TC Group

Peer Reviewed

We live in an era of incredible change, both inside and outside the accounting profession. If the future is built by technology and shaped by people’s values, then as accountants we are well placed to take advantage of the changes that come – provided we can identify, adapt and capitalise on the opportunities quick enough! The new technologies in automation, big data and artificial intelligence will become more sophisticated and mainstream, which will further erode the value of the traditional compliance services of the accountant. The phenomenal development in communications and social media, and the need for businesses to have a wider social responsibility, will impact on the demand for tax and other planning services. However an accountant’s value was never in the compliance services or the short-term planning services anyway – Our value has always been in the trusted relationship that we build with our clients, and the strategic expert advice, that only we can provide from our broad and comprehensive business knowledge. It’s this combination of expertise from a trusted source, business advisory service, which is the accountants real value going forward – That’s why we’re excited about the future at Taylorcocks, as we believe as a firm we are very well placed to grow this business advisory service, with our clients and staff, whilst embracing the new technology to deliver the compliance services

By UK standards, Taylorcocks is a young firm and has grown quickly over the last ten years (growing at over 10% per annum). This growth has until fairly recent, all been generated organically, driven by a highly proficient marketing team via direct marketing methodologies. This took the firm from nothing to £6 million turnover back in 2015 and gave us the solid platform, from which we could change strategy and embark on a more expansive growth strategy. Today, now £16 million our growth strategy, is one of strategic acquisitions. The UK accountancy market has a large number of firms with succession planning issues, which is a market we have developed an accountancy practice acquisition solution for. We therefore expect to grow much faster over the next few years

We are aiming to grow the firm through strategic acquisition and hence we expect the size of the firm to have doubled within 5 years. Currently Taylorcocks has offices in London and across the South of the UK, but through our acquisition strategy we expect to add additional offices in the Midlands and northwards

Staff recruitment has always been our biggest challenge. Because of our strong growth we are always creating opportunities for our staff to grow their own skills and prospects within the firm, so our staff retention has historically been very good (“touch wood” – an old English expression!). Taylorcocks is full of highly driven staff who have rose through the ranks to partner/key manager, having started their careers at the firm. However, we have grown faster than we have been able to develop our own staff in some areas and hence the need for external staff recruitment – It’s competitive and challenging to recruit talented like-minded people who fit with our firms culture and ambition

The world is becoming increasingly inter-connected and in the UK (especially since Brexit) clients are looking outwards far more than ever before. Although only circa 10% of our firms fees are directly related to international clients, our UK client base is predominately entrepreneurial owner-managed businesses who are increasingly raising concerns which have an international aspect, or need an international solution. Hence the importance for us to be able to access quality local advice from around the world in order for us to be able to provide our clients with the expert business advisory service we are striving for

Because of the growth we have successfully been able to achieve through our own marketing operations and acquisitions, we are particularly capable at advising our clients on direct marketing and change management processes. The combination of our technical knowledge, direct experience and a strong candid relationship with our clients, produces a powerful business advisory service for those clients seeking to grow their businesses. This complements the more traditional business advisory services we offer eg. UK business compliance, succession planning, tax planning and system improving advisory services

Being able to quickly access quality international knowledge and expertise to provide solutions to our clients is a key requirement for Taylorcocks, hence the need for the firm to be part of an international alliance/network. But we were wary from previous experiences of international alliances/networks and so we wanted more than just having an international label – we wanted to be part of an international alliance that shared our own values; one that was dynamic, ambitious and focused on providing excellent client service. Hence we chose BOKS International for Taylorcocks

We’re very excited for the future of BOKS International. Despite it being a very young alliance, there seems to be huge potential in the vision of connecting full service accountancy, tax and assurance practices, with corporate advisory legal firms, around the world, and targeting the ambitious entrepreneurial SME market. In 5 years time we would like to see BOKS International having full global coverage, with quality full service business advisory firms in all the major cities in the World

Ambitious owner-managed businesses are those which Taylorcocks is best placed to advise. The majority of our clients are SME’s who value our no-nonsense approach combined with expert technical advice and competitive pricing. Aside from that there is no atypical client. The Taylorcocks portfolio of clients covers a wide range of sectors and industries, without any significant concentration in any one area – all our clients are considered unique to us!

This month we have completed international assignments in Austria and in the Ukraine. Both these engagements related to audits of UK holding companies, where the main business activity was conducted abroad. In both cases the client chose Taylorcocks over one of the big 4 firms, for this work. We have a very experienced audit team at Taylorcocks, who use their expertise and pragmatic approach to ensure the most efficient and effective audit on these types of engagements

Through our direct marketing methodologies we do actively target clients which have an international aspect to their business, whether import/export activities or from their group structure. However we find that most of our UK clients, because of them being ambitious and entrepreneurial, will often raise queries or embark on strategies that require some form of international advice

No – we do not specialise in any particular sector or service, although there are some areas that we do not currently provide services to eg. Banking and Governmental sectors. Our clients are typically entrepreneurial SME owner-managed businesses, who are seeking a full service accountancy tax and assurance firm, to provide them with expert strategic advice for their business