PAH Accountants

Anyone that knows me will know that I am a big football and sports fan. I play in the Cheltenham league, albeit at the bottom end of the scale.

One thing that I am particularly passionate about is getting children playing sport. My son currently plays for Bishops Cannings under 7′s and participates in the after school football club. He also attends Judo classes at his school. I firmly believe that children should be encouraged to be active and not part of the ‘Playstation generation’.

So what has this got to do with accounting? Well nothing really; however, I have recently agreed

PAH Accounting have added a great new feature to its website. As part of the resource section (see the tabs across the top, there is some great stuff ) there is now a tab for events.

Phil Hendy, the principal of PAH Accounting often attends local networking groups, business training/ seminars as well as the odd social event!

Bookmark the page and keep an eye out to the list of the hottest events for small businesses.

If you are running an event that you feel may be useful to small businesses, particularly if they are local to Wiltshire, send over the details and I will consider adding it to the page.

After telling clients and contacts to go and join the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), I have finally got around to joining this myself.

The Federation started in 1974 as a lobbying group that protects the interests of small business owners as well as the self-employed. It now has over 213,000 members

Here is my video presentation of a 4sight that I did at 4Networking Taunton.

It highlights some of the issues that can arise in a small business and gives some tactics that companies can use to

With the debate raging about university and tuition fees it brought back to me some very personal issues – therefore I thought I’d blog about it! It’s a bit longer than usual so bear with me.

I am forever getting asked (I say that, probably not so much now I am a bit older!) ‘What University did you go to?’ I always feel amused at the look on people’s face when I say that I didn’t! The next question inevitably comes ‘How are you an accountant?’. So, let me explain

You don’t have to go to University to become an accountant!

I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do when I left school; however, I knew it was within business somehow. I therefore studied a 2 year GNVQ in business studies at Cornwall College – note, instead of doing A-levels! To

Have you heard of the Wiltshire Business Club?

Back in 2009 when PAH Accounting was first set up I needed a way to reach out to new contacts. I was already a keen networker but found it limited to breakfast meetings. Therefore I tried to join a certain evening networking group; however, I couldn’t get in because they already had another accountant.

Bright idea flashes up ‘I’ll start my own’!

I set up a basic Ning website and started promoting it on Twitter. A good online friend of mine Roland Millward spotted

I recently attended a marketing seminar, presented by Robert Craven, and it was an interesting point, but not a surprise, to see that the best place to get referrals is from your existing customers. This is something we all want so we make a big effort to ask our customers for recommendations, referrals and testimonials.

However, do you return the favour and recommend your suppliers? At the end of the day they have given you a good service so it is a great way to say thank you.

Giving referrals and testimonials can actually be good for your own business. If you post a link via social media such as  twitter and facebook or independent testimonials on places like 4Networking these are like having a mini advert for your business. Whilst you are singing the praises of someone else it shows that you are a willing supplier and ‘busier’ in your

As many regular followers of this blog and clients/ contacts of PAH Accounting will know Social Media is a big influence on this firm and how it markets itself. Roland Millward has kindly given permission to include a guest blog which is copied from his own blog site – The Entrepreneur Club.

Social Media vs Traditional Advertising

We are all used to traditional forms of advertising. Newspaper, magazine, TV, radio, billboards, fliers and sponsorships. These of course all work in different degrees and some are extremely costly. It is often the case that the effect of such advertising can not always be accurately measured. There is the well known saying that 50% of advertising costs are wasted but which 50%?

The above methods of advertising are very much what I would call ‘in your face and tell ‘em’ what you are selling’ and of course some ads are designed for building the brand name.

How does Social Media work when compared to the time tested methods of advertising? In some ways it is very different. Most forms of Social Media are about building relationships, it is more like networking than advertising. The cost too is

I don’t read many business books. Generally I feel I have a good handle on business and how it works. I have a great network of contacts for business advice and help when needed. However, I felt compelled to read this one.

This has been written by the Managing Director of 4Networking, the largest joined up business network in the UK. As a member of the network I have met Brad on a few occasions and been intrigued by his stories.This book really is an extension of that.

It explains the story of how Brad went from quitting his high level marketing job to becoming a top rated speaker