in Australia before becoming an owner-managed business buying accountancy services. Craig believes that an accountant does…