The problem
Beever and Struthers, a growing UK accountancy firm, had client data spread across its practice management system, resourcing tool, Companies House and spreadsheets, and a lot of skilled people doing repetitive checks by hand. One example: checking Self Assessment payments with HMRC across thousands of clients took days every quarter.
What I did
Two days a week, I built and led the firm's in-house data team, and with them delivered:
- An automated Self Assessment payment checker covering around 1,900 clients.
- A central client database on Azure, joining the practice management system with Companies House and Charity Commission data.
- Reporting that reconciles resourcing plans with actual time and jobs.
- Tools to pull VAT deadlines from HMRC, extract tables from financial PDFs, and prototype automated AML/ID checks.
- Innovation workshops with the firm's graduates.
The result
- The Self Assessment check went from 4 days to 27 minutes, saving about 4 days every quarter.
- A team that kept building after the automations were handed over.
“I had the pleasure of working with Mark for a few years whilst we built the data and digital transformation team at Beever and Struthers. His help and guidance were invaluable to me to ensure we got this right and delivered value to the business. The outcome was we built one of the most effective teams I've ever worked in with a 5x return on investment. I've no hesitation in recommending Mark and when the next opportunity arises I'll be tapping him up for sure.”
John ToonChartered Accountant · Beever and StruthersNext: GetStrategy: turning a strategy workshop into a tool that teams keep using