Investments prepare accountancy firm for ambitious growth

ACCOUNTANTS and business advisory firm Armstrong Watson plans to double its Leeds business within five years after investing in its infrastructure.

Moving offices within the city last summer was the latest step for the firm, which is looking to grow and reposition itself within the sector.

The aim of Mike Kienlen, Armstrong Watson’s Eastern regional head, is clear. “We need to get this business to be seen as one of the go-to advisory practices in Yorkshire”, he said.

“In Leeds, we want to double its turnover in the next five years. In order to do that it will be a mixture of organic growth and acquisition. We are in the market at looking at acquiring practices. We have proved we can do it.”

Leeds currently contributes about £3m of Armstrong Watson’s £22m turnover, but is central to the company’s growth plans as it consolidates its position as the firm’s flagship office.

The full service firm moved offices to South Parade last July, the third big step for the full-service firm in 18 months.

It followed two acquisitions in 2013 – of Robertshaw Myers, a partnership based in Skipton, and Hanby & Co in Northallerton – which has increased the size of the firm’s Yorkshire operations.

It now has five of the company’s 14 offices in the region. Northallerton and Hexham offer mainly accountancy and audit and have a strong agricultural focus, which fits with the company’s roots that go back to Cumbria 148 years ago.

The firm’s West Yorkshire offices, in Leeds, Bradford and Skipton, focus on advising owner-managed and family-owned businesses that typically turn over between £2-5m.

Mr Kienlen added: “We needed to create the appropriate infrastructure for growth in our business. We needed to expand in Skipton and Northallerton, we needed to move offices in Leeds.

“We have got the infrastructure in place, now it’s about growth and taking the business forward.”

Growth will also require a change in its client base, as it goes after larger corporates, with turnover up to around £20m.

He believes the company’s ethos and client relationships, some of which stretch back more than 80 years, can help it to stand out.

“There are too many accountants that say ‘here are your accounts’,” he said. “Our approach is about you have to have that close working and personal relationship with your clients to understand where they want to get to and how you can achieve that.”

He added: “We have introduced a product called Blue, where we recognise post-recession that people are going to more tailored business advisory services. It is about getting to understand their business far more than an accountant would do and provide them with strategic support to grow their business.

“Questions like ‘what do you want out of the business?’, ‘where do you want it to go?’, ‘how are we going to get there?’ – it’s these more strategic rather than operational discussions which we think add value to our clients.”