Get Financially Fit And Change The World In 2013

Manjeet Sidhu talks to award-winning chartered accountant and BBC TV finance expert Steve Pipe about why he’s offering a free business health check, and how accountants can change the world...

As business owners and managers, the companies we lead often mirror the way we work and think about work as well as help us reflect on what, if anything, we need to alter in our behaviour to achieve better results. But if introspection isn’t your strong point then a free review of your company’s strengths and weaknesses from Accountants Changing the World (ACTW) may be something for you to consider in the New Year.

Launched at the National Accountants Conference in June 2012 by Steve Pipe, an award-winning chartered accountant, fellow of the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management and writer of the BBC TV series Easy Money, ACTW is a voluntary network of owner-managed accountancy firms offering free profit improvement reviews based on free benchmark studies that compare your business proposition with that of your competitors, and rank you within your sector.

If you’re a business based in the UK then you’re eligible for a free benchmarking assessment, a free one page graphical report of your findings, and a free sales and profit improvement action planning meeting to help you turn your analysis into real results. A perfect solution for any business seeking new inspiration for their sales and marketing activity in 2013. And did we mention it was free?

Profits are a consequence of doing the right things for the right people in the right way. At ACTW we believe it’s our professional responsibility to do more than produce accounts and tax returns for our clients. We use our skills with numbers to help business owners like you fully understand your performance and the factors driving your success. We use our analytical skills and general business knowledge to help you identify the key issues facing your development, evaluate your opportunities and guide you to making better decisions about your future, the future of your staff and the future of your towns and cities. We do this because improving your profit margin by just £1 may be enough to save someone’s job, save someone’s family and save someone’s neighbourhood from redundancy, poverty and years of spiralling neglect. We do this because we believe accountants have an important role to play in tackling the big issues we face today

Steve explains

At the time of writing, 89 independent accountancy firms have signed a pledge to become Accountants Changing the World and 832 individuals have joined the Accountants Changing the World LinkedIn group to share ideas and insights with other like-minded professionals keen to make a difference to economic stagnation, global warming, poverty and suffering, and youth unemployment.
With their support, business owners and managers throughout the UK can explore new strategies for growth, identify small but effective ways of reducing their carbon footprint, create a direct link between their companies and their charitable giving, and provide opportunities for gifted 18-25 year old school leavers and graduates looking for work experience and internships.
But if you’re slightly uncomfortable about accountants spreading messages of community and compassion and giving stuff away for free, you might be rightly forgiven. ACTW isn’t a charity – it’s a business, and it means business. Nevertheless – and contrary to the depressing headlines we read every day – business can be a force for good.

There are two key principles at the heart of Steve’s concept which might help us warm to his big idea: Blue Ocean Strategy from the Harvard Business School and Newton’s third law of motion. Blue Ocean Strategy is an approach to business growth that encourages organisations operating in saturated markets to create new markets through value innovation. Instead of wasting time and energy grabbing recycled customers away from competitors with “business as usual” offers in a crowded bazaar, blue ocean businesses set out to create new products and new services outside their industry sectors. In short, they grow by redefining their boundaries and springing something new onto an unsuspecting public.

Newton’s third law of motion explains that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In other words, you get back what you give, you reap what you sow, you speculate to accumulate etc, etc. “We give away free tools and
resources to accountancy firms that want to make a difference,” explains Steve, “and they use these tools and resources to help local businesses grow, become more environmentally sustainable, become more socially responsible,
and engage young people who would otherwise be unemployed.

We know this approach has a positive effect on the local economy which in turn drives more commercial opportunities our way, which in turn allows us to help more local businesses. And in the spirit of Blue Ocean thinking, we don’t expect you to leave your accountant or marketing strategist when you start working with an Accountant Changing the World. We want you to use the numbers we generate for you through our analysis to explore new ideas you might previously have missed. If the ideas prove successful, you may decide to work with us on a commercial basis in the future but there is certainly no expectation or requirement for you to do that. Our challenge is to use the skills we have at our disposal to help companies grow. With the government predicting modest growth over the next 5 years, it would be great to get Peterborough businesses on the right footing to buck the national trend

For more information about ACTW visit: www.accountants changingtheworld.com