A Practice Poised for Growth
Author:
Daisy Downes
Continuing our series talking to younger members of the ICAI we headed out to the Sandyford business park to visit three thirty-something CAs set on growing their practice far and fast over the next five years.
A brush with cancer several years ago sharpened the focus for Tim O'Reilly (35), Managing Partner of MKO Partners. Initially a sole practitioner, he took the partnership plunge with former Deloitte Senior Managers, Frank Keane and Alastair MacDonald. It is a decision he’s proud of. The firm has grown rapidly and now has a staff of 16 targeting specialised industries such as property, legal, and healthcare as well as emerging entrepreneurs ; private clients; and corporate services. The vision is to grow to five or seven partners over the next five years and to increase overall staff numbers to 50+. Tim was inspired a few years ago by a presentation given by David Simpson at an ICAI conference and says he plans to retire from practice when he reaches 50. In succession planning, vision, focus, and getting the business working right are critical. That is why MKO Partners focus on three things:
- Clients,
- Profits, and
- Staff
CLIENTS
The firm’s corporate clients include some significant multinationals for whom MKO Partners provide corporate and transaction services. Other services the firm offers clients include investment advice, project management consulting, forensic accounting and litigation support as well as more traditional offerings on the compliance side like accounting, tax and company law.
The Sandyford business park on the southside of Dublin is an area that has seen huge change over the last few years. New hotels, a hospital and some of the largest names in national and international business are located there. Based in The Courtyard Building, MKO Partners is at the hub of this activity and Tim is well placed to comment on the impact at the coalface of some of the initiatives that have absorbed the accountancy profession over the last few years - issues like the recent lobbying initiative on legal protection for the term ‘accountant’.
“Changes in the regulatory environment and accounting standards have been hugely important for us. It is one of those areas where corporate clients have come to us for information and advice and we have been able to sell our skills on a range of issues that they might not want or be ready to discuss with their auditor. Sarbanes Oxley was also really important for us. It opened up tremendous opportunities. The key thing is to make sure we have smart people with the skills to take advantage of those opportunities”. “Protecting the term ‘accountant’ is also very important and we are supportive of the campaigning that the ICAI has done . Like most practitioners we have on occasion been called in to sort out problems that have been created, or at least contributed to, by clients having used unqualified advisers. Simple mistakes like late filing of tax returns, or annual returns, can have serious consequences for a client”.
On the private client front, MKO Partners deal with individuals who have accumulated significant wealth over the last few years and who are prepared to pay for good advice.
Often the services these clients require are straightforward like - tax returns or investment advice.
“It’s all about excellence and caring to to the extra mile for a client.”
PROFITS
According to Tim who had four years as a sole practitioner before setting up with Frank and Alastair, there is greater satisfaction, a better buzz, and a lot more money in partnership. On the money front, he says: “Scoping and agreeing fees in advance is important. We are continuously working to improve the way we deliver services as well as how we manage our workflow and communicate with clients.
Although only about 10% of MKO Partners’ work is audit Tim says that the auditor’s skills are the bed rock on which a lot of the firm’s service offering is founded - whether that is forensic accounting, or project management, or consulting.
While Tim is positive about the benefits of partnership, it can’t be sweetness and light all the time. As a sole practitioner he would have been used to having things his own way. I asked him how difficult it is to iron out differences between partners when issues or egos collide.
“Sole practitioners often hesitate about partnership because they don’t want to share their fee income but there is more money to be made when you are part of a dynamic and focused team. You have the capacity to take on more work - to do things a sole practitioner wouldn’t have the resources to do. Of course we have differences from time to time - that is human nature - but we share a purpose and vision and we put a lot of time into making sure that we keep that focus. We have a 3 hour partners’ meeting every week. When problems arise they get thrashed out at the executive meeting. Some people think that three hours a week is a huge commitment of non-chargeable hours but those meetings are where we share ideas, discuss work and staffing issues, and look at what we are doing in the firm. It is not chargeable time but we get great benefit from it.”
STAFF
MKO Partners has a staff of 16 and plans to grow that significantly over the next 5 years. In practice, it is not untypical for partners to put in 70 hours in a week, Tim says: “I aim to work a 40 hour week but realistically it tends to be between 45 and 50 - more when clients need it. We want to make sure our people develop and enjoy their work. Having smart people is very important, for example we couldn’t offer corporate accounting services without that, so we put a lot of emphasis on developing people. Partnership is open to everyone in the firm if they want it and if they can demonstrate that they fit our culture, add value to our clients, and will advance the business and make more money! We support staff by, for example, having monthly learning afternoons which everyone attends. We discuss staff and client feedback and brainstorm ideas on how we can improve what we are doing. We cover CPD topics, and we have dedicated presentations by staff and we discuss market opportunities.. Everyone is encouraged to develop their presentation and business advisory skills.”
What would Tim advise anyone thinking of going into practice?
“Be positive and seek excellence all the time.”
And go for a partnership?
“Definitely”.