Last month, unLTD popped down to Sheffield Business Park to meet four of the partners at Hart Shaw, an independent firm of Chartered Accountants and Business Advisers with a history that can be traced back 150 years.
The firm’s areas of expertise include audit and assurance, corporate finance, taxation, and business advisory services, providing dedicated professionals who work closely with clients to gain an in-depth understanding of their business and financial needs.
With a historic milestone reached and a rebrand recently signed off, Joseph Food spoke with Emma Legdon, Martin McDonagh, Patrick Abel and Steve Vickers to hear about what helps them stand out from the rest.
There’s a huge history with this firm which I believe can be traced back around 150 years. Is that correct?
EL: Yes, we have letters on display in this office from Mr Hart, who registered his accountancy company with the stock exchange in 1873. So, there’s a lot of history here.
MM: Mr Shaw didn’t come along until much later; there was a merger in 1991 which provided the second part of the company name.
How long have you been based at Sheffield Business Park?
EL: We moved to these offices in 2004, so it’s been 19 years.
And how has the job changed over the last two decades? What have been the main shifts in terms of clients’ needs but also more wholesale changes in the industry?
PA: Automation is obviously a big one, especially when it comes to accounts preparation. In terms of corporate finance, one of the main things that has changed dramatically is the landscape of funding. The banks aren’t what they used to be and there are a lot of new kids on the block, specialist funds that have come in to fill in the gaps the banks have left behind. Of course, then you have had all the issues around Covid and furlough – there have been lots of challenges and the industry has changed a lot.
MM: I suppose automation has been the biggest difference, on both our sides and the client’s side as well. 20 years ago, you’d get clients coming with the plastic bag full of invoices and saying ‘get on with it’. Now, of course, the information comes in on drives and through digital channels, so that has changed how we work: it removes a lot of the bookkeeping and gives us more time to sit down with clients and talk to them about their business.
You’ve recently undergone a significant rebrand. Can you tell us a bit about why you’ve chosen to do that?
EL: As mentioned, it’s our 150th birthday this year, so as well as a time for celebration we decided to reflect a bit. We realised that our website wasn’t really reflecting who we were as a company today: we wanted something a bit more modern, friendly and fresh. We also came up with a new logo, which I think the whole firm has taken to – and you can actually see the H and S in it now! The most important think about Hart Shaw is the staff we’ve got here, and the website now focuses on that: highlighting the people who deliver good quality work and making everything a bit more personable, moving away from this idea of faceless accountants and advisors to show what we’re really about.
What would you say sets apart Hart and Shaw from other businesses?
EL: I think we’ve gone a long, long way from just preparing a set of accounts. We’re more involved in our clients’ business on a more personal level.
PA: We’ve also got specialists in every field, so anything a big four firm can do, we can do. We specialise in corporate finance, corporate tax, personal tax, tax compliance, audit, accounts prep, payroll, business recovery and insolvency. There’s obviously a lot of other bits that overlap too.
Are there any recent achievements that you’re particularly proud of?
SV: I think on a general note, while we have merged and acquired in the recent past, we’re quite proud of the fact that we’ve managed to grow organically each year while maintaining our clients and staff. Amongst the partnership there are eight of us and I think between us there’s a good spread of age, experiencing and skills that complement each other.
It’s quite a difficult landscape for businesses at the moment. What are the main issues you see and how can Hart Shaw help?
MM: We deal with a massive cross-section of businesses, but staff recruitment and retention are probably the biggest challenge facing a lot our clients; a lot of it due to people retiring earlier and issues around Brexit. In terms of how we can assist, it of course depends on what the particular issues are. But for example, if it’s something to do with the accountancy, perhaps a bookkeeper off on maternity leave, we can always step in and support for a period of time. Another way we can help is by putting clients in touch with each other to potentially develop mutually beneficial relationships there. As Emma mentioned, we spend much more time talking to clients about their business rather than just preparing a set of accounts; while another unique selling point of ours is everyone has access to a partner, so they’ll get to know the other members of our team. We all share an ethos of coming together to help the client as quickly and as best we can.
EL: We can in theory work with a client all the way from business setup right through to when the director(s) are looking towards retirement.
SV: I work in tax, so I don’t have any corporate clients, but I know most of these guy’s clients because I’ll be brought into assist when conversations around tax get a bit complicated. Once a client has access to a lead partner, they’ve got access to the team.
How else would you sum up the ethos at Hart Shaw?
PA: I think it’s important people know that we are a friendly, approachable team. We don’t want to be faceless robots.
MM: Definitely. We often tell clients that we want to be seen as an extension to their business rather than something distant or separate.
EL: We’ve got eight partners and 80 members of staff here, so while we’re a decent-sized firm we’re not corporate. This might sound like a cliché, but there’s a real family feel here that we’re keen to promote. The staff as a whole were very involved in the rebrand every step of the way, and that’s very important to us.
If you want to discuss a specific issue, ask for a quote or simply find out what they have to offer, you get in touch via the follow options:
Phone: 0114 251 8850
Email: info@hartshaw.co.uk
Website: hartshaw.co.uk
