In this section of the website, we introduce you to one of our firms. Up next is MGA, run by Director Michael Ghersie and his team. Read his answers to get to know him and the firm.
What do you like about working for your firm?
“I like to get my clients to first focus on what they actually want from their working life. I can then better help them add value and develop their businesses in the best way to get them to where they want to be. It’s always satisfying to help them make more money, whilst also achieving the balance between work and the lifestyle they are looking for.”
What are in your words the strengths of your firm?
“We are first and foremost ‘business people’ with over 40 years of experience in running our own businesses outside accounting and finance – in the UK and overseas. We know how difficult it can be running your own business, all too often with advisors who have no hands-on business experience to advise you when the going gets tough. We focus on training our staff on business – how to make a business work and be more successful. With the increasing automation of accounting systems and the use of AI, accounting looks after itself more than ever before, allowing us to add the business added value for our clients.”
“Accountancy is only a small part of being a trusted business advisor to your clients.”
Michael Ghersie, Director
What is the most valuable lesson you have learned at your firm?
“That accountancy is only a small part of being a trusted business advisor to your clients. You need to have real commercial experience of running a business outside accountancy and to have seen how a business operates and how easy it is to make mistakes. Accounts tell you what has happened in the past and not what might happen in the future. Accountancy training shows you how to produce technically accurate accounts. Accountancy does not train you about the realities of running a business – strategy, analysing risks and understanding market trends. It does not teach you how to think outside the box, which can be the difference between success and failure.”
What is the most rewarding experience you have had at your firm so far?
“Advising a small local firm where the owner had just died, leaving the very inexperienced family wondering how they were going to manage the business which they had minimal experience of. From a very uncertain future where a sale seemed the only way forward, the firm is now turning over £1 million per year and making profits it had never thought possible before. We instigated regular meetings with the family and advised which direction they should be moving in and how to develop their product range and services. This had very little to do with accountancy!”
“We must embrace technology so our people can concentrate on becoming real business advisors to our clients.“
Michael Ghersie, Director
What is your favourite statement that you regularly use when advising your clients?
“You could be doing this differently.”
Which conditions do you think a ‘firm of the future’ should meet?
“It must be innovative, futuristic and grasp all innovative advances in technology and social advance. It needs to lead innovative thinking in its area of focus but be ready to move into new business areas which are seemingly unrelated at the time.”
How do you see the future of your firm from your perspective?
“We must embrace technology to do the simple things like accountancy admin and bookkeeping so our people can concentrate on becoming real business advisors to our clients. This will mean recruiting people who are not just accountants, but increasingly people who can think like a business entrepreneur, not a technician.”