Arcadia: Goodnight for retailās bad knight
The past decade has been a roller-coaster ride for Britainās real-life high-street Monopoly owner. In this article, I consider the implications of the collapse of Sir Philip Greenās Arcadia Group.
learn from others
read our blog posts or listen to our podcasts.
Daniel Teacher of T-Tech | Client Stories
We spoke to Daniel Teacher, managing director at T-Tech, who provide technology, consulting, support, & strategy for forward-thinking, small & medium-sized Accountancy practices to add more value & support.
Boohoo’s sustainability questioned as PwC quits as auditor
The fast-fashion retailer saw a surge in virtual footfall due to the nationwide lockdown, but can it climb back from PwC resigning as its auditor and a recent working practice scandal?
Brendan Shanks of Husky on Financial Innovation, Business Advice, Technology & more | Client Stories
We spoke to Brendan Shanks, founder and CEO at Husky, a London-based Fintech company that makes it easy to take control of your workplace pension through their app and makes sure you’re investing in what’s important to you. Husky helps to make informed pension decisions so you can take control of your personal financial future.
7 Tips on How To Write an Award Winning Application
I recently had the pleasure of judging the Digital Accountancy Show awards. Iām a big fan of awards. While winning an award, or being shortlisted feels great and is confirmation youāre on the right path, itās the process of applying for an award thatās much more powerful for your business success.
7 Tips for Planning an Investor-Focused Model
There are a lot of apps available to build forecasts. They all work to some extent but like everything, they have their sweet spot and they have their limitations. The more you pay, the more power and functionality you get. But if youāre looking to build a multi-year model to put in front of an investor, expect to build it in a spreadsheet. It pains me to say that given how much we leverage technology but itās the way it is (for now). Equally, investors know and understand spreadsheets; itās much less likely they know and understand the black box of an app you choose.
From the 1770s to the 2020s | How Debenhams is Fighting to Survive
It can be pretty confusing to understand what is really going on with high-street companies. Even before Covid-19 times, there seemed to be continual news of high-street giants shedding jobs or closing down. In recent months, weāve seen even more of a flurry of high-street redundancies, closures, CVAs, and administrations. Unfortunately, Debenhams is just another on a long list, thatās getting longer.
6 Lessons to Grow like GymShark
If you havenāt seen the news, Gymshark announced itās now worth more than Ā£1bn thanks to a 21% investment from General Atlantic. This now brings founder, Ben Francisā, share of Gymshark to over Ā£700m.
[…]
4 lessons in leadership and team work from Coach Carter
I recently watched the movie Coach Carter for the first time ā if you havenāt seen it before itās a biographical sports film drama based on the true story of a basketball coach (Coach Ken Carter) played in the movie by Samuel L Jackson.
[…]
7 common mistakes to avoid when setting up an EMI scheme
Share options are common currency today for attracting and retaining staff in the fast-growth tech world. They are also becoming more common place in other companies. Share options are frequently used to incentivise, and part compensate, employees in their commitment to an aligned goal of increasing the value of the business, and thus rewarding loyal employees when that value is realised.
How Gymshark has scaled like a tech company
I often write about screw-ups; Jamie Oliver, Patisserie Valerie, HMV, Theranos, Marks & Spencer, Pizza Express, Heinz etc. After all, we learn most from mistakes ā and learning from other peopleās means we can hopefully avoid making them ourselves.
However, this time I want to write about a company thatās doing things well, a company that has an inspiring story, and hopefully one we can also learn just as much from – Gymshark.
How to Reach Peak Mental Fitness – Mindfulness For All Accountants
In this webinar, I wanted to give my views on how to keep a focused state of mind to increase your ability in both business and personal performance. I feel it is critical in stressful times to be able to de-stress, reenergize, and focus on the task at hand, especially during the current times of this webinar being recorded.
What you can learn from McMillion$ Monopoly scam
Iāve started watching McMillion$ on Sky. McMillion$ is the story of the McDonalds Monopoly scam that occurred between 1995 and 2001. Iām only a couple of episodes into it so I donāt know the full story yet but itās fascinating to watch and hear.
The Last Dance: Business lessons from Michael Jordanās Chicago Bulls
Listen to the article:
I was a huge Michael Jordan fan; I watched every game on Eurosport as a kid, I even had a full-sized poster of him in my room (next to Charles Barkley from the Phoenix Suns). But even if youāre not a basketball fan, if you havenāt seen The Last Dance, youāre missing out on one of the most inspiring sporting stories of all time.
How to lose Ā£650m revenue in a month | Primark Vs. COVID-19
Listen to the article:
Iām not going to dress this up ā physical retail has absolutely and definitively taken a complete beating in the last month.
What riding a bike can teach us about the life of an entrepreneur
I was recently out on my bike getting a bit of exercise and whilst out I had a few thoughts on how the countryside hills I was navigating had some parallels to being an entrepreneur running a business. The following are my thoughts I recorded while cycling that explains the challenges:
How we are approaching COVID-19 & how to safeguard your business
Hope you’re doing well and combatting any cabin fever you may be feeling working from home the past week! In this blog post I wanted to talk about how we are approaching COVID-19 at flinder & how you can safeguard your business in the months ahead.
An Important Message to our Clients
Here’s an important email that I sent out earlier today to flinder clients:
Dear all, following on from my note last Friday please see below additional business exercises to consider in these testing times. Businesses need to prepare for potential significant business disruption and adverse impact to demand (some may actually see an increase in demand depending on their sector).
How To Get to Sleep for Business Owners š“
Many entrepreneurs struggle to get enough sleep. Iām one of them ā my most creative thoughts come to me in the middle of the night. I can fall asleep within seconds of my head hitting the pillow but itās the 4 hours later that Iām literally wide awake with so many ideas running through my head. And so with that in mind, this weekās 3 things are all about sleepā¦.
A message from flinder on COVID-19
This is a note that I sent out to our clients earlier today in light of the recent developments with COVID-19.
Can Marks & Spencerās new CFO make his mark, and spark a return to the FTSE100?
Alastair Barlow examines the history of M&S leading up to its recent deterioration and loss of CFO Humphrey Singer.
flinder wins Mid-Sized Practice of The Year at IRIS Customer Services Awards 2020
flinder celebrated in style as they took home Mid-Sized Practice of the Year 2020 after experiencing unprecedented growth in the past 12 months.
HMVās Top Dog could be in the kennels once again
HMV has been in the news recently so I thought I would dig in a little deeper to see what was going on with its performance and strategy. Have a read below for my take on this once high-street super-giant!
How science & data beat intuition and how you can use it to your benefit | Moneyball
Moneyball is a 2011 American sports film based on Michael Lewis’s 2003 non-fiction book of the same name. Itās based on the true story of the Oakland Athletics baseball team’s 2002 season and their general manager Billy Beane’s attempts to assemble a competitive team using data!
How my customer experience at Snow & Rock can shape your business
Value is one of the most important concepts in business but too often we let price get in the way of seeing the value.
Read this inspirational and determined letter from Jeff Bezos to his shareholders in 1997
As we get back to work this week at the start of a new decade, many businesses (and people in general) will be thinking about objectives (or New Yearās resolutions) for the coming year. While the business side of this should have been done a long time ago, itās better late than never.
Creative accounting: Donāt put investors off
Finance is not a support function so donāt treat it that way: itās an enabler to making sound decisions and getting investment, so get your act together and stop putting investors off, writes triple Accounting Excellence award-winner Alastair Barlow.
Your 2020 ultimate structured strategy approach has arrived!
Happy New Year ā we hope itās a great one! What youāre about to read will flip all your goals for the next year upside down.
Airtable: The cool, new database on the block
Have you ever used Airtable?
If not, you’re missing out as there some incredible features that have changed how we work at flinder.
Here’s the low-down ššš
Here’s the low-down ššš
The power of segmentation with the three types of data in your business
I had an interesting conversation with a business this week about their data…
Iāve previously talked about our 4 Pillars of Effective DataĀ which you can read on ourĀ blog. At a high-level our model covers the following domains:
Does Pizza Express have enough dough?
Iām guessing most readers have either visited or at least have heard of Pizza Express. After all, they are on pretty much every high street across the country.
Lessons in real-time analytics from racing the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 simulator at Suzuka
written by alastair barlow [blog]
Last week I had the joyous experience of sitting in an F1 simulator ā the full on virtual reality version at Mercedes-Benz World. It was an incredible immersive experience whereby I actually felt like I was on the grid and racing the Suzuka circuit in Japan. Words just do not do justice to the experience!
How a coach and OKRs helped me run again
written by alastair barlow [blog]
I used to love running – I used to run a few times a week without fail. However, I hadnāt run a race for over 3 years until last Sunday. Normally, Iām pretty competitive but this time, I was just running to complete it.
Independent Firm of the Year ā Greater London | British Accountancy Awards 2019
written by alastair barlow [blog]
flinder wins Independent Firm of the Year ā Greater London at the British Accountancy Awards 2019. Sponsored by Accountancy Age Jobs
3 is the magic number! | Accounting Excellence Awards
written by alastair barlow [blog]
We recently attended the 2019 Accounting Excellence Awards in London where we won 3 ššš national awardsā¦
Heinz cans CFO: How not to Kraft a finance strategy
written by alastair barlow [blog]
Heinzās appointment of a 29-year-old non-accountant as CFO ultimately led to accounting errors, scandals and a plunging share price, and he was swiftly replaced. Alastair Barlow examines how modern finance leaders need to walk the fine line between control, compliance and performance management.
Patisserie Valerie: How to strip out the fat but leave the butter
written by alastair barlow [blog]
The Patisserie Valerie story is one that Hollywood could very well have written. After listing on AIM in 2014, Patisserie Valerie held a higher than industry-average price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, exhibited strong year-on-year growth and, just a year ago, had a valuation of approximately Ā£450m.
Why data is power: Our 4 Key Pillars of Effective Dataā¢
written by alastair barlow [blog]
If technology is the engine behind your business, processes, customer experience or even designs, then data is most certainly the new oil. While oil is there to make sure your engine runs smoothly, data is also a rich resource and powerful commodity the can drive your business performance.
Are all accounting firms born equal?
written by alastair barlow [blog]
Are all accounting firms born equal?Ā Not quite, hereās just one reason why we are differentā¦
I recently recorded a top tip with ACCA to share with other accountants (I have flashes of altruism) ā I realise that accountants and accounting firms are often viewed as the same with little differentiation.
This is how we view and transform the finance function.
written by alastair barlow [blog]
Every company has a talent, Apple make beautiful products, ,Google do search and Amazon delivers, well anythingā¦
While maybe not to the same scale, flinder transforms and runs finance functions!Ā
But how do we do this?Ā Itās all in our approach:Ā The flinder EffectĀ ā let me tell you moreā¦
First blood: What ambitious businesses can learn from Theranos
written by alastair barlow [blog]
The much-hyped startup Theranos raised hundreds of millions in investment all based on a lie. Ultimately, the story is about how growth targets can metastasise if not properly set and controlled. In this month’s AccountingWeb column, I dissect the case to extract a few key lessons for ambitious businesses.
6 steps to designing an awesome reporting blueprint that kicks-ass!
written by alastair barlow [blog]
Over the past 20 years, Iāve seen the good, the bad and the ugly of reporting. Thereās one theme I see time and time again; Finance teams produce what they think is relevant and stakeholders donāt really value what they are given. There is a huge mismatch between the two. But why?
Fyre Festival ā 4 lessons of a fraudster šø
written by alastair barlow [blog]
If you havenāt come across Fyre Festival (where have you been for the last 2 weeks?) it was an event (or a disaster) that was to be held on Pablo Escobarās island Great Exuma in the Bahamas in April 2017.Ā
How the Naked Chef got Caught with His Pants Down…
written by alastair barlow [blog]
The āNaked Chefā Jamie Oliver has seen his second restaurant group go down in flames with about 1,000 jobs lost. The sad collapse offers four key lessons for interested observers.
6 Key Principles of Leading Practice Management Information
written by alastair barlow [blog]
I recently gave a talk onĀ How to be a Kick-Ass CFO at Accountex in London (Europeās largest accounting conference). Most of my presentation circled around improving management information.
We won a marketing award! Here’s how we did it.
written by alastair barlow [blog]
At this year’s Accountex our efforts paid off when we won ‘Best Personal Brand‘ at theĀ British Accounting Marketing Awards! In this newsletter we want to give you some insight into how we achieved this fantastic award to help you increase your own awareness.
Here’s the top lessons from Accountex
written by alastair barlow [blog]
The past couple of days Iāve attended AccountexĀ in London and Iām exhausted from it! If you read my previous newsletter on management lessons from my fitbitĀ I absolutely smashed my steps over the 2 days and my calories target ā I actually burned 4,000 calories on day 1 from walking around. It really is on a huge scale!
[…]
management lessons from my fitbit
written by alastair barlow [blog]
Iāve had a personal trainer for about 18 months now ā heās awesome. Weāve worked hard together (more so me!) to shift some of the fat I put on post ankle surgery (invasive micro-fracture surgery on my ankle where my cartilage had pretty much disintegrated). It turns out running is not that great for you after all!
[…]
sign up to our newsletter to receive blog and podcast updates
about us stuff
the real stuff
