Square Mile Accounting

Great to see our founder David Gormer featured in The Guardian with his views on flexible working, which has benefited both employee wellbeing and the business itself. At the onset of the pandemic, we opened up flexible working to all team members, demonstrating as David says that “we trust and value them in such difficult times, while also providing them with the opportunity to pursue hobbies and interests and maintain their spirits during the pandemic." Has your business had a similar experience? What have been the biggest challenges? #flexibleworkinghours #employeemanagement #employeehealthandwellness #smallbusiness #remoteoffice

Imagine a bonus structure that isn’t centred around financial growth. “How would that even work?” We hear you ask. Well, the issue with incentivising people on company or individual revenue and profit goals, is that inevitably, decisions will be made that line the team's pockets, rather than what’s best for the business long term. We are all human and we’ve all got to eat. So what if you developed a reward system that focused on the right behaviours? What if colleagues knew that making a business decision that had a much broader impact than an immediate financial gain would generate a bonus? In 2025, the team at Square Mile are working together to bring such a system to life with ideas that include social media content, client retention initiatives, education, and qualifications All things that help grow the business in the best possible way while preventing the temptation to make a call based on an incentive model that in our opinion, is hugely outdated. How much better would it be for you to know that your accountants are incentivised on decisions that consider you first?

A series of conversations took place here at Square Mile that completely changed the way we viewed our offering. Many of them revolved around personal ambitions, things that the team wanted to achieve outside of work. Because work shouldn’t dominate our existence right? Then a question came up about passions and focus areas within business, and specifically, how we can better serve our clients, both present and future. The subsequent list of ideas was inspiring. Which sparked an idea. Instead of doing the traditional accounting thing and selling a very broad remit to anyone with a pulse, we would take the passions of the people and ask them to speak to businesses with a need for that specific area of expertise. Because not everyone needs everything. In 2025, the team at Square Mile will come to life with a very tailored approach, offering specific support in a number of different key areas. We can be Jack of all Trades. We’d rather be masters of one.

Did you know that real humans work at Square Mile? People with a soul, a personality, a brain. When you speak to them as a client, they will probably ask you a question that doesn’t revolve around money. Maybe even 2 or 3. Some of them may even make you laugh. When you cut through the stigma attached to accountancy firms and realise that we are all just a bunch of people with similar interests to you… Doorways to deeper conversations about how we can positively impact your business start to open. The assumption is that accounting is robotic and transactional. But you know what they say about assumptions. Would you like to know what more a decent accounting firm can do for your business? Get in touch today.

Does anyone even read blog posts anymore? Are they even a thing? You’d be forgiven for asking this question, especially if you spend most of your time in the quick facts, attention-sapping world of social media. But in reality, long-form articles that demonstrate a deep knowledge of a given topic can be extremely useful to the right audience. Especially when they revolve around money and more importantly, how to manage it more effectively. With this in mind, we have a question we would love for you to answer on this topic. If you own a business or manage a relationship with an accountant, what would you love to see in a blog post? What would make you read one? Ok, that was 2 questions. We got carried away. Thank you in advance.

We asked Linda Benczur (Financial Controller) to tell us what she’d like to say about herself on LinkedIn. She wrote many of the things you would expect, including her love of creativity, culture and adventure. She talked about her love for Latin music and how it acts as the perfect backdrop to a very busy workday. There was even a mention of travel and the thrill of experiencing new cultures, which is lovely to hear. But then we read this… “As a seasoned cook, I often spoil my family and friends with delicious treats and dishes- one of which even earned me a victory in a chilli jam competition.” Now, we do love you Linda, but I’m not sure we’ve seen anywhere near enough of these treats in the Square Mile office. And working from home can’t be an excuse. Let’s hope for an improvement in 2025 before we add it to the job description.

Why do you follow the business page of an accounting firm? Albeit a modern, young at-heart, innovative accounting firm, but a group of people who love numbers nonetheless. Well, we can almost guarantee you don’t follow Square Mile because you want to hear the 85th variation on how to save £7.50 on your corporation Tax bill for 2025. Or maybe you do, which means this is probably not the place for you. What we’d rather do, is talk about the people who make everything tick at SM HQ. Isn’t that a more interesting concept? Wouldn’t that be more relatable? This year, our goal is to take you behind the curtain of the business and build a relationship with you through the power of real-world stories and solutions. Our team has a world of knowledge to share, but they also have a bucketload of personality and character as well. What would you like to see from your accounting firm's business page?

Sometimes, people really do tug on the heartstrings. We expected Anna Skrzypczak ACCA to tell us she wanted to have dinner with Nick Knowles or Alan Titchmarsh. Based on her love of gardening and DIY. But no, she chose her best friend from childhood whom she sadly lost contact with when she moved to the UK. And if that wasn’t an option, she would choose her parents who she doesn’t see anywhere near enough. Makes us feel very bad about our choices now. Going into her 4th year with Square Mile, Anna qualified in 2020 but worked as a practising accountant for 7 years previously. Thank you Anna for the incredible work you do.

We all know that LinkedIn loves a dog post. We also know that said K9 content usually does very well. But what about someone whose most annoying habit is thinking about her dog too much? And talking. About said dog. Would that still make it into the LinkedIn Cool Dog Club as legit content or are we stretching the limits somewhat? In truth, we don’t mind the constant cuddly friend conversations because, in our opinion, the most annoying thing about Charlotte is her acceptance of pineapple on pizza. This really does push the boundaries of tolerable behaviour here at Square Mile. Maybe we should add a line to the contracts… When she isn’t dreaming and talking about dogs, Charlotte can be found preparing the bookkeeping, management accounts and YE accounts for a selection of our wonderful clients. A habit that is neither annoying nor useless. Have a fantastic Christmas everyone, from all of us at Square Mile.

We asked Catherine Sizer MCIPPdip to break the stereotypical mould for accountants and tell us something cool. “My family and I have a real passion for musical theatre.” Brilliant we thought. That’s not your everyday response. “Our favourite show has to be Back to the Future.” It was going so well… With 24 years of payroll experience under her belt, Catherine joined Square Mile 3 years ago as a fully remote member of the team. Her goal was always to take control of a payroll bureau whilst continuing to develop her accountancy knowledge. Then, just when we thought the conversation was getting a bit too accountancy-ee, she dropped a statement that put us all to shame. “We are involved in a charity theatre, where I volunteered as part of the technical crew helping to train young people with an interest in tech.” No biggie, but some of these people now work in the West End. Thank you Catherine for everything you do. We love Back to the Future too.