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Practice Excellence Awards 2016
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Five members vie for PEA16 tech champ prize

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19th Jul 2016
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Finding the Technology Champion who most deserved the 2016 Practice Excellence Award in this category proved to be a serious challenge for the judges.

The entries covered such a wide range of approaches that each judge opted for completely different selections for the final shortlist. Reaching a consensus was tough and is reflected in the decision to shortlist five nominees, who were all worthy of being celebrated as excellence champions for practice technology.

The compromises involved forced the judges to clarify what they were looking for. The finalists needed to be accountants who had used technology to have a positive impact on their clients.

But the judges were looking for more.

“We wanted to see champions who could not only make an impact with how they applied their coding and application skills, but who could also look at things from the client point of view and communicate their enthusiasm and insights effectively,” said AccountingWEB’s John Stokdyk. “What’s their philosophy about the application of technology within the profession?”

AccountingWEB would like to thank Richard Sergeant from Principal Point and Mark Purdue from the award sponsor Thomson Reuters for the time, effort and insight they put into judging this Practice Excellence Award category.

Each of the following nominees proved themselves to be effective back-office system wizards, whose innovations expressed themselves in different ways, for example by transforming their firm’s culture and profitability; or migrating clients to new, more flexible cloud-based accounting environments; to making demonstrable, and in some cases business-saving, differences to client companies.

Technology Champion of the Year  (supported by Thomson Reuters)         

Darren Hahn, Nordens Chartered Accountants

Also nominated for this award last year, Darren Hahn has continued to create tools to complement Nordens’ accounting and tax services. Since then he has worked on enhancing the CCH practice management system to make things work more smoothly, for example with colour-coded “work thermometers” that help the team monitor progress towards workflow targets.

Daniel Moss, Umbrella Accountants

Daniel Moss’s main claim for this award is based on his cure for one of the most persistent and problematic niggles that torment clients and accountants: late accounting records during tax season. The 70% jump in clients using the service testify to his success. The firm’s entry described him as a “model technology-led accountant, making sure he ensures compliance while embracing new ideas and technology… He does the research so clients don’t have to waste their time.”

Claire Owen-Jones, Loud and Clear Accounting

Like some of the other nominees Claire Owen-Jones works with other firms to help them and their clients get the most out of technology. Testimony from one business partner emphasised how her cloud-based advisory approach and reports produced demonstrable benefits for his clients - in one instance helping a business to stave off closure. When those clients were surveyed 25% said they'd welcome more technology - a great endorsement of her work.

Kevin Salter, Glover Stanbury

As a tech developer, lecturer and contributor to AccountingWEB, Kevin Salter has proved his passion for IT. Having created the award-winning Tax, Tips & Tools program for the previous generation, Salter has seen how online accountancy packages can help accountants work more collaboratively and now offers advice on the best cloud programs and add-ons. He also closely with developers, offering feedback so they can improve their systems.

Kevin Whitehouse, Prime Entry        

This candidate is a genuine technology enthusiast, as evidenced by his curiosity about video tools, which have been applied to compiling a library of client advice and training videos. The video library is integrated within a client hub that he built to automate all client communications and tasks from quote to completion and payment. As a result, the firm does not experience a mad January rush and boasts, “We never miss a deadline - neither does the client.”

For more details about the award categories and the ceremony taking place in London on 20 October, visit the Practice Excellence website.

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