What happens when a firm’s first hire isn’t an accountant

Our first hire at flinder wasn’t an accountant. 

Yes, they had an accounting background from PwC but he specialised in data (Chris Agnew, who is still part of the team over eight years later).

This was no accident. Bringing data analysis and data reporting in-house was crucial for flinder from its early days. It was a pretty radical concept at the time - maybe not so much now, although I still think that flinder’s use of operational data in storytelling is second to none.

Luke and I had the vision of building an insight-focused business: one that better served fast-growth tech companies by harnessing financial and operational data. Hiring a data lead straight out of the gates signalled our conviction; it showed the market that we believed in the value of our offer. And, on a practical level, it meant we had the skillset in-house to really deliver!

Filling seats with practising accountants could work for traditional firms. But for firms with unique offers or disruptive tech-led services, the ‘hiring strategy’ is just that - it’s got to be strategic.