FAB guide for fast-scaling small firms
FAB guide for fast-scaling small firms
The countdown is on for the Festival of Accounting & Bookkeeping. If you’re a small firm with growth on your mind, this two-day festival is your chance to get inspired, connect with the community and supercharge your practice.
You’ve scheduled your LinkedIn posts, taken your obligatory train selfie and loaded up your phone with the latest viral business audiobook. You’re all set for your trip to the NEC for the Festival of Accounting & Bookkeeping (FAB) on 12–13 March except for one small detail – what is your plan when you get there?
As a growth-minded small firm, you’re used to having an agile mindset. It’s important to be nimble when opportunities come calling. However, with an exhibition hall jammed full of vendors and a content programme with more advice than Steven Bartlett could shake a Huel at, you’re going to need to plan in advance. It’s going to take more than a bullet journal on the train ride to the venue to make the most of the two days.
But luck is at hand (especially with emails still to be read!). The AccountingWEB essential guide to FAB is here as your virtual assistant, doing all the organising behind the scenes and creating a custom itinerary specifically for growth-minded small firms.
However, if you’ve recently crossed the threshold into the mid-tier (congratulations!), you should also bookmark our recent FAB guide for mid-tier firms.
Like any travel guide, the first step in preparing for your trip is to make sure you’ve booked your tickets. All you have to do is close your emails, search for Fab.uk and book your ticket. Registration is free (yes, FREE!) and gives you access to all the talks.
Speakers and themes
The who’s who of accounting will be at FAB. Many of the faces you’re used to seeing on your social media app of choice will be there. You’ll hear from experts like Rachel Harris, Eriona Barakurtaj, Rebecca Benneyworth and more.
These speakers know the challenges small firms face because they’ve been there themselves. The content programme aimed at small firms is inspired by the trends you told us about in the Accounting Excellence Awards.
The biggest challenges facing small firms in the Accounting Excellence Awards were artificial intelligence (AI) and the drive for sustainable growth. These twin challenges will be explored across a number of sessions at FAB. The content programme also covers other key trends from the award finalists, such as the rise of virtual finance director services, niche specialisms and tackling recruitment problems.
Think of the event as one of your inspirational business podcasts – except with fewer adverts for underwear, shavers or protein powder.
Top tip
As much as you try, you won’t be able to see everything at FAB. So while it might be tempting to skip lunch because you don’t want to miss the Rebecca Benneyworth keynote, you have to remember to keep your energy levels up.
So come prepared with snacks and drink plenty of water. No one is going to blink an eye if you strategically take a bite out of your soft bread roll during the MTD session.
Day one for growth-minded small firms
Day one has finally arrived. You’ve arrived at the NEC, grabbed your takeaway flat white and you’ve put on your out-of-office. Although who are you kidding? You’re going to check your emails throughout the day.
So the first port of call after you’ve collected your badge at the registration area is to scout out the “chill zone”. Content knowing where you need to go when the temptation to check your emails becomes too much, it’s time to take in the show floor.
But don’t get caught in too many IRL chats with your LinkedIn buddies because you don’t want to miss the first session on the Circle Stage at 10.30am – Richard Murphy will kick off the event with his keynote: Where is accountancy going?
After hearing Murphy’s thoughts on what’s next for the profession, you’ll probably think about what’s next for your practice – and there are some pretty immediate compliance challenges charging towards you with their lights flashing. Stroll over to the Practice Accelerator Stage at 11am for The compliance maze: a survival guide for small practices. Dave Norris from 20:20 Innovation will navigate you through compliance challenges lurking in the accounting undergrowth, helping you spot the pitfalls before they trip you up.
But what gets you out of bed in the morning is actually growing your business. You have just enough time to get a drink before you’re back at the Practice Accelerator Stage at 11.40am for Catching clients: fool-proof strategies for growth. With niche specialisms emerging as a standout trend among half of the small firm Accounting Excellence finalists, you’ll hear from Ria-Jaine Lincoln, who built her practice around serving the beauty industry, and Liam Wilson from Elevate Accountancy, who specialises in supporting startups and franchises.
If that session has left you with pound signs in your eyes then you’re going to want to stick around the Practice Accelerator Stage because at 12.30pm Rachel Harris will be running the Starting from scratch: how to get to a million in turnover workshop.
After that session, you’ll be strutting the famous FAB yellow carpet, mentally picking out the name for your future yacht.
But reality will come calling at 1pm on the Circle Stage – because before those millions roll in, there’s the small matter of Making Tax Digital for income tax (MTD IT) to get ready for first.
Craig Ogilvie, director of Making Tax Digital, will deliver a must-see keynote on what MTD IT means for accountants and bookkeepers. This session is set to be popular, so make sure you bag your spot early – no doubt you’ll come armed with questions.
Luckily, HMRC will have a stand across both days of the event – so once Ogilvie’s finished, head straight over to get those burning questions answered. Honestly, getting clarity on MTD might be worth more than the millions you were just daydreaming about.
That session will leave you with plenty of food for thought. Speaking of food – it’s time to eat. So head to the food trucks for your gyros fix – it’s a festival after all. Try not to spill any of the food down your festival attire because you can’t afford a wardrobe emergency when there is a session on virtual finance director services kicking off at the Practice Accelerator Stage at 2pm.
We’ve seen a rapid increase in small firms offering virtual finance/fractional chief financial officer (CFO) services. At the 2024 Accounting Excellence Awards, 60% of small firm finalists offered this service, where they provided support on management accounts, cashflow forecasting, payroll services and more. Joan Adams from Adams O’Rourke will be leading the session – and she knows a thing or two about virtual finance services, having won the client transformation award at the 2024 Accounting Excellence Awards.
While you’ve found ways to win new clients, scaling your practice isn’t just about more clients. So don’t stray too far from your Practice Accelerator seat because at 2.40pm, a panel of firm owners will share their growth strategies for small practices. With sustainable growth as the biggest challenge for small firms, this session will show you how to meet rising demands without overwhelming your team.
You have just enough time to squeeze in some conversations with the vendors before you join the stampede of attendees heading to the Circle Stage at 3.10pm – it’s Rebecca Benneyworth time! The tax titan will deliver one of her can’t-miss essential tax updates.
With growth ideas whirling around your head, the FAB After Show Party is the perfect place to keep the momentum going – pop the champagne, enjoy the live band and carry on those inspiring conversations late into the evening.
Book your FREE tickets to the Festival of Accounting & Bookkeeping. The two-day event at the NEC, Birmingham on 12 and 13 March covers the latest trends and challenges facing mid-tier and large firms.
Day two for growth-minded small firms
You arrive at the NEC for day two with a notebook full of ideas and in desperate need of a new pen. Hopefully you managed to get an early night after the After Show Party and feel refreshed for another day on the yellow carpet.
Before you hit the stages for the content, take a stroll around the show floor and spend time seeing what the different vendors have to offer.
The first stop on day two is the Circle Stage at 10.30am for the opening keynote from Ray McCann: The ripple effect of rogue advice.
Next on the itinerary for the small practice FAB attendee is over on the Practice Accelerator Stage for the Mindset, motivation and minimum pricing workshop at 11am with Bev Flanagan. After so much growth advice the day before, you’re going to want to cultivate a growth mindset, otherwise those pages of notes will be for nought.
With dreams of building a multi-million pound accounting empire crystallising after two days in the NEC, your mind will start thinking about succession planning. If so, stay put in the Practice Accelerator Stage until 11.40 for Should I stay or should I go?
You’ll then have time to grab a bite to eat, stretch your legs and do a tour of the showfloor and speak to vendors. But if the talk around the NEC of MTD and other compliance challenges is adding to your stress, return to the Practice Accelerator Stage at 12.30pm for Balancing the books – and your wellbeing. The session hosted by practitioner Vanessa Fuller will arm you with strategies for managing stress during challenging times.
You may have spent the past couple of days hearing great growth strategies and partnering with vendors, but it would also be fruitful to bounce ideas and learnings off other practitioners. So stay around in the Practice Accelerator Stage at 1pm for the Small practice networking hour. This is your chance to make new connections and share ideas – just like you would on Any Answers.
Speaking of Any Answers, AccountingWEB’s famous forum comes to life at 2.15pm in the Circle Stage. Rebecca Benneyworth, Ian Holloway and David Winch will be tackling questions from the audience – so bring your queries. (Although we can’t guarantee Fact Checker or Portia et al will be there with a witty retort.)
But if you wanted a little more MTD before the end of FAB (seriously, who doesn’t?) then perhaps you should visit the Practice Accelerator Stage for the final time for Lorraine Ellison’s MTD roadmap for small practice at 2pm. The practice owner will be sharing her process for getting her practice ready and insights from the testing process.
Before the doors are closed on the festival for another year, you’ll have enough time for a final sweep of the vendors and make sure you’ve ticked everyone you wanted to speak with off your list. Plus it’s your last chance to replace that pen! But don’t go overboard on swag – remember you still have to get it back home.
Meet the vendors
There is a lot of content happening over the two days but don’t forget to spend time speaking to the vendors. The next 12 months are going to be crucial to get the right technology to deal with the impending MTD mandation.
Before you hit the stages, make sure you take a moment to plan which vendors you want to speak with. It’s easy to get swept up in the content, that before you know it the champagne has popped and it’s the after-show party and you’ve not spoken to half of the vendors you wanted to.
If you’re coming as a team, why not divide and conquer? By sharing the load you can split the different vendors among you all and that way you can see the sessions you want and not miss the vital vendor conversations.
You could even view the show floor as your favourite theme park map. You know the Nemesis is going to be busier in the morning, so you use that time to see the other attractions. Think of FAB that way too. If you plan in advance you won’t be zig-zagging across the show floor and you’d still have enough time to see the content you want to see.
A good place to start would be to explore the stands of FAB’s premium partners: Bright (E14) and Xero (E24); and platinum partners: FYI (I16), Intuit QuickBooks (G12) and Sage (G24).
Journey home
After two days at FAB, it’s time to take all the strategies, connections and growth ideas back to the office. It’s important that you don’t forget about those ideas as soon as you return to the client queries and shenanigans. So before you get dragged back into business as usual, take time to consider everything you’ve learned and put together an action plan. That’s a much better use of your time than doom scrolling LinkedIn on the train ride home. Those that do will return to FAB in 2026 with a completely different firm.
This article is sourced from the following link:
https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/practice/general-practice/fab-guide-for-fast-scaling-small-firms
