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Making Accountants Digital Enablers (MADE)

Accountants Coaching to Improve Productivity - join our trial

Northumbria University and Sage UK Ltd working in partnership with the government’s Business Basics Fund, welcome accountants in England to take part in free digital skills training with the overarching aim to boost small business productivity and economic growth.

 

Register

Why is this study important?

Technology when applied appropriately enables and transforms businesses and people to be more efficient and perform at their best.

Small Business Minister Kelly Tolhurst says: “Research shows that boosting productivity could unlock £100 billion for the economy and helping small businesses make better use of technology will enable them to seize the opportunities of scaling up in new markets when we leave the EU.”

It is well understood that accountants are the trusted adviser for small businesses and with the right digital technologies are best placed through their relationship to:

  • improve the quality and punctuality of record keeping

  • save small businesses time through streamlining workflows

  • drive opportunities for revenue growth

  • reduce business risk and potential failure

If you are an accountant with a client facing role and would like to receive up to 4 hours training on key topics such as app advisory, business data analytics, CRM and tools to surface strategy conversation, then this project trial is essential for you.

We are investigating whether accountants, as trusted advisors, can drive digital adoption and management best practice and therefore increase SME productivity.

We are asking two research questions:

  • Do accountants, as trusted advisors, facilitate digital adoption in their SME clients?

  • How do accountants, as trusted advisors, facilitate digital adoption in their SME clients?

Overview of the study

  • As a participant, you will be asked to complete a survey, which will include a request to recruit up to 5 SME clients who will also be asked to complete a survey
  • The study will run for 12 months

  • During the trial it is business-as-usual, and you will be invited to join a four-hour training workshop, or if you prefer, an online webinar. 

CPD Credits

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credits will be available to participants in the project (more details will be available during the coaching day)

You will receive a dedicated training programme. The training will be a free, four-hour workshop with supplementary support for the delivery of best practice coaching of innovation, technology and digital adoption. Each training programme will be practice-based and will look at barriers to adoption, how they might be overcome and why it is advantageous to do so. 

STEP BY STEP

1. You will be asked to identify up to 5 SME clients who would be interested in taking part

2. You will be assigned unique identification codes for you and your clients so that throughout the 12 months of the study, all data is anonymous.

3. You will be asked to provide productivity data (for 8 quarters) for up to 5 of the selected SME clients (we will let you know how to submit this data).

4.  Accountants will attend a four hour training workshop.

5. Accountants provide coaching to their SME customers, augmented with digital adoption cues from the specific training workshop that the Accountant received e.g. Accountants who received workshop A will use materials from that training in their advice to SMEs.

6. Accountants provide survey data for the selected SME clients following the training workshop.

 

Details of the training workshops/Interventions

The workshops will be arranged for your convenience as much as possible. The workshops are a fantastic opportunity for you to network with other accountants and Sage, although you will have the option to join online training.

The training workshop will prepare Accountants to discuss digital adoption suite of materials with their SME clients. The workshop will be practice based and will look at barriers to adoption and how they might be addressed and overcome.

Accountants will also have access to online resources to support the training workshop.

Questionnaires: You will be asked to complete these at the beginning of the trial and again later in the trial. We will also ask you about examples and experiences of digital adoption.

  • Baseline data – A brief questionnaire regarding current levels of ‘digital savviness’ for the Accountant and for the SME.
  • Post training – a repeat questionnaire

  • You may be invited to take part in an interview in May or June 2020 to reflect on your experience of using the learning from the workshops in your coaching interactions with SMEs, and your perspective on the enablers and inhibitors to adoption and diffusion of digital technologies.

 

 

Business owners agree that a good relationship with their accountant adds value to their company and we know, there is a link between the adoption of existing technologies and productivity (CBI, 2017). As a trusted advisor you are in an excellent position to:

  • Hone your business coaching skills through free education 
  • Enrich the relationship with your clients through
  • Broadening your service offer to SME clients to deliver potential income streams
  • Contribute to the success and growth of your clients 
  • Propel wider growth of UK plc.

Low take-up of readily available technologies and management best practices is driving the UK’s productivity problem. Thus,the benefits to small businesses of taking part in this study are that they would be exposed to and be given skills to develop:

  • Greater innovation
  • Increased competitiveness
  • Sustainable growth
  • The seven key characteristics of the most productive companies in the UK
  • Business use of existing technologies that have been shown to work for the most productive firms in the economy
  • Opportunities to identify the UK’s most successful UK innovators

  • Boost your SME Clients’ survival prospects and improve their sales growth.
  • Enhance your relationship with your SME customers, in order to:
  • Build on the reputation of accountants as the most trusted business advisors
  • Add value to your SMEs’ businesses
  • Increase SME satisfaction with the services that you offer
  • Reverse the trend of fewer SMEs seeking business advice from their Accountants
  • To express your interest in the trial please complete the form below. Following completion a member of the Northumbria University team will contact you by phone in the next 10 days to confirm that you agree to participate in the study. Instructions about the data to be submitted and the workshops will be sent to you at this stage.

    If you have any queries regarding the trial or would like to opt out of the trial, please email bl.made@northumbria.ac.uk

     

    Register your interest in the programme today:


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