It was 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 of software services, Billie Mcloughlin is part of the 20:20 Innovation team. She’s currently working with a large number of leaders and managers across many firms and uncovering how they're adapting to the changes that are hitting the profession. It was great to have an opportunity to tap into Billie's insights around the fact that growing a firm creates opportunities for your key people – and that's a challenge. The technology, AI in particular, is coming at us like a train, and that is a challenge too. And then there is the challenge of demonstrating value to clients, because it's not just about 'Ooh, we saved you some tax' – it's about much more than that. I hope you enjoy and find value in this conversation with Billie. Please scroll down this episode page for the contact information for Billie and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast. |
The Solution:
Another thing that we're seeing is associated with the team. We've got a few practices that are trialling different ways of measuring team capacity, and there are a couple of reasons why I say there are a few firms because there are different approaches here.
We've got some firms that outsource offshore and they kind of have these pods now, so they've got a manager here in the UK and they'll grow to a pretty ample size of six, so we will probably see six off-shorers for one manager in the UK and then, at that point, they need to start looking at recruiting.
We're seeing this capacity per team member for those types of things in all parts of the business – for accounts, audit and bookkeeping – I've seen this. I haven't really seen it in the payroll department, but I think payroll does seem to be getting quicker and quicker, so recruitment seems to be less fierce in the payroll space.
SHOW NOTES
Connect with Billie
Connect with Paul
Resources relating to this podcast:
During the podcast, Paul and Billie discuss at length the value of KPIs for both the team and the clients.
They talk about the numbers influencing the accountancy industry right now and the numbers that are likely to matter – and to therefore be tracked and measured going forward.
Billie shares her insights about the numbers cropping up with the firms she is talking to:
- Profitability matters to firms who invest a lot, especially in tech and software
- Speed of delivery and the value of that speed
- Manager-to-team ratio numbers
- Team costs
- Client feedback scores
Which numbers matter most to your firm? Are you tracking and measuring the right ones? It's not just the financial metrics of your firm that matter, it's the human ones as well – your team and client numbers. Which team and client numbers do you measure?
Most accountancy firm owners and managing partners measure what they think is right rather than measuring what matters most.
We know accountants love to track and measure – let’s make sure you track and measure the right things in your firm. Click here to read this Business Breakthrough report – Sustainable Success with KPIs – and discover how to use them as key PREDICTIVE indicators.
Towards the end of the podcast, Paul mentions a book called Belonging, by Owen Eastwood. Paul and Billie are discussing the importance of stories and experience, including the credibility that comes from having been in your accountancy firm or the industry for many years and having many stories to share.
Billie believes that drawing down on those stories is invaluable and worries that, if people are discouraged from coming into the profession, the stories are lost.
Owen Eastwood is a Māori and many of the stories in the book come from his ancestry. He talks about generational storytelling and the need within humans to belong.
To access the book, click the button below.
