In our social media driven world, it’s easy to think people live the perfect life. Of course, we know it’s not true, but deep down, our natural ability to compare ourselves against the perceived ‘reality’ of others can stir up some inferiority thoughts.
Businesses are no different. All we see online are the successes and triumphs of others. Rarely do we see the bits that went wrong. The blooper reel. The struggles and adversities.
I wanted to take a minute to highlight where we’ve gone wrong lately.
We outsource payroll
CRC Accountancy is not an accountancy firm. First and foremost, it is a business.
The fact that we provide business advisory and accountancy services just happens to be the business venture we’ve embarked on.
For that reason, when we look at preparing payroll for our clients, we made the decision to outsource this to third party payroll bureaus. As a result, we don’t really make any money on this part of our services, but the decision was made for two key reasons:
- For us to take on the software in-house to provide our clients with the level of service we wish to give them would cost too much for the size we’re currently at, and would make this service loss-making. Clearly a bad business decision.
- Secondly, the time it would take us to keep on top of all the intricacies of payroll and the surrounding rules and regulations would distract us from the other services we provide. Those services are ultimately more profitable for our business, so it makes sense for us to focus on those.
If you don’t make money on it, why don’t you just ask clients to go directly to a payroll bureau?
A perfectly valid question. Again, we’ve thought about this, and the reasons for us as a business are fairly straightforward;
Having a good relationship with a payroll bureau means we can get the information we need for other parts of our job in a swift and timely manner (such as for strategic management reporting, accounts prep, and tax planning work).
This ultimately saves us time on these jobs, meaning we can turn around this work quicker to clients, and give them the service we wish to provide them with.
Similarly, if there are any issues with the client’s payroll, we’re able to help the client identify and resolve these directly with the bureau – which takes the stress out of this for the client.
In addition, a good bureau keeps us abreast of any changes in legislation & reporting requirements which will impact our clients. This means we’re aware of these when it comes to us doing remuneration and tax planning work with our clients.
All in all, this relationship and its efficiencies should ensure we’re able to provide the best possible service to our clients.
“I want to be the dumbest guy in the room.”
The principles of the decision always seem simple on paper. But the execution is where it counts.
I once heard another businessman saying ‘I want to be the dumbest guy in the room’.
This really resonated with me.
Let me explain; I do not want to be at the head of a business where everyone looks to me for the right answers. I do not expect to be the one who knows everything. It’s not sustainable, and it’s the area where many businesses quickly reach a bottleneck on their growth journey. But that’s for another blog.
I want to be surrounded by people know who more than me. People who are better than me. Even just in one very specific area. I want to be inspired by them, and feed off their knowledge, passion and expertise.
My sole purpose is to create the right environment in which those forward-thinking, inspirational people get together and work for the greater good of the clients we serve.
Only then can CRC Accountancy truly become something which is bigger than its individual parts.
Only then can we ensure we’re giving clients the experience and return on investment they truly deserve.
Where we’ve gone wrong
We’ve worked with a couple of payroll providers so far. The people we dealt with at the first one were really nice folk, and great to deal with, but they were a bit old-school. Processes were still a bit too manual, and this didn’t fit in with the efficient cloud-based service we’re looking to provide.
Overall, the inefficiencies of this meant that it made sense for us to start looking elsewhere.
Having spoken to a few bureaus, we decided on a replacement which came in all-guns-blazing. Fully cloud based, slick systems, and an all round impressive offering. We thought these were the guys for us.
‘Were’ being the key word.
Shortly after signing up, they stopped using their cloud based system for one reason or another. The provider they were using meant that it no longer made sense for their own business model. Disappointing, but we could understand this. Instead, they laid out a new way of how they’d work.
It wasn’t quite as slick, but it wasn’t too far from what we’re looking to offer our clients, so we thought we’d stick with it whilst they figured out what replacement system they’d be going with.
Then the real issues started happening; mistakes.
Now, where I’m surrounding myself with people who know more than me – by people who are experts in their field – I have little tolerance for mistakes.
This was the start of the UK’s furlough period, and payroll bureaus around the country were firing on all cylinders. That said, a solid internal review system should have ensured that simple mistakes weren’t being made.
They make one mistake – I can understand this. They’re incredibly busy, and we’ll say it was just an oversight.
Let’s identify how it happened. Get your processes in order, and don’t let it happen again.
Another mistake the next month, and this is starting to get frustrating. Coupled with excuses (rather than apologies), and things are not looking favourable for bureau No. 2.
Further mistakes in month 3. This was truly unacceptable.
At this stage, there was a change of our account manager. There were some apologies, and there was a promise for improvements. They acknowledged that weaknesses in their own business had been exposed due to the extra workload the furlough period had created for them.
Ok. One last chance….
Month 4. Another mistake. And this time, the most basic mistake to date.
This was the final straw.
No amount of apologies, changes of account managers, or other incentives were going to rectify this situation.
Like I say; I want to be the dumbest guy in the room. When it comes to the day-to-day processing of payroll, if we’re spotting the simple errors which the supposed ‘expert’ is making in doing their job; they are no longer filling the position of the ‘expert in the room’.
For us, the time we wasted on overseeing the work of this bureau is unacceptable – as well as being embarrassing. For our clients and their employees, mistakes are unacceptable, and it brings down the high-standard to which we hold all of our work.
We cannot charge clients for this additional work, as it’s not providing them with any additional value. Instead, we were absorbing this time & cost to ensure the clients were simply getting the service they were paying for.
Therefore, it did not make any business-sense for us to carry on this relationship.
Should we have cut them off sooner? Perhaps. I always want to give people a chance to improve, but signs of improvement must appear promptly.
Regardless, Bureau No. 2 are gone. And we’re now in the process of finding a suitable replacement.
I always want to find a better way of doing things.
The never-ending journey of improvement
What might be ok for one firm, or one business, does not need to be ok for us. I will never settle for ‘ok’. Even less, I will never ever accept the line ‘that’s how it’s always been done’.
I really have no time at all for those words.
I am competitive. To a fault. Because of this, CRC is always on a constant process of improvement. I always want to find a better way of doing things.
When we improve one area to move the business forward, it highlights that another area is perhaps no longer up to scratch. It’s not that the now-inferior area was poor to start off with; indeed, it might have once been the strongest area in our business armour. It’s just that it’s now inferior in relation to the other now-improved areas.
But that’s ok. Identifying and acknowledging these areas is just part of becoming the best business you can be.
Seeing the changes in the progress of your various business areas is much like a horserace – but one in which there is no finish line.
At any given time, one horse or another will have their nose in front. So long as the pack is reasonably tight, you know that things are moving forward at a steady pace. However, should one horse start to slip back a bit – perhaps even creating a bit of distance between itself and the leading pack – it’s time to get the whip out.
Your business is only as strong as its weakest link.
Other improvements
Other than payroll, one other area of our internal processes started showing itself as a weaker-link lately; our internal workflow planner.
As a small firm, keeping things on a reasonably straightforward excel sheet was ok for a while. However, we’ve won some nice new clients lately, and we want to make sure we don’t ‘drop any plates’ as we continue to grow.
I always take the approach that it’s better to safeguard yourself ahead of time, rather than ignoring it, growing and then realising that shit’s hitting the fan, and getting caught with your pants down.
Therefore, we’ve recently invested in a new piece of workflow planning software. Yes, this took a lot of time to set up, but it will save us this initial-time many times over in the future. More importantly, it ensures we always know what work is coming up, so we can smoothen the workflow, and help manage clients expectations as best as possible.
we’re positioned to scale the firm in a manageable and sustainable manner
Investing in such a piece of software might seem premature. After all, there’s only three of us at the firm so far.
However, the excel sheet method would have quickly become cumbersome, and carried the natural risk of human error, which left us overly-exposed to missing things as we get busier.
What’s more; this new software we’ve invested in will be able to remain the same now whether we’re a team of three, or if we’re a team of 20.
Its ability to automate the planning process will ensure we’re positioned to scale the firm in a manageable and sustainable manner, whilst ensuring client service will not slip along the way.
More clarity. Less time wondering & working out what’s coming up. More time to help clients effectively. And more time to grow the business.
Final thoughts
Internal processes are not always perfect. They don’t need to be. What they do need to be, is the best available solution for you and your business.
Reviewing processes is gloriously unsexy, but the satisfaction that comes from a business which works effectively is incredible. Even better still, the rewards you get in terms of stress-reduction, minimising time wasted, as well as the financial return, mean that keeping up to speed with what’s best for you and your business is truly worth investing effort in.
Right now, if you can point to any one area of your business which causes you undue amounts of stress, it’s probably worth asking yourself: ‘is this the best way it could be done?’.
If you think you don’t have time to sit back and review these things, then perhaps we can offer you a helping hand. We do it for our own business, and we do it for others. We have a knack of finding a better solution.
Rest assured; you’ll never hear us say ‘aye, keep things as-is, as that’s the way it’s always been done.’
