Culture Series Archives - humanisethenumbers.online

Episode 151: Paul Miller of Cornish Accounting Solutions

Paul Shrimpling — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 12:27:59 +0000

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 genuinely thinks of himself first and foremost as a storyteller.
The reasons for that will become apparent during the podcast, and that's why I highly recommend it to you. In a wide-ranging discussion, Paul and I talk through the importance of client selection, as well as how a scare with meningitis affected Paul’s outlook, not just on his firm, but on life in general.
And you'll certainly want to dive into what's on Paul's ‘sacred cow’ and ‘magic wand’ lists.

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Episode 149: Donna Field of Autumn HR

Paul Shrimpling — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 01:20:00 +0000

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 ultimately proved the catalyst to setting up what is now a thriving business, with Donna doing work that she loves and bringing huge value to her clients.
I really enjoyed my chat with Donna. We talked about a number of things – the importance of team engagement, the positive effect of having weekly one-to-ones with your team members, and, of course, the impact that a good HR partner can have on your business.
Please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Donna and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

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Episode 148: Steve Price of BWP Inspire

Paul Shrimpling — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 11:50:57 +0000

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 with purpose in their firm.
He covers a number of thought-provoking subjects in the podcast, including how they totally revamped their annual accounts meeting system to make sure that they covered purpose-related questions, ensuring that they were really living out that core purpose in the eyes of both their clients and their team members.
Please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Steve and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

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Episode 146: Alasdair McGill, MD of Ashton McGill

Paul Shrimpling — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 09:35:57 +0000

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 in life with your son?
In this wide-ranging conversation with Alasdair McGill, of Ashton McGill, we cover a lot of ground.
We discuss the education system and how it often seems to stifle our natural curiosity and diminish our ability to ask questions.
We talk about the future of the profession, and we talk about how Alasdair is very intentional about everything that he does within Ashton McGill. It's a great conversation. I really enjoyed it and I’m sure you will too.
You can scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Alasdair and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

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Episode 142: Elinor Perry, MD Pentlands Accountants

Paul Shrimpling — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 12:56:56 +0000

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 unpack 20 years of experience of running her firm – from when she bought in to the business to the garden party with 130 customers on a lawn wishing her every success for the next stage of Pentlands. How do you build that level of trust?
Elinor shares her thoughts around establishing clear expectations and setting the standard early – how do you get going early with new prospects, so that it creates a foundation of trust that results in recommendations and results in clients paying fees of £6,000 a year or £20,000 a year or more, without any audit involved?
This is one of those rare podcasts where you get someone's life experience of running a practice in an hour. Clearly, we've not unpacked everything, but it's well worth diving in to see what it takes to establish a business where the team trusts you, where the clients trust you, where the community trusts you, and where you enjoy life as a practice leader.
I hope you enjoy this podcast with Elinor as much as I did.
Please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Elinor and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

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Episode 140: Alan Farrelly, Managing Director at UHY Farrelly Dawe White Limited

Paul Shrimpling — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 01:17:00 +0000

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 out how it felt to contend with all of the advances in technology and the other changes that we've seen over the generations, to the point where Alan is thinking of planning for exit. How does that all feel, that journey?
You'll find the answers to these questions and more in this podcast, where Alan talks about what it's like to be a people-led firm. He shares what it's like to trust people and get out of their way to allow them to do their jobs properly.

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Episode 139: John Thompson, CEO of Wisdom in Practice

Paul Shrimpling — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 12:49:27 +0000

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 thing called 'Advisory'.
How you move your firm from compliance services to advisory services is an ongoing, almost endless question.
And yet, it's normal, it's natural, to have conversations – human being to human being, individual to individual – and you're doing it all the time. It's just that you may not necessarily be seeing it as a natural part of who you are as an accountant working with your clients.
But in this podcast discussion with John Thompson, we discuss the simple, elegant, obvious, natural merits of a normal, human skill that everyone can develop – the skill of conversation.
We can all improve our conversational skills, but we have a level of skill now. We just need to use these skills and recognise that we're using them in different settings, in different ways, and make it a natural, systemic, cultural way of doing things in our firm. And we might just achieve what John, in one of his firms, achieved, which was trebling fees within two years. Sounds like an outlandish headline, but the reality is it's feasible.
Average fees can be £10k per annum, £20k per annum, £30k per annum, and more. We know this because we see it in firms that have embraced having human conversations more often with more clients. And that's what this podcast is about.

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Episode 137: Sherelyn Cowles, Chief Business Development Officer at Gooding Accounts

Paul Shrimpling — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 11:36:24 +0000

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 discuss how to build a great culture by identifying and articulating your core purpose and values, and by being very clear about how everyone is expected to behave.
We also talk about the importance of ensuring your values, vision, and core purpose are available on your website so that, when people come for interview, they've had a chance to review these and are ready to sit down and work for you because they've already made their decision.
They know that a clear purpose will give them meaningful work, and they can get behind the values and the vision. They know where it’s going to take them and how they can fit into that.

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Episode 136: Stuart Clark, Managing Director at Russell + Russell

Paul Shrimpling — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 09:14:29 +0000

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 what it's like to be a leader?
And when you're up and running, how do you rise above the sea of sameness?
You’ll find out the answer to these questions and more in this podcast with Stuart Clark of Russell & Russell Business Advisors in Glasgow.
Stuart and I had a great chat. We covered a lot of ground, and we invite you to listen to it on HumaniseTheNumbers.online or wherever you get your podcasts. It would be great to hear your comments.
Please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Stuart and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

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Episode 134: Stephan Meier, Professor and Author – Part Two

Paul Shrimpling — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 01:14:00 +0000

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 that advantage?
Once upon a time in the world of work, it was all about a product advantage or, in the accountancy space, a service level advantage. But at the end of the day, an audit service from one firm is not dissimilar to an audit service from another. The same goes for payroll, for management accounts, and so on.
There is therefore not much of a competitive edge arising from products and services. So, instead of going product-centric, go client-centric. Become really focused on client care, on delivering a client experience that provides an advantage and, don't get me wrong, I think in the accounting space there's huge potential for an edge there.
But what about the employee advantage? What if your team's ability to deliver work on time to a high standard and with a high degree of client care – ticking the client-centric box – is where a true advantage, a sustainable advantage, could be found?
In this podcast discussion with Stephan Meier, world-renowned author of The Employee Advantage, you'll be able to unpack – because Stephan does it for us – a large number of insights, ideas and strategies that could ultimately deliver a competitive advantage to you and your firm.
So please join Douglas, my colleague, Stephan and I on this podcast and please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Stephan and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

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