ACCOUNTANTS GUIDE CLIENTS TO £25m WORTH OF COVID GRANTS AND LOANS

Scottish accountancy firm, Douglas Home & Company, has reported steady growth despite the pandemic.

As well as recording a 4% rise in turnover to £4m for the financial year 2020/21, the tax specialist also maintained client numbers and headcount.

At the peak of the pandemic the firm realised clients were bamboozled by the rapidly changing business implications and constant barrage of information.

So, within a few hours of every Government announcement it issued updates clearly explaining the implications, by sector.

Those updates included helpful links for loan and grant applications.

The firm estimates that around 90% of its 3100 clients made some sort of application as a result, collecting grant or loan payments estimated to be more than £25 million.

With its headquarters in Kelso in the Scottish Borders, Douglas Home & Company has expanded significantly since it was established in 1983, developing from a predominantly rural-focused practice into a modern and dynamic operation serving a large range of business and corporates.

Darren Thomson, managing director of the 70-strong firm, which has eight offices across Scotland and northern England, said: “In common with virtually every other business in the country, we’ve faced headwinds and worries over this challenging year.

“Given that, it’s easy to understand why everyone at the firm is so pleased that we’ve managed to weather what’s been thrown at us, while actually maintaining some modest growth. I can’t praise our team highly enough for the herculean effort and commitment they’ve shown to get us here.”

Mr Thomson believes the company’s ethos of providing a more personalised service than major players, yet a more expansive range of services than smaller practices, has proved to be a source of resilience during the pandemic.

He added: “Of course there is room in the market for firms of all sizes. But we believe there is a sweet spot between niche practices which offer a highly personalised service and the big four who are more impersonal, but offer a huge range of services.

“It’s a tricky path to negotiate because it is dependent on achieving a certain scale while still maintaining personal relationships with clients.

“That saw us proactively supporting and advising our clients, rather than waiting for them to come to us. As a result, we ended up processing 2000 furlough claims.

“We also launched a new app which is free to our clients. It makes it simple to store virtual receipts, log mileage in real-time and also provides easy access to plenty of useful tax and accountancy advice.”