While the headlines are dominated with news of recession, Walker & Sutcliffe, the chartered accountancy practice based in Huddersfield, is setting its sights on a more positive year ahead, with plans to open a second office in Wakefield.
With ambitions to increase turnover from £650k to £2.5m, the practice is building its infrastructure from the inside out.
Having already invested £25k on computer hardware to enhance the company’s processes, while also supporting the transition from office-only to a hybrid way of working, a further £25k has been allocated to training and development, which will up-skill the team and allow them to benefit fully from the systems that have been implemented.
Practice Partner, Nick Ledgard, comments: “We have our sights firmly set on opening an office in Wakefield this year. It makes sense for us to expand into the district as we already work with clients in the area and can see the potential that it offers.
“Having the infrastructure in place to ensure that our team has everything in place as we manage this expansion is really important to me. I’ve always had a team-first approach, believing that if you look after the team, everything else will look after itself.”
During the pandemic, Nick sent every team member a cheese board with the engravings ‘we are in this together’. It was a gesture that would resonate and lead to further workplace wellbeing exercises being adopted.
The two changes that remain in place and continue to have a positive impact are providing the team with two hours every other week to do something for themselves; and access to a confidential psychotherapist.
Nick continues: “We want to become the family practice; the accountants that are trusted by the whole family, not just one business owner. If we are to achieve that, the team need to work as a family too and that means looking after each other.
“For our clients, it’s about the trust involved in being a trusted adviser. Being that person that people know they can turn to. We must have the culture in place internally if we are to offer this support to others.”
In addition to the new office in Wakefield, Walker & Sutcliffe is targeting 20 new clients by the end of the year, while also working on growing the team.
Nick concludes: “I am very proud of what we have at Walker & Sutcliffe. If we are to achieve all we have set out to do during 2023 that will mean big change. My focus and priority is on retaining the amazing talent we have and attracting the right people to join us.
“That isn’t always as easy as it sounds.
“However, with the shared ambitions and foundations in place, I think we can do it. I have complete faith in what we are building and what we will achieve together.”
Walker & Sutcliffe is a firm of chartered accountants in Huddersfield working with a national portfolio of clients. For further information about the practice, please visit: https://www.walker-sutcliffe.co.uk/