Memories of my earliest days as an accountant came flooding back as we launched our excellent report, Accountants at the heart of SME resilience and growth, to mark International Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day on 27 June.
My career began in practice in Northern Ireland working with small businesses, and the lessons I learned and the experiences I gained have stayed with me ever since.
Many of my clients were farmers. These were people who knew everything there was to know about livestock and the land, but they relied on their accountant to guide them through the mysterious fields of finance.
Feed bags and farmyards
Even more than 40 years on, I remember clearly how I’d receive parcels of receipts and invoices wrapped in feed bags, and the aroma of the farmyard filled the office when I untied the string and tipped the contents onto my desk.
Accountancy is about communication before it is about money
On one occasion I presented the accounts for a small business to the owner, and his eyes glazed over when I tried to explain the intricacies of the results. He said ‘Son, I just want to know how I did.’
That was a lightbulb moment. He wasn’t interested in my technical skills and he didn’t want the accounts simply to agree a tax bill. He wanted to know how his business was performing – and how performance could be improved. From then on I added a plain, simple commentary to each set of accounts.
The moment taught me something I’ve never forgotten: that accountancy is about communication and connection before it is about numbers and money.
Small accountancy practices are essential for SMEs’ success
Profound respect
Working with those wonderful, hard-working people left me with a profound respect for anyone who runs a small business. It’s tough to make your way in the world without the kind of specialist support that big companies take for granted.
SMEs provide crucial services for their community, and in many ways they are the heartbeat of the economy. Those early experiences also made me realise that small accountancy practices are essential for small businesses’ success, by bringing the expert, trusted financial knowledge that SMEs don’t have themselves.
I know that working in the small-practitioner sector can be deeply satisfying. I see lots of LinkedIn posts from future members who work for the Big Four, but there aren’t as many people banging the drum about small practice. I like to tell anyone who will listen that there is no one way to build an accounting career.
The big firms offer a brilliant way to build skills and experience, but it isn’t the only way. Sometimes ‘small’ is beautiful.
