Most recent blog entries

Is It Time For Change?

mike@mikesmithconsulting.co.uk — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:42:00 GMT

I received, what I think is a very thought provoking piece from a colleague over the Christmas break. On the surface it clearly to extols the virtues of marketing but I think it raises many poignant thoughts about the nature of change and our attitudes towards change - I hope you agree

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Your Website 24/7 Salesman or Just Contact Details?

mike@mikesmithconsulting.co.uk — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:48:00 GMT

My first Blog highlights the importance of your website. And it's not just important to have one. You need to communicate with your potential clients directly from your web pages. Today it is very straightforward to drive traffic to your site. What you say when they get there determines whether they will stay and indeed return

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Changing Client Culture

info@hnicholsons.co.uk — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:11:34 GMT

Culture is an interesting thing. Culture can be difficult to change, but sometimes the culture of a business is best changed for the benefit of the business and those involved.

Business culture can cover a broad range of areas but we're going to focus on habits and values. Working on these can greatly affect and improvea client's financial management.

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More Profitable with Efficient Templates

info@hnicholsons.co.uk — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:40:00 GMT

This is something I'm still often surprised at. As an accountant advising a client, wouldn't you often recommend introducing or improving processes, minimising costs, introducing quality control and all those other simple yet wonderful bits of advice that can be rattled off for most businesses?

So why is it so many of us don't consider this advice ourselves?

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What hourly rate?

info@hnicholsons.co.uk — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:01:37 GMT

Surprisingly, I hear many bookkeepers aren't sure what rate they should be charging, and many still under charge. What do you need to consider to get this right?

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Accountants' CPD: The other P in CPD

info@theaccountantscoach.com — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:58:00 GMT

As the summer draws to a close and we move into Q4, it might be time to starting checking if you are going to hit your CPD target. But have you asked yourself recently, what exactly is it? CPD, that is. Take the DTI’s description: ‘CPD is defined as the holistic commitment to structured skills enhancement and personal or professional competence’.

Did you know that? CPD encompasses personal development too.

Ah, but we’re accountants, we have our own professional definition and guidance, I hear you retort. But guess what? There are two Ps in our CPD too. Anything from negotiation skills and personal effectiveness to learning Spanish could be classed as CPD. OK I may be teaching grandma to suck eggs here but I’ll wager that there are quite a few of us still stuck in ‘technical’ CPD mode. So let me explain.

The story begins with the IFAC’s IES7, effective 1 January 2006. This educational standard applies to member bodies of IFAC – that includes ACCA, CIMA, ICAEW, ICAS, CIPFA and associate member AAT. Quite a few UK accountants then.

IES7 prescribes mandatory CPD for professional accountants and introduces a raft of recommendations to ensure compliance. And of course this in turn has permeated the CPD frameworks of each of the UK accounting organisations. So while each body, still retains its own distinct CPD system, they are all heavily flavoured with the essence of IES7. As you’d expect of course - all being compliant.

So what does it mean to you? If you haven’t yet experienced this brave new world let me take you on a tour of CPD in the 21 century…

CPD is role and personal specific

Forget the old days of ‘core competencies’. The emphasis is now on skills and experience relevant to an individual’s role. And this means taking into account the full range of responsibilities. It’s no longer just about technical prowess in finance and accounting but embraces all aspects of the role from people management to presentation skills to learning that foreign language (as long as it’s required for the job!).

And this heralds the end of the ‘one size fits all’ approach to L&D. For you this could mean the end of that annual update on the latest technical pronouncement on derivatives. You simply don’t have to maintain competencies and knowledge which are irrelevant to your role. For me, I proudly describe myself as an FCA (instead of ‘former chartered accountant’ – which is so last century), maintaining my designation by virtue of my personalised CPD which supports my career as a coach, writer and presenter in the field of personal development.

This relevance and specificity is supported by the move towards output based learning rather than input based. This simply means recognising that there can be more value in measuring effectiveness in terms of competence achieved rather than accumulating hours and units.

CPD is your personal responsibility

All of which results in an individual, bespoke CPD plan. Even in the same role, we will all be starting from different places, hence the importance of individual CPD planning, considering personal development as well as professional development.

And there’s no prescription. It’s now your individual responsibility. You use your own personal judgement (taking into account the expectations of your stakeholders) to design your CPD.

And don’t forget the more strategic side of this. The new CPD processes urge us to consider our future roles and responsibilities. This puts an autonomous slant to the L&D plan. Capitalise on that and you’re the navigator as well as the driver.

CPD comes in all shapes and sizes and many, many different guises

Entirely congruent with this new world of flexibility, individuality and relevance, the new frameworks recognise that CPD is available in all sorts of different mediums. Here’s some possibilities: self-study CD roms, podcasts, webucation, on-the-job learning, discussion groups, coaching or being coached, RSS news feeds, conferences, secondments, teleseminars.

So we have massive flexibility. Not only can we choose modes to match our preferred learning styles and working environment, but we can also take into account our lifestyle needs. This delivers a programme which is effective and efficient, maximising our personal ROI (time and money) as well as that of our organisation.

So if you’re not up already, its time to awake and smell the coffee. That brave new world is looking good.

Change the way you look at CPD and you’ve got a more extensive skill set, better equipped to do the job you’ve already got and better positioned for a broader range of future roles. All this at lower cost to you and your employer in terms of both time and money.

So don’t forget that second P in CPD.

The last word goes to the ACCA who sums it up beautifully, lest you should forget. ‘CPD is the continuous maintenance, development and enhancement of the professional and personal knowledge and skills which members require throughout their working life’.

This article first appeard in accountingweb.

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Carol McLachlan, FCA is a chartered accountant, executive coach and NLP practitioner. She runs theaccountantscoach supporting the accountancy profession, both individuals and organisations, in a multitude of development areas: career planning, work-life balance, time management, performance enhancement, communication. For more information, email info@theaccountantscoach.com

Fees, Fees, Fees

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:17:00 GMT

There is a commonly held view that the success of an accountancy firm is dependent solely on generating sufficient fees. As long as everybody focuses on fees, all will be well. Is that true actually? And if not, what else matters?

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Carry on bumping

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:14:00 GMT

If you carry on doing what you've always done, you'll carry on getting what you've always got. If you want different outcomes YOU have to do thngs differently. Otherwise you'll carry on bumping down the stairs like Winnie the Pooh.

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Collating information for tax returns

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 07:39:00 GMT

Tips and advice on how to make the process easier

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Advertising Your Service

info@hnicholsons.co.uk — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:47:48 GMT

In a few forums now I've seen bookkeepers and accountants ask about where to advertise their services... if the local newspaper is any good, or a flyer drop to businesses.

One thing I've not seen asked much is how to advertise their services!

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What's an Accountancy Service?

info@hnicholsons.co.uk — Thu, 22 May 2008 11:18:03 GMT

I often question whether clients are getting the most value from their accountants. Do they really know the value that accountants can provide to a business? I’ve seen many situations where clients are using their accountants simply to process their financial transactions and meet their statutory obligations.

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Setting Up or Moving Office - Opportunities

info@hnicholsons.co.uk — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:33:17 GMT

I know setting up or moving office can be tiring and there are the usual benefits of more space, meeting rooms, better location, professional image and so on.

But are there additional opportunities you might not be thinking about?

It would be great to benefit as much as possible and as quickly as possible from the move, so I've been thinking a little about what you could do.

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Blogging for Accountants

info@hnicholsons.co.uk — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 09:00:00 GMT

Slowly accountants are starting to take advantage of blogging. Let's take a look at how accountants can take advantage of blogs and what rewards there can be.

Blogs have been around for years, and people from all walks of life have been involved with blogging... but are accountants joining them?

Accountants have not been blogging as much as those in many other industries, but this number is increasing. Oddly enough, a lot of the current accounting-related information available through blogs has been published by law firms and 'non-accountant' service firms!

So why should accountants get involved with blogs?

This is my very first blog, in-fact I never bothered to publish a blog anywhere before. I have viewed many, subscribed (via RSS) to a few. All it took for me to start this blog was to learn a little more about the relationship between blogs and accountants. I did this with a quick search on blogging and accountants, and a little thought... and this is what I came up with.

Blogging is a marketing and PR game. Publishers get noticed, build a reader-base and receive recognition for the information published in the blog. A blog is not directly about selling your business, or yourself... but that is what it can do.

Many businesses use the internet as a source of information. They visit websites, ask questions in forums, read knowledge bases, and they read blogs. Although this is usually free information, we all know there are times when a professional service is required, so isn't it better to be known?

Creating and maintaining a blog that is useful and interesting to your target audience will build your profile and image. It can sell your level of knowledge and expertise. Consider what you know, how you help many of your clients with simple every-day advice. It needn't be extremely technical, only interesting and useful to be a success.

Focusing on a topic area can also help. Readers will develop a relationship with you, through your blog. Leaving comments, and opening up discussions and thought build on this and can strengthen your relationships. This interaction can provide you with useful feedback, and keep up with the business mind of others.

What might an accountant cover in a blog? Just from the top of my head I can think of numerous topics that would interest a wide business audience. They don't have necessarily require a great deal of knowledge, experience or technical know-how, but should be on something you have familiarised yourself with.

Topics might include software, taxation, technology, reporting, cash management, business valuation, investments, small business (eg. petty cash handling), business structures and so on. There are plenty of areas you could cover that would attract an audience.

The internet is also highly visible and gives you a greater reach to an audience than any other medium. Simply maintaining a successful blog will only help build people's awareness of you.

Blogs also can be accessed via RSS (Really Simple Syndication). This means regular readers can subscribe to your blog without needing to visit the website to check. This is read via an RSS Reader, something many internet browsers and email software have built-in. It also means your blog can be received on other websites using a reader, just like the Other News section on this website.

Of course it can take time to think of a topic, possibly conduct a little research and write up a blog entry, but the rewards are there.

Harry Nicholson
H Nicholsons Accountants

You are welcome to republish this article providing you include the following text and link at the end of the article:

Harry Nicholson, H Nicholson Accountants - A fictitious sample member of The Accountants Circle.