In a nutshell
Goddards Accountants is based in West Molesey, Surrey and is an independent firm made up of highly experienced finance professionals. Manager, Derek Williamson, is passionate about the future of his firm and the accounting industry, that’s why he has built a team of young and enthusiastic qualified and part-qualified accountants.
The team are dedicated to offering the best services and maintaining the most efficient and professional systems. They have recently begun embracing the power of technology to support their clients even further.
But this hasn’t always been the case, there was a time when Derek and his team were struggling with efficiency and needed some additional support to streamline their systems.
Life before AVN
Before AVN, Goddards Accountants worked predominately on compliance work, some call work, loss of earnings and fraudulent benefits. They found themselves constantly chasing clients, but to little avail as they still had poor profit margins and turnover was not high enough.
Not only this, but there were almost as many different systems as there were members of staff. This meant that all employees at Goddards were using different processes and the workforce was very disjointed. As a result they weren’t as efficient as they could have been.
“The problem was we had half a dozen staff and half a dozen systems, so we chose to use system builder and that is the Bible for us. Through AVN we were able to standardise our systems which cut our operational costs.”
This is what they did…
Originally, Derek saw a talk from AVN and was encouraged to attend the Masterclass. Once there, he worked closely with Steve Pipe, who got him to ring three accounting firms and ask for a quote to see what their annual fees were. Shocked by the quotes he received, Derek realised how much more his team could be charging for their services and that they needed to up their prices. Straight away they were increasing their profitability.
What’s more, using AVN, Goddards were able to standardise their systems and cut their operational costs. As they began feeling more confident about their systems and new found efficiency, they were able to offer a wider range of services to their clients.
“Using AVN systems we’ve been able to go out and demonstrate to potential clients the different services we have to offer, so we’ve found we’re being asked to do more in terms of budgets and business plans for our clients. And of course the fee rate for this is better.”
Then about a year ago Derek decided to join the advanced team at AVN and has been using all the advanced procedures ever since. This has allowed the firm to offer a more professional service and once again increase the fees they’re charging.
What’s more, Derek and his team decided to start putting AVN videos on memory sticks and giving these to potential clients so that they could see the services on offer. This is a unique approach to attracting new clients and one that has proved successful for the business.
Even existing clients have been delighted with the changes that have been put in place since Goddards started using AVN as they feel they’re getting a more comprehensive service. As such, they haven’t been put off by the increase in fees.
“Through the support we’ve received, AVN has enabled us to grow by 30% in the last year and has enabled us to increase our profitability. It also created a situation where I have other people I can talk to that I can bounce ideas off.”
What’s next for Goddards
One of the key focus points for Derek and his team in the future is that individual members of staff will attend the AVN Masterclasses and continue to challenge what the business is doing and where the profession is going next. This way Goddards can be at the forefront of the latest changes and trends and able to offer their clients the best possible services as a result.
Not only this, but manager Derek who has been an accountant for the past 56 years and is an expert in his industry, is hoping to step away from the daily accountancy work and focus more on the Goddards’ marketing efforts.
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