Simon Read of Accountants for Sale is looking forward to 2024!

We’re halfway through January and the temperature has dropped dramatically. This month we’re talking to small business owners about their plans for the month and the year.

Today we’re talking to Simon Read of Accountants for Sale. Simon is a business broker, specialising in the sale and acquisition of accountancy practices across the UK.

What big things are you looking forward to in 2024?
2024 is all set to be a great year with a huge amount of buying and selling activity within the Accountancy space, and we are looking forward to helping firms looking to sell up and find suitable acquirers who will be a good match for them and their clients. I will also be busy with Financial Careers, a Specialist Financial Recruitment business.  As we saw in 2023, the number of vacancies will continue to be down as the economy flatlines. However, the demand for niche skills and quality candidates will continue to be strong.

From a personal perspective, I am very much looking forward to the Spring and better weather. I spent most of 2023 hobbling around with a torn knee cartilage, and following surgery last Sept, I am looking forward to getting back on the golf course.

Can you share your business ethics for 2024? How do you want your brand to come across?
Being clear and transparent has always been key for me in my business life. Much of my business comes from referral and recommendation, so looking after our clients is paramount. I want ‘Accountants For Sale’ to be a leader in the business broker market place and to be recognised as such. Our strapline is ‘Bringing Buyers and Sellers together’

What are you planning to do differently, or better, in 2024?

• We have a new CRM system which will help us to tailor and target our marketing more effectively.  
• Face to Face networking will be increasing through Cotswold Networking, who are launching new groups in Bath and Chipping Norton in 2024. I am also a member of Fore Biz golf networking in Swindon and across the Southwest, and with Thames Valley Chamber Of Commerce, it will be busy!

What are you doing for charity or community this year?
Supporting small local charities is of great interest to us and we will certainly be looking to do our bit. 

This year will be a big year of sport – most notably the Olympics and Paralympics? If you enjoy these events can you name those moments you watched/experienced which have stayed with you? Why?
Sport is the one thing which still manages to unite us all.  There are so many amazing sporting moments we have all enjoyed, but in terms of the Olympics who can forget Super Saturday in 2012 when Jessica Ennis, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah all won golds in that amazing 40 minutes or so.

There are multiple ‘awareness’ days & weeks & months in January 2024 – could you pick just one and say why you’ll be engaging with it?
I’ll be starting the year off well and taking part in Dry January and hopefully shifting some pounds!

 Find out more about Accountants for Sale at https://accountantsforsale.co.uk/