Porter Garland

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by Porter Garland's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from Porter Garland is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles

www.portergarland.co.uk

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

28 | PORTER GARLAND

Director Amanda Williams

Porter Garland is a firm of chartered accountants based

in Camberley, Surrey, who pride themselves on being

the local chartered accountants of choice, serving

Camberley, Frimley, Farnborough, Aldershot, Farnham, Fleet

and the surrounding area. It was formed over 50 years ago,

and the current custodians of the business, Directors Amanda

Williams FCA and Thomas Pottinger FCA, are passionate

about its continuing success and ensuring the legacy can be

passed on in the future. They both believe that longevity in

client relationships is key to “Nurturing Client Growth” (their

slogan).Porter Garland’s mission is to work in close partnership

with clients, providing proactive,forward-thinking advice on

accounting, taxation and finance matters to individuals and to

the owners of small and medium-sized businesses. Expanding

upon these and other topics, Amanda and Thomas write

thefollowing.

We are passionate about our people and our clients. Once they are with us, they

usually stay for a long time. This is important to us, as we believe it is at the very

heart of the outstanding service that we deliver year after year.As an owner-

managed business, just like our clients, Porter Garland provides a hands-on service

from a team of accounting professionals.

Key to the ongoing success of our business is not only “Nurturing Client Growth”

but also nurturing our own company growth, as well as that of our staff.Each year,

Porter Garland achieves financial growth, with 2018 being a record year for us both

in financial terms and in terms of team expansion, achieving increases of nearly 20

per cent in income and 30 per cent in net profit.

Nurturing company growth

It is vital to be forward-thinking and proactive to generate new business, and not

to rely only on organic growth.Five years ago, Porter Garland had just a website,

which in effect acted as an online company brochure.At this point, we realised

we needed to invest in marketing rather than relying solely on reputation, word of

mouth and repeat business.

Therefore, Susy Brooks joined the firm on a part-time basis. Susy was a marketing

consultant with over 20 years’ experience in PR and marketing, and was previously

the operations director for a distinguished high-tech PR firm in Farnham. She

became responsible for refreshing the brand with a new logo and website and

focusing on building the firm’s online presence.Now, with a successful SEO

AT A GLANCE

PORTER GARLAND

»Co-directors: Amanda Williams

and Thomas Pottinger

»Established in 1964

»Based in Camberley, Surrey

»Services: Accountancy

»No. of employees: 12

»www.portergarland.co.uk

Porter Garland

29PORTER GARLAND |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2019

campaign and a top ranking on

Google, most of Porter Garland’s

new clients come from online search,

social media, networking and direct

marketing, and because of this we

have taken on 175 new clients in the

past two years.

Nurturing young talent

Also important to us is our team.

The majority of our staff members

have been with the firm for at least

ten years, and we are delighted

to have recently embarked on a

programme to bring on young,

enthusiastic talent via trainee and

apprenticeshipprogrammes. 

Our most recent recruit, Lucy Rogers,

joined the firm as an AAT apprentice in

September 2017 and, with nurturing

and support, has gone from strength

to strength. With the rising costs of

going to university, apprenticeships

offer a debt-free, direct route into

employment as well as a fast track

toqualifying.

With her apprenticeship, Lucy was

able to start earning straight away,

while getting the same benefits as an

employee, a holiday allowance and

an early start to pension provision.

Lucy’s apprenticeship has already

moved on from a one-year course to

a three-to-four-year apprenticeship

programme. At the end of this, she

will qualify as a chartered accountant

with a well-rounded set of skills and

experience, making her a highly

desirableemployee.

Nurturing community relations

As a small business looking to re-build

a brand in the local community, we

also feel it is important to support

local businesses, groups and charitable

organisations. We do this in a number

of ways, including sponsoring the

Camberley cricket and rugby clubs,

holding Macmillan coffee mornings,

exhibiting and networking at local

business exhibitions, offering support

at the Citizens Advice Bureau and

sponsoring charity events. For example,

in October we sponsored a local

“Charity Fun Run” and also took

part in it, wearing the Porter Garland

t-shirts.

Nurturing client growth

Ensuring client growth is key to the

success of our business. Several of

our clients put their success down to

the support that we provide, and in

this respect, Mark Bartlett of Signbox

Limited said the following about us:

“ Porter Garland has provided

Signbox with a broad range of

accountancy services for nearly

30 years. From our payroll to

full accounts and tax planning,

their service is first class, and

from the early days, they

instilled a financial discipline

to sustain growth, even

throughrecession.

Making Tax Digital and online

technology

Another step we felt was necessary

for the future support of our clients

was to ensure we had Sage One

and QuickBooks Online capability,

and to this end we put the entire

team through a training session last

Spring.It is vital that we get in early

to help our clients prepare for MTD

(Making Tax Digital), which is due to

go live for all VAT-registered businesses

in April 2019, with the minimum

disruption to their busy working lives.

By adhering to the approaches

mentioned in this article, we believe

good things lie in store for Porter

Garland. Integral to this success will be

a continued commitment to keeping

up with the digital times.

Director Thomas Pottinger

The majority

of our staff

members have

been with the

firm for at

least ten years

“

www.portergarland.co.uk

This article was sponsored by Porter Garland. The Parliamentary Review is wholly funded by the representatives who write for it. The publication in which this article originally appeared contained the following foreword from Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng

This year’s Parliamentary Review reflects on a tumultuous and extraordinary year, globally and nationally. As well as being an MP, I am a keen student of history, and I am conscious that 2020 would mark the end of an era. It will be remembered as the year in which we concluded Brexit negotiations and finally left the European Union. Above all, it will be remembered as the year of Covid-19.

In our fight against the pandemic, I am delighted that our vaccination programme is beginning to turn the tide – and I pay tribute to the British businesses, scientists and all those who have helped us to achieve this. But the virus has dealt enormous damage, and we now have a duty to rebuild our economy.

We must ensure that businesses are protected. We have made more than £350 billion available to that end, with grants, business rates relief and our furlough scheme supporting more than 11 million people and jobs in every corner of the country, maintaining livelihoods while easing the pressure on employers. The next step is to work with business to build back better and greener, putting the net zero carbon challenge at the heart of our recovery. This is a complex undertaking, but one which I hope will be recognised as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Through the prime minister’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution, we can level up every region of the UK, supporting 250,000 green jobs while we accelerate our progress towards net zero carbon emissions.

With our commitment to raise R&D spending to 2.4% of GDP and the creation of the Advanced Research & Invention Agency, we are empowering our fantastic researchers to take on groundbreaking research, delivering funding with flexibility and speed. With this approach, innovators will be able to work with our traditional industrial heartlands to explore new technologies, and design and manufacture the products on which the future will be built – ready for export around the globe.

And I believe trade will flourish. We are a leading nation in the fight against climate change. As the host of COP26 this year, we have an incredible opportunity to market our low-carbon products and expertise. Our departure from the EU gives us the chance to be a champion of truly global free trade; we have already signed trade deals with more than 60 countries around the world.

As we turn the page and leave 2020 behind, I am excited about the new chapter which Britain is now writing for itself, and for the opportunities which lie ahead of us.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy