{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2Fc41eb8cc-e79e-410f-adbe-097fb4ef74cd","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"","title":"Expert Interview Highlights: Will Farnell (Bestselling Author - The Digital Firm)","description":"Episode 35. On today's episode, Rob Brown of the Accountants Influencers Podcast interviews Will Farnell on the important components of growth for accounting practices in a digital world.\n\nWill Farnell is a former record shop owner and band manager who then worked in a Big Four firm advising predominantly public sector bodies on efficiency and process improvement. In 2007. he founded Farnell Clarke, an award-winning innovative UK accounting firm in 2007 which was one of the first globally to fully adopt cloud accounting technology.\n\nWill is now a global authority on digital-based strategies for practice growth. He wrote \u2018The Digital Firm\u2019, a blueprint for digital transformation and provides consulting services to support firms in becoming a digital practice.\n\nKey shownotes from the whole interview include:\n\n\u25c6 The journey to writing the popular accounting practice book 'The \n\nDigital Firm'\n\n\u25c6 The ultimate definition of a digital accounting firm and the two key areas it covers\n\n\u25c6 Who leads the world in accounting practice digital and cloud adoption, and who is still catching up \n\n\u25c6 Why many accountancy firms who claim to be digital are actually just 'playing at it'\n\n\u25c6 How a digital firm embraces both people and technology to evolve into a 'human firm'\n\n\u25c6 The key difference between accountants in the UK and the CPAs in North America\n\n\u25c6 The key drivers of digital transformation in accountancy practices\n\n\u25c6 What will happen to accounting firms who fail to adapt to change, refuse to evolve and back away from digital reform\n\n\u25c6 The number one reason accounting professionals should want to change, and it's not profits or government regulation\n\n\u25c6 Why accounting firm succession is such a big issue right now\n\n\u25c6 The choices millennials have to invest in an accounting practice\n\n\u25c6 The critical factors that effect the sale value of an accounting firm\n\n\u25c6 Comments on the private equity and venture capital companies moving into the accounting sector to buy firms\n\n\u25c6 The difference between growing an accounting practice and scaling one\n\n\u25c6 What accountancy firms need to do to create more value for potential buyers and become more commercial\n\n\u25c6 The importance of vision and values to build a structure that scales an accounting practice\n\n\u25c6 Blending process, people and technology to deliver success in accounting firms\n\n\u25c6 Different ways to define growth in an accountancy practice or CPA firm\n\n\u25c6 What defines a good client experience for accounting professionals\n\n\u25c6 Questions accountants should ask themselves if they want to give their clients a better experience\n\n\u25c6 The importance for accountants of touchpoints to make clients feel valued and emotionally engaged\n\n\u25c6 The role technology plays for accounting practices in creating a better client experience\n\n\u25c6 Cutting through the compliance vz advisory debate by defining what each one really means\n\n\u25c6 The business landscape in the UK (and probably similar in other countries) and what it means for growing accounting firms\n\n\u25c6 Asking how relevant accountants are to many small businesses\n\n\u25c6 Words of advice for accounting firm leaders to be successful in these challenging times\n\nWhen not working, you'll find Will somewhere near water on anything that floats, but ideally a sailing boat with the family.\n\nGuestname on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/willfarnell\n\nGuestname website: www.willfarnell.com\n\nNOTE TO LISTENERS:\n\nThis is a condensed highlights version of the full interview (usually 20-30 mins long), which you can catch as a bonus episode at the weekend.\n\nMartin and Rob love to hear from the show's 5000+ listeners in 138 countries around the world. If you have any questions, suggestions, comments or success stories, just type sayhi.chat/aip into your browser and leave us a quick and easy voice message. We may just feature you on the show!","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/8a09c545-5079-4335-b355-9c0723f1b832/CuUDezatwDY_VvSQLJA_vr8D.jpg"}