Clarity Member of the Month
Put your hands together for CloudAccountant: our Clarity Member of the Month for November.
Every month we will now be recognising one of our amazing Clarity members for the great work they are doing with Clarity and to support small businesses. This month it’s Duncan Lloyd from CloudAccountant.
Duncan, ex-KPMG, is running a fast growing and purpose driven accounting firm. He is proud of the team he has brought together so far is excited about the future of CloudAccountant. He has made great strides with Clarity over the last couple of months and is quickly scaling his advisory services as he recognises now is the time businesses need it more than ever.
We had a chat with Duncan to find out a bit more about him, his love of Profit First, and why Clarity.
Tell us a bit about Duncan Lloyd – what motivates you, what’s your ‘why’, what do you enjoy outside of your accounting firm.
I’m a passionate believer in the power of enterprise. It’s the reason we subscribe to B1G1 and our team chooses enterprise-based causes to donate to. E.g. social enterprises in Africa. The result of supporting these micro businesses is life-changing for the recipients. Outside of work, I’m normally on my bikes – roadie and mountain biking.
What about CloudAccountant – what’s the goal and what makes you different?
To help our clients achieve their dreams! So many small businesses don’t achieve their potential and simply provide the owners with a living when they could do so much more. We talk to our clients through how their businesses should pay them a salary, and also make a quarterly profit distribution as a reward for investment. Just like being a shareholder in a listed company. It’s that change of mindset which can release value in a business.
All our team are remote workers. They’re welcome to use our office, but also work from home with maximum flexibility. As long as they engage fully with our CRM system and achieve certain metrics, they’re free to manage their workload as they see fit, including taking as much holiday whenever they like (as long as it’s booked!). This means they can fit in childcare and family responsibilities first. In this way we get our pick of top quality staff, and in return they give us amazing commitment and top quality customer service.
You recently passed your Profit First adviser certification, what difference have you seen the principles of Profit First make to a business?
It is transformational. I’ve had feedback like ‘this has saved my marriage’. That is overwhelming to me. It helps clients get clarity on their finances, and quickly, particularly the entrepreneurial types who don’t necessarily like the detailed reports accountants often provide.
What progress or changes have you made in your firm over the last month?
We’re seeing the use of Clarity get real traction. It’s now a core part of our Profit First system as it supports clients to think broadly about how their business should perform and what it could achieve. I see Clarity being fundamental to our business moving forward. We recently used Clarity on our own numbers and now have a detailed strategic plan on how we will achieve our ambitious goals.
What advice do you have for any firm thinking about signing up to Clarity?
If you want your clients, your firm and your team to reach their potential, go for it. Your clients will get advisory services in a way you can quality control and scale. And your team will get career opportunities they otherwise might not.
How has Clarity made a difference to your firm and to your clients?
To our firm, it has enabled our junior team to provide advisory services. This is great for clients and helps us scale advisory services.
To our clients, it has made them more excited about their businesses than they’ve ever been. Helping them visualise the potential of their business before their eyes. Small changes and focus can make a huge impact.
If you’re interested in finding out a bit more about Profit First, two of our Clarity members shared their experiences of the programme and how it benefitted their firms in our blog. Is it an accounting hack or just another cashflow management system? Find out here.
Global advisory solution
Clarity is a global platform that combines the power of cutting-edge technology and proven award-winning systems. It enables our members (accountants, bookkeepers and advisers) to create, package, price and deliver added-value business advisory services to their small business clients. By doing this, we help them increase revenue by 50% and net profits by 125%. We help them engage their team, free up time and create freedom – helping their clients to do the same along the way.
Think those numbers are too magical? Check out your own using our calculator here. You can play with your own numbers to see your firm’s potential and take our new Success Factor quiz. Understand your firm’s success factor score and ability to thrive here.
And don’t just take our word for it. Check out some 5* reviews here and what our members say here.
