This week

For me there have been 2 major news stories this week. In fact listening to the radio, on my drive into work, at times, you would have thought that they were the only stories. The second is very obviously business related but the first is perhaps not so obvious.

Let me start by stating that I follow Manchester City Football Club and I was obviously very disappointed with Tuesday night’s performance and result against Bayern Munich (shouldn’t it be Bavarian Munich or Bayern Munchen?) but the story as everybody, who hasn’t been on the moon, knows is that Carlos Tevez refused to play.

Within minutes, people were “tweeting” about this and one of the best I came across asked what the difference was between Tevez and a tramp. The answer was £150K per week because they both won’t get off the bench. Very good but it got me thinking.

It illustrates the importance of getting all your team on board and everyone having a shared goal. It only takes one “bad apple” to disrupt any targets you have. Perhaps the target of winning the Champions League was a bit farfetched any way but in the words of Wayne Gretsky (the ice hockey player) “I have missed every penalty that I didn’t take “.

It also shows that people problems can overshadow the important matters very easily.

The second item was Ed Milliband’s speech at the Labour Conference. Putting aside the issue of rewarding good businesses, which sounds intriguing but fanciful? I was taken aback by the attitude that seemed to be saying that it was impossible to make money and be good.

Yes, the primary purpose of being in business is to make a profit but there is so much more to it. I can’t believe that most businessmen put this so much to the fore that they would be willing to sacrifice everything else. Business is not just about making money. There is so much more to it like developing good relations with customers and colleagues, always striving to do your best and building something that will stand the test of time. It is also about ensuring that the balance between home and work is right and having fun.

If you ever find me giving these up in the pursuit of just money you have my permission to shoot me.

Leaders need love and connection too.

A week after I have returned from a wonderful conference in London organised by MindShop I thought I would share what was not only the most revealing moment of the Conference for me, but a deeply personal experience.

One of the speakers was Dr Darryl Cross, a psychologist from Australia and like me an accredited MindShop Facilitator.  In his excellent presentation Darryl spoke about the 6 basic needs of Leaders: control and security; variety and difference; significance and importance; love and connection; growth and learning; and, legacy and contribution.

It was the fourth of these needs, love and connection, that enlightened me so much.

Three years ago on 19 September 2008 my sister, Ann, left us.  Ravaged by cancer she died with dignity and surrounded by her close friends, my daughters, Jessica and Jade, and me.   She was 58 years old, drank responsibly and never smoked.  Although she had been diagnosed with cancer just over a year earlier the deterioration in her health over the final six month period was rapid.  At that time and since my wife was unable to offer me comfort and support due to her own illness.  I was left with a gaping hole in my life and I thought no one to turn to.

I was lucky that I had my girls.  Jessica and Jade were both immense for their tender years and both had their own problems coming to terms with the loss of their devoted Aunt over the next few months.  I am immensly proud of Jessica and Jade who never let me know if they were struggling to cope but not only continued with their own lives they also enriched the lives of others. 

At the time I didn't want to think much about my businessess, it seemed unimportant and it was here that I benefited from the support of Sarah, my business partner and Wendy my Personal Assistant.   They both knew what the right words to say were and when to say them.  They worked hard to ensure that the business didn't suffer.  

Once I could see it there appeared to be connections and love everywhere, and my life came back together but without me understanding why.      Almost 3 years to the day Darryl gave me an explanation that I had been looking for.  Thank you Darryl.

You can find out more about the 6 basic needs of leaders at http://www.drdarryl.com/AnnouncementRetrieve.aspx?ID=24256     

Keep on Saving

As promised here are some simple tips to make sure you take all the tax breaks open to you.

1. Ensure that you are taking the money out of your business in as tax efficient a manner as possible. Taking money out of a limited company by a combination of salary and dividend can give a better tax result than salary alone. There are other strategies that give even better results.


2. If you don't operate as a limited company consider whether you would save money if you did. There is often still a fairly big advantage in operating as a company, in terms of what you get to keep in your bank.


3. Pay your spouse a tax efficient salary. As long as a salary can be justified, in terms of the work done, and it is actuallly paid, this is a good way to use tax allowances etc that would otherwise be wasted.


4. Alternatively consider taking your spouse into partnership. Again providing the spouse's share is justified and there is a "real" partnership it is a good way to maximise tax allowances and bands.


5. The tax savings that can be made by investing in pensions are still substantial. As long as the traps are avoided there are still large amounts to be saved. I appreciate that not everybody finds this type of investment attractive but we will all need a pension in retirement.

Thats probably enough to be going on with at the moment. More soon.

Moving things on

I am not being twee by using the screen name of Chobbers, instead of my real name of Chris Hobbs but I have been known as Chobbs, Chobber or Chobbers ever since I was at school (a few years ago) when I was "christened" this by our French Master, Twiggy Smith. It might sound like a private school but it wasn't.

My reason for choosing to use this name was to demonstrate that accountants don't have to live up to their reputation of being boring and stuffy. I am not saying, for one minute, that the use of a nickname prooves that we are different. It is all about doing different and better things.

As John says, there is always room for accountants who look after the compliance and this is a necessary evil but compliance is a cost generally imposed on taxpayers by others. At Crowther Beard we never lose sight of this but also realise the importance of looking after this well.

However, what really turns us on (if that is the right phrase) is to feel that our work has added value. The aim must always be for our advice to bring benefits greater than the cost of the advice, whether this be through tax savings, increasing profits or something else like helping to get the correct balance between work and home life.

But enough of the sermon, its time for proof. My expertise is in tax and proactive advice rather than reactive advice can result in very significant tax savings. I am not talking about complicated tax schemes, which have their place, but simple steps that can be taken to reduce tax bills. Starting from tomorrow, I will publish some ideas about what people should be doing.

Welcome to Strategic Thinking by Crowther Beard

It all begins with Steven Covey and his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.  Steven sets outs his Seven Habits and the first is Begin with the End in Mind and as this is the first attempt to Blog (to my knowledge) by anyone at Crowther Beard I thought I would set out what End I have in Mind.

There are thousands of Accountants in the UK, there are over 1300 Chartered Accountants living or working in Worcestershire alone, and in their publicity many will say "Not all accountants are the same, we are different" and go on to show that they are exactly alike.  Their websites come from specialist designers of websites for accountants and the services that they offer are identical: preparation of accounts and tax returns and if they warrant it audit of the accounts.

I don't want this to be seen as critical of those accountants as they offer a service that many people out there are looking for and as a result have successful businesses, but that is not enough for me and it is not enough for my partners and team members too.

Through the Blog I am hoping that our postings will show that we think.  We think about our clients' needs; we think about what our clients' actually want; and we think about ways to improve their businesses and their lives.

Sometimes it is important to think "Outside the box".  For example if you are looking at improving the client or customer care of a business (say a Chartered Accountancy practice) where would you go to look for the best examples of customer care?  Another accountants?  A professional service firm in another sector perhaps?  No I didn't think so, you would turn to the hospitality industry or the retail industry, but more of that in a later Blog.

I hope that you enjoy reading our posts, I am looking to my partners to add to the posts as we go and that we will cover ways to lower your tax burden legally and simply, ways to improve the efficiency of your business and ways to improve your management and leadership.

So remember, what ever it is that you are doing, whether it is Blogging, marketing, running a business or setting up or buying a business "Begin with the End in Mind" that way you are more likely to get there.