Humanise The Numbers - for ambitious accountants in practice

Dominic Ashley-Timms, Speaker, CEO and Author of The Answer is a Question

08 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

One of the most influential and, I think, most important books I've read in recent times is The Answer is a Question, by Dominic Ashley-Timms. It...

Martin Wardle of TH Ward

27 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What persuaded Martin Wardle to give up a partnership in one of the fastest growing firms in the Northeast to start his own business, not in general a...

Derek Granger of Aris Growth

20 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Given the current pace of technology, how can you know how it will impact your firm?Well, you obviously can't know for sure, but isn't it go...

Luke Farren of The Modern Firm

27 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When we discuss technology in relation to accounting, it seems that there has been a rapid pace of change with technology for years now, and it's...

Gareth Burton of Assure UK

20 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When someone with an engineering background moves into accountancy, what skills do they bring along with them? What struck me in this podcast with Ga...

Phil Hobden, Head of Business Development at Sage

06 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

How do you ensure that you are continually delivering value to clients, so that they never question the fees that you charge, especially in this volat...

Paul Miller, founder of Cornish Accounting Solutions

30 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As an accountant, do you think of yourself first and foremost as a storyteller? Probably not. And I've not met many who do. But in this podcast ...

Jonathan Gaunt of FD Works

23 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Occasionally, you have the privilege of having a deep conversation with someone who's well-versed in the profession, has worked in industry, has ...

Donna Field, Founder and Director of Autumn HR

09 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When adversity strikes, how do you react? In this podcast with Donna Field of Autumn HR, we discuss how she faced adversity in the form of a business...

Steve Price of BWP Inspire

02 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What does leading your ambitious accounting firm with purpose actually entail? In this podcast with Steve Price of BWP Inspire, Steve shares how they ...

Caroline Carter of Carter Clear Accounting

19 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Think about the traditional route most accountants follow before going into practice. In this podcast, I explore the route taken by Caroline Carter, ...

Noel Guilford, Founder and CEO of Guilford Accounting

05 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How do you get your clients to take monthly information from you, and not only to take that monthly information, but to sit down with you and go throu...

Alasdair McGill, Managing Director of Ashton McGill

28 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When you have a background in the big four accounting firms, a background in design thinking and a background with a deep desire to be curious and  a...

Miranda Kendall, MD of Spotlight Reporting

14 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When your background is in the corporate world and in the world of startups, how do you harness that experience when it comes to trying to sell a prod...

Graeme Tennick, Chief Impact Officer at Tennick Accountants

07 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How many firms do you know that have a Chief Impact Officer? Yep, me neither. So, you may want to join this podcast with myself and Graeme Tennick, of...

Laura Taylor, Founder of Bright Flamingo

24 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What's it like to start an accounting firm with £200, to grow it quickly over a period of five years, and then to decide to exit? And from the s...

Elinor Perry, Managing Director of Pentlands Accountants

17 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A pressing question that every firm, every leader, every manager, should ask themselves is:  how do you build long-standing trust with your clients a...

Alan Farrelly, Managing Director at UHY Farrelly Dawe White Limited

03 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How must it feel to found and to grow, over a period of almost 40 years, a busy, vibrant firm, from humble beginnings to over a hundred people?In this...

John F Thompson - CEO Wisdom in Practice

26 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

There is a thing that’s been talked about in the profession for decades, something which has never really got traction in every firm in a leveraged ...

Russell Watkins - Lean Transformation Expert & Co-founder @ SempaiGuide

19 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When you're trying to unlock the potential that you know exists within your team, within your client bank, within your firm as a whole, it can fe...

Sherelyn Cowles, Chief Business Development Officer at Gooding Accounts

12 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We know that recruiting great people and keeping them is a huge challenge for your accounting firm, so how do you stand out from the crowd? In this p...

Stuart Clark, Managing Director at Russell + Russell

18 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What does a succession plan look and feel like from the perspective of those that are buying in? And once you’ve got that buy-in, how do you actual...

Mark Allen, Co founder of the TAG Community

11 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If there's a phrase that encapsulates the content of this podcast discussion with Mark Allen, it would be 'applied wisdom'. We tap int...

Stephan Meier, Professor and Author – Part Two

20 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the second part of this 2-part podcast discussion with Stephan Meier, world-renowned author of The Employee Advantage, you'll be able to hear ...

Stephan Meier, Professor and Author – Part One

20 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

You'd probably like to get your hands on a competitive advantage that would lead to the future financial success of your firm, one that would enh...

Dan Crowther, CEO of Thorne Widgery

13 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Chances are that the vast majority of the people in your firm want to do a good job, whatever their role – accounts, bookkeeping, audit, tax or payr...

Dan Cockerton, Founder, Digital Accountancy Show

30 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It's a unique experience to have someone who is in the digital space in a deep way coming on the podcast to talk about humanising the numbers. Ge...

Roger Knecht, President of Universal Accounting, Author and Podcast Host

23 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It was exciting to welcome Roger Knecht, the president of Universal Accounting, onto the Humanise the Numbers podcast. And I wasn't expecting to ...

Stephen Paul, MD of Valued

16 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When you come across an accountant who happens to have 900 clients – business clients – and who has a page on his website called The Human Account...

Russ Byrd and Vicky Link of Byrd and Link

06 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It's such a privilege when you get the chance to speak to a couple of business leaders who founded a firm with nothing just a few years ago – i...

Richard Spofforth and Jennifer Williamson of Kreston Reeves

11 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When you're fortunate enough to spend an hour or so in a deep discussion with two members of the leadership team of a 600-person firm, a team tha...

Rhys Madoc - Chief Executive Officer at UHY International

04 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It's a rare privilege to sit down with the leader of a top 20, global firm and chew the fat about the way the industry, the profession, is changi...

Billie Mcloughlin of 2020 Innovation Training Ltd

21 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It's just brilliant to have a chance to speak to an accountant who has worked in practice – right at the centre of adopting technology – who ...

Richard Brewin and Richard Bertin of All in Place

19 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In business, one thing that's absolutely certain is that a client’s perception of your firm is connected to their expectation of what you'...

Transforming Numbers into Relationships

11 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dive into this fascinating episode where we explore how listening serves as a cornerstone in transforming client relationships within the accounting f...

Hayley Plimley, Director of Marketing & Communications at DJH

08 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It's clear that, if you want to grow your accountancy firm, you need to master the art (or indeed science) of marketing and communications. On t...

Dawn Marriott - Hg Serial Chair

22 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you - as a leader of your team, your department, your firm, even - want to build a profoundly successful business, you'll want data at your fi...

Philippa White, Founder & CEO TIE Leadership, author and speaker

07 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Stop thinking that return on investment is what drives the financial performance of your business, and start thinking that return on humanity is the u...

Jolawn Victor, Chief Growth Officer at Go Cardless

10 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It’s sometimes easy to become distracted with the bells and whistles, the proactivity and the value-add of the way you serve and work with your clie...

Tracy Irwin, The Time Freedom Alchemist

13 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

I recently had the great privilege to spend an hour with a business leader who had sold their business just a few days before, after 22 years. That b...

Kat Wellum-Kent, CFO of Fractional Finance and Speaker

06 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What must it feel like to leave a promising, high-flying career with a leading firm and start up your own firm – to hand your notice in and, six mon...

Andrew Botham, Investor and advisor - growth stage businesses

22 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

There’s something very remarkable about the work accountants can do to transform the lives of their business owner clients, transform the results of...

James Butterworth, VIP Commercial Manager and Senior Tax Consultant, Croner-i

08 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When your clients feel at home, they tend to want to stay at home. That's a statement by James Butterworth, a tech and advisory specialist from t...

Stuart Hurst, Founder of Cloud 10 Accounting

01 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When you dive into a deep conversation with a person who has worked in a village accountancy practice, someone who has also been part of a national fi...

Aaron Harris, Global Chief Technology Officer for Sage

11 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It's not every day you get the opportunity to interview the Global Chief Technology Officer of one of the landmark suppliers to the accounting pr...

Philippa Haynes, marketing expert and podcast host

11 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It's not often you get the chance to chew the fat with someone who's worked with Ford, with Tata, with Levi’s, as well as with numerous ot...

Rebecca Mihalic, Director at businessDEPOT Sydney, Head Of Accounting (APAC) at Ignition

04 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When you listen in to a conversation with a leader of an accounting business with over 100 people, and you hear how seriously they take investment in ...

Craig McKell, Asia Pacific GM at AdvanceTrack

27 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It's simply brilliant when you can spend some time with a chartered accountant, one who spent 17 years with EY down in Australia before becoming ...

Andrew Van De Beek, advisor, speaker, podcast host - Leadership series

19 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It's not every day you get to interview an accountant who's also a retailer and a podcaster, and in this discussion with Andrew Van De Beek ...

Nicky Clough, Director at Insight Training

12 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When someone says to me that the numbers are the outputs, and it's the team, it's the humans, that are the inputs, you can imagine I'm ...

Nicki Savill, Partner and Head of Outsourcing at Moore Kingston Smith

28 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If your firm is making good use of technology, and embracing new technology as well, if you are building the knowledge and skill of your team and buil...

Neil Parsons, Managing Director UK&I, Wolters Kluwer - Leadership Series

21 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sometimes the work we do is a real privilege, especially when we are able to have a deep discussion about what it means to humanise the numbers with s...

Mike Dean of Whisper Claims

07 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

You’d probably agree that, if you get to a place where you have a strong collaborative relationship with a client and you're doing what you can...

Andrew Guy and Dave Clough of FD Inteligence

31 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever wondered how you can build greater capacity into your firm so that you free up your people to do more of the higher-value work? In this...

Jessica Pillow, Founder of Pillow May Accountancy

24 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Do you know that feeling you get when you meet someone who's excited about, and who clearly loves, what they're doing, someone who is comple...

Vangelis Kyriazis, Co-founder and CEO at Syft Analytics

10 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How do you take the customer’s viewpoint of your accounting firm’s service offering from a 'would-like' to a 'must-have' persp...

Mark Walker, CEO of VFD Pro

03 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The key question – how do you and your firm make a difference? – makes a difference in the conversations you have with your current team members w...

Reza Hooda, firm owner, coach, mentor and author

26 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If you or a loved one is unfortunate enough to need a medical or surgical procedure, chances are you'd prefer, for example, to have a kidney tran...

Steve Pipe, speaker and author - Advisors to the Profession series

04 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As we approached our 100th edition of the Humanise The Numbers podcast, we found choosing someone to invite as the guest a bit challenging. But then w...

Subarna Banerjee, Managing Partner at UHY Hacker Young LLP and Chairman of UHY International, Leadership Development series

28 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It's easy for us to assume you want a more successful firm. You also probably want a more enjoyable place to work. I guess the big question is, w...

Ashley Leeds, coach, trainer, mentor and author - Advisors to the Profession series

15 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When you start to unpack the value and the importance of your team being connected with the vision and the future goals of your business, you know you...

Paul Richmond of theGrogroup, speaker, consultant and coach - Advisors to the profession Series

08 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when you put two business leaders, both of whom serve the leadership and management teams of accounting firms, into a podcast discussion?...

Conrad Ford and Sophie Hossack of Allica Bank - Advisors to the Profession series

01 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It's not surprising that I'd be so excited about welcoming two of the leaders of the fastest growing tech company in the UK and, according t...

Christine Nicholson, Business Mentor and Exit Planner, Advisors to the Profession series

16 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

One of the deepest, most valuable, conversations you can have with your business owner/business leader clients is in regard to the future of the busin...

Darren Glanville of Fathom

12 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It’s stating the blatantly obvious that, when you and your team build the knowledge, the skills and the habits that result in a deeper, more trustin...

Simon Chaplin, Author and Owner of Greenstones

05 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If you've led a six-person accounting firm with a turnover of £250,000 and built it over the years into a £1.5-million firm with 22 people, you...

Daniel Hood, editor-in-chief of Accounting Today

08 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you are brilliant or remarkable or just getting better at leading and managing your team, personalising and humanising how you work with them, and ...

Elona Mortimer-Zhika, CEO of Iris - Leadership and Culture and Purpose Series

10 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When a business leader that has 3000 team members and works across several countries, several continents, even, shares their insights on what’s work...

Robert Fiford and djca Chartered Accountants

03 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It can't be easy to transform an accountancy firm from one that's charging clients about £200 a month to one that's charging clients i...

Claire Evans of All In Place

13 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Don't you agree that it would be profoundly useful if you could get a sideways view of what's going on in the accounting profession, a sidew...

Katie Hawking of Dext

06 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

I found it profoundly, remarkably, valuable to enter into a podcast discussion with someone who has a really broad perspective across the profession –...

Rachel Harris, Founder of @accountant_she® & striveX®

22 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It can't be easy, can it, to grow a firm from one person to 18 in just three years and to take your client numbers from 50 to 700 within the same...

Alastair Barlow, flinder CEO and co-founder - Leadership series

15 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What does it take to grow an accounting business from its initial two founders to 40 people in five years? Great question.What does it take to grow an...

Amanda C. Watts, Owner of Oompf Global, trainer and coach

08 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Nearly every time I ask the question ‘what matters most to clients?’ –  technical work, the speed with which the work's done or the relati...

Will Farnell - Accountancy Firm Founder, Author, Speaker and Mentor

21 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It's not every day that you get to have a deep and valuable conversation with someone who's deliberately, consciously, ambitiously looking t...

Gary Turner - Investor and board member

14 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When you get the opportunity to meet a leader, one that's been at the forefront of influencing and managing change across the whole profession be...

Des O'Neill of OmniPro and the CPD Store

07 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How good are you and your leadership team, and your managers generally, at holding people to account for their behaviour and their results? It's...

Lucy Cohen of Mazuma - Business Development and Leadership series

23 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When we started the Humanise the Numbers podcast, it was a bit of an experiment to see if there was any life in talking with leaders of accounting fir...

Alexandra Bond Burnett, Leadership Brand Strategist and Founder of Ambition to Impact

16 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

One of the challenges or, arguably, one of the opportunities facing your firm, facing the profession, is the march of technology. But more importantl...

Julie Wilkinson of Wilkinson Accounting Solutions, Specialist Firm Series

09 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s fascinating when you get the opportunity to hear the powerful and valuable insights from the leader of a large finance team, responsible for th...

Peter Ellington, CEO of Triple Bottom Line Accountants - Specalist firm and Niche series

26 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever wondered if, in your firm, you could be doing more in the environmental, sustainability space? Could the environmental message result in...

Ian Cooper of FYI Docs - Technology Series

19 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s a rare privilege to have a conversation with someone who has nearly 20 years’ experience of working with in excess of 2,500 accounting firms,...

Johann Goree of OnPoint Accounting Group - Leadership Series

12 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What do you think it takes, in a relatively short five-year window, to grow a team of 14 people and to win 800 clients? Well, in this Humanise The Nu...

Paul Barnes of MAP - Leadership and Business Development series

21 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Your firm, like every firm, isn’t perfect. Your firm, like every firm, has team members who want to progress their careers and get better. And as th...

Sam Edwards of Strategy& - Strategy Series

14 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As a leader of an accountancy firm, or as a leader of a department, you’ll get to a stage where you wonder:  how on earth do I further improve the ...

Margaret Heffernan - Professor, Writer and Speaker, Advisors to the Profession Series

06 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

One of your firm’s greatest challenges and, arguably, one of the areas of greatest reward, comes from the 'how to' of getting the best out...

Sharon Hirsch of Argus Accounting, Business Development and Leadership Series

17 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It takes something special, don’t you think, to start up a brand-new accountancy firm just a couple of months after the start of a global pandemic. ...

Jolawn Victor, GM of UK Intuit QuickBooks - Leadership series

17 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What do you think it takes to run a fast-growing, leading technology business with 350 people across the UK?In this podcast discussion with the UK Gen...

Michael Hemme of MDH - Leadership and Business Development Series

10 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How do you change, even as a sole practitioner, the tone of the work in your firm so that you become increasingly valuable to your clients, so that yo...

Steve Price of BWP Inspire - Culture and Purpose Series

03 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It's not often that you come across a leader of an accounting firm who has built strategic health into their practice, with crystal clarity on a ...

Douglas Aitken of Remarkable Practice, Strategy Series, Culture and Purpose Series

17 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There are a few landmark moments in the life and journey of every business, and we’ve just passed through one of those moments at Remarkable Practic...

Glenn Collins of ACCA - Humanising the Numbers, Advisor to the Profession

10 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It was a great privilege to spend an hour in deep conversation with Glenn Collins, Interim Head of ACCA. Glenn has 23 years of history with ACCA, supp...

Joe Sole of Sole Associates - Strategy and Pricing Series (Part 2)

03 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What is it that you and your firm have to do to make the shift from compliance only to compliance plus advisory, where advisory is generating signific...

Gaye Prime of G&S Prime Business Solutions Ltd - Advisors to the Profession

20 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Would you, as a leader or manager of an accounting firm, sit up and listen to the UK General Manager of a corporate business and how they’ve interac...

Joe Sole of Sole Associates - Part 1 - Advisory Series

13 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What is it that you and your firm have to do to make the shift from compliance only to compliance plus advisory, where advisory is generating signific...

Liz Jackson & Andy Denny of BCMS - Advisors to the Profession

06 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There’s no doubting the quality and strength and depth of the relationships you have with your best business-owner clients. But someone will pip th...

Amy Vetter of B3 Method Institute - Culture and Purpose Series

18 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How do you set work and life boundaries, not just for yourself, but for your team as well, so that they are fully engaged, enthusiastic and driven to ...

Sam Mitcham of SJCM Accountancy - Marketing Series

07 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How do you and your firm win younger, dynamic clients with a long lifetime value (because of their age), if you are able to do a brilliant job of look...

Andrew Jordan of Connect 4 - Business Development and Technology Series

23 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If there are two things that ultimately, fundamentally influence the success of your accounting firm, it's your firm's ability to retain and...

Eriona Bajrakurtaj of Majors Accounts - Culture and Purpose Series

09 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How does an accountancy firm’s leadership team – the whole team – radically change the use of software, processes and systems within their firm?...