Praddy Velayuthan is living the dream many business owners have. By delegating both compliance work – and now advisory – to his team, Praddy is stepping away from the day-to-day to focus on the bigger picture. All with a little help from AccountancyManager. 

Praddy Velayuthan was born and raised in Sri Lanka, where he worked in banking before coming to the UK in 2003. Praddy then became an accounts assistant for a small company. 

“When I wanted to take my career further, they didn’t want to lose me,” he explains. “They said, ‘if you’d like to do something else on the side, we’ll support you’. So I took on a couple of clients on the weekends and evenings and that’s how we started. Slowly things started to grow, then I decided to quit my job and go full time.” 

Praddy’s old employers were one of his first clients and remain with him today.

If you’re still using paper, you’re not coming in…

Now, Praddy Financial Consulting is a team of nine – two in the UK and seven in Sri Lanka. “We work with all types of clients, but we do have some requirements. You have to be able to use technology because we don’t use paper.”

“We’ve set a minimum fee too – we don’t go cheap anymore. So our niche is tech-friendly clients and who would like real value for money. We want to actually grow their businesses, with tax planning and business advisory. We don’t want people who just want their accounts filed.” Continue reading...

Every AccountancyManager user sits somewhere on the ‘digital knowledge’ spectrum. Those who admit technology terrifies them at one end and actual developers at the other. Aaron Patrick is of the latter ilk. So much so, he once started building his own version of AccountancyManager. 

Aaron’s practice, Boffix, is four years old and has around 10 employees across two offices, in Derby and London. Before delving into Aaron’s experience with AM, we found out about his practice and approach.

“I used to get asked how many clients I have and I’d be like “Urrm…?” Now, thanks to AccountancyManager, the exact number comes up when I log in.”

Work experience turns into an unexpected career

“I never wanted to be an accountant growing up,” recalls Aaron. “It never even crossed my mind. I wanted to be a teacher. But I did work experience at an accountancy practice at age 16 and was offered a job. They offered me an AAT apprenticeship and that opened my eyes to what accountancy is. It’s not just numbers and calculators, it’s helping clients. That’s what appealed to me. I did my AAT, moved on to a bigger firm – a top 50 firm – and did my ICAEW.” 

Specialising in e-commerce, R&D and charities 

Behind the unusual name, Boffix has somewhat of an unusual nature. Aaron is a self-confessed geek and this passion for technology and innovation is reflected in his clientbase and services. “We’ve found that we work particularly well with the e-commerce industry. We have a lot of UK resellers.”  Continue reading...

The Sage Impact Award Winner (who never planned to have a practice)

Many people have itchy feet for a while before launching a business. Donna, however, loved her previous role and never planned to leave. It was exploring new technology that sparked an interest that would become Accrual World Accounting Solutions. 

Only one year into her business and Donna Hannaby has just picked up Best New Practice at the Sage Impact Awards. If only they had one for Best Practice Name Pun too… AM’s Jonathan spoke to Donna about her journey to becoming an award-winning business owner and her experience with AM. 

When little girls dream of being accountants

Last week, AM user Caroline Hocking stated “No little kid dreams of being an accountant.” Caroline, meet Donna. “I always wanted to be either a teacher or an accountant,” she says. “I don’t know where either of those came from!”. Donna still couldn’t decide at university, so did a degree in English, before finally settling on accountancy. 

“I got the job, then cried for a week. Not with happiness, with absolute dismay at the tiny salary they were going to pay!”

“At the time, I was working the check out at Asda while studying at uni. I wrote letters to about 40 local accountants, asking them to take me on. I got a couple of lovely replies saying ‘no, but good luck.’ Lots of rejections. Lots of no replies at all. And I got one interview at a practice in Durham. I got the job, then I cried for a week. Not with happiness, with absolute dismay at the tiny salary that they were going to pay!” Continue reading...

Rachel Dale, Tax Director at ChadSan, formerly Chaddesley Sanford, spoke to AM’s Jonathan Stobart about putting their motto into action: Technology driven. People focused.

Rachel Dale starts our interview with a caveat. As AM is used in a multitude of ways in different teams across ChadSan, Rachel can only comment from a tax team perspective. Turns out, there was still plenty to cover, including: How automation doesn’t mean the end of personal relationships. Why everyone should use Custom Forms for Self Assessments. And how you can pick n’ mix the parts of AM that suit you.

Technology driven. People focused. Then, now and always.

ChadSan began life 10 years ago from the spare rooms of the founding managing directors, Matthew Gambold and Edward Sanford. Now, they have 45 employees and four offices in Guildford, London, Essex and Bristol.

Originally, the founders delivered accountancy services to small, entrepreneurial, fast-growing companies, so responsive technology, real-time data and personal service have always been important. Although ChadSan now offers a full suite of accountancy and tax services to clients of all sizes, these elements remain core to ChadSan’s brand and culture.

“People can’t stick their head in the sand for much longer and do it all on paper – it’s just not going to cut it.” Continue reading...

Caroline Hocking is the owner of Mona Accountancy, located… wherever she wants to be. Caroline has dyed red hair, piercings, tattoos and rides a motorbike, but nothing surprises us anymore. We stopped expecting grey hair, suits and ties a while back.

It’s been over a year without exhibitions and we’ve missed seeing users face to face. Instead, we’ve been reaching out more with surveys, webinars and this – our regular ‘AM in Practice’ series. This week, we had the pleasure of speaking to Caroline Hocking, owner of Mona Accountancy. Caroline’s practice is entirely online and she’s almost a year into using AM. 

Dreams of a coffee shop turn into a love of… taxes

At school, Caroline dreamt of owning a coffee shop. “So I did business studies,” she explains. “And hated it… apart from business finance. In those classes, while they were explaining what to do, I was just cracking on. I found it really easy.” 

“I never wanted to be an accountant originally. I don’t think it’s most kids’ dream when they’re little!”

Thinking she was ‘too young’ to be an accountant, Caroline shelved the idea for a bit. Then came across an AAT course, which included funding. “I took to it like a duck to water, absolutely loved it. It was like, ‘OK, I think I want to be an accountant!’” Continue reading...

Christopher Blunn, Alex Shall and Pete Heslington met as partners at Haines Watts in London – and became firm friends. Discovering a shared ambition, they became friends with a firm in late 2020. Chris talks to AM’s Jonathan about Praxis’ first six months and how they’re finding AM.

A pandemic, an acquisition and a launch

In 2019, Chris, Alex and Pete were seriously considering setting up their own practice. “We started exploring the potential for doing so and handed in our notices just before lockdown hit.” Praxis went live on 1 October 2020.

“Obviously we weren’t anticipating a global pandemic but our confidence didn’t waver. We had great relationships with our clients and they are mostly established, innovative, and relatively stable businesses – including some of the country’s largest architectural practices.” 

Just before Praxis went live, Chris and his partners acquired Grace Frank – a small accountancy practice owned by Morisha Christy, a friend and former colleague of Chris. “So as well as going live as a new practice on the 1st October, we completed the acquisition of Grace Frank.” 

Finding a practice management software up to the challenge

Faced with two client sets, an existing infrastructure and staff from Grace Frank and high-profile clients used to the highest level of service, finding the right practice management software was critical.  Continue reading...

Ben Thexton’s story is amongst the most unexpected and inspiring we’ve heard yet. After a severe head injury nine years ago, Ben has defied doctors, qualifying with the ACCA, becoming the owner of multiple successful businesses and raising two young daughters.

Ben’s career started off in the construction industry, working on-site with his family’s business since he was 15. Ben did a degree in business and economics – then briefly tried out teaching before returning to the family business in an accounting capacity. He now owns his own fast-growing practice, specialising in the construction and property development industries, and a property development company…  though quite a lot has happened in between.

An accident and an enormous strength of will

“The reason I became a qualified accountant was to put two fingers up to the doctor who said I might struggle.”

In 2012, Ben was hit by a car as he was crossing the road and suffered a severe brain injury. “I was placed in a coma and when I came around I was advised that my cognition would be impaired forever and I might struggle to hold down a full time job,” says Ben, surprisingly matter-of-factly. “I took that quite personally and it made me pig headed, I was like, ‘no, this isn’t going to affect my life.’” 

“So a year or two later I signed up with ACCA. For three, four years I was just teaching myself – with all the textbooks out on the kitchen table – and finally qualified in 2018. So the reason I became a qualified accountant was to put two fingers up to the doctor who said I might struggle with my cognition.” Continue reading...

Vicki and Pippa have known each other since they were 11. Now, with their kids all grown up, they joined forces to run Creative and Numbers, a Kent-based practice dedicated to the creative industry. The female founders both hail from unlikely backgrounds and are far removed from the traditional view of a stuffy accountant. Thanks to AccountancyManager they’ve achieved their dream to work from anywhere in the world (and no weekends in January).

Neither Vicki or Pippa started out as accountants. Vicki began her accountancy career 20 years ago, while Pippa spent 20 years working in TV production before re-training and changing her career.

Vicki: I fell into accountancy 20 years ago, quite by chance. A colleague who is a chartered accountant needed some help, so I took some time off to give him a hand – and ended up leaving my job. I worked with him for a few years then got myself qualified. 

Pippa: I have worked for many years as an advertising agency producer and VFX producer at post houses and television stations both in London and Sydney. So, although it was all about film and shoots, my job was also about strict budgets and money. So weirdly, having never imagined myself in an accountancy practice, actually a lot of the skills were transferable. It’s all about being super-organised, fine detail, unpicking problems and sorting things out. Continue reading...

Harry Walker started his practice just two years after becoming an accountant. Harry left AccountancyManager in 2019, only to return in 2020 after trying IRIS practice management. Turns out we’d set his expectations a little too high… 

It was Harry’s mum – a bookkeeper with her own practice – that inspired him to become an accountant. The plan was to add accountancy to their family business arsenal and run the two businesses side by side. In 2019, they fully merged the practices under Harry Walker Accountancy Limited. Today, Harry and his team of eight are focused on providing a holistic service to their clients.

“I’m proud of building a successful practice at only 27, I’ve got eight wonderful employees and I absolutely love working on improving the business so that our clients get the best service possible.”

“As MTD comes in, we’re making it easier for clients by combining the traditional bookkeeping and accounting services into a more streamline hybrid of the two,” explains Harry. “I feel that there’s a risk with the old style of accounting that when MTD comes into play, it will become inefficient or overly expensive for clients to have their records processed quarterly by an accountant and they are likely to look elsewhere or take on more responsibilities themselves. This combination helps bridge that gap. Clients can pay a bookkeeping fee for the most part, then an accountant can perform their checks and make the necessary submissions. This way, the clients get the most value possible for their money.” Continue reading...