Practice management: Why honesty really is the best policy

Anonymous / Lisa, I think you must be confusing me with someone else.

So to clarify matters, here are the facts about me and what I do:

• I am a 48 year old FCA and I started AVN in September 1998, so we are now eleven and a half years old
• We are owned and run by UK accountants for UK accountants
• We employ over 25 people at our head office, and also have a team of over 20 practice coaches across the UK
• We currently work closely with c 250 firms of accountants
• We do not offer easy money or quick fixes
• Instead, our mission is to help UK accounting firms to become the most successful and enjoyable to run in the world
• And our message to the accounting profession is this… profits are a consequence… so when you use your skills with numbers to serve your clients more professionally and proactively than ever before… you will be rewarded with higher profits than ever before
• To help accountants to serve their clients better we have created a comprehensive suite of software, training, professional connections, tools and resources
• And we also provide further software, training, tools and resources to help accountants run their practices more efficiently  
• Over the last 11 years some firms have failed with our stuff, and more firms have enjoyed real success
• Some of the failures were probably our fault – and many of them were because the firms in question chose other priorities, met internal resistance and inertia, or simply failed to implement
• While the best successes were achieved when four factors came together: (a) the practice really wanted to get better, (b) they got their team on board, (c) they selected the right AVN tools for the job, and (d) they persevered

There are lots of examples on accounting web of practices that have made a success with the AVN stuff, including:

• Accountingweb’s own practice coach, Finola McManus, who says AVN was “pivotal to us moving up a level and at some speed” for her Accountancy Age award winning practice http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/blogs/finola/practice-perfect-finola/my-journey-part-two
• Ian Rodgers, who earned an extra £6,000 in the first month from of using our Tax Credit systems http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/topic/tax/proactive-accountants-guide-tax-credits
• Nino Pucacao who earned an extra £28,250 from the first 4 clients he talked to using our incorporation systems http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/topic/practice/tips-trade-how-we-earned-extra-28250-fees

None of these people would remotely recognise the claim that multi level marketing played any part in how we have helped them. They would all simply say we helped them be more professional (ie serve their clients better) and be more commercial (ie do it in a way that rewards them at a level that is commensurate with their status as leading professionals).

Nor will you find any traces of multi level marketing in any of the following research papers and resources that I will gladly share with any fellow professional who wants to judge for themselves (simply contact me on steve@avn.co.uk and I will send them to you):

• The proactive accountant – A white paper
• Research paper showing how one 11 year old, 6-person firm has grown by over 50% in the last two years – and is on track to become a £1m practice
• Case studies showing the wide variety of ways accounting firms have turned the recession to their advantage
• Simple ready to use tools and guidance you can use to generate more leads, win more clients, and earn higher fees

Or, of course, you can simply read any of my many articles and blogs on accountingweb (for which I am honoured to say the accountingweb editors nominated me for, and readers voted me the winner in, three categories in the site’s “Best of 2009” awards, including “Best contributor”)

Either way, I hope you can clearly see that, as an FCA and AVN’s founder, I care deeply about the future of this great profession of ours

Of course, nothing in life is right for everybody - after all, some accountants love Sage, others hate it – including my ideas for helping the profession.

Steve Pipe FCA

steve@avn.co.uk

PS  A bit more about me personally outside AVN... I am 48, and after leaving university with a BA and MSc in economics, I trained with Thomson Mclintock In Leeds, worked post qualification as a manager at KPMG in St Albans and Head of Finance at the £100m Consumer Imaging Division of Kodak in Hemel Hempstead. I then set up my own practice, and as a result was named Hertfordshire Business Personality of The Year by Business Link, and UK Entrepreneur of the year by Accountancy Age.

Meanwhile my book "101 ways to make more profits" was being translated into 14 languages around the world, and I also wrote training videos on over 150 technical subjects for the Accountants Education Channel and the 8-part accounts made easy style BBC1 television series "Easy Money". While at the ICAEW I was the editorial adviser to the highly influential 2005 Report, Chaired the subsequent 2005 Challenge Group, and wrote the Audit Faculty's "The value of an audit" report.

So, as I hope you can see, my commitment to this great profession has been lifelong. 

The reason why senior accountants (all of whom are bound by strict codes of professional conduct to be honest) go around talking about AVN is that we have helped them to make a profound difference to the service they give to clients (ie to their professionalism) and to how well they are rewarded for doing so (ie their commercial success)

For the record, I do not believe we have sent a single mailshot about AVN to the accounting profession since October 2009, and in the 12 months before that our mailshots were infrequent due to the prohibitively high cost of postage these days. (So once again I can only assume there is some confusion between us with others who do take the approach you describe).  

And of course, our emails are sent in full compliance with the Data Protection Act – so if you inadvertently receive them, but do not want to, can I please invite you to click the unsubscribe button to instantly stop them.

Alternatively, please identify yourself to me (in private on stevepipe@avn.co.uk if you wish) and I will personally ensure that, if you are on our database, we remove you immediately so you never receive anything from us by post or email.

STEVE

Can we please be clear on one thing, I NEVER sell anything on AW.

And neither do I get paid by anybody, including AVN, for writing stuff on AW (since I write everything in my own time because I choose to)

Instead I simply share things for free because I feel it is the right thing to do (and because it makes me happy and fulfilled to do so).

For example, I share proven insights, research findings and ideas in my articles for free. (And in 2009 these were voted by readers as the best articles of the year).  

And I often also offer to share more detailed ready to use templates, guidance notes and replicatable examples for free with those who want even more practical help. (And for the record, not a single person who has ever accepted that offer has subsequently turned around and accused me of selling them anything, let alone acting dishonestly).

So why do I do it?

Because I believe in this profession, but am frightened for its future if it doesn’t up its game. Because I genuinely want to help. Because I want to make a difference. And because “as you sow, so shall you reap”.

And that’s why from 1 January I made a big personal change, greatly reducing my personal income by switching to a two day working week,  so that I could spend much more time on pro bono research and sharing via AW and elsewhere.

Is it really such a bad thing to want to help?

Or should I give up now, and start being selfish?