James Bagley-4ba517e6

“We’re emerging from this period with better, more ingrained relationships with our clients” Accountancy and Business Advisory services firm Smith Cooper reflects on the last year

Smith Cooper work alongside businesses of all sizes, providing solutions to complex and challenging issues in fast-moving environments which demand a high level of technicality.

Headquartered in the Midlands, and operating on a national scale, Smith Cooper’s workforce has grown steadily in the last 5 years, by an average of 7.5% each year, whilst fiscal growth has exceeded 53% in the same period, mainly through organic growth.

The firm maintains a position as one of the UK’s top 50 Accountancy firms, currently ranked the 41st largest UK firm in the Accountancy Age Top 50+50 and holds the same spot in the Accountancy Daily Top 75 list.

James Bagley, Managing Partner at Smith Cooper comments “The last year has been a steep learning curve for many businesses, ourselves included, and through this period of exceptional challenge, we have learnt many lessons.”

“The pandemic has proved to be a defining period for so many businesses and encouraged us and many others to prioritise what matters most when it comes to business continuity. It has motivated businesses to build more structured and comprehensive approaches to crisis management, but to also reframe and unlock new opportunities.”

“The downtime we experienced in the first lockdown allowed us to accelerate some of our strategic changes which we will be announcing soon, as we look to continue on an upwards growth trajectory.”

Reflecting on the lessons learnt over the last year, David Nelson, Senior Partner at Smith Cooper adds “Whilst we have had to adapt and learn on our feet over the last 12 months, clients and prospective clients have looked to us for advice, guidance and support, and as a result we’re emerging from this period with better, more ingrained relationships with our clients.”

“We have witnessed a growth in new client numbers as a result, as many businesses felt they did not receive the support needed throughout the COVID-19 crisis – something we prioritised from the early stages of the lockdown.”

“Business confidence appears to be returning quickly and we’re seeing many of our clients re-engaging with pre-COVID-19 plans. We currently have a large number of new advisory projects on the go and look forward to helping our clients realise their ambitions.”

In regard to the firm’s 240+ strong workforce, David adds “Whilst the pandemic has no doubt changed the working landscape, we remain committed to our local presence and our centrally based offices as we believe keeping the team together physically is a key component of our success.”

As well as the primary Accountancy and Advisory organisation, the Smith Cooper Group consists of Smith Cooper System Partners, the Midlands' leading Sage 200 Partner of the Year for the last 5 consecutive years, Infuse Technology, IT Managed Service Provider and Microsoft Gold Competency Partner, and Smith Cooper Independent Financial Services, an Independent Financial Solutions provider.