My Story
- At 6 decided I wanted to be an accountant, whilst other children wanted to be football players and train drivers, I loved numbers, always felt comfortable with numbers, and thought my Dad’s accountant was glamorous. Well he had a great car and smoked cigars, all very enticing for a 6 year old.
- I fully intended to study for a one year course at polytechnic and then a four year training contract. I even had a couple of job offers from local firms but my mother persuaded me to go to University and I spent 3 years in Southampton reading Business Economics and Accountancy, between 1982 and 1985.
- Qualified with a 2-1, missed a first by 1 mark. I probably wished I did not know that!
- Qualified at Stoy Hayward, but I was the only person ever to do tax articles. That was a bit strange, I passed professional exam 1 in the November sitting, and was seconded to the tax department for three months. I loved it, so they agreed I could stay, except for 2 months out on the RAC audit, to ensure I had the right amount of audit experience.
- Stoys was a brilliant place to be, it was one of their best times, business was exciting, winning loads of new work, and working on some great clients and very interesting projects.
- I passed all my professional exams first time, due entirely to rote learning and hard graft, the exams are not particularly hard, but there is an enormous amount to learn.
- As soon as I was out of training contract I joined Hays Allan (now called Hays MacIntyre) who were a medium sized firm, fantastic client service which I liked, but recession times, so no chance of getting partnership.
- Left to join a 10 partner firm, Bellman Messik and got partnership at 29, in 1993.
- In 1995 the firm split, and the Pinner and Barnet Partners formed Sobell Rhodes, and I joined as a salaried partner, and bought equity in 1996 . Very exciting times where I learned an enormous amount from Andrew and Melvyn, for which I am very grateful.
- At 38, sitting on the fence, I was happy and comfortable in partnership, earning a good income, but felt could do much better for clients, and felt restricted in partnership format, so I left and set up on my own. I was also encouraged to set up on my own by a number of clients, but Geoff Thomas in particular acted as a great mentor, always supportive and with a large gift from my uncle, that was enough to make me make the move. I spent months planning, and I still have my original business plan which I pored over for hours, leaving no part uncertain.
- Originally there was my semi senior Andy Evangelou (who I regard as a good friend), and my secretary Viki (who became my brother in law’s wife) doing 2 days a week.
- In May 2004 I bought a practice, Conroy and Co, which trades as Lermer and Conroy, and that was a brilliant decision to make, very my encouraged by my good friend Paul Berlyn, who still coaches me.
- In 2006 I joined the tax committee of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and in 2008 and 2009 I was one of the speakers at the ACCA budget breakfast, I do some public speaking with my own style, but speaking in front of 120 accountants is about the hardest gig you can get.
- In March 2007 we out grew our first office by Oakwood tube station (1 Oakwood Parade) and moved to New Barnet.
- The practice grew, fortunately and today we have 13 (six qualified accountants, 4 qualified by experience and three administrators) of us.
What we stand for
- We strive to be a Great Small firm
- As Chris Davis says, stay small
- Give the sort of service people want, and we genuinely care about what we do.
- We have a great team , and we all respect our own talents (and foibles).
- Be treated as I would like to be treated myself, we don’t always achieve this, we sometimes get it wrong, but we do always have the right intentions, whatever anyone says.
- Win Accountancy Age "Small Firm of the Year" – this is something I would love to achieve, not for me, but for our team, we really strive to give brilliant service, we are good at what we do.
Next Step:
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