Audit, accountancy, tax and advisory firm Bishop Fleming has swept the board in a prestigious sector awards scheme, being crowned the winner in four categories, while Albert Goodman was also among the winners.
Bishop Fleming, which has the largest of its eight offices in Bristol, landed the flagship Large Firm of the Year accolade at the Accounting Excellence Awards 2024, with its haul on the night also including the awards for Employer of the Year (Medium and Large Company, Client Service (Medium and Large Firms), AccountingWEB Pride – ESG (Medium to Large Firms).
No other firm went home from the awards ceremony, pictured, at the iconic Roundhouse in Camden, London, with as many trophies – a fact Bishop Fleming said demonstrated its strength, quality and client vision along with the defining qualities that help it stand out in a highly competitive market.
The team at Albert Goodman, pictured below, picked up the Marketing Campaign of the Year title for its campaign ‘Accountancy which covers everything from A-G-Z’ featuring a series of stories of intriguing clients and their dynamic companies, to show how good advice is supporting a diversity of people and business.
Bishop Fleming managing partner Andrew Sandiford, pictured below, said: “To be awarded not just one, but all four awards that we were shortlisted for, is an amazing result for Bishop Fleming and everyone who works here.
“It is our firm’s ambition to be ‘the most rewarding firm in the UK for our clients, our people and our communities’, and to have all three of these areas recognised makes me incredibly proud. And to be crowned Large Firm of the Year too simply tops it all off.”
Three of the category awards were particularly notable, recognising the firm’s achievements in these areas, he said.
The Large Employer of the Year Award follows a stream of recent successes for the firm, including being recertified as a Great Place To Work, having its record-breaking apprentice programme listed among the very best in the UK’s Top 100 Apprentice Employer rankings, and then officially rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted.
Bishop Fleming partner and chief people officer Anna Averis said: “It caps off an amazing year of achievements and truly reflects the hard work we have delivered to attract and retain the very best people.”
The firm topped a five-strong shortlist to win the Large Firm of the Year title, with the judges saying they were impressed by how Bishop Fleming demonstrated “a clear, focused strategy with its five-year plan to double in size and detailed how it is going to resource this.”
They added: “It honed in on the importance of investing in its systems to enable growth and underlined throughout its entry its commitment to responsible business and being a force for good.”
The award for Pride – ESG (environmental, social and governance) reflected Bishop Fleming’s demonstration of a successful internal ESG strategy, its head of responsible business Ewan McClymont said.
He added: “We have prided ourselves in operating responsibly for many years, but we have really accelerated our strategy to deliver a healthy business, healthy communities and a healthy environment over the last three years.
“This award is fantastic recognition of our commitment to be a responsible business.
“This year we have innovated with the launch of our One Per Cent for Communities pledge – an ambition to record activities, volunteering and fundraising valued to one per cent of our annual turnover, and later this month we will deliver our third annual impact review, charting our ESG journey.”
The award for Client Service was based on Bishop Fleming’s demonstration of its strategies that enable its team to deliver exemplary client service and build its service vision into the fabric of its firm.
Chief marketing officer Paul Seymour said: “As a client-based business, it goes without saying that we are committed to delivering exceptional service.
“But it is our innovative work in this area, including our Engage client listening programme, combined with our guiding values such as ‘We think client’ and ‘We put relationships at the heart’, which has really enabled us to drive continuous improvement, deliver above sector average NPS scores and ultimately better growth for our business.”
Bishop Fleming, which has 40 partners and nearly 500 staff and also has offices in Bristol, Cheltenham, Exeter, Plymouth, Torquay, Truro and Worcester, recently announced another financial year of double-digit growth and revenue to over £43.1m.
Albert Goodman marketing director Robin Clempson said: “This award is a real highlight for us. Our marketing team work tirelessly throughout the year across events, campaigns and media to get the word out about our heritage, our people, our independence.
“Our job is to capture and articulate the ethos of the company as a business which takes a personal approach to every client.
“Through this campaign we were able to bring out some fascinating businesses and personalities and tell their stories in an engaging and creating way.
“I’m really proud of how we delivered this and that is has been recognised in this way.”
During its last financial year Albert Goodman grew its revenue by 17% to £21.4m, made 41 new appointments, including 32 trainees, and relocated its Bristol base from a small hub in Westbury-on-Trym to a 3,000 sq ft office on King Street in the city centre.
In addition, the 158-year-old, Taunton-headquartered firm, which also has offices in Yeovil, Weymouth and Weston-super-Mare, secured a coveted B Corp accreditation in recognition of its pursuit of purpose as well as profit.
