From:  Mark Lawson
To: All Team members
Subject:  Starting now - Bold Ambition & Our Core

Team,

As we head in the middle months of our tax year, I want to thank you all for your contributions this past year.

I'm proud in what we have collectively achieved, even as we faced challenges with growth of new clients, and changing technology.

Our industry while based on tradition, does not respect tradition - it only respects knowledge.  To advance this knowledge, you must understand our soul , our unique core.  We must understand what only Lawson Accounting Team can contribute to the clients and the region. 

Our clients

Our clients mainly start there journey with us wanting us to manage their taxation.  What they discover is that our relationship is more complex and more varied.  From a simple GST return grows the prepare monthly reports and charts, to annual reports and budgets, to strategy discussions on buying, selling and succeeding their businesses. 

No one team member can provide all of the service to even one of the clients.  The one team member must reach out to the team and that is you.  In our practice, knowledge is stored in both physical files and human memories, it is both accessed and shared, and it is the core of our relationship.

Technology

I entered this business at the start of computer revolution.  The practices first computer was the price of a modest house. In those times we charged computer time at a rate similar to that of a team member. Now we see our computer systems, just as a tool.  While you will have access to the very best software and equipment, the value of these tool, comes only from the output.  It is expected to be both quick and accurate.  This is a given.

Those tools are designed to do one thing.  Give you access to information that you can share with the clients and the others in the team.

 Many decades ago I read this IBM advertisement.  It went

“Knowledge is the most important tool mankind has created and it is too valuable not to share.

— IBM advertisement - 1970

We have a rich heritage of helping clients getting done.  We help them with stuff, like monthly reports and staff wages.  We plan their taxes and produce annual reports.  On this foundation we will grow. 

We have the ability to harmonise, the needs of the client, the Inland Revenue and other statutory bodies using the best tools.  We will strive to get things done with our technology,   

We will help the clients understand the numbers, and with them grow.  Reflecting this change is our tag line,  

“Getting down to business.

— Our tag line

We will spend less time on processing data.  Now the real focus is on discussing the results.  That is what the clients have always wanted from us.

The goal post

I want you to be recognised as belonging to one of the best provincial accounting practices.  This is my big, hairy, audacious goal, 

It is not about just having good equipment and the latest software. It is about creating an ethos in the building, where the staff and clients believe that collaboration will make a difference to their lives and prosperity, and they can see this from the moment they walk in the door.

This year I have invested heavily in stylizing the building.  The boardoom becomes a conference room, the back room a private interview area. The grey canvas, will highlight the artworks and images. The difference while striking, is a part of a long term commitment to build a innovative and imaginative workplace.

We have the courage to take this opportunity.  As we work into the final half of the year, the transformation will be everywhere, and notably it will come from within.