Is Arnaud Westphal the most charming Accountant in the world?
Business Accountancy is no joking matter, after all nobody wants a comedian advising them about financial matters and let’s face it, if we want laughs we can always go to a Gag House Comedy event.
However, Here at BNI Guildford we have proof positive that an accountant can be both professional and witty, thoughtful and engaging…diligent, as well as sharp as a tack.
This week’s feature presentation was delivered by ten-year member Arnaud Westphal, Managing Director of Horsley based accountancy practice, Centora.
Following a brief introduction touching on his family, the Centora team and his love for horses and sailing (not at the same time he assured us), Arnaud went on to tell us more about his work, primarily focusing on the services that his company offers to Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SME’s).
In addition to the ‘traditional’ services such as year-end accounts, company tax and VAT compliance expected of any well-established accountancy practice, Centora also provide business advice and in order to do so, they look at every client case in a holistic manner. By approaching business in this way, Centora are able to be more proactive, not simply waiting for client instruction but actually prompting and suggesting ways to help.
This management advice might take the form of suggesting ways to improve company structure, the introduction of appropriate systems and software or possibly looking at the personal tax liability of business owners and proposing ways of efficiently simplifying processes and procedures.
This is Positive Accountancy and it has been helping Centora clients since 2003, the year that Arnaud started his business.
Centora are a Gold Partner of Xero…in fact Arnaud is a bit of a ‘Xero Hero’ to his clients, installing software, providing training and of course keeping a watchful eye over proceedings. Making Tax Digital has been a concern for many SME’s but with Arnaud’s help, companies of all shapes and sizes have embraced the new technology and enjoyed the very many benefits associated with the system.
Arnaud went on to give us a case study which demonstrated how effective his sound advice can be and the depth into which the Centora service goes. The un-named company was performing ‘nicely’ but, in the words of many a school report they ‘could do better’.
And better they did, the numbers showed a staggering growth in turnover and profit, all as a result of the introduction of sensible systems and reporting procedures. Of course there was much more to the actual detail but Arnaud, as well as being charming is also supremely discrete and wild horses would not drag any shred of personal information from him.
There was time for a single question at the end of the presentation and this came from Bill Kinmonth, owner of FMR Recruitment who asked about referring potential clients to Arnaud.
‘Where do you start with a potential new client?’
With a chat, hopefully over a cup of coffee but always very informal, ours is a serious business but that does not mean that we are stuffy or unapproachable, it’s my job to make sense of an often complicated and sometimes sensitive subject.
Please visit www.centora.com or call 01276 300103 if you would like to know more about Arnaud and the Centora team.
