Occasionally, you have the privilege of having a deep conversation with someone who's well-versed in the profession, has worked in industry, has set up multiple businesses, who runs his own accountancy practice and, at the same time, is doing everything he can to influence the success of the profession. 

That's the discussion that I dived into with Jonathan Gaunt from FD Works. He set up Xavier, which was sold to Dext and became Dext Precision, and then set up Socket. 

In this conversation with Jonathan, we struggled to get to the numbers part of Humanise the Numbers and talked quite a bit about some very specific small things that have big results in enabling you to build your culture the way you want to build it – the working environment that you can be proud of, enjoy, and which delivers real financial success as well. 

I hope you'll take time out and go to your favourite podcast platform or to humanisethenumbers.online and look out for this Humanise The Numbers podcast with Jonathan Gaunt. I thought it was remarkable! 

Scroll down the podcast’s episode page for Jonathan’s contact information and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

When adversity strikes, how do you react? 

In this podcast with Donna Field of Autumn HR, we discuss how she faced adversity in the form of a business, one in which she was emotionally and financially invested, disappearing overnight.

This ultimately proved the catalyst to setting up what is now a thriving business, with Donna doing work that she loves and bringing huge value to her clients. 

I really enjoyed my chat with Donna. We talked about a number of things – the importance of team engagement, the positive effect of having weekly one-to-ones with your team members, and, of course, the impact that a good HR partner can have on your business. 

To listen to the podcast, go to humanisethenumbers.online or wherever you get your podcasts. If you’d like to hear more engaging and informative podcasts, hit the subscribe button. 

Please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Donna and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

What does leading your ambitious accounting firm with purpose actually entail? In this podcast with Steve Price of BWP Inspire, Steve shares how they arrived at their core purpose, as well as how they've rolled it out and how they lead with purpose in their firm. 

He covers a number of thought-provoking subjects in the podcast, including how they totally revamped their annual accounts meeting system to make sure that they covered purpose-related questions, ensuring that they were really living out that core purpose in the eyes of both their clients and their team members. 

If you’d like to hear more, go to humanisethenumbers.online or wherever you get your podcasts. And if you like it, don’t forget to hit the subscribe button. 

Please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Steve and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

Think about the traditional route most accountants follow before going into practice. 

In this podcast, I explore the route taken by Caroline Carter, of Carter Clear Accounting. You'll find Caroline's route anything but traditional. 

From having mental health challenges in the house, to a teenage pregnancy, to running a pub – a busy pub – at age 23, Caroline's background is rich and varied, and all of this has served to inform how she runs her successful accounting firm. 

In this deeply human podcast, hear Caroline talk about how her background underpinned her approach to accounting, and how her diagnosis of ADHD helped her to make sense of the world. 

This is a cracking podcast. You can find it at humanisethenumbers.online or wherever you get your podcasts from. Please remember to hit the subscribe button. 

Scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Caroline and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

How do you get your clients to take monthly information from you, and not only to take that monthly information, but to sit down with you and go through it so that they can fully understand their numbers? 

In this podcast with Noel Guilford of Guilford Accounting, Noel talks us through how his onboarding process makes sure that only potential clients who value that type of service get through the net, get over the threshold, and become a client of Guilford Accounting. 

In this conversation – and it ranged across Noel's 50 years in accounting – we also talked about what the future of the profession holds. Noel has got some really interesting views on that, all of which point towards less compliance, more advisory. 

If you want to listen to that podcast, you'll find it wherever you get your podcasts or at HumaniseTheNumbers.online.

Please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Noel and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

When you have a background in the big four accounting firms, a background in design thinking and a background with a deep desire to be curious and  ask lots of great questions... 

…how does that all come together when you set up a firm later in life with your son? 

In this wide-ranging conversation with Alasdair McGill, of Ashton McGill, we cover a lot of ground. 

We discuss the education system and how it often seems to stifle our natural curiosity and diminish our ability to ask questions. 

We talk about the future of the profession, and we talk about how Alasdair is very intentional about everything that he does within Ashton McGill. It's a great conversation. I really enjoyed it and I’m sure you will too. 

Go to humanisethenumbers.online or wherever you get your podcasts from to listen to this episode. Oh, and better still, if you like it, please hit the subscribe button. 

You can scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Alasdair and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

When your background is in the corporate world and in the world of startups, how do you harness that experience when it comes to trying to sell a product to accountants that you know that they want, while sometimes dealing with resistance from the accountants themselves? 

If all of that sounds a curious mix, please join me and Miranda Kendall of Spotlight Reporting on this podcast, where you'll find out the answer to this question and more. 

Miranda talks very passionately about why accountants do what they do and how we can harness that to enable better relationships with clients. And she's also got some really good snippets about how to handle team members. 

I found Miranda a wonderful guest – very passionate about what she does and also very clear and concise about the importance of being present in conversations, whether it's with a client or with a team member. 

If you're interested in finding out more, please join me on humanisethenumbers.online or wherever you get your podcasts. And better still, click the subscribe button if you like it. 

Please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Miranda and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

How many firms do you know that have a Chief Impact Officer? Yep, me neither. So, you may want to join this podcast with myself and Graeme Tennick, of Tennick Accountants, as Graeme talks about his role and about how and why it came into being. 

There are a number of standout moments in this podcast, not least when Graeme describes how to have the team really working with purpose, with real meaning in their work, all the time. 

So please join us on the podcast, either via your usual podcast platform or from humanisethenumbers.online. 

Please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Graeme and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

What's it like to start an accounting firm with £200, to grow it quickly over a period of five years, and then to decide to exit? And from the start of that exit conversation to completion, for it to take only 25 days? 

We'll cover all of that and a lot more in this podcast with Laura Taylor from Bright Flamingo. Laura shares how that journey affected her, and she also reveals some secrets along the way that could help you in your own accounting firm. 

If you want to hear more, join Laura and me wherever you get your podcasts, or join us on humanisethenumbers.online. And if you enjoy it, please hit the subscribe button. 

Please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Laura and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

A pressing question that every firm, every leader, every manager, should ask themselves is:  how do you build long-standing trust with your clients and with your team? 

In this podcast with Elinor Perry of Pentlands, you'll hear Elinor unpack 20 years of experience of running her firm – from when she bought in to the business to the garden party with 130 customers on a lawn wishing her every success for the next stage of Pentlands. How do you build that level of trust? 

Elinor shares her thoughts around establishing clear expectations and setting the standard early – how do you get going early with new prospects, so that it creates a foundation of trust that results in recommendations and results in clients paying fees of £6,000 a year or £20,000 a year or more, without any audit involved? 

This is one of those rare podcasts where you get someone's life experience of running a practice in an hour. Clearly, we've not unpacked everything, but it's well worth diving in to see what it takes to establish a business where the team trusts you, where the clients trust you, where the community trusts you, and where you enjoy life as a practice leader. 

I hope you enjoy this podcast with Elinor as much as I did. Head to your favourite podcast platform or go to humanisethenumbers.online.

Please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Elinor and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.