ENTREPRENEURIAL chartered accountants and business advisers UNW LLP – who have grown every year for the last 10 years – have once again cemented their position of delivering long term, sustainable growth after reporting a 10% rise in turnover.
In the six months to September 2015, Newcastle-based UNW delivered an annualised revenue rate of more than £8m.
The firm, which says it never actively pursues revenue growth, attributes its track record over the last decade to adding value to its clients, developing and looking after its people and being entrepreneurial in its own right.
The news comes after UNW’s corporate finance team reported a record-breaking first quarter of this year, having completed an unprecedented number of deals with a combined transactional value of around £100m.
As well as winning work across all the traditional lines of tax, audit, corporate finance and accounting services, the St. James’ Boulevard business has also established innovative new services, such as its Strategic Talent, Forensics and Outsourcing divisions, not traditionally associated with chartered accountancy practices.
Now UNW say they are as optimistic for future growth as they have been at “any time in the last five years” as the market recovery filters through to its clients’ confidence, activities and growth plans.
UNW LLP managing partner Andrew Wilson said: “We have grown in every single one of the last 10 years, despite the recession, but we have never chased revenue growth. For us, it’s about looking after our clients and our people and then growth has followed naturally.
“We have consistently managed to win work across all the traditional service lines but we have also heavily invested in new people and services too. This strategy has been driven by a desire to meet our clients’ needs
“We have done things like establish a Strategic Talent team so we can help our clients recruit and retain board and senior management team members. That’s not what some expect a chartered accountancy firm to do but it has worked because we have demonstrated a willingness to understand our clients’ businesses and support them with their plans.
“It’s all about working with our clients and delivering a UNW team with breadth, we never adopt a one-size-fits-all approach and tailor our offering to each client. We aspire to be the best at what we do, and are happy to be judged by our clients and team members in this regard.”
In order to keep up with the significant growth the firm has experienced in recent years, UNW has recently recruited for a number of high quality roles across the firm and the team is now more than 100 strong.
UNW, whose client list includes many locally based entrepreneurial businesses, is also committed to investing in young talent, and has successfully developed its own in-house training, graduate and apprentice schemes.
Mr Wilson said: “In terms of future growth, our clients are certainly more optimistic than they have been for a while and have started to invest and develop more exciting business plans than at any stage in the last five years.
“So that’s exciting for us too because, generally speaking, when our clients are busy and considering expansion plans that creates more opportunities for us.
“But what we have always been interested in is long term, sustainable growth shown through our commitment to developing people, attracting and retaining talent, investing in the brand, IT and systems, solely to help us to serve our clients more efficiently and effectively.
“We believe we have a decent foundation here, and yes, we can scale it further. But we know that we will only do that by continuing to place personal relationships at the heart of everything we do and continuing to build a team that can really deliver to our clients.”
