Northern Accountants on acquiring a new firm
We spoke to Phil Ellerby, founder of Northern Accountants, to discuss the recent acquisition of Birkenhead-based TAC Accountants. We explored the history of the acquisition and what it means for the clients and team members.
Tell me the history of Northern Accountants
Northern Accountants started 31 March 2008, it was me in a garden shed, with a couple of clients, and there were a few key turning points where I got involved with businesses that support accounts. Fast Forward 15 years and we are £1.7m GBP turnover, 25 staff, three offices.
Why did you decide to acquire TAC Accountants?
I have known Ben Thexton, the founder of TAC Accountants, for a while, and he asked my advice on how he would go about selling TAC Accountants as we had bought a couple in the past. When I got to learn a little more about the business, it was an obvious choice, Ben and I operate in similar ways, we have similar outlooks on technology and how the accounting profession should work. To be able to bring a client base and a lead director in with Ben’s experience was a no brainer.
Why did you decide to acquire the firm now?
We are always looking for the right opportunities, timing isn’t always important to us, the timing could have been better as we opened a whole other office on the same day. We felt we were in a position to be able to cope with the situation, as long as we have the right team we can adapt to most situations very quickly.
How will this acquisition benefit Northern Accountants?
The acquisition brings in three really experienced people, we get to strengthen the board, we’ve gained experienced client managers, and of course there is a lot a business of our scale can bring to them too such as our admin system, a robust back office system, and resources so that the TAC team can spend time with clients instead of number crunching.
Does TAC offer skills Northern Accountants may not possess?
They have specialist areas in Liverpool, an established city that is big in property and constructions, that is littered with opportunity and great businesses, and owners. To have our foot in the door and build on TAC’s reputation and brand with the support of our team will propel growth in that area.
What does this mean for your existing clients?
Ben is a property specialist accountant, which is great for clients with disposable income that want to invest or businesses that want to increase revenue, to bring in someone with such detailed expertise is a great opportunity. We’ve got a lot of property developers, and we are good at what we can do but Ben is an investor himself which is really powerful.
Has Liverpool always been a place to expand into?
As a business point of view, we have had very little dealings in Liverpool. I know there are good accountants and clients based in the city but it was too far away for our existing model, but the opportunity came and it was the right choice.
Have there been any difficulties with integrating the new firm into your existing structures?
We ripped Northern Accountants apart in 2018 and rebuilt it because we had some terrific growth but we weren’t built to scale. We were struggling with things so we went back to the basics and we have rebuilt it to the point where it is easily expandable.
Of course there are teething problems, changing email addresses, data transfer, but it has been a straightforward process largely because of the systems TAC had in place, the openness and willingness of the team to embrace new technologies such as internal systems.
Where do you want to see Northern Accountants in the future?
Northern Accountants will continue to expand its growth aspirations and forecasts which we are online to deliver. We want to be one of the number one firms in whichever region we are operating in. We are rated very highly in Leeds, and we want that in Liverpool and Hull. There is a lot of work to do but we have good people in place, with a great infrastructure behind them.
What is your strategy for this aspiration?
We switched the focus of our business from a compliance based business, which is what most accountants are, where they are churning out statutory accounts and they do a brilliant job and the advice is good but that is the minimum expectation. What we have done is made ourselves available when the client needs us, our client managers aren’t behind a computer, and more in front of the client, with a robust communication process which is systematic and regimented. People forget what you did for them but they won’t forget how you made them feel when you did it.
And how does this strategy fit into your staff and their experience in the company?
We have taken on a handful of team members since July, we have two joining next month. We have built an environment where people want to work, we are very focused on the development of the team. We meet with everyone every month and discuss areas of improvement and merit, and they talk about areas they need help in. We have a development coach that focuses on deadline management, organisation, and learning software. People work with us, not for us. We don’t have staff, we have a team irrespective of paygrade and hierarchy. We demand three things: attitude, ability and commitment.
