Humanise The Numbers - for ambitious accountants in practice – Details, episodes & analysis

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 change will accelerate even more. 

When I interviewed Luke Farren of The Modern Firm recently on the podcast, I felt that Luke's comments about why accounting needs shaking up are certainly worth a listen. 

To hear more, join me and Luke at HumaniseTheNumbers.online or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Luke and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

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 out and the potential improvements to processes that can happen across virtually every part of our business. Gareth has got that down to a tee. 

To listen to more of that and to further useful insights about how and why Gareth set up his firm in the first place, join us at HumaniseTheNumbers.online or where you normally get your podcasts.

Please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Gareth and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

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 from the accountants themselves? 

If all of that sounds a curious mix, please join me and Miranda Kendall of Spotlight Reporting on this podcast, where you'll find out the answer to this question and more. 

Miranda talks very passionately about why accountants do what they do and how we can harness that to enable better relationships with clients. And she's also got some really good snippets about how to handle team members. 

I found Miranda a wonderful guest – very passionate about what she does and also very clear and concise about the importance of being present in conversations, whether it's with a client or with a team member. 

If you're interested in finding out more, please join me on humanisethenumbers.online or wherever you get your podcasts. And better still, click the subscribe button if you like it. 

Please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Miranda and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

Occasionally, on our HumaniseTheNumbers podcasts, we're privileged to welcome a guest who has deep, personal experience in a profoundly important aspect of business that is directly relevant to you, your firm and your clients. With John Warrillow, we've got that, plus we've got his extensive research into how to successfully sell a business. 

He's the author of three books – Built to Sell, The Automatic Customer and The Art of Selling Your Business – and in this podcast, John shares insights which can help you change the conversation, become fluent in the conversation – not just the manager of a business conversation, but the owner of a business conversation. These are two distinct and different conversational styles with different questions, different content. 

When you listen to John, you'll receive insights into some of the eight key drivers for improving and increasing the value of your firm. But I think, more importantly, these insights can help you drive or support a conversation with your customers, your clients, so that they can improve the capital value of their businesses as well.

Please join John and I on one of the, I think, most impactful podcasts we have seen, and there have been quite a few of those. I hope you enjoy this discussion with John as much as I did.

When on this episode page, please scroll down for the contact information for John and to find additional resources mentioned in the podcast.

It can often feel like a particularly growly challenge to work out how to successfully promote and market your accountancy firm. So it pays, don't you think, to listen in to a marketing expert. In this podcast, you'll hear from Zoe Paradine, Head of Marketing in the UK for UHY Hacker Young. Zoe shares her experience of 20 years of marketing for her own firm and, more importantly, her insights on what's key to successful marketing. 

Zoe discusses the need to “make time” – carving out time each week, without fail, to successfully market your firm. She also signposts how to spend that time – building and nurturing lists and building content. 

If you are up for learning ways to successfully market your accountancy firm, I think you'll find this podcast exceptionally valuable.

Please go to humanisethenumbers.online or your favourite podcast platform, including Apple and Spotify, to access the podcast. I hope you enjoy this discussion with Zoe as much as I did.
When on this episode page, please scroll down for the contact information for Zoe and to find additional resources mentioned in the podcast.

How do you create, build and nurture a high-growth accountancy firm? In this podcast discussion with the head of DJH Mitten Clarke, Scott Heath, you'll hear him share a number of detailed insights into how he’s developed his high-growth firm, a firm that’s gone from 30 to 70 people and, in the last two years or so, from 70 to 275 people, in four offices. 

But what stands out most from this discussion with Scott are the principles behind healthy growth, not just growth for the sake of it – growth in which everyone can take great pride and growth that is sponsoring the future success of the firm, as well as generating great financial results now.

I hope you'll be tempted to go to this HumaniseTheNumbers.online podcast and dive into all the little details around the importance of culture and values in underpinning rock-solid high growth in an accountancy firm. I hope you enjoy this discussion with Scott Heath as much as I did.
When on this episode page, please scroll down for the contact information for Scott
and to find additional resources mentioned in the podcast.

How you and your firm deliver great value to your clients is a common theme in the HumaniseTheNumbers podcast series. 

In this discussion with Phil Hobden, now of Wolters Kluwer, I was able to unpack Phil's experiences as a business owner, as well as an employee and leader of education at Capitalise and, previously, at Futrli. 

He shares some amazing insights. The discussion twisted and turned from value for clients and value for team members and how much they're part of a virtual circle. When we, as leaders of our respective businesses, get that value equation right – make it clear, demonstrate it well – we put our firms on that positive path towards reaching our business goals. 

I hope you'll join me and Phil on a fast-moving, action-packed and, I think, content- and value-packed podcast at HumaniseTheNumbers.online.

When on this episode page, please scroll down for the contact information for Phil and to find additional resources mentioned in the podcast.

How would it feel if you and your team in your accountancy firm were able to get to January and feel completely calm, completely relaxed and completely in control around the number of tax returns you've got to do?

Well on this Humanise The Numbers podcast discussion with George from Pinfields in the West Midlands, you'll hear Georgina, George, share some deep, practical and relatively simple but important insights into what she did, what she and her team did, in order to smooth out the flow of tax returns to diminish the normal spike of tax returns in December and January, to less than half what they were when she started on this journey.

George is really generous in unpicking and highlighting the three or four key things that have enabled her to achieve, what has been a quite impressive production workflow methodology within her firm around the production of tax returns. So why not join George and myself on this Humanise The Numbers podcast and see which one of the insights that George shares is of particular value to you and your firm when you next look at planning out your flow of tax returns.

When on this episode page, please scroll down for the contact information for Georgina and to find additional resources mentioned in the podcast. 

How do you and your managers hold accountability conversations that work really well? By really well, I mean that they work out for both the manager and for the person they’re working with – holding them to account. Never an easy conversation.

On this podcast with Graeme Tennick, you'll hear Graeme share his commitment to his own accountability, as well as how open and transparent he is with his team. He allows them to see that he’s being accountable himself and thus earns the right to hold others in his team to account. I push Graeme on the actual process of accountability, and I think he handles it very well.

But this podcast isn’t just about accountability, it’s about how you work with your clients in a 360-degree, future-focused and past-focused way. You do, of course, deal with the annual accounts, but you’re actually holding conversations with your clients, which they see as being of greater value because they're future-focused. 

Graeme shares brilliantly how he holds those conversations with clients.

There are other great, valuable insights in this podcast, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Graeme brings his Northeastern sense of humour, which makes for an entertaining conversation. So go to HumaniseTheNumbers.online or to your favourite podcast source and seek out Humanise The Numbers and the podcast with Graeme Tennick.

When on this episode page, please scroll down for the contact information for Graeme and to find additional resources mentioned in the podcast. 

There are very few people who are recognized within the accounting profession, worldwide, us, UK, Europe, Australasia.

Paul Dunn is one of those individuals, he has served the accounting profession for several decades, CEO of B1G1 - Business for Good and he's won several awards.

On this podcast discussion, Paul shares his insights on the value of purpose and the value of values so that you can apply the success of them to your firm.

When on this episode page, please scroll down for the contact information for Paul and to find additional resources mentioned in the podcast.