Accountants Haines Watts’ Bristol office managing partner has been appointed to the board responsible for the firm’s nationwide expansion.
Matthew Bracher is one of just four Haines Watts partners tasked with restructuring the specialist SME firm following the acquisition of the London and Birmingham elements of the organisation last month.
Matthew, pictured, left, with fellow board members Stephen Lucey from Cardiff, Donna Bulmer, the group managing partner based in Newcastle, and Ben Loveday from Reading, joins the new board as the firm looks to focus on growth in regional conurbations around the UK.
In the South West – where its presence stretches from Cornwall to Swindon – the company is expected to target the business communities already covered by its existing offices as well as developing the Haines Watts offering into new locations.
Matthew said: “It’s great news for small and medium-sized businesses both in existing locations and in areas where we don’t currently have a presence,” he said.
“The restructure will see our offices in each region working more closely together, so we can refine our client offering in terms of sharing expertise, skills and knowledge.”
The board will also look to develop the overall Haines Watts business to increasingly reflect the emerging needs and priorities of its clients, with a focus on regional characteristics as well as solutions to generic business challenges.
Matthew added: “I’m personally looking forward to having a louder voice to support the South West SME community within the Haines Watts group and to providing our existing and future client base with a consistent, quality business advisory service from across all our regional offices.
“I’m also looking forward to having a greater influence over the strategic direction of what we do and how we work with our clients.
“Ultimately, our success as a business is completely dependent on providing what our clients want.
“Our future growth is driven by our ability to deliver quality advice, excellent service and through trusted relationships with our clients., who are our greatest advocates.”
Haines Watts is an association of independent firms operating under a joint brand. Prior to the recent acquisition its 60 offices nationwide had a combined turnover of £105m.
Nationwide, it is now targeting 20% annual growth for the next three to five years in order to maintain its top 20 national ranking.
Its Bristol office has grown rapidly over the past three years, with staff numbers rising from 20 to 55 and turnover trebling.
Turnover is on target to rise further – by around 20% – to £4.7m during the current financial year.
Matthew said the new national board would also oversee greater sharing of skills and knowledge around the joint client base, as well as the regionalisation of support services to more fully reflect the increasing collaboration between the regional offices.
“A prime concern for most of our clients is that we maintain our personal relationships with them, so that they can have trust in what we do,” he added.
“From my involvement on a national basis, I can have a much greater say in group policy as to how we enhance those relationships and that trust.
“The South West has some brilliant businesses offering pioneering, nationally-relevant products and services.
“We’re going to proudly continue to support them and ensure that we are effectively structured to enable other entrepreneurs and SMEs to take advantage of our expertise.”
