The Naked Accountant
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Strategy & Growth

Strategy & Growth

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Why customer experience makes a firm more competitive (and how to get it right)

Clients are comparing your firm to the best customer experience they’ve ever had, not just the last accountant they used.

Alastair Barlow

Volume vs value: weighing up two ways to grow a firm

Have you considered that your firm might not need more new clients, but fewer, better ones?

Alastair Barlow

Visionary or Integrator: the co-founder dynamic that built flinder, and what you can learn from it

Choosing a co-founder is one of the most important business decisions you’ll make. Here’s what I’ve learned about what makes a good team.

Alastair Barlow

Why does your firm exist? Two frameworks that helped define purpose at flinder

‘Purpose’ can sound a little fluffy until you see the impact: higher retention, loyal clients, stronger continuity and resilience. Great firms are built on more than technical skill. Here’s my take on how to define your ‘why’.

Alastair Barlow

The importance of saying no, and when to say yes

Most firm owners and founders say ‘yes’ too often when they’re just starting out. I know I did at flinder. But over time, you learn it’s an incredibly expensive habit - and one you need to break.

Alastair Barlow

The £8 investment that won us a client (+ other sales plays - part 2)

I’ve heard too many accountants say, “Selling isn’t for me”. But Sales and Marketing are critical functions of any sustainable business. We can’t rely on referrals.

Alastair Barlow

How to convert £3 million in revenue from LinkedIn (+ other sales plays - part 1)

I’ve heard too many accountants say, “Selling isn’t for me”. But Sales and Marketing are critical functions of any sustainable business. We can’t rely on referrals.

Alastair Barlow

We thought we were too cool for timesheets. We were wrong.

I’ll admit that flinder once thought it was too cool for timesheets - until we started using that data in a different, and much more powerful, way.

Alastair Barlow

Why the best goals only last 90 days (an intro to OKRs)

It might sound counterintuitive. But limit your goals in terms of scope and timeframe, and you might find you achieve more thanks to focus and accountability. That’s the logic and value of using OKRs.

Alastair Barlow

Okay, you’ve built a firm. But did you build a business?

Firms need to operate - and earn - like businesses, but many of them don’t. Here’s what the industry’s leading accountants would do to fix that.

Alastair Barlow

Vending machine or butler: how should a ‘firm of the future’ serve its clients?

Accounting is changing. New tech. New ICPs. And new service models. But do firms face a fork in the road — and a decision to make about how they serve clients in the future?

Alastair Barlow

The business case for advisory as AI adoption grows

If AI is a “threat” to traditional accounting. What next? Advisory relies on human intelligence, but AI can help support and improve your delivery.

Alastair Barlow