Mandy's LinkedIn profile

I was either going to become a professional golfer (I was the Middlesex County champion at 18), a textile designer or an accountant. I decided that I’d get the accountancy qualification first as it’s such good grounding and then I could go back to the other career options later. The careers advisor at my school suggested ACCA which offered the flexibility of being able to work in multiple sectors. 

I joined the John Lewis Partnership on their apprenticeship scheme and was a manager there by the time I was 21. I was having trouble passing the audit exam so I went into practice in a small local firm. You get much more experience in a small firm to start with in general practice. 

I passed my audit exam and then realised that I like being in practice – particularly the client facing part of it. John Lewis set me up for understanding the systems procedures – being able to see it from the client’s point of view – so I learned all my skills there and applied them in general practice working with clients. I loved doing the studying and working at the same time rather than getting an accountancy degree and then a job.

Once I was qualified, I joined a very entrepreneurial practice and became an associate director. From the internal systems that I’d set up to run a systemised practice, we created practice management software which we eventually sold to IRIS and became part of their practice management suite. We were very advanced digitally for the 1990s – already paperless and using document signing software.

I set up an outsourcing company for the practice using housewives that we’d retrain to become bookkeepers working remotely from home. I realised that with the checklists I’d created for following my systems, I’d created something that could become a franchise. Cloud Bookkeeping Franchise ended up having 28 franchisees that I mentored for some years before selling the client base to the franchisees.

I’ve always been involved with digital change, so I’ve always had that interest and experience of working with software houses to be able to take that to the next stage. When MTD for VAT came in, I was head hunted to help businesses set up that division within their practice ready for automation. I went to different firms to do that and with the emergence of cloud accounting departments within the larger practices, I joined a top 100 firm in 2021 to head up their cloud accounting. That’s probably the biggest growing department in top 100 firms. 

I’m now at Mercer & Hole - a leading accountancy practice with a team of 33 across four offices just within virtual finance. We have different types of clients – owner managed businesses, charities, service companies, etc but each office has its own type of portfolio and it is very varied. We work on the traditional bookkeeping, VAT management accounts, payroll and advisory. 

The biggest change we’re seeing is the implementation of digital transformation and systems development, and liaison with clients to almost become their full finance function. The whole market has changed and it’s so innovative what’s happening in business and where it’s going. Some people are afraid of AI but AI will only become part of the basic work, we really want to do the additional advisory and review work.

It’s no longer the software that is the priority but instead the best apps that clients can use with their core bookkeeping software. We identify the apps that are the best fit for the client and then help them implement it. We are impartial to all the software out there and my team work with all of the software houses.

With the changing world of audit, where previously auditors have had an overlap and possibly done things, they are going to need to be separate now. Even data migration cannot be done by the same person who is the auditor so this is a whole new field and we’re seeing a lot more data migration from legacy software. You need the user experience of the old days to know what goes wrong and what needs to go into the new software. 

We run a strong apprenticeship programme, With the team across the four offices, it’s important that they feel that they are one team, so I invest time in them and ensure that they have regular meet ups such as when software companies do webinars for us or taking them to the Digital Accountancy Show.

The biggest challenge for practitioners is to keep up to date – you can’t assume that because you are qualified, that’s enough to keep you going. Relevant CPD for the job you’re in is very important. Ours has a software bias so we need to keep up with the changes in technology, digital transformation and especially AI and how it’s going to happen. Accept that AI is here and embrace it as a positive. 

I was recently announced as one of Ignition’s Top 50 Women in Accounting globally for 2024. This year the theme was about catalysts and change and how you adapt to change. I’ve never been afraid of change, and I’ve never stood still – I’ve always got on with it be it with technology or changes in my life. 

I am still a golfer but I don’t play as much now – mostly at client days and corporate days. My main hobby now is salsa dancing and I’ve just come back from a salsa holiday to celebrate the big 60.