December 4, 2024 • 55 mins
Meet Vipul!
Zane Stevens speaks with Vipul Seth, Managing Director of AdvancedTrack Outsourcing. They explore Vipul's journey from a family business background to becoming a transformative leader in the accounting industry.
Vipul shares insights on the evolving role of accountants, the importance of technology in enhancing client relationships, and the vision behind his successful outsourcing firm. The conversation emphasizes the need for accountants to be proactive advisors and professional friends to their clients, ultimately aiming to change lives through their work. In this conversation, Vipul Sheth discusses the importance of building a culture of excellence in accounting, embracing technology for future growth, and the significance of collaboration and mentorship in the industry. He shares valuable lessons from his early career, emphasizes the need for patience in business, and highlights the role of sports in developing teamwork skills. Vipul also reflects on his leadership values, advocating for authenticity and open communication within teams.
Takeaways
- Accountants can change lives, but not by producing a set of accounts.
- The journey into accounting often starts with unexpected influences.
- Building relationships is key to successful accounting practices.
- Technology allows accountants to be more proactive in their advisory roles.
- Creating a business that operates independently is a crucial goal.
- Mistakes in business are valuable learning experiences. - Accountants should strive to be professional friends to their clients.
- Challenging oneself leads to continuous improvement in business.
- Outsourcing can free up time for more client-facing activities.
- The success of a business is tied to the success of its clients. Building a culture of excellence is essential for success.
- Embracing technology is crucial for staying relevant.
- Continuous learning and collaboration with peers are key.
- Patience is vital for long-term business growth.
- Authenticity in leadership fosters trust and openness.
- Team sports can enhance teamwork and communication skills.
- Testing new technologies with clients can lead to innovation.
- A no-blame culture encourages honesty and accountability.
- Mentorship plays a significant role in professional development.
- Adaptability is necessary in a rapidly changing business environment.
Sound Bites
"Accountants make a difference. We absolutely do."
"I wanted a business that could operate without me."
"Building a culture of excellence is key."
"Keep reading, talk to your peers."
"Authenticity is key in leadership."
"Collaboration leads to better results."
"Patience is essential in business."
"Be ready for a rough ride in business."
"Honesty is the number one quality in a friend."
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to ProteaConversations
01:42 Meet Vipul Seth: A Transformative Leader
04:32 The Journey into Accounting
10:01 The Role of Accountants in Changing Lives
16:28 Transitioning from Audit to Business Ownership
21:11 Starting AdvancedTrack: The Vision Behind the Business
25:43 The Unique Approach of AdvancedTrack
31:03 Creating Value Through Technology and Outsourcing
32:38 Building a Culture of Excellence
35:30 Embracing Technology for Future Growth
38:44 Staying Ahead in Technology
45:09 Lessons from Early Career Experiences
48:04 Leadership Values and Authenticity
53:59 Advice for New Business Owners
54:55 Personal Insights and the Role of Sports
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Proteon Conversations, the podcast where leadership in business and accounting
(00:09):
isn't just discussed, it's explored.
I'm your host, St. Stephens, and thank you for joining me as we delve into the minds of
some of the most influential leaders in the industry.
Our journey is one of discovery, from unraveling the unique stories that shaped our guest careers
to invaluable advice that fueled their success.
We add to provide you with simple, actionable advice to accelerate your career and personal
growth.
Whether you're a budding professional or a seasoned executive, these conversations are
(00:31):
designed to offer insight and perspectives that resonate with everyone.
So tune in, engage, and be inspired as we build better leaders together.
Welcome to Proteon Conversations.
Today I'm thrilled to be joined by Vipul Seth, managing director of Advanced Track
Outsourcing.
Vipul is an inspiring leader with a transformative perspective on the role of accountants.
Accountants can change lives, but not by producing a set of accounts.
(00:56):
With a career spanning Ravjhans, Ernestinian, and KPMG, Vipul brings a wealth of experience
as an ISEA EEW Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Advisor.
Since founding Advanced Track in 2003 has dedicated himself to helping accountants globally deliver
more value to their clients through world-class outsourcing and off-shoring services.
(01:16):
In this episode, we'll explore Vipul's journey, his passion for enabling accountants to focus
on value-added services, and how Advanced Track is driving change in the industry with
cutting-edge technology, ISEA certifications, and GDPR complex.
Whether you're an accountant, a business owner, or just curious about the impact of outsourcing
on the accounting world, this conversation is packed with insights and won't want to
(01:39):
miss it.
Vipul, welcome.
It's really great to have you on the episode today.
Thank you so much, Zane.
Really looking forward to having this conversation.
What's exciting for me is you're my first international guest, so that's a little landmark
for me, the first person that is not based in the US.
Can you spell out to people where in the world we can find you?
(02:04):
Yes, so I'm about a 20-minute train ride from London, so that's where I now live.
I grew up in the Midlands.
If anyone knows the UK, I grew up in a town called Coventry, which was our equivalent
of the most city way back when.
Just to put in context, the sort of environment that I grew up in.
(02:26):
You enjoy any of the local sports teams while growing up?
Yes, I went to watch Coventry City a lot, although I wasn't a fan, but I love the sport.
So it was a good excuse for me and a few friends to go and watch a soccer match every Saturday.
So I probably did three or four years where I was playing every game, pretty much on a
(02:51):
Saturday.
So we have something called relegation and promotions.
There were three seasons in a row.
Coventry City almost got relegated.
Sometimes when it wasn't even in the Olympics, they knew they had to win, and then it was
up to the gods if the other team went all lost as to whether they stayed up.
(03:14):
But when you love the game, you don't care who it is that you watch as long as you're
watching it.
And when you see it with friends, it makes it all the more enjoyable.
Yeah, definitely.
That could be the last item for me to get over to the UK and watch a soccer game.
I'd love to watch my beloved Chelsea, but I will take anyone that I can get into.
Yeah, no, as I say, 20 odd games a season.
(03:36):
I got to experience.
So yeah, definitely worth it.
And why I'm probably still passionate about it.
Watching a game, not as much playing it as I used to be.
So I'm sure we'll cover that at some point during this session.
I mean, I'd love to just talk about soccer for the whole hour.
I'm a big passionate supporter and I love coaching my kids nowadays.
(03:57):
So it's a big part of my life, soccer.
But we probably need to talk about the boring stuff being our careers.
So probably a good place to get going into.
And obviously you are the managing director of Advanced Trackout, so saying, which has
been extremely successful now for a really long time.
You've been running that company for as long as I've been studying and working in accounting.
(04:19):
So it's got a long history of success.
And I want to get into that.
But let's go back a little bit further and discuss the decision to get into accounting in the first place.
OK, well, I grew up in the family business.
So I only had a store selling fashion clothing.
If I'm honest, as a teenager, that's what I thought I was going to do.
(04:41):
And until that whole idea was really knocked on the head by my parents,
who said that actually you need to get an education.
So once you've got an education, if you decide that's what you want to do, then come and have that discussion.
And so that was at 15.
And then at 17, I think my mother was like, this lad, what's he going to do?
(05:05):
Then unbeknown to me, volunteered me to work for a summer for free for her family accountant,
for hers and the business's accountant.
And so I went along.
Obviously, as a teenager, you're skeptical of everything.
(05:25):
So what am I going to learn?
I go into working in an accountant's office and described everything that I thought an accountant did.
And of course, once you get there and we, unbeknown to me, he was quite an entrepreneurial accountant
who really didn't look enough to apply.
I was talking to them regularly.
He explained to me what an accountant really did because my mom had said to me,
(05:49):
look, whenever I go and see David, he's on the desk, friend attached to his ear.
I usually have to wait for him to finish the call and then I'm allowed to go in.
Yes, mom.
Of course, that's my answer was, I didn't even believe the word that she said.
And I sat there two days opposite his office.
And of course, that's what I noticed.
(06:11):
That's what I saw him doing.
So of course, after a day or two, I go and knock on his door,
that David, I see, you know, can I ask you a question?
Walked in, said, I don't see you.
You see you doing accounts.
And at that point, he said, let me close the door, close the door and said,
see all those people out there.
(06:32):
That's what I pay them to do.
What I do is change lives.
And, you know, you you read out my account that changed lives,
but not by producing a set of accounts.
It comes from that conversation that I had with him as that 17 year old.
And I am a product of that appearance.
He helped them be more successful, which gave me the confidence that I could go
(06:56):
out in the world without necessarily seeing lots of limits.
Obviously, as you get older, you see more limits.
As a teenager, you don't see limits.
And that's the confidence that he was able to sort of have me take forward
from the experience of working with him and his colleagues.
(07:20):
And as to as to what what happens in life.
But from that, obviously, you go on, have a degree, qualified as a chartered
accountant with Rob Jones before going to two big four firms in Y and KPMV.
And this man, I did and said to my dad, dad, this is what do you reckon?
(07:40):
Because he arrived here with nothing because his attitude to risk is very
different to most parents.
Well, if you think you can do it, get on a plane and make it happen.
And for the last 20 odd years, we've been trying to make it happen.
So that's our journey, my journey.
Yeah, I mean, it's an incredible story.
(08:01):
And it's not often that you would hear somebody say that this is a piece
of advice I received at such an early age.
You know, people get it from their family and stuff, but this is just
some random third-party person, right?
Obviously, you impact your parents' lives.
So your mom wasn't crazy about putting in front of what she knew would have an
impact on you.
But however many years later, that that piece of advice is still what drives
(08:23):
you is incredible.
Yeah, well, look, you know, business and the country, whatever, you know, your
local community will be more successful if you have more successful entrepreneurs
who earn money, spend money in the locality, et cetera, et cetera.
And, you know, and all of us are in our own little communities, but communities
(08:48):
all over the country, suddenly your country is more successful.
So I think that's the way that I look at it.
And I'd like to think that my success is I employ hundreds of people,
they're now spending money in their communities and the world is a better place.
And hopefully there are accountants out there who are helping business
(09:08):
owners be more successful by having that same attitude and approach to their business.
I mean, this is extremely forward thinking, just to put a perspective to this.
This is advice you're receiving in the 80s, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, I was a young kid.
I mean, it's mind blowing that there was a accountant out there because, you know,
(09:31):
your stereotype that you had in your head was clearly the sit behind the desk.
I'm through the tax return just sort of work through, which is, you know,
the way the accounting industry was definitely framed at that point.
And from my understanding, and it's hard for me to put perspective to it,
but just from the information I get, you know, advisory wasn't a big deal like back then, right?
(09:53):
Like, advisory came from people other than accountants back then.
So for somebody to, an accountant to think of themselves,
and probably maybe he's not using the word advisor, but that's what he was.
He was advising people to be successful,
using their information that they're providing, making it as accurate as possible,
and helping them be successful.
That's mind blowing to be impressive.
(10:15):
The one thing that he did, and for the younger members of the audience,
you may have to go and Google this, is something called a Rolodex.
So, and he had one of those.
And he said to me, Ripple, every morning, I come in,
I phone the next person on the list, and he did that.
And he was their professional friend.
(10:36):
Yeah, my mother never made a major decision.
Yeah, obviously you make lots of small decisions.
But the big decisions that had a financial impact on us as a family or the business,
she would pick up the phone and say, David, I need to ask you this question.
Yeah, and that was because when he made those phone calls,
(10:59):
all he did was he made sure that if there was something,
you wouldn't ring anybody else, you don't ring him.
And his success was he retired at the age of 55.
Yeah, which is stunning in its own way.
And this is no word of a lie.
My sister and I are both chartered accountants.
(11:22):
And I always say the only accountant other than her children
that my mum ever cried over was David, the day he said he's retiring.
Because it's so unexpected, but those first 15 years of her business career,
he was there along that journey.
And when he said he's no longer there, that brought an emotion to her
(11:44):
that he's no longer going to be there to help me with those major decisions.
And so, you know, that's the key.
And, you know, you talked about accountants not thinking that way all that long ago.
All he was was a professional friend.
Yeah, yeah, that's what it was.
All he knew is the way to help business owners is I am their professional friend.
(12:09):
When they need me, they know they can trust me and they can call upon me.
That's it.
Well, we all should strive to be like David because that's incredible.
I mean, I'm going to read it again for everybody.
Accountants change lives, but not by producing sets of accounts.
And if we can all strive towards that, I try to tell my team this all the time.
Like, you know, we aren't just doing accounting, this is a real life, right?
(12:31):
We're literally dealing with people's life or death.
Like, this is it.
You know, we deal with small business owners, for a lot of them.
It is all their assets in this one little basket.
And they're relying on us to give them information to be successful, right?
Like, that's the goal.
They're hoping that they're investing the money on us
that we can get a relationship, look at the information,
(12:52):
provide them with feedback if they're willing to take it,
understand where to keep quiet and let them be,
understand where we need to talk up.
And, you know, we're sort of just re-looking at our values.
A part of it is we're committed to understanding our clients' goals
and supporting their success with tailored solutions.
And part of that tailored solution is being that professional friend.
(13:15):
Giving them the advice as it comes up,
that could be from their own information or things changing in the world
and just sharing, you know, information with them.
And that's a powerful advice.
I read about it, I looked at it,
I didn't think this would have such a big impact on me.
This is, I'm going to take away with them.
Personally, I'm going to take away and go think about it even more
and how I can be more like David,
how can I be more professional friend to my clients
(13:37):
to make sure that they feel the same way,
that we're supporting them and making their big business decisions.
Yeah, no, no, no.
And I think the thing in all of this that we have to try and remember is,
today's day and age with the way that technology has moved forward,
when the difference now, if it was you or David even,
(14:01):
today he would phone up having logged in and checked their financials.
So he'd actually have something to talk to them about.
And that's the advantage we as a professional have today,
is that we can log into our clients cloud accounting software
and see you had a good week, a bad week, a good month.
You actually have something specific to them that you can discuss.
(14:25):
Whereas then, all that David actually did was,
he didn't have access to that.
But every business owner knows they've had a good week of sales,
a bad week of sales, they've lost their top salesperson.
Whatever it is that's keeping that business owner up at night,
he or she will share with you in that phone call.
(14:47):
But we can now do it with a little bit of additional financial information,
which is more targeted to actually help them.
I think that's the key difference.
Yeah, I mean, in a short way of saying, we have more information at our fingertips
to be a better professional friend and really give them the advice
and be proactive in that advice, right?
(15:07):
I'm sure David, a lot of the time, even though it was on the roller decks,
would wait for some of these clients to call him up,
like, hey, this is what we're running into,
where now we've got that information, look at him,
like, hey, we see this problem coming, we see not enough cash,
or opposite, you have too much cash.
Let's figure out a way to go about it.
So we can be even more proactive in trying to change lives,
(15:30):
which I think is incredible.
Yeah, I agree.
Okay, back to the career.
Yeah, in the audit world for just under six years, right?
That's about sort of...
That's right, yeah, about six years in audit, and then similar time in tax.
Anything you'd like to dislike about the world of audits and tax?
I think, like all these things, we all go through these things
(15:51):
and they make us the people that we are.
I think, although at the time, I probably didn't appreciate the value
of the work that I learned in audit,
what it does allow you to do is interact with business owners,
understand their problems and what their challenges are.
But most importantly, it gives you a really broad understanding
(16:14):
of what business owners go through day in, day out, what drives them.
And inevitably, some of those people,
there will be things that they've said to you that, you know,
went now as a 50-something business owner.
You look back and think, I remember speaking to this business owner,
(16:36):
he or she or this or these, this is a really good way that they worked.
This is the way they looked after their staff.
So all of those things have an impact on you.
So I think from that point of view,
but just working with good professional people,
I think that that's the key, you know, if you've worked with good professionals,
(16:57):
it helps you set your own standards at a level that they operated at, if not higher.
Because when you go into the world, you're the leader,
you want to set your own store now as to what you expect of yourself.
But actually, in today's world, it's not me that's doing the actual delivery.
(17:17):
It's a group of people that work for me.
And I think that that's the piece always that you take away from that,
that the people that I work for, they set their store now.
I was representing them every time I walked into a client's office
or had a telephone interaction with them.
That's what it was all about, that you had to be the best professional you could be.
(17:42):
And if you follow that, I now have to set that sort of benchmark,
if you like, for everyone that works in our business.
Yeah, you spent a decade in public accounting and public accounting at times gets a bad rap,
especially nowadays.
Sure.
You see it out there if you go some of these Reddit lines and stuff like,
(18:03):
oh, public accounting such a waste of time.
I personally felt the opposite.
I felt like I experienced so much in a short period of time
because of my interaction with all these different business leaders,
which I would have never had the opportunity to interact with,
if I'd just, you know, gone outside of practice, right?
I would have been stuck at some big company in an office dealing with my direct managers,
(18:24):
where, you know, in these places, you know, dealing with CEOs, CFOs,
they're just bookkeepers who knew things, right?
And I felt like I got so much experience in just my four years there.
What are your feelings towards public accounting and that sort of route as a career?
Well, I've shared with you my story as to the impact that it had on my parents and me as a person.
(18:50):
Yep.
I was a nine-year-old child when my parents started in business.
By my mid-thirties, I'd started a business.
I had lots of ideas on the way, some when I was a child, a teen or a German.
Obviously, this misses you because of that.
Yep.
And then missed opportunities in young adulthood.
(19:11):
And then I never wanted to be that guy down in the bar who said,
I had this idea and I had that idea, it was like, no, I've got to make it happen.
And the bottom had been laid down.
I was saying, I think we can do it again, play in and make it happen.
So I think all these things, I think the public accountant has a huge impact on the success
(19:35):
or otherwise of the business owners that work with them.
So I genuinely believe, you know, in the statement, we make a difference.
We absolutely do.
So let's talk about this business opportunity that you decided after some encouragement
by your dad to jump an airplane and start off.
Yeah.
Give us the frame of reference.
(19:56):
What was your goal when you first started out?
I wanted a business.
So my parents obviously were in retail and got that to a reasonable level.
But to a great extent, they were running the business.
What I wanted was a business that if I wasn't there, could operate without me.
(20:19):
So number one, that.
But number two, I saw that having worked in two big four firms that really adopted technology.
So everyone talks now about paper, assorted files and the like.
EY and KPMG were doing that 20, 25 years ago.
And so seeing the way that collaborative technology allowed people in one office to communicate to
(20:46):
colleagues in another office without moving from their desk.
Told me that actually it was possible that you didn't physically have to be in a client's office
or in an accountancy firms office to do the work, first and foremost.
And number two, there were all these bright accountants in India.
(21:10):
And there must be a way that we can harness the technology, honest that skill set that's
available and turn it into a business.
And so 20 odd years ago, that's what I started.
I started the journey, tried to build a cloud platform way back in 2003.
Finally went live in 2005, 2006.
(21:32):
But that was the seed of the idea was that great talent over in India with technology.
If we can deliver that to customers, obviously I was based in the UK, but the intention was
always to make it an international firm.
(21:52):
So went over to India, just got going.
Like, how did it get come about?
Like what was your strategy?
What did you jump in?
How do you go about this?
Yeah, so I jumped on a plane, you know, still got relatives there.
So that then didn't have to pay for hotel rooms.
So that was right.
(22:12):
You know, I'd say to my mom, can you ring your brother and say, yeah, Bipo's coming.
And you have to feed him and put a riser over his head for a week or two.
And he'd organize taxi driver for me so I could go and meet people.
So I met lots of people and I'll be honest, first two, three years, I made every mistake
(22:34):
a rookie business owner could make.
Trusted everyone, got the technology was hard to build.
Because although I was an accountant who was proficient with technology, I wasn't a technology
person.
So although I learned a lot in that two years, three years, it created its own challenges.
(22:55):
But I'm probably better for it because having made those mistakes, you learn very quickly
because you're spending your own money.
I'm spending my savings to make all of this happen.
It's not like I've had lots of income from the business.
I have to use my savings to make all of that happen.
(23:17):
Well, we did it and alongside obviously I had the skills as a qualified tax advisor.
I used that to supplement anything that the business was generating, which was very little
at the time.
So you use your skills to just keep the business funded.
And that's what we did.
(23:37):
And the rest, as I say, is history.
But you have to keep paying the bills to get through to the other side.
So it is an outsourcing firm.
You're finding talent for people in other countries.
I know when I go to your websites, it says UK, US, and Australia standards.
They're very much apologetic.
Is that sort of where the majority of the client basis now?
(23:59):
That is absolutely where the client basis is.
Mostly UK or is it fairly evenly spread?
It's mainly UK just through history.
This is where they pull the space.
But increasingly, the only international offering we have, they're full-time.
We have a camp manager in Australia.
(24:19):
We've just won a large contract in North America, which will partly lease anything officially.
Yeah.
Once I'm in a position to do so, you will see that.
All of those things are just driving us to be a better business and a more international
business.
Great.
I mean, outsourcing is one of those things in the world, I guess, that gets a bad name.
(24:47):
I hope, sure, I've got an office in South Africa.
I use talent in another country to supplement my team here in the US.
What makes you guys different from all the other ones?
There's ones that edge my LinkedIn inbox on a regular basis with anything from $2 an hour
to $25 an hour of services.
(25:08):
How are you different?
Because as I said, the whole concept was based on technology and good people.
So if you start with those two things and you have to think back, 2005, cloud wasn't
a word that you associated with technology.
Because I remember several years later on the radio, there was a piece about cloud and
(25:36):
I'm missing out on something and I went, they're a 19 manager.
So Peter, we need to be in the cloud.
And he said, oh, you're already in the cloud.
Oh, okay, that's great.
That's great, then.
We're already in the cloud.
So for us, it was very much about making sure we challenged ourselves to be better all
(25:56):
the time.
And that was a human level, but also on a technology level.
And if that meant that we use technology to cut us out, we would do that.
So for example, you may be offering or keeping today's zone as an accounting practice.
But undoubtedly, you don't manually enter all these invoices if you can get your client
(26:20):
to take their phone, upload the app that allows invoice capture.
It means you get the data more accurately and faster into the accounting software.
So we would have done that 10 years ago.
And that's the key in all of this is challenge yourselves.
Even if that means that we as a business might earn a little bit less per file, that's okay.
(26:47):
Yeah.
What you've got to look at is what's the bigger picture?
Are we able to service more firms, more businesses as a result of adopting that technology?
And is the experience better?
And usually the answer to all of those questions is, yeah, technology increases efficiency
but it also increases the opportunities for you to serve businesses, whether that's accountant
(27:11):
or the wider business community.
So I think that that's probably what's always made us different to everybody else.
Because they all see hours on the doors as the only measure of success.
Whereas actually for us it's actually if we've been open and we've been honest, because if
(27:35):
I didn't tell you, and six months later you discovered this great piece of technology
is like, oh, Vipple, do you use this bit of technology?
And I say, oh, yes.
And you'll say, well, why didn't you tell me?
Yeah.
Whereas if I've told you and you then not adopted it, that's a separate story.
But the important bit is I've shown you the way to deliver what we're doing in a better,
(28:00):
more efficient, cost effective way.
Because every business owner, and you'll know this, has their pressures.
Yeah, cost of living, et cetera.
So they look at what they perceive as discretionary spend.
Yeah.
And if they see the accountancy fees as discretionary spend.
Which they do.
What which they do.
(28:22):
Yeah.
And if you keep challenging yourself, yeah, you make yourself in a position that you can
serve them in a way, profitably for you.
And for them they see, you know what, Zane's been good to me, or whoever it is that's serving
them.
I think that's the key in all of this.
Are you making clients in the sort of tax space, or a accounting service space, where
(28:47):
do you sort of find your...
I always say anything an accountant or an auditor can do, set up their computer.
That's what we help people do.
So that's all service lines, account stacks, audit.
And there are key service lines.
Yeah, it feels like you've created a system where it's like a lot of the big firms have
(29:07):
done it, sort of create those shared service departments.
It feels like from what you're telling me, and the use of technology, and wanting to
simplify.
It's a great way for an office, maybe, you know, I guess what they call medium-sized
firms, anything that's sort of over 20 people, but it can really create that shared services.
The stuff that, you know, just be honest, a lot of people don't like doing it, it's a
(29:29):
little bit boring, but it's critical to the success of the firm, can sort of be done.
Yeah, it's about creating the time for your own onshore staff to do more of the client
facing stuff.
As we started the call about David, he made those calls.
If you're confident in your team's ability to pick up the phone, you don't need to phone
(29:49):
them.
They're more than capable of phoning them.
That's what it's all about.
Yeah, and using the team from you allows them to put their feet up, roll their roller
decks out, and then phone them and client up, and actually get that value added that,
you know, change people's lives type services.
So that's super helpful.
That's true.
(30:12):
Now, let's be honest, right, accounting from India has got a bit of a wrap up in the last,
bad wrap up in the last few years.
How do you counter that?
It's about building a culture of excellence, of honesty.
So those two are four values.
If you do that, and you build a team that share that, and are around you for a period
(30:37):
of time, and it's about you making the environment work for them.
It's interesting, exciting for them to come to, to be seen as the choice.
That's always the key.
If you have stability in your core group, people will always come and people will always
(30:57):
go.
That is just the nature of young people.
I'm a fine one to talk.
I had four jobs in my professional career before I started this business.
So, probably was that each of them for two or three years class?
That's okay.
But you have to create that environment that people feel valued.
(31:19):
If you do that, and they understand what you stand for, I think that's the key in us being
able to be seen.
You're right.
In every walk of life, there's good and bad.
All we can do is set our own standards.
And that's it, it's for others to decide where they sit.
(31:41):
But we'd like to think that we have clients who've been with us sort of a decade and a
half or more, and that comes from always having honest interaction.
And it's not always just with me.
Most of that.
We're not the size now.
I'm not involved in the production.
(32:02):
I haven't been for a very long time.
All of that has to happen, but it also is based on systems.
So, we built our first type platform way back in 2005, 2006.
In a way, I call it my super manager.
It allows our business to run, deliver consistently high levels of service.
(32:26):
And that's always the key to having a more successful business.
Make a good accountant, a better accountant.
Average accountant becomes a good accountant, becomes an excellent accountant.
It's always the key.
Yeah, that's great.
I really like that.
What are the goals for Advanced Track?
What's the future look like?
(32:48):
Well, I mean, in a world where technology can change so quickly, we're very aware,
shall we say, of the challenges that are inevitably there, but as I say, by embracing
it, yeah, what do you achieve?
(33:11):
What you achieve is you question everything you do.
Not on a weekly basis.
I think that that's probably wrong, but on an ongoing basis, you employ good people
within your business who allow you to challenge yourself and the people internally as to being
doing things or when you do things better.
(33:34):
So to take that example, our CTO recently spent a couple of weeks with our teams going
through, right, this is what you're doing.
How can we do things better?
Is there technology that we can adopt internally that will make what we do continue to be ready
(33:56):
to price that customers are going to continue paying?
So I think that's always the key for me is don't ever think you're done because, I mean,
you do, you're finished.
Yeah, I agree.
If you're not consistently adapting, you're probably dying, so focusing and staying relevant.
I think every day I spend a little bit of time, maybe not necessarily doing my work
(34:20):
day, but it could be out on a walk or when I'm cooking dinner, I was thinking, is there
something we can do better?
Because there's something that we're doing that maybe needs to be adjusted, refined.
Some days I'm like, I can't think of anything and that's fine.
And other days I'll be like, shut up.
I just looked at this other thing that somebody else was doing.
I really liked the way they did it.
I think it's better than the way we're doing it.
(34:41):
So maybe I'll send a message to my tech lead who will be like, oh, gosh, what hair brand
I dare do you have right now?
And be like, hey, can you look into this and she'll say, yes, no problem.
I'll add it to item number 95 on my list from you and we'll eventually get there.
But you talk about a lot.
You speak about technology, right?
And a VerneStrike is clearly on the forefront of technology innovation and accounting.
(35:04):
And has been for a long time.
Like that's part of your philosophy starting this business as the average accountant.
What advice would you give me to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to technology?
Because like you said, it's moving really, really quickly.
And you could be one of those people that just jump into everything, which I probably
(35:27):
don't recommend mostly because we don't have enough time for it.
But I do want to be able to stay in a place where I'm at least moving with the wave and
staying ahead of the bench.
What advice do you have for me?
Keep reading number one, you know, talk to your peers.
We certainly see lots of collaboration with the three firms that historically you might
(35:51):
have seen as competitors.
I think there's huge amounts of collaboration across platforms.
So whether you're a zero for me or a quick book, etc.
I will be communities that you will part of and use that opportunity because there'll
always be somebody who will say, you might have a forum.
Yeah, when you say, I've got this problem.
(36:13):
Yeah, go and see what they've used to solve that problem.
Never be afraid to ask what you think is a stupid question.
Because if you're thinking it, if you're somebody else, probably is as well.
They've just not been brave enough to ask the question.
So I think first and foremost, do that.
And number two, I think the thing is, don't be scared and don't, you don't have to use
(36:39):
it across your entire client base.
The thing in all of these things is you can use a product with a handful of your clients,
but just talk to them about it.
Say, look, I want to test something.
I think it might help.
Would you be happy to go and test it for me?
Yeah.
And if you've got a good relationship with them, they're really going to say no.
(37:05):
And all you're going to say to them is, what I want is, in a month's time or in two months
time, I just want to have a five minute, 10 minute call that could be on phone or Zoom,
Teams, et cetera, and say, look, this is what I wanted it to achieve.
Do you think it helped me do that?
Yeah.
And if you do that, yeah.
(37:26):
And if it works, great, because most now are on the SAS model.
They don't make you sign up for 3000 clients or something.
Yeah.
You put five on.
Yeah.
Show, see how it works.
If it works well, go for it.
Do more of it.
It's that, that to me is always the key, but don't sit on the fence and don't wait for
(37:50):
it to happen.
Because if you're waiting for the perfect answer, it's not going to happen.
Did we have the perfect answer?
We didn't have it 20 or years ago.
We absolutely don't have it today.
We're just better at spotting it, but we're now much bigger business.
So are we as nimble as we were 20 years ago?
Probably not.
Yeah.
(38:10):
Because you've suddenly got to change the way it works for a whole group of clients.
If you can do it seamlessly, that's great.
Sometimes you need them to have input.
So that to me is always going to be the two bits of advice.
Ask your friends and then go and use it.
They're probably the things that will help you become a more successful technology based
(38:34):
accountant.
Yeah, I love it.
I mean, the whole idea of collaboration of a competition has always been big for me.
I know my sort of local area that freaks people out a little bit.
Yes.
Because I'm always willing to talk about it.
I find your community, right?
Go use social media, talk to people, get involved.
You never know when you're going to meet somebody that ends up being a good partner.
(38:57):
I have a couple of people that I grab with an entrance on a regular basis.
We do the same type of work, but for totally different industries.
It's a great place to talk about how we're managing people, how we're changing internal
processes, what technology we're using.
Especially, I'm in a slow to adapt technology industry being in the wine space.
Also talking to some of my friends who are in spaces where people are moving on technology
(39:21):
a lot quicker, it gives me great insight because they've tested more things or been unable
to.
Yes.
I think that's always a great advice.
The second point there about trying stuff up, I think a lot of times there's a push out
there in the market to be like, have your tech stack and only stick to your tech stack
because that's the best way to be efficient, right?
I've always taken the approach of if a client's coming across with a piece of technology that
(39:43):
we maybe don't know, test it out, learn it.
If it's working for them, like let's first prove, is it actually working?
And if it is, why is it working, can we use it somewhere else?
Could this be a great add to our tech stack that could add value to other people?
So don't get too rigid, I would say, especially if you're smaller and you can be nimble,
(40:06):
take those opportunities and learn from it.
I mean, one of your loans could be this one of these socks guys, like there's a better
option.
I know you think it's good, but it's actually terrible.
Let's move on from it.
But then at least you know, right?
Don't just dismiss that client out of hand just because they're using a piece of technology
that you don't know or maybe haven't tried before.
Yeah, no, absolutely.
(40:28):
But keep your core as stable as you can.
That's always the way to do these things.
Yeah, those key pieces that you truly believe in, I would say find the accounting software
that you're going to specialize in.
This was a great place to start.
Those people who just take on anything, you can never really develop anything solid, especially
(40:50):
in terms of a stand-up rating procedure.
And then build some core pieces around it.
And then the rest is all fun and games, right?
Let's find the piece that works.
And like you said, technology keeps moving really fast.
So what is the best piece today?
It's probably not going to be the best piece in six months, 12 months time, especially
as the AI wave keeps hitting the accounting space on it.
(41:11):
Sure.
Yeah.
Let's jump into sort of some of the lessons and leadership that you've gone through in
your life.
Yeah.
You've obviously got this great piece of advice from David as you got into the accounting space.
But is there any other advice that you received in your life that sort of sticks out this
guided you on your journey?
Yeah.
I had a year's internship in a television company.
(41:37):
And the chief accountant there was very young.
He made chief accountant at the age of 27.
This is a business with about 1500 people working in them.
And he said to me, Vipal, and this may sound counterintuitive to what lots of people hear
out there.
But he said, don't go and work for one of the big guys.
(41:59):
And he said, go and work for the next level down.
He said, learn to be a real accountant.
And then if you want to go and work for the big guys, go and do it.
He says, what typically happened?
And obviously he had auditors arriving, fresh faced, 21, 22 years old.
And he said, look, they come in and they're just great at debtors or they're just great
(42:22):
at creditors.
Yeah.
But they're not good at anything else.
He said, if you go and work the next level down, you'll know how to manage a client.
You'll know how to manage relationships.
And most importantly, you'll be able to manage.
You'll know how to look at everything in a business.
Yeah.
From the stock to the fixed assets, et cetera.
(42:46):
I won't bore people with what an accountant does.
But he said, you'll know everything about the business.
But then when you go to the big firms, you'll excel.
You'll do really well.
And it was proven.
I went to join EY and I had multiple promotions.
Yeah.
(43:06):
Why did I have multiple promotions?
Because I'd already lived it.
I'd already breathed it in a smaller firm.
Yeah.
It wasn't a small firm.
It was just a smaller firm.
But because of that skillset, and I didn't appreciate it whilst I was there, but I absolutely
appreciated it when I got all those promotions.
(43:26):
And that was a consequence of that one conversation that he had with me as a 20, 21-year-old intern.
It was a year in the middle of my degree.
And that was probably the best bit of advice that I received.
Yeah.
I mean, sort of, I went to a microwave and I was a KBMG, so a big firm.
But I was happy to put my hand up for the small projects where I might have been a first
(43:48):
year where I was giving small entities on a big client.
But on those ones, Paulson was running the whole project and just working directly with
the manager.
And I got to see every single aspect.
Got to talk to CEOs.
I learned way more on those small projects than I learned on the big projects.
So anything I learned on the big projects was how to manage time.
On the small projects, I learned how to manage people and have real conversations.
(44:09):
Indeed.
So same story.
So yeah, great.
Yeah.
I love it.
This is all great advice.
It's made me feel good in psych that I've made some good decisions along the way, which
is always great.
Let's talk about leadership.
Yeah.
Because you clearly are a leader.
You're on a very successful business.
(44:32):
What is your sort of values towards leadership and your decision-making processes?
It's probably got me into trouble sometimes, particularly when I was an employee, don't
we say?
I think it's, I don't think it's something that you should take lightly, but being authentic
is the key because everyone knows where they stand.
(44:53):
Yeah.
They don't expect a consistent answer from you.
Yeah.
That what would Vipple think?
Yeah.
That thing, that's the key in all of this.
Yeah.
That if you're authentic, people know that this is what Vipple would expect.
You know, and having that open door.
Yeah.
(45:13):
That's the one thing that there was a handful of mentors in my professional career.
They always had an open door.
Yeah.
That even if it's the smallest of things, Vipple, come and talk to me about it.
And that's something I've carried through in what I do now.
That, you know, obviously technology makes all of that accessible, even if they're not
(45:38):
sitting next to me anymore, but just that ability to, you know, Vipple, have you got
10 minutes?
Can we jump on Teams?
Can we jump on Zoom?
Or can you just call me on WhatsApp or FaceTime and let's have this conversation.
So I think that that's the thing that I was thinking this.
This is what I've told the client.
(45:59):
Are you happy with that?
And the no blame culture.
Yeah.
I think, you know, the minute you start blaming people for every, you know, look, we're human.
We make good decisions.
We make bad decisions.
Some are just less bad than others.
But I think once you start the blame culture, people say, well, actually I was trying to
(46:20):
do my best.
Why am I being blamed for this?
And I think if you have those two pieces, I think that that absolutely will help you
come out the other side, an awful lot better.
And people will then be more honest with you in admitting mistakes.
Because otherwise what happens is people bury mistakes and it comes out afterwards.
(46:44):
Yeah.
They'll have lost, they'll have gone.
And then suddenly all these problems come to the fore.
Whereas actually they would never have left if they felt confident that you weren't going
to take them to task over things and as I say, I certainly found that with some of the
mentors that I had in my professional career that, you know, they said, Vipple, I don't
(47:10):
agree with you, but this is why I don't agree with you.
Yeah.
If you take that approach, yeah, people will be open and honest with you.
And then they will stay with you for the long term.
Yeah.
And then the supportive, open, trustworthy relationship leads to an environment where
we make less bad decisions, right?
(47:32):
Because people feel comfortable to come to you to ask first, right?
They know, like, hey, I feel correct about this.
This is what I'm thinking.
These are my thoughts behind it.
Do you agree or disagree versus, you know, please help me, I'm too scared to make a mistake.
They don't stick around.
They tend to make more bad decisions because they're so nervous of making the wrong decision.
(47:52):
Yeah.
It's a good way to build leadership, sort of.
With honesty, compassion, and I like the idea of being consistent.
I think that's really helpful when the team understands that, if I go to Vipple, this
is who he is.
It's not because I'm, you know, Joe Schmoen's, the firm, he's going to treat me one way
(48:13):
and because I'm manager, Bill, the firm is going to treat me another way.
It creates a good environment that leads to collaboration, that leads to good results,
which leads to happy clients, which allows them to be successful, which is great.
Equally, if there is a problem, if they've told you, rather than the customer, clients
have told you, yeah, isn't it better if you actually pick up the phone and say, look,
(48:38):
yeah, they've just told me this has happened.
Yeah.
I'm just running out as the boss.
You know, you have to find a solution, right?
Because you've had a chance, they've been open to you in time.
You can come into that conversation, become so much easier for the client.
It's not like we screwed up and things are broken.
It's now, hey, we screwed up.
(48:59):
This is how we're going to fix it.
Just going along, really sorry.
Yes, absolutely.
And it's how you deal with that, that actually will lead to a, hopefully, a stronger and
collaborative relationship, whether it's an internal customer or an external customer.
That's great.
You've been doing advanced strike now for over 20 years.
(49:20):
As you said, there's been some mistakes along the way, but lots of success.
Sitting here today, what advice do you wish you had received on day one that would have
helped you along your journey?
Patience.
And this is somebody who obviously grew up in a business environment who knows that,
you know, is burnt.
(49:41):
It's not guaranteed.
So I think that and however much you think it's going to cost you, it's going to be
more.
It's still like a building project.
If you've ever had the builders in, the quote that you had has never been the bill that
you paid.
So I think it's a, I think it's patience knowing that it will take time and just be ready and
(50:09):
it will be a rough ride.
And that's probably the key bits of advice that will give any business owner the, you
know, we're a 21 year old success.
Love it.
We've all really, really enjoyed this conversation today.
A couple of last questions to close out.
One, can you share anything with us from a personal side to just to get to know you as
(50:33):
a person?
I spoke about sports.
I think sports has been part of my life from the time I was at school.
So I was in the soccer team, athletics team.
I was a sprinter at school.
So, but I then certainly I've always found that sports has been a great level in terms
of even in the workplace.
(50:55):
So I said I was an intern at the TV station.
What that meant was when you stepped onto the football pitch, everyone was the same.
So the MD used to turn up most Fridays to play, but I would never have had a conversation
with him in the lift.
(51:15):
But on the football pitch and in the, you know, in the changing rooms and the walk back
to the office, I got to speak to him just as a human.
He might be the boss of 1500 people.
But that 15 minute walk back to the office, he was speaking to Vipple.
So I would say to anybody, team sports are absolutely an essential part of helping you
(51:43):
become a better human and a better team player.
And probably a lot of what I do has been because I did play sports and you have to have 11
players on a pitch who are all trying to achieve the same thing.
And that's been an absolute key.
And it's absolutely made a massive difference to me.
(52:06):
And now I'm a swimmer, but in between, I also started half marathon and 10 Ks.
So because it was the one thing I didn't have to do at a specific time.
When I became self employed, you know, couldn't guarantee you to all the leads I was going
to turn on on a Tuesday at 630 every Tuesday.
(52:27):
So what could I do?
Well, I could go running because all you need are trainers and running kit.
Yeah, I love that.
I'm always a big believer in sports, especially team sport, teaching people very valuable
skills for our teamwork, communication.
And a lot of the time, you know, that whole formula of like one plus one equals three.
It's like, it's the first time you can really see it happen in real life.
(52:51):
I'm playing in teams, coaching teams, I've seen that like an average team can be the
best team if they're willing to work together and hold each other accountable.
Yeah, totally.
Great.
The last thing we love to do on protea conversations is finished with some rapid fire questions.
So if you're ready, I have five questions for you.
Okay.
All right.
I'll try and do my best.
(53:12):
Question number one, if you are on death row, what would your final meal be?
That one's easy.
That one's easy.
Okra.
It's my favorite dish.
I'll buy a country mile.
Nice.
Great.
Do you prefer mountains or the ocean?
Probably mountains just because it's easier to access.
You can get to it most days, most weeks, oceans.
(53:35):
They're a little further.
Certainly where we are anyway.
Yeah.
And not always the most ocean friendly weather where you are to either.
No, indeed.
What is the quality you appreciate and a good friend?
I think we've touched on it.
Honestly, that's the one thing.
And non-judgment.
So, but that's probably two.
But honesty is the number one.
(53:57):
Great.
What is a favorite book you would recommend everybody reads?
Wow.
The Monk Who Sold It is for all.
I've heard good things about it.
On my list.
Brilliant book.
Loved it.
I absolutely loved it.
It certainly will challenge most people's beliefs.
You know, and I say that as a business owner.
But I think it does make you value, understand what your real values are.
(54:21):
If you read it.
Great.
Last question.
What is your favorite piece of technology that you use that makes your life better?
My AirPods.
Yeah.
So, even, you know, it sounds as simple, very simple, but even when I'm on a call, I, on
a phone call, I can carry on doing stuff if I need to.
(54:43):
It makes my life immensely easier.
So, very simple, but straightforward.
That's okay.
And with that, we ended another project conversation.
Thank you for joining us in this journey of learning and inspiration.
Today we've gained insight from our guests and taken another step towards understanding
the diverse chemistry of leadership and business and accounting.
Remember, each conversation is a step towards the positive transformation of business leaders.
(55:06):
We hope our discussion has given you valuable takeaways to plan your own career and life.
Don't forget to subscribe to Project Conversations on YouTube and Spotify, so you never miss
an episode.
We'd also love to hear your thoughts and experiences, so connect with me on social media channels.
I'm most active on LinkedIn, and I'd love you to join the conversation.
Join us next time for more engaging stories, advice, and conversations that matter.
(55:28):
Until then, keep striving for excellence and raising good.
Thank you for listening.
Be kind and goodbye from Project Conversations.
Welcome to Proteon Conversations, the podcast where leadership in business and accounting
(00:09):
isn't just discussed, it's explored.
I'm your host, St. Stephens, and thank you for joining me as we delve into the minds of
some of the most influential leaders in the industry.
Our journey is one of discovery, from unraveling the unique stories that shaped our guest careers
to invaluable advice that fueled their success.
We add to provide you with simple, actionable advice to accelerate your career and personal
growth.
Whether you're a budding professional or a seasoned executive, these conversations are
(00:31):
designed to offer insight and perspectives that resonate with everyone.
So tune in, engage, and be inspired as we build better leaders together.
Welcome to Proteon Conversations.
Today I'm thrilled to be joined by Vipul Seth, managing director of Advanced Track
Outsourcing.
Vipul is an inspiring leader with a transformative perspective on the role of accountants.
Accountants can change lives, but not by producing a set of accounts.
(00:56):
With a career spanning Ravjhans, Ernestinian, and KPMG, Vipul brings a wealth of experience
as an ISEA EEW Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Advisor.
Since founding Advanced Track in 2003 has dedicated himself to helping accountants globally deliver
more value to their clients through world-class outsourcing and off-shoring services.
(01:16):
In this episode, we'll explore Vipul's journey, his passion for enabling accountants to focus
on value-added services, and how Advanced Track is driving change in the industry with
cutting-edge technology, ISEA certifications, and GDPR complex.
Whether you're an accountant, a business owner, or just curious about the impact of outsourcing
on the accounting world, this conversation is packed with insights and won't want to
(01:39):
miss it.
Vipul, welcome.
It's really great to have you on the episode today.
Thank you so much, Zane.
Really looking forward to having this conversation.
What's exciting for me is you're my first international guest, so that's a little landmark
for me, the first person that is not based in the US.
Can you spell out to people where in the world we can find you?
(02:04):
Yes, so I'm about a 20-minute train ride from London, so that's where I now live.
I grew up in the Midlands.
If anyone knows the UK, I grew up in a town called Coventry, which was our equivalent
of the most city way back when.
Just to put in context, the sort of environment that I grew up in.
(02:26):
You enjoy any of the local sports teams while growing up?
Yes, I went to watch Coventry City a lot, although I wasn't a fan, but I love the sport.
So it was a good excuse for me and a few friends to go and watch a soccer match every Saturday.
So I probably did three or four years where I was playing every game, pretty much on a
(02:51):
Saturday.
So we have something called relegation and promotions.
There were three seasons in a row.
Coventry City almost got relegated.
Sometimes when it wasn't even in the Olympics, they knew they had to win, and then it was
up to the gods if the other team went all lost as to whether they stayed up.
(03:14):
But when you love the game, you don't care who it is that you watch as long as you're
watching it.
And when you see it with friends, it makes it all the more enjoyable.
Yeah, definitely.
That could be the last item for me to get over to the UK and watch a soccer game.
I'd love to watch my beloved Chelsea, but I will take anyone that I can get into.
Yeah, no, as I say, 20 odd games a season.
(03:36):
I got to experience.
So yeah, definitely worth it.
And why I'm probably still passionate about it.
Watching a game, not as much playing it as I used to be.
So I'm sure we'll cover that at some point during this session.
I mean, I'd love to just talk about soccer for the whole hour.
I'm a big passionate supporter and I love coaching my kids nowadays.
(03:57):
So it's a big part of my life, soccer.
But we probably need to talk about the boring stuff being our careers.
So probably a good place to get going into.
And obviously you are the managing director of Advanced Trackout, so saying, which has
been extremely successful now for a really long time.
You've been running that company for as long as I've been studying and working in accounting.
(04:19):
So it's got a long history of success.
And I want to get into that.
But let's go back a little bit further and discuss the decision to get into accounting in the first place.
OK, well, I grew up in the family business.
So I only had a store selling fashion clothing.
If I'm honest, as a teenager, that's what I thought I was going to do.
(04:41):
And until that whole idea was really knocked on the head by my parents,
who said that actually you need to get an education.
So once you've got an education, if you decide that's what you want to do, then come and have that discussion.
And so that was at 15.
And then at 17, I think my mother was like, this lad, what's he going to do?
(05:05):
Then unbeknown to me, volunteered me to work for a summer for free for her family accountant,
for hers and the business's accountant.
And so I went along.
Obviously, as a teenager, you're skeptical of everything.
(05:25):
So what am I going to learn?
I go into working in an accountant's office and described everything that I thought an accountant did.
And of course, once you get there and we, unbeknown to me, he was quite an entrepreneurial accountant
who really didn't look enough to apply.
I was talking to them regularly.
He explained to me what an accountant really did because my mom had said to me,
(05:49):
look, whenever I go and see David, he's on the desk, friend attached to his ear.
I usually have to wait for him to finish the call and then I'm allowed to go in.
Yes, mom.
Of course, that's my answer was, I didn't even believe the word that she said.
And I sat there two days opposite his office.
And of course, that's what I noticed.
(06:11):
That's what I saw him doing.
So of course, after a day or two, I go and knock on his door,
that David, I see, you know, can I ask you a question?
Walked in, said, I don't see you.
You see you doing accounts.
And at that point, he said, let me close the door, close the door and said,
see all those people out there.
(06:32):
That's what I pay them to do.
What I do is change lives.
And, you know, you you read out my account that changed lives,
but not by producing a set of accounts.
It comes from that conversation that I had with him as that 17 year old.
And I am a product of that appearance.
He helped them be more successful, which gave me the confidence that I could go
(06:56):
out in the world without necessarily seeing lots of limits.
Obviously, as you get older, you see more limits.
As a teenager, you don't see limits.
And that's the confidence that he was able to sort of have me take forward
from the experience of working with him and his colleagues.
(07:20):
And as to as to what what happens in life.
But from that, obviously, you go on, have a degree, qualified as a chartered
accountant with Rob Jones before going to two big four firms in Y and KPMV.
And this man, I did and said to my dad, dad, this is what do you reckon?
(07:40):
Because he arrived here with nothing because his attitude to risk is very
different to most parents.
Well, if you think you can do it, get on a plane and make it happen.
And for the last 20 odd years, we've been trying to make it happen.
So that's our journey, my journey.
Yeah, I mean, it's an incredible story.
(08:01):
And it's not often that you would hear somebody say that this is a piece
of advice I received at such an early age.
You know, people get it from their family and stuff, but this is just
some random third-party person, right?
Obviously, you impact your parents' lives.
So your mom wasn't crazy about putting in front of what she knew would have an
impact on you.
But however many years later, that that piece of advice is still what drives
(08:23):
you is incredible.
Yeah, well, look, you know, business and the country, whatever, you know, your
local community will be more successful if you have more successful entrepreneurs
who earn money, spend money in the locality, et cetera, et cetera.
And, you know, and all of us are in our own little communities, but communities
(08:48):
all over the country, suddenly your country is more successful.
So I think that's the way that I look at it.
And I'd like to think that my success is I employ hundreds of people,
they're now spending money in their communities and the world is a better place.
And hopefully there are accountants out there who are helping business
(09:08):
owners be more successful by having that same attitude and approach to their business.
I mean, this is extremely forward thinking, just to put a perspective to this.
This is advice you're receiving in the 80s, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, I was a young kid.
I mean, it's mind blowing that there was a accountant out there because, you know,
(09:31):
your stereotype that you had in your head was clearly the sit behind the desk.
I'm through the tax return just sort of work through, which is, you know,
the way the accounting industry was definitely framed at that point.
And from my understanding, and it's hard for me to put perspective to it,
but just from the information I get, you know, advisory wasn't a big deal like back then, right?
(09:53):
Like, advisory came from people other than accountants back then.
So for somebody to, an accountant to think of themselves,
and probably maybe he's not using the word advisor, but that's what he was.
He was advising people to be successful,
using their information that they're providing, making it as accurate as possible,
and helping them be successful.
That's mind blowing to be impressive.
(10:15):
The one thing that he did, and for the younger members of the audience,
you may have to go and Google this, is something called a Rolodex.
So, and he had one of those.
And he said to me, Ripple, every morning, I come in,
I phone the next person on the list, and he did that.
And he was their professional friend.
(10:36):
Yeah, my mother never made a major decision.
Yeah, obviously you make lots of small decisions.
But the big decisions that had a financial impact on us as a family or the business,
she would pick up the phone and say, David, I need to ask you this question.
Yeah, and that was because when he made those phone calls,
(10:59):
all he did was he made sure that if there was something,
you wouldn't ring anybody else, you don't ring him.
And his success was he retired at the age of 55.
Yeah, which is stunning in its own way.
And this is no word of a lie.
My sister and I are both chartered accountants.
(11:22):
And I always say the only accountant other than her children
that my mum ever cried over was David, the day he said he's retiring.
Because it's so unexpected, but those first 15 years of her business career,
he was there along that journey.
And when he said he's no longer there, that brought an emotion to her
(11:44):
that he's no longer going to be there to help me with those major decisions.
And so, you know, that's the key.
And, you know, you talked about accountants not thinking that way all that long ago.
All he was was a professional friend.
Yeah, yeah, that's what it was.
All he knew is the way to help business owners is I am their professional friend.
(12:09):
When they need me, they know they can trust me and they can call upon me.
That's it.
Well, we all should strive to be like David because that's incredible.
I mean, I'm going to read it again for everybody.
Accountants change lives, but not by producing sets of accounts.
And if we can all strive towards that, I try to tell my team this all the time.
Like, you know, we aren't just doing accounting, this is a real life, right?
(12:31):
We're literally dealing with people's life or death.
Like, this is it.
You know, we deal with small business owners, for a lot of them.
It is all their assets in this one little basket.
And they're relying on us to give them information to be successful, right?
Like, that's the goal.
They're hoping that they're investing the money on us
that we can get a relationship, look at the information,
(12:52):
provide them with feedback if they're willing to take it,
understand where to keep quiet and let them be,
understand where we need to talk up.
And, you know, we're sort of just re-looking at our values.
A part of it is we're committed to understanding our clients' goals
and supporting their success with tailored solutions.
And part of that tailored solution is being that professional friend.
(13:15):
Giving them the advice as it comes up,
that could be from their own information or things changing in the world
and just sharing, you know, information with them.
And that's a powerful advice.
I read about it, I looked at it,
I didn't think this would have such a big impact on me.
This is, I'm going to take away with them.
Personally, I'm going to take away and go think about it even more
and how I can be more like David,
how can I be more professional friend to my clients
(13:37):
to make sure that they feel the same way,
that we're supporting them and making their big business decisions.
Yeah, no, no, no.
And I think the thing in all of this that we have to try and remember is,
today's day and age with the way that technology has moved forward,
when the difference now, if it was you or David even,
(14:01):
today he would phone up having logged in and checked their financials.
So he'd actually have something to talk to them about.
And that's the advantage we as a professional have today,
is that we can log into our clients cloud accounting software
and see you had a good week, a bad week, a good month.
You actually have something specific to them that you can discuss.
(14:25):
Whereas then, all that David actually did was,
he didn't have access to that.
But every business owner knows they've had a good week of sales,
a bad week of sales, they've lost their top salesperson.
Whatever it is that's keeping that business owner up at night,
he or she will share with you in that phone call.
(14:47):
But we can now do it with a little bit of additional financial information,
which is more targeted to actually help them.
I think that's the key difference.
Yeah, I mean, in a short way of saying, we have more information at our fingertips
to be a better professional friend and really give them the advice
and be proactive in that advice, right?
(15:07):
I'm sure David, a lot of the time, even though it was on the roller decks,
would wait for some of these clients to call him up,
like, hey, this is what we're running into,
where now we've got that information, look at him,
like, hey, we see this problem coming, we see not enough cash,
or opposite, you have too much cash.
Let's figure out a way to go about it.
So we can be even more proactive in trying to change lives,
(15:30):
which I think is incredible.
Yeah, I agree.
Okay, back to the career.
Yeah, in the audit world for just under six years, right?
That's about sort of...
That's right, yeah, about six years in audit, and then similar time in tax.
Anything you'd like to dislike about the world of audits and tax?
I think, like all these things, we all go through these things
(15:51):
and they make us the people that we are.
I think, although at the time, I probably didn't appreciate the value
of the work that I learned in audit,
what it does allow you to do is interact with business owners,
understand their problems and what their challenges are.
But most importantly, it gives you a really broad understanding
(16:14):
of what business owners go through day in, day out, what drives them.
And inevitably, some of those people,
there will be things that they've said to you that, you know,
went now as a 50-something business owner.
You look back and think, I remember speaking to this business owner,
(16:36):
he or she or this or these, this is a really good way that they worked.
This is the way they looked after their staff.
So all of those things have an impact on you.
So I think from that point of view,
but just working with good professional people,
I think that that's the key, you know, if you've worked with good professionals,
(16:57):
it helps you set your own standards at a level that they operated at, if not higher.
Because when you go into the world, you're the leader,
you want to set your own store now as to what you expect of yourself.
But actually, in today's world, it's not me that's doing the actual delivery.
(17:17):
It's a group of people that work for me.
And I think that that's the piece always that you take away from that,
that the people that I work for, they set their store now.
I was representing them every time I walked into a client's office
or had a telephone interaction with them.
That's what it was all about, that you had to be the best professional you could be.
(17:42):
And if you follow that, I now have to set that sort of benchmark,
if you like, for everyone that works in our business.
Yeah, you spent a decade in public accounting and public accounting at times gets a bad rap,
especially nowadays.
Sure.
You see it out there if you go some of these Reddit lines and stuff like,
(18:03):
oh, public accounting such a waste of time.
I personally felt the opposite.
I felt like I experienced so much in a short period of time
because of my interaction with all these different business leaders,
which I would have never had the opportunity to interact with,
if I'd just, you know, gone outside of practice, right?
I would have been stuck at some big company in an office dealing with my direct managers,
(18:24):
where, you know, in these places, you know, dealing with CEOs, CFOs,
they're just bookkeepers who knew things, right?
And I felt like I got so much experience in just my four years there.
What are your feelings towards public accounting and that sort of route as a career?
Well, I've shared with you my story as to the impact that it had on my parents and me as a person.
(18:50):
Yep.
I was a nine-year-old child when my parents started in business.
By my mid-thirties, I'd started a business.
I had lots of ideas on the way, some when I was a child, a teen or a German.
Obviously, this misses you because of that.
Yep.
And then missed opportunities in young adulthood.
(19:11):
And then I never wanted to be that guy down in the bar who said,
I had this idea and I had that idea, it was like, no, I've got to make it happen.
And the bottom had been laid down.
I was saying, I think we can do it again, play in and make it happen.
So I think all these things, I think the public accountant has a huge impact on the success
(19:35):
or otherwise of the business owners that work with them.
So I genuinely believe, you know, in the statement, we make a difference.
We absolutely do.
So let's talk about this business opportunity that you decided after some encouragement
by your dad to jump an airplane and start off.
Yeah.
Give us the frame of reference.
(19:56):
What was your goal when you first started out?
I wanted a business.
So my parents obviously were in retail and got that to a reasonable level.
But to a great extent, they were running the business.
What I wanted was a business that if I wasn't there, could operate without me.
(20:19):
So number one, that.
But number two, I saw that having worked in two big four firms that really adopted technology.
So everyone talks now about paper, assorted files and the like.
EY and KPMG were doing that 20, 25 years ago.
And so seeing the way that collaborative technology allowed people in one office to communicate to
(20:46):
colleagues in another office without moving from their desk.
Told me that actually it was possible that you didn't physically have to be in a client's office
or in an accountancy firms office to do the work, first and foremost.
And number two, there were all these bright accountants in India.
(21:10):
And there must be a way that we can harness the technology, honest that skill set that's
available and turn it into a business.
And so 20 odd years ago, that's what I started.
I started the journey, tried to build a cloud platform way back in 2003.
Finally went live in 2005, 2006.
(21:32):
But that was the seed of the idea was that great talent over in India with technology.
If we can deliver that to customers, obviously I was based in the UK, but the intention was
always to make it an international firm.
(21:52):
So went over to India, just got going.
Like, how did it get come about?
Like what was your strategy?
What did you jump in?
How do you go about this?
Yeah, so I jumped on a plane, you know, still got relatives there.
So that then didn't have to pay for hotel rooms.
So that was right.
(22:12):
You know, I'd say to my mom, can you ring your brother and say, yeah, Bipo's coming.
And you have to feed him and put a riser over his head for a week or two.
And he'd organize taxi driver for me so I could go and meet people.
So I met lots of people and I'll be honest, first two, three years, I made every mistake
(22:34):
a rookie business owner could make.
Trusted everyone, got the technology was hard to build.
Because although I was an accountant who was proficient with technology, I wasn't a technology
person.
So although I learned a lot in that two years, three years, it created its own challenges.
(22:55):
But I'm probably better for it because having made those mistakes, you learn very quickly
because you're spending your own money.
I'm spending my savings to make all of this happen.
It's not like I've had lots of income from the business.
I have to use my savings to make all of that happen.
(23:17):
Well, we did it and alongside obviously I had the skills as a qualified tax advisor.
I used that to supplement anything that the business was generating, which was very little
at the time.
So you use your skills to just keep the business funded.
And that's what we did.
(23:37):
And the rest, as I say, is history.
But you have to keep paying the bills to get through to the other side.
So it is an outsourcing firm.
You're finding talent for people in other countries.
I know when I go to your websites, it says UK, US, and Australia standards.
They're very much apologetic.
Is that sort of where the majority of the client basis now?
(23:59):
That is absolutely where the client basis is.
Mostly UK or is it fairly evenly spread?
It's mainly UK just through history.
This is where they pull the space.
But increasingly, the only international offering we have, they're full-time.
We have a camp manager in Australia.
(24:19):
We've just won a large contract in North America, which will partly lease anything officially.
Yeah.
Once I'm in a position to do so, you will see that.
All of those things are just driving us to be a better business and a more international
business.
Great.
I mean, outsourcing is one of those things in the world, I guess, that gets a bad name.
(24:47):
I hope, sure, I've got an office in South Africa.
I use talent in another country to supplement my team here in the US.
What makes you guys different from all the other ones?
There's ones that edge my LinkedIn inbox on a regular basis with anything from $2 an hour
to $25 an hour of services.
(25:08):
How are you different?
Because as I said, the whole concept was based on technology and good people.
So if you start with those two things and you have to think back, 2005, cloud wasn't
a word that you associated with technology.
Because I remember several years later on the radio, there was a piece about cloud and
(25:36):
I'm missing out on something and I went, they're a 19 manager.
So Peter, we need to be in the cloud.
And he said, oh, you're already in the cloud.
Oh, okay, that's great.
That's great, then.
We're already in the cloud.
So for us, it was very much about making sure we challenged ourselves to be better all
(25:56):
the time.
And that was a human level, but also on a technology level.
And if that meant that we use technology to cut us out, we would do that.
So for example, you may be offering or keeping today's zone as an accounting practice.
But undoubtedly, you don't manually enter all these invoices if you can get your client
(26:20):
to take their phone, upload the app that allows invoice capture.
It means you get the data more accurately and faster into the accounting software.
So we would have done that 10 years ago.
And that's the key in all of this is challenge yourselves.
Even if that means that we as a business might earn a little bit less per file, that's okay.
(26:47):
Yeah.
What you've got to look at is what's the bigger picture?
Are we able to service more firms, more businesses as a result of adopting that technology?
And is the experience better?
And usually the answer to all of those questions is, yeah, technology increases efficiency
but it also increases the opportunities for you to serve businesses, whether that's accountant
(27:11):
or the wider business community.
So I think that that's probably what's always made us different to everybody else.
Because they all see hours on the doors as the only measure of success.
Whereas actually for us it's actually if we've been open and we've been honest, because if
(27:35):
I didn't tell you, and six months later you discovered this great piece of technology
is like, oh, Vipple, do you use this bit of technology?
And I say, oh, yes.
And you'll say, well, why didn't you tell me?
Yeah.
Whereas if I've told you and you then not adopted it, that's a separate story.
But the important bit is I've shown you the way to deliver what we're doing in a better,
(28:00):
more efficient, cost effective way.
Because every business owner, and you'll know this, has their pressures.
Yeah, cost of living, et cetera.
So they look at what they perceive as discretionary spend.
Yeah.
And if they see the accountancy fees as discretionary spend.
Which they do.
What which they do.
(28:22):
Yeah.
And if you keep challenging yourself, yeah, you make yourself in a position that you can
serve them in a way, profitably for you.
And for them they see, you know what, Zane's been good to me, or whoever it is that's serving
them.
I think that's the key in all of this.
Are you making clients in the sort of tax space, or a accounting service space, where
(28:47):
do you sort of find your...
I always say anything an accountant or an auditor can do, set up their computer.
That's what we help people do.
So that's all service lines, account stacks, audit.
And there are key service lines.
Yeah, it feels like you've created a system where it's like a lot of the big firms have
(29:07):
done it, sort of create those shared service departments.
It feels like from what you're telling me, and the use of technology, and wanting to
simplify.
It's a great way for an office, maybe, you know, I guess what they call medium-sized
firms, anything that's sort of over 20 people, but it can really create that shared services.
The stuff that, you know, just be honest, a lot of people don't like doing it, it's a
(29:29):
little bit boring, but it's critical to the success of the firm, can sort of be done.
Yeah, it's about creating the time for your own onshore staff to do more of the client
facing stuff.
As we started the call about David, he made those calls.
If you're confident in your team's ability to pick up the phone, you don't need to phone
(29:49):
them.
They're more than capable of phoning them.
That's what it's all about.
Yeah, and using the team from you allows them to put their feet up, roll their roller
decks out, and then phone them and client up, and actually get that value added that,
you know, change people's lives type services.
So that's super helpful.
That's true.
(30:12):
Now, let's be honest, right, accounting from India has got a bit of a wrap up in the last,
bad wrap up in the last few years.
How do you counter that?
It's about building a culture of excellence, of honesty.
So those two are four values.
If you do that, and you build a team that share that, and are around you for a period
(30:37):
of time, and it's about you making the environment work for them.
It's interesting, exciting for them to come to, to be seen as the choice.
That's always the key.
If you have stability in your core group, people will always come and people will always
(30:57):
go.
That is just the nature of young people.
I'm a fine one to talk.
I had four jobs in my professional career before I started this business.
So, probably was that each of them for two or three years class?
That's okay.
But you have to create that environment that people feel valued.
(31:19):
If you do that, and they understand what you stand for, I think that's the key in us being
able to be seen.
You're right.
In every walk of life, there's good and bad.
All we can do is set our own standards.
And that's it, it's for others to decide where they sit.
(31:41):
But we'd like to think that we have clients who've been with us sort of a decade and a
half or more, and that comes from always having honest interaction.
And it's not always just with me.
Most of that.
We're not the size now.
I'm not involved in the production.
(32:02):
I haven't been for a very long time.
All of that has to happen, but it also is based on systems.
So, we built our first type platform way back in 2005, 2006.
In a way, I call it my super manager.
It allows our business to run, deliver consistently high levels of service.
(32:26):
And that's always the key to having a more successful business.
Make a good accountant, a better accountant.
Average accountant becomes a good accountant, becomes an excellent accountant.
It's always the key.
Yeah, that's great.
I really like that.
What are the goals for Advanced Track?
What's the future look like?
(32:48):
Well, I mean, in a world where technology can change so quickly, we're very aware,
shall we say, of the challenges that are inevitably there, but as I say, by embracing
it, yeah, what do you achieve?
(33:11):
What you achieve is you question everything you do.
Not on a weekly basis.
I think that that's probably wrong, but on an ongoing basis, you employ good people
within your business who allow you to challenge yourself and the people internally as to being
doing things or when you do things better.
(33:34):
So to take that example, our CTO recently spent a couple of weeks with our teams going
through, right, this is what you're doing.
How can we do things better?
Is there technology that we can adopt internally that will make what we do continue to be ready
(33:56):
to price that customers are going to continue paying?
So I think that's always the key for me is don't ever think you're done because, I mean,
you do, you're finished.
Yeah, I agree.
If you're not consistently adapting, you're probably dying, so focusing and staying relevant.
I think every day I spend a little bit of time, maybe not necessarily doing my work
(34:20):
day, but it could be out on a walk or when I'm cooking dinner, I was thinking, is there
something we can do better?
Because there's something that we're doing that maybe needs to be adjusted, refined.
Some days I'm like, I can't think of anything and that's fine.
And other days I'll be like, shut up.
I just looked at this other thing that somebody else was doing.
I really liked the way they did it.
I think it's better than the way we're doing it.
(34:41):
So maybe I'll send a message to my tech lead who will be like, oh, gosh, what hair brand
I dare do you have right now?
And be like, hey, can you look into this and she'll say, yes, no problem.
I'll add it to item number 95 on my list from you and we'll eventually get there.
But you talk about a lot.
You speak about technology, right?
And a VerneStrike is clearly on the forefront of technology innovation and accounting.
(35:04):
And has been for a long time.
Like that's part of your philosophy starting this business as the average accountant.
What advice would you give me to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to technology?
Because like you said, it's moving really, really quickly.
And you could be one of those people that just jump into everything, which I probably
(35:27):
don't recommend mostly because we don't have enough time for it.
But I do want to be able to stay in a place where I'm at least moving with the wave and
staying ahead of the bench.
What advice do you have for me?
Keep reading number one, you know, talk to your peers.
We certainly see lots of collaboration with the three firms that historically you might
(35:51):
have seen as competitors.
I think there's huge amounts of collaboration across platforms.
So whether you're a zero for me or a quick book, etc.
I will be communities that you will part of and use that opportunity because there'll
always be somebody who will say, you might have a forum.
Yeah, when you say, I've got this problem.
(36:13):
Yeah, go and see what they've used to solve that problem.
Never be afraid to ask what you think is a stupid question.
Because if you're thinking it, if you're somebody else, probably is as well.
They've just not been brave enough to ask the question.
So I think first and foremost, do that.
And number two, I think the thing is, don't be scared and don't, you don't have to use
(36:39):
it across your entire client base.
The thing in all of these things is you can use a product with a handful of your clients,
but just talk to them about it.
Say, look, I want to test something.
I think it might help.
Would you be happy to go and test it for me?
Yeah.
And if you've got a good relationship with them, they're really going to say no.
(37:05):
And all you're going to say to them is, what I want is, in a month's time or in two months
time, I just want to have a five minute, 10 minute call that could be on phone or Zoom,
Teams, et cetera, and say, look, this is what I wanted it to achieve.
Do you think it helped me do that?
Yeah.
And if you do that, yeah.
(37:26):
And if it works, great, because most now are on the SAS model.
They don't make you sign up for 3000 clients or something.
Yeah.
You put five on.
Yeah.
Show, see how it works.
If it works well, go for it.
Do more of it.
It's that, that to me is always the key, but don't sit on the fence and don't wait for
(37:50):
it to happen.
Because if you're waiting for the perfect answer, it's not going to happen.
Did we have the perfect answer?
We didn't have it 20 or years ago.
We absolutely don't have it today.
We're just better at spotting it, but we're now much bigger business.
So are we as nimble as we were 20 years ago?
Probably not.
Yeah.
(38:10):
Because you've suddenly got to change the way it works for a whole group of clients.
If you can do it seamlessly, that's great.
Sometimes you need them to have input.
So that to me is always going to be the two bits of advice.
Ask your friends and then go and use it.
They're probably the things that will help you become a more successful technology based
(38:34):
accountant.
Yeah, I love it.
I mean, the whole idea of collaboration of a competition has always been big for me.
I know my sort of local area that freaks people out a little bit.
Yes.
Because I'm always willing to talk about it.
I find your community, right?
Go use social media, talk to people, get involved.
You never know when you're going to meet somebody that ends up being a good partner.
(38:57):
I have a couple of people that I grab with an entrance on a regular basis.
We do the same type of work, but for totally different industries.
It's a great place to talk about how we're managing people, how we're changing internal
processes, what technology we're using.
Especially, I'm in a slow to adapt technology industry being in the wine space.
Also talking to some of my friends who are in spaces where people are moving on technology
(39:21):
a lot quicker, it gives me great insight because they've tested more things or been unable
to.
Yes.
I think that's always a great advice.
The second point there about trying stuff up, I think a lot of times there's a push out
there in the market to be like, have your tech stack and only stick to your tech stack
because that's the best way to be efficient, right?
I've always taken the approach of if a client's coming across with a piece of technology that
(39:43):
we maybe don't know, test it out, learn it.
If it's working for them, like let's first prove, is it actually working?
And if it is, why is it working, can we use it somewhere else?
Could this be a great add to our tech stack that could add value to other people?
So don't get too rigid, I would say, especially if you're smaller and you can be nimble,
(40:06):
take those opportunities and learn from it.
I mean, one of your loans could be this one of these socks guys, like there's a better
option.
I know you think it's good, but it's actually terrible.
Let's move on from it.
But then at least you know, right?
Don't just dismiss that client out of hand just because they're using a piece of technology
that you don't know or maybe haven't tried before.
Yeah, no, absolutely.
(40:28):
But keep your core as stable as you can.
That's always the way to do these things.
Yeah, those key pieces that you truly believe in, I would say find the accounting software
that you're going to specialize in.
This was a great place to start.
Those people who just take on anything, you can never really develop anything solid, especially
(40:50):
in terms of a stand-up rating procedure.
And then build some core pieces around it.
And then the rest is all fun and games, right?
Let's find the piece that works.
And like you said, technology keeps moving really fast.
So what is the best piece today?
It's probably not going to be the best piece in six months, 12 months time, especially
as the AI wave keeps hitting the accounting space on it.
(41:11):
Sure.
Yeah.
Let's jump into sort of some of the lessons and leadership that you've gone through in
your life.
Yeah.
You've obviously got this great piece of advice from David as you got into the accounting space.
But is there any other advice that you received in your life that sort of sticks out this
guided you on your journey?
Yeah.
I had a year's internship in a television company.
(41:37):
And the chief accountant there was very young.
He made chief accountant at the age of 27.
This is a business with about 1500 people working in them.
And he said to me, Vipal, and this may sound counterintuitive to what lots of people hear
out there.
But he said, don't go and work for one of the big guys.
(41:59):
And he said, go and work for the next level down.
He said, learn to be a real accountant.
And then if you want to go and work for the big guys, go and do it.
He says, what typically happened?
And obviously he had auditors arriving, fresh faced, 21, 22 years old.
And he said, look, they come in and they're just great at debtors or they're just great
(42:22):
at creditors.
Yeah.
But they're not good at anything else.
He said, if you go and work the next level down, you'll know how to manage a client.
You'll know how to manage relationships.
And most importantly, you'll be able to manage.
You'll know how to look at everything in a business.
Yeah.
From the stock to the fixed assets, et cetera.
(42:46):
I won't bore people with what an accountant does.
But he said, you'll know everything about the business.
But then when you go to the big firms, you'll excel.
You'll do really well.
And it was proven.
I went to join EY and I had multiple promotions.
Yeah.
(43:06):
Why did I have multiple promotions?
Because I'd already lived it.
I'd already breathed it in a smaller firm.
Yeah.
It wasn't a small firm.
It was just a smaller firm.
But because of that skillset, and I didn't appreciate it whilst I was there, but I absolutely
appreciated it when I got all those promotions.
(43:26):
And that was a consequence of that one conversation that he had with me as a 20, 21-year-old intern.
It was a year in the middle of my degree.
And that was probably the best bit of advice that I received.
Yeah.
I mean, sort of, I went to a microwave and I was a KBMG, so a big firm.
But I was happy to put my hand up for the small projects where I might have been a first
(43:48):
year where I was giving small entities on a big client.
But on those ones, Paulson was running the whole project and just working directly with
the manager.
And I got to see every single aspect.
Got to talk to CEOs.
I learned way more on those small projects than I learned on the big projects.
So anything I learned on the big projects was how to manage time.
On the small projects, I learned how to manage people and have real conversations.
(44:09):
Indeed.
So same story.
So yeah, great.
Yeah.
I love it.
This is all great advice.
It's made me feel good in psych that I've made some good decisions along the way, which
is always great.
Let's talk about leadership.
Yeah.
Because you clearly are a leader.
You're on a very successful business.
(44:32):
What is your sort of values towards leadership and your decision-making processes?
It's probably got me into trouble sometimes, particularly when I was an employee, don't
we say?
I think it's, I don't think it's something that you should take lightly, but being authentic
is the key because everyone knows where they stand.
(44:53):
Yeah.
They don't expect a consistent answer from you.
Yeah.
That what would Vipple think?
Yeah.
That thing, that's the key in all of this.
Yeah.
That if you're authentic, people know that this is what Vipple would expect.
You know, and having that open door.
Yeah.
(45:13):
That's the one thing that there was a handful of mentors in my professional career.
They always had an open door.
Yeah.
That even if it's the smallest of things, Vipple, come and talk to me about it.
And that's something I've carried through in what I do now.
That, you know, obviously technology makes all of that accessible, even if they're not
(45:38):
sitting next to me anymore, but just that ability to, you know, Vipple, have you got
10 minutes?
Can we jump on Teams?
Can we jump on Zoom?
Or can you just call me on WhatsApp or FaceTime and let's have this conversation.
So I think that that's the thing that I was thinking this.
This is what I've told the client.
(45:59):
Are you happy with that?
And the no blame culture.
Yeah.
I think, you know, the minute you start blaming people for every, you know, look, we're human.
We make good decisions.
We make bad decisions.
Some are just less bad than others.
But I think once you start the blame culture, people say, well, actually I was trying to
(46:20):
do my best.
Why am I being blamed for this?
And I think if you have those two pieces, I think that that absolutely will help you
come out the other side, an awful lot better.
And people will then be more honest with you in admitting mistakes.
Because otherwise what happens is people bury mistakes and it comes out afterwards.
(46:44):
Yeah.
They'll have lost, they'll have gone.
And then suddenly all these problems come to the fore.
Whereas actually they would never have left if they felt confident that you weren't going
to take them to task over things and as I say, I certainly found that with some of the
mentors that I had in my professional career that, you know, they said, Vipple, I don't
(47:10):
agree with you, but this is why I don't agree with you.
Yeah.
If you take that approach, yeah, people will be open and honest with you.
And then they will stay with you for the long term.
Yeah.
And then the supportive, open, trustworthy relationship leads to an environment where
we make less bad decisions, right?
(47:32):
Because people feel comfortable to come to you to ask first, right?
They know, like, hey, I feel correct about this.
This is what I'm thinking.
These are my thoughts behind it.
Do you agree or disagree versus, you know, please help me, I'm too scared to make a mistake.
They don't stick around.
They tend to make more bad decisions because they're so nervous of making the wrong decision.
(47:52):
Yeah.
It's a good way to build leadership, sort of.
With honesty, compassion, and I like the idea of being consistent.
I think that's really helpful when the team understands that, if I go to Vipple, this
is who he is.
It's not because I'm, you know, Joe Schmoen's, the firm, he's going to treat me one way
(48:13):
and because I'm manager, Bill, the firm is going to treat me another way.
It creates a good environment that leads to collaboration, that leads to good results,
which leads to happy clients, which allows them to be successful, which is great.
Equally, if there is a problem, if they've told you, rather than the customer, clients
have told you, yeah, isn't it better if you actually pick up the phone and say, look,
(48:38):
yeah, they've just told me this has happened.
Yeah.
I'm just running out as the boss.
You know, you have to find a solution, right?
Because you've had a chance, they've been open to you in time.
You can come into that conversation, become so much easier for the client.
It's not like we screwed up and things are broken.
It's now, hey, we screwed up.
(48:59):
This is how we're going to fix it.
Just going along, really sorry.
Yes, absolutely.
And it's how you deal with that, that actually will lead to a, hopefully, a stronger and
collaborative relationship, whether it's an internal customer or an external customer.
That's great.
You've been doing advanced strike now for over 20 years.
(49:20):
As you said, there's been some mistakes along the way, but lots of success.
Sitting here today, what advice do you wish you had received on day one that would have
helped you along your journey?
Patience.
And this is somebody who obviously grew up in a business environment who knows that,
you know, is burnt.
(49:41):
It's not guaranteed.
So I think that and however much you think it's going to cost you, it's going to be
more.
It's still like a building project.
If you've ever had the builders in, the quote that you had has never been the bill that
you paid.
So I think it's a, I think it's patience knowing that it will take time and just be ready and
(50:09):
it will be a rough ride.
And that's probably the key bits of advice that will give any business owner the, you
know, we're a 21 year old success.
Love it.
We've all really, really enjoyed this conversation today.
A couple of last questions to close out.
One, can you share anything with us from a personal side to just to get to know you as
(50:33):
a person?
I spoke about sports.
I think sports has been part of my life from the time I was at school.
So I was in the soccer team, athletics team.
I was a sprinter at school.
So, but I then certainly I've always found that sports has been a great level in terms
of even in the workplace.
(50:55):
So I said I was an intern at the TV station.
What that meant was when you stepped onto the football pitch, everyone was the same.
So the MD used to turn up most Fridays to play, but I would never have had a conversation
with him in the lift.
(51:15):
But on the football pitch and in the, you know, in the changing rooms and the walk back
to the office, I got to speak to him just as a human.
He might be the boss of 1500 people.
But that 15 minute walk back to the office, he was speaking to Vipple.
So I would say to anybody, team sports are absolutely an essential part of helping you
(51:43):
become a better human and a better team player.
And probably a lot of what I do has been because I did play sports and you have to have 11
players on a pitch who are all trying to achieve the same thing.
And that's been an absolute key.
And it's absolutely made a massive difference to me.
(52:06):
And now I'm a swimmer, but in between, I also started half marathon and 10 Ks.
So because it was the one thing I didn't have to do at a specific time.
When I became self employed, you know, couldn't guarantee you to all the leads I was going
to turn on on a Tuesday at 630 every Tuesday.
(52:27):
So what could I do?
Well, I could go running because all you need are trainers and running kit.
Yeah, I love that.
I'm always a big believer in sports, especially team sport, teaching people very valuable
skills for our teamwork, communication.
And a lot of the time, you know, that whole formula of like one plus one equals three.
It's like, it's the first time you can really see it happen in real life.
(52:51):
I'm playing in teams, coaching teams, I've seen that like an average team can be the
best team if they're willing to work together and hold each other accountable.
Yeah, totally.
Great.
The last thing we love to do on protea conversations is finished with some rapid fire questions.
So if you're ready, I have five questions for you.
Okay.
All right.
I'll try and do my best.
(53:12):
Question number one, if you are on death row, what would your final meal be?
That one's easy.
That one's easy.
Okra.
It's my favorite dish.
I'll buy a country mile.
Nice.
Great.
Do you prefer mountains or the ocean?
Probably mountains just because it's easier to access.
You can get to it most days, most weeks, oceans.
(53:35):
They're a little further.
Certainly where we are anyway.
Yeah.
And not always the most ocean friendly weather where you are to either.
No, indeed.
What is the quality you appreciate and a good friend?
I think we've touched on it.
Honestly, that's the one thing.
And non-judgment.
So, but that's probably two.
But honesty is the number one.
(53:57):
Great.
What is a favorite book you would recommend everybody reads?
Wow.
The Monk Who Sold It is for all.
I've heard good things about it.
On my list.
Brilliant book.
Loved it.
I absolutely loved it.
It certainly will challenge most people's beliefs.
You know, and I say that as a business owner.
But I think it does make you value, understand what your real values are.
(54:21):
If you read it.
Great.
Last question.
What is your favorite piece of technology that you use that makes your life better?
My AirPods.
Yeah.
So, even, you know, it sounds as simple, very simple, but even when I'm on a call, I, on
a phone call, I can carry on doing stuff if I need to.
(54:43):
It makes my life immensely easier.
So, very simple, but straightforward.
That's okay.
And with that, we ended another project conversation.
Thank you for joining us in this journey of learning and inspiration.
Today we've gained insight from our guests and taken another step towards understanding
the diverse chemistry of leadership and business and accounting.
Remember, each conversation is a step towards the positive transformation of business leaders.
(55:06):
We hope our discussion has given you valuable takeaways to plan your own career and life.
Don't forget to subscribe to Project Conversations on YouTube and Spotify, so you never miss
an episode.
We'd also love to hear your thoughts and experiences, so connect with me on social media channels.
I'm most active on LinkedIn, and I'd love you to join the conversation.
Join us next time for more engaging stories, advice, and conversations that matter.
(55:28):
Until then, keep striving for excellence and raising good.
Thank you for listening.
Be kind and goodbye from Project Conversations.
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