Strategic expertise + integrated collaboration with clients. Turnover doubled.
Donn Sheldon establishes their USP with Liberty online accounting
According to Scottish accountancy practice Donn Sheldon, "There's no secret to our success: we hire ridiculously experienced people and put them to work for our clients." And getting the best possible use out of those experienced people has involved a strategic move into online accounting with Liberty Accounts.
The practice began life in Paisley during the summer of 2004. And right from the start they sought to stand out from the crowd - beyond offering the basics like high quality tax and accounting services.
The company states, "Although many clients come to us to take care of the basics of starting and running a business, the reason they stay with us is a little more involved. That's because it's our goal to nurture and grow your business - helping to guide your strategy and achieve your goals in life, not just your goals on the balance sheet."
Partner Alan Donn continues, "We were looking for a unique selling point, something that made us different. In Scotland, there are only a small handful of accountancy firms working with online accounting, and I felt that this was absolutely the right direction for us. We needed to provide a solution that could address the needs of clients who would otherwise have implemented Sage - such as the small Instant or Line 50 clients - those perhaps requiring a comprehensive stock control module.
Before settling on Liberty, we looked at other online solutions, but found most systems lacked the integrated functionality of Liberty. They didn't provide all the online filing options that Liberty provides (VAT100, VAT101 (ECSL); PAYE and P11D). Nor did they allow us the potential of cobranding to promote our brand, rather than the brand of software. Other online systems were too expensive and not user-friendly for the smaller client (the ability to tailor Liberty at both business and user access level is fantastic). We wanted to avoid having lots of upfront training and set-up costs."
Making a real difference with frequent and timely collaboration
According to Donn the future is in the 'cloud'. He explains, "More generally, in terms of online accounting, we find that clients are not aware of it - and most accountants are not aware of it either. So the approach we've taken is to attract people first to our firm and then introduce online to them as an added benefit of working with us."
"Liberty Online Accounting enables us to have a more pro-active involvement with our clients. It helps us build a more in-depth relationship with them. I'd say we spend the same amount of time with our clients, but the time is not just at the end of the year, when we're producing their final accounts. By spending less time at the end of the year, our involvement with them is less historical, allowing real-time financial and business advising throughout the year, when it's much more useful to them."
"Liberty's commitment to innovation and security is simply outstanding."
For Donn Sheldon, their strength is in their expertise with financial administration, coupled with a real knack for connecting with people. Donn explains, "Liberty Accounts enables us to be in a more pro-active relationship with our clients and this means they are more likely to stay with us in the long run. We find that they really get it once we get them going with Liberty. It's a bit like Twitter. It's hard to really appreciate how it can transform your business until you actually start using it."
He feels the system sells itself, "Once clients start on Liberty, there's no difficulty in getting them to use it because it's pretty intuitive. You might get the odd client who worries about whether their data is secure. But by and large, the majority of clients trust us. It's about how you're working and how it allows you to work".
"...interpretation of data is the important difference."
"Online is a powerful concept. We use Liberty in connection with Google Docs - in one recent example, to collaborate with a client on the train when they were on the way to a meeting. We were actually able to work together with them on their accounts, prepare some spreadsheets, create and email a few invoices, before they arrived at their meeting - where their payment had already been generated Online collaboration using Liberty Accounts made this possible."
"Liberty Accounts enables us to work smarter. Inputting data is just the same, but interpretation of data is the important difference."
Donn Sheldon plan to move exclusively to 'cloud' accounting with Liberty. Donn explains, "We've probably got 50 businesses online so far, but the ambition is to move all of our clients to online eventually. It doesn't cost a lot to get it running so cost shouldn't be a barrier. Why wouldn't they do it? We liked what we saw right away with Liberty."
People, clear communication, and the human touch are important to Donn Sheldon. "When it comes to the day-to-day use of Liberty Accounts, a key factor is that Liberty people are so helpful and easy to deal with. You couldn't ask to work with a nicer group. They are very responsive to our questions and suggestions. There's a personal touch that bigger companies don't have." Donn goes on, "The recent 'online' package from Sage isn't a comparable system to Liberty - they are just relying on the Sage name."
Donn continues, "Whilst the future is the cloud, security of our client information - in particular banking credentials - is crucial. We are delighted that Liberty has taken the time to develop a bank download option that includes a 100% warranty on the security of clients' banking credentials. Liberty's commitment to innovation and security is simply outstanding."
The firm is powering ahead in its quiet corner of Scotland. According to Donn, "This year we will double our turnover and Liberty was a big contributing factor to this. I'd thoroughly recommend it to anyone who asks. Once we really get a push on with it, we hope to quietly come up the rails and overtake the market."
