
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
apprenticeshipprogrammes.
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
toqualifying.
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
desirableemployee.
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
throughrecession.
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
“
“