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Will Farnell - Not Your Typical Accountant

15th Nov 2013
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Picture of Will Farnell Will Farnell Interview

Who are you and what do you do?

I am Will Farnell and I'm the Director of Farnell Clarke Limited, a Chartered Certified Accountancy practice. Our motto at Farnell Clarke is that we are not your typical accountants. In May 2007 I left PricewaterhouseCoopers to set up Farnell Clarke.

What differentiates us from other accountancies is:

  1. Our fixed fee really is a fixed fee;
  2. We are not intimidating, we do not wear suits or dump a briefcase on the table;
  3. We want our clients to see us as an asset, not an expense.

We work largely with the creative sector, consultancies, freelancers and contractors.  The creative sector was a key driver for us, I was tired of wearing suits and ties and creatives don't operate in that space.  The creative sector were also early adopters of cloud software and social media.  In response to demand from contractors and freelancers, we approached the Professional Contractors Group (PCG) who recommended we become accredited (which we did).  We are very much a service-based firm in terms of the client base.  The firm has continued to grow its client base between 30% to 45% a year.

What software do you use?

I wanted to use the cloud so that I could have access to client records wherever I am; lots of our clients use Macs, but the traditional desktop accounting software doesn't run on Macs.  We now use KashFlow (it runs in the browser and is therefore accessible on Macs and PCs); KashFlow is so easy to use, clients don't require training - but if they need a little help  we can provide it for free when they pop into the office or give us a phone call.

When we first started, customers would ask us to do their bookkeeping; I was not keen on this model because the client doesn't own the data if they are not involved.  Using the cloud gave us the ability to offer help with the bookkeeping and provide the tools for maintaining the accounts, so the client retains ownership.

I love technology, I like the simplicity it brings to our business which enables us to transform the service proposition to our clients.  We have recently started using Receipt Bank's software; I spoke to Receipt Bank about their product 2 years ago, it was early on in it's development and I decided not to use it.  At the time I didn't get it, the proposition was all about the envelope - put the receipts in the envelope and post it to Receipt Bank for processing.  But, the offering they have now is a game-changer (the app takes photos of client's receipts and transfers the data to the client's account), and I sometimes kick myself and think about the number of clients we could have using it from day 1.  We have 300 clients using KashFlow (we are one of KashFlow's largest partners) and all of our KashFlow clients could be using Receipt Bank, but now we have to migrate them.

We use a secure document portal, Lindon House Virtual Cabinet, for clients to access their documents and approve them.  We run hosted desktops as well through Hosted Accountants - the software runs on both Macs and PCs.  There is no software to install, we don't need a local server and we can log in to our desktops from work or home  (without having to install Parallels on our Macs).

We use IRIS for our practice software; we use it for account, tax and practice management.  I first experienced IRIS in 1999 and it was the obvious choice for me when I set up my own practice.

For mileage claims, we contact the customer at the end of the year and ask them what their mileage is and enter it into their accounts.  If contractors are billing for mileage we ask for their mileage information on a more regular basis.

What hardware do you use?

I have an iPhone 4;  I use it exclusively for work. I also have a MacBook Air and an iPad.  The MackBook Air has dramatically impacted my use of the iPad - I now take the MacBook Air into meetings rather than the iPad.  I have the iPad on a different provider than the iPhone so I can almost always get a signal wherever I am.

Favourite business trip?

My favourite business trip is heading in to London by train; I love the work atmosphere in London and I enjoy meeting our clients there.   I love the hustle and bustle and the hive of activity.

Dream setup?

20 years ago accountants were selling double entry bookkeeping and knowledge, but now software does the double-entry bookkeeping and Google is our source of knowledge. How can we use technology to streamine the no-value backend stuff, and focus on adding value?  My dream set up is to have complete integration of our software; a single login to everything that we do.  If we can eliminate the low value routine activity by pressing a button in KashFlow to produce the statutory accounts, then this would be a step towards it.  We can then focus on adding value to our clients' and their business, rather than charging for the time spent preparing their accounts.

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