Tips to help you free up time, handle complex tax and train your team.
What skills do Accountants need? An article in the current ICAS magazine refers to a recent LinkedIn survey which suggests that “soft” skills are the most in-demand attributes in the job market. Good communication tops the annual list of qualities that recruiters are seeking. What are so called “soft” skills? We agree that “soft” skills […]
In my previous blog I spoke about the difference between Offshoring versus Outsourcing. I explained that Offshoring is equivalent to hiring overseas team members with you selecting from a bigger pool of suitably qualified candidates. This is with much reduced employment risks as you are not directly the employer. In this blog I’d like to […]
Is it proving a challenge to find and retain good accounting staff? Are you seeing salary costs for accounting staff rise? Are some or all of your team already working remotely? Like us you may have tried outsourcing previously, but are you familiar with the difference between Offshoring versus Outsourcing? Offshoring versus Outsourcing I confess […]
I read a recent article on a popular accounting platform that seemed to be saying that some Stress can a good thing. To be fair it is not the first time I have heard that, and I do understand where the idea comes from, but I would love to explain why I disagree. Why there […]
I took over my father’s Accounting firm after he had suffered a stroke at age sixty, just as he was heading into retirement. I found myself sitting in his chair, in his office, dealing with the same clients, the same office politics, chasing the same low fees, and thinking…..there must be a better way. Why […]
If Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) comes knocking, fee protection insurance protects businesses and their advisers against the cost of being investigated. Markel UK, explains how valuable fee protection insurance can be and when it’s worth paying more for quality cover. 1 – How does fee protection insurance safeguard against the cost of being […]
Fee protection insurance (FPI) offers substantial benefits to accountants and their clients. We outline why FPI is a win-win situation and why the industry must offer more support. The risk to companies of receiving an expensive HMRC visit is increasing rapidly. Except for a brief lull during the pandemic, the number of HMRC enquiries and […]
Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) enquiries – which can be carried out on businesses and individuals – can be very stressful, time-consuming and costly for clients. It’s therefore vitally important that a professional accountant offers valuable guidance throughout the whole process to ensure clients achieve the best possible outcome with HMRC. Always check the […]
HMRC have a variety of tools at their disposal for conducting compliance activity. Code of Practice 8 (COP8) and Code of Practice 9 (COP9) are used where HMRC suspects tax fraud, and whilst tax fraud is a criminal offence, HMRC will often settle matters using the civil procedures available to do so. The Contractual Disclosure […]
HMRC has long insisted on calling taxpayers “customers”. Few titles irk me more. Recent press coverage of HMRC “customer” service levels brought to mind some of my own early experiences of the then Inland Revenue. I joined what is now HMRC in June 1992, very nearly 30 years ago. Those were the days before email […]
When you’re overwhelmed by the daily work and responsibilities of running a firm, you find yourself thinking “If I only had more hours in the day”. How do I free up more time in my accountancy firm? It’s natural to feel that way when you’re head down in the work. But it’s possible you don’t […]
Like any type of investment, putting time, money, and energy into an employee’s development can be anxiety inducing: will my investment pay off? Am I making the right decision, for me and for them? You might even feel so overwhelmed with the daily challenges in your business that you don’t have time to worry […]
It’s likely you have an idea of the kind of tax or accounting firm you want to run, how far you want to go with it, and what impact you want it to have on your life. In our experience working with accountants (and being in the accounting industry ourselves) we know there are some […]
Running a small business can be both demanding and rewarding. From the early days of being a brand-new start-up through to running a thriving well-established business, managing people will always be part and parcel of being a business owner. Whether you have a team of 2 or 20, it is important to get the people […]
The most stressful month in the calendar for Accountants has now passed. It is time to take stock so that it doesn’t have to be that way again in the future. The stressed accountant A major piece of research published in 2022 by caba, an ICAEW charity, found that more than half […]
Tax doesn’t have to be taxing. Or so we were told. You just need the right tax support. In December 2005 HMRC scooped a marketing industry award for effective advertising. HM Revenue and Customs was the only public sector organisation to win a Gold award at the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising Effectiveness Awards. […]
After speaking at the Accountingweb LIVE event in December 2021 I was asked to write a few words regarding the observations I made, about what is important to employees and how it can help employers to motivate their people by understanding Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Abraham Maslow was an American psychologist who in 1943 published […]
I was delighted to have the opportunity to be a speaker on Mental Health and Employee Wellness at the recent Accountex London event in May 2022 and indeed before that at Accountingweb LIVE back in December 2021. This is a subject that is important to me and I will shortly explain why, but in truth […]
Does running your own accounting firm give you the freedom you hoped it would? How can you improve your team, improve your firm, and as a result improve the quality of your life? That’s what ArmadilloCon 2022 sets out to answer. On 22nd June, we’re holding an in-person event with a list of fantastic speakers […]
Accountex is a fantastic opportunity to hear lots of perspectives on running your accounting firm better. To learn how to leverage technology, increase productivity, hone your systems. But how often are you considering your mental wellbeing as a system for a stronger, more powerful business? Self care isn’t just a zeitgeisty buzzword, it’s good […]
I regularly hear people talking about saving time. Can you save it? If you could, where would you store it? Would you keep it in a paper bag in a drawer, or does it need a sealed container? We’re all desperate for more – but to my knowledge, no one finishes the journey wishing […]
I was asked at an Accounting event recently why are Armadillo here? What’s our mission. I missed the emphasis and gave the best sales pitch I could muster, something partly rehearsed, partly tailored to the questioner. Taking Gordon’s advice, I pictured answering this very question before arriving at the venue; answering well, with a […]
Running an accountancy firm is hard. But you’re not alone. It’s particularly hard in a small firms. And it has grown harder over the past 2 years or so. Remote working has created distance between leaders and their teams; between teammates and between you, your clients and prospects. As businesses have fought the financial […]
As we start a new year everyone encourages us to be goal setting. Creating targets for how we would like things to be in our businesses or careers, and that is a good thing. But that is only the first step in the process. Sadly, having set our sights on what would make us happy, […]
Join us for a 2 half day virtual event and drive your firm forward Business development is so often left to the Partners and Directors of a firm, but with the right training and guidance, your whole team can drive your goals. We’re inviting you to Armadillo Live Online a 2 half day virtual event […]
The subject of mental health is getting more attention than ever these days. It’s frequently mentioned in news headlines, usually within the context of how we’re not doing enough for it: not enough funding, not enough resources, not enough care. After all the events of 2020, employee wellbeing in particular has become a vital issue, […]
We could all do with some helpful tips for a better day and improve mental wellbeing as a whole. Taking care of your mental wellbeing is an important concern in everyone’s life but, too often, it gets shoved aside by other tasks on our to-do lists. There’s always another meeting to get to, another call […]
Fancy getting dressed up for a real in-person event? And when we say dressed up, we mean paying attention to more than just the desktop level half of our bodies. Imagine that!? After this protracted period of lockdown and remote working, we wouldn’t blame you for being all zoomed out. Which is why we’re […]
You’re giving your all to your business – long hours, sleepless nights, piling your plate with more than you can handle – and one of the many components taking up your time is hiring. You’re caught in a cycle of staff turnover in your accounting firm. Interviewing, hiring, onboarding, and then starting all over again […]
Investment in employees, like any type of investment (time, money, and energy) into an employee’s development can be anxiety inducing: Will my Investment in employees pay off and reduce staff turnover? Am I making the right decision, for me and for them? You might even feel so overwhelmed with the daily challenges in your […]
You left employment and went out on your own to give yourself more freedom to choose how you do business. To choose how you would develop your practice; to choose the kind of future you wanted to have, and choose how your business would fit in and accommodate you. If you’re reading this it’s very […]
We work in a profession in which recruitment and promotion are traditionally based on technical excellence. Training is often provided for professional exams but little else. The focus is largely on Gross Recurring Fees (GRF) or chargeable hours. The focus on developing teams often falls solely on leaders who already have a thousand things to […]
How can I develop my team beyond the technical training? The way we learn the skills that cannot be taught by the Institutes is often by spending time working beside our peers and superiors, soaking in the good and filtering the bad. Sadly the Covid pandemic has limited the extent to which your teams can […]
