UK Enterprise 2020

91 | UK Enterprise Awards 2020 As COVID-19 hit earlier this year, we realised that the foundation that we had built our business on was strong and agile. It enabled us to be there for our clients at a time when they needed us the most, and as we had built our foundations in technology, we didn’t have any downtime in getting help to our clients when we had to start working from home at the beginning of the lockdown. From day one, our clients still had full access to our team and still maintained contact with us on a regular basis gaining assistance with all of the grants and claims that the government had put in place for them. So what does the future hold for Clarity and our clients? We have lots of plans in the making and look forward to releasing our new training arm to Clarity Mentor in the new year where we give our clients access to all of the advice that they need for their business from specialists in their field. We are looking to be the firm that you come to for everything that you need in the realms of business growth advice. And, we are excited to see where this adventure will take us. Words by Joanne M. Elliott, Group Finance Director of Clarity Accountants. Clarity Accountants: Most Progressive Accountancy Practice - North West In many ways, Clarity was born from a single moment: I was sitting in a room with half a dozen middle aged men and women giving ‘advice’ to a client. I realised that this client had absolutely no clue what they were talking about and felt powerless, unable to ask any questions. Yet, they were his accountants and he had to trust their advice regardless of the impact on his business. This was the moment when I decided that I can do this differently; I could empower my clients and provide a unique and valuable service. This wasn’t the first time that I had seen clients with glazed eyes, but I wanted it to be the last. Eighteen months later, ‘Clarity’ was born with myself as the founder and co-director of Clarity Accountants. Why Clarity? As the name implies, we bring clarity to your business finances and show you what your accounts mean and what you are actually signing. Our advice is clear and transparent, and no question is a ‘silly’ question. With this in mind, we endeavour to explain everything to the client so that they understand what we are asking them to approve. We build up business relationships with our clients so that they feel comfortable with us to be able to ask ANY question, no matter how simple or complex. My husband, Matthew, and I both have a passion for excellence, integrity and truth in everything we do. This isn’t just limited to business. We wanted to bring this passion to help our clients’ businesses in a way that made them feel empowered again to make informed decisions, feel encouraged in their abilities and excited to get back to the helm with the focus solely on running a solid business again. Most typical accountants are what we call ‘compliance firms’. They will produce year end accounts, VAT returns, tax returns, management accounts or run your payroll. However, the key point is that they are only helping their clients to look back into the previous years. Obviously, this is important and legally required, but doesn’t help clients with growth, scalability or with the motivation to get up in the morning to drive and achieve success. Over the past 10 years we have helped our clients with both the unadventurous aspects of running their businesses with what qualified chartered accountants should do and help them remain compliant with the relevant authorities. However, and more interestingly, over the past 3 - 5 years it has become more and more evident that our clientele are looking for more. More advice, more value for money, more transparency, more of a trusted advisor. Based on what we were already doing with our clients - and in response to increasing questions that went beyond simple accountancy services - we launched ‘Clarity Mentor’ . Clarity Mentor is more than just a coaching and mentorship program, we are business and financial strategists able to help new and existing clients adapt to the markets they’re operating in, help with new innovations and help growth in mind-set and business strategy to a level that allows them to plan for the future. Both the compliance and mentorship services dovetail each other very nicely, and we have mixtures of clients who come on-board with just one service to start with but see the value in what we bring and soon decide to take both. – It’s a great balance! Jun20581 Above all else, we've never lost sight of the premise that ‘our’ success and growth is directly linked to our clients’ success and growth. - ‘Adventure awaits the brave’