Alastair Barlow, flinder CEO and co-founder - Leadership series Artwork

Humanise The Numbers - for ambitious accountants in practice

Welcome to the 'Humanise The Numbers' podcast series. Here you'll find a whole series of interviews with the leaders of accounting firms who are building (or have already built) a firm of the future now! You'll hear key insights, key skills and key habits that underpin the success of these firms. Insights, skills and habits that can underpin your firm's future success too. It seems that when an accountancy firm connects their team and their clients to the numbers that really matter to them they transform the results for everyone. This is accelerated when the humanity of the way they work shines through too. That's why we're talking about ambitious accountants humanising the numbers.Here's what a director of a multi-partner multi-national firm said recently ."What I like about your podcasts is that they are real. They are not scripted and I appreciate the fact that your interviewees admit they don’t have all the answers but are willing to let you put that fact out on a podcast. It is what is going on at the front lines of great small accounting practices. I have now listened to about half of them, I intend listening to them all as each one just has a nugget that I am writing down to see if I can use in our practice at some stage."

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Humanise The Numbers - for ambitious accountants in practice

Alastair Barlow, flinder CEO and co-founder - Leadership series

September 15, 2023 • Paul Shrimpling and Alastair Barlow

What does it take to grow an accounting business from its initial two founders to 40 people in five years? Great question.

What does it take to grow an accounting business which generates average fees per client of £30,000? Another great question.

What does it take to grow an accountancy business where its people absolutely love working and where the clients respect and love the work that the firm's doing for them?

I had the great privilege of spending an hour on a podcast discussion with Alastair Barlow, co-founder of flinder. Alastair unpacked many things, but he talked specifically about the determination to systematise the business so that it's not reliant on Alastair and it's not reliant on his co-founder, Luke.

And standards – the power and the importance of standards and expectations show up big time in this discussion. Last but not least, the determination to uphold those standards across the firm comes through really strongly.

I hope you take time out to listen to this profoundly valuable conversation with Alastair and that you enjoy it as much as I did. Please join me on this Humanise The Numbers podcast or you can go to your favourite podcast platform. I look forward to seeing you there.

When on the episode page, please scroll down to the bottom to see Alastair's contact information and to access the additional resources mentioned in the podcast.