While accounting professionals are in demand by firms of all sizes, in all regions, starting their own practice remains a dream for many. Whether your aim is to be a sole operator, working on your own terms as and when it suits you, or you’ve a vision to build an empire, any ambition is possible to pursue.
Having forged his early career with Big Four firms in China, Australia and the European Union, Jack Zhang ACCA used what he’d learned to create his own practice.
‘As long as you’re determined to do something, are capable and well prepared, I would say go for it’
Zhang says his previous experience provided the foundation for his entrepreneurial venture as it equipped him with the highest standards in professional services.
Believing that a highly personalised service would be a key success factor, in 2019 he joined with Kathy Zhang to create Accentor Associates, in Sydney, Australia.
Commitment to clients
‘Running our own practice means our commitment to clients is absolutely long term,’ he explains. ‘We strive for a high level of contact – an approach that is often missing from those highly geared practices.’
As a boutique firm, Accentor Associates can make sure that clients only deal with highly experienced practitioners who work efficiently. ‘As a result, the quality services we provide are very cost effective,’ he says.
Within months of launching, the pandemic struck. However, the firm was agile enough to respond quickly to the market changes. Not only did Accentor survive, it has thrived, expanding to offices in Shenzhen, mainland China and Hong Kong SAR, growing a client base to include small-to-medium local and foreign enterprises, Hong Kong- and Australian-listed companies, significant global entities, not-for-profit organisations, high-net-worth individuals and families.
Today, Accentor is a full-services practice dealing with tax, audit, accounting and payroll outsourcing, deal advisory and talent recruitment.
Zhang says that there is no ideal point to start your own practice, but the timing does need to fit into your personal agenda and strengths. ‘As long as you’re determined to do something, are capable and well prepared, I would say go for it,’ he says.
However, the start-up landscape has changed since the pandemic, so digitising from the outset is essential, Zhang adds. He also advises consulting other successful entrepreneurs and learning from their experience.
‘If I had the chance to start again, I would still focus on my strengths and try to differentiate myself in the market – that makes you stand out from your competitors,’ says Zhang, who is also an ACCA advocate. ‘Do what you are good at and what interests you.’
Sustainable solutions
For Rosanna Choi FCCA, co-founding CW CPA in Hong Kong SAR in January 2017 was more a matter of happenstance.
‘It wasn’t intentional,’ she admits. ‘Because of different values to the four partners at the previous practice where we worked, my colleague Thomas Wong and I decided to leave and open our own firm.’
They started out strong, with 50 staff in Hong Kong SAR and two offices in mainland China. Today, CW has around 100 staff, three branches in mainland China and three liaison offices in Europe and South America.
Choi believes that the firm’s size is about right to stay resilient, agile and adaptive in light of the high level of uncertainty posed not just by the pandemic but also the economic environment.
‘To start a practice, you need to have mission and vision, a solid client base with focused market segments, and some core skillsets,’ she says.
‘We are committed to providing sustainable solutions for our clients, and to serving the community. We strive to provide total solutions for our SME clients local and overseas.’
During the pandemic, CW doubled down on employee engagement, client experience and service delivery to ensure that the firm wasn’t impacted adversely. To do this, digital transformation and effective human resource management trends were essential, alongside the core values of professional ethics and integrity.
Reaching out
For Madeeha Usman FCCA, impending motherhood was the impetus for launching her own firm, The Kalculators, in Adelaide, Australia, in 2016.
If you fail, don’t lose hope because, as the wise saying goes, we can’t change the direction of the wind, but we can certainly adjust the sails’
Having spent the previous decade as a Big Four external auditor, Usman, who had moved from Pakistan two years earlier, saw sole proprietorship as an ideal move.
Co-founded with husband Kaleem Ulah, The Kalculators was born in their garage. Today, the couple run eight offices across South Australia, employing 20-plus professionals.
They had identified that many people were not getting the support they needed, especially in the multicultural community, Usman started out ‘wanting to support people like me – business mums, immigrants starting their new businesses – in my capacity as an accountant.’
Within six months, the business was thriving. ‘People started telling others and I was being referred to as the “tax lady”‘, Usman says.
The couple credit their success to providing an affordable and simple accounting service. ‘Also, I come from a family where courtesy and respect to others is highly valued,’ Usman says. ‘I believe it was our respect and the value of our service to our customers which worked wonders.’
Leap of faith
Starting a business requires courage and the strength to take the initiative. But Usman feels that accountants have an edge ‘because we can work our numbers through and have an analytical approach when we make decisions like this.
‘I strongly believe that we need to take that one leap of faith and follow our dreams to change them into reality,’ she says.
‘Just take the steps that you think are correct and follow your heart. If you fail, don’t lose hope because, as the wise saying goes, we can’t change the direction of the wind, but we can certainly adjust the sails.’
