"WHY I STARTED IPA BOOKKEEPING & ACCOUNTING LTD"

Many years ago, I had a conversation with a builder that has stayed with me ever since.

The Self Assessment deadline was getting closer, and he still hadn't taken his paperwork to his accountant.

It wasn't because he had forgotten. He knew exactly what needed to be done. In fact, he had been deliberately putting it off for as long as he possibly could.

He simply hated going there.

He told me that every year he would arrive with his receipts and paperwork, knowing that everything wasn't perfectly organised and that something might be missing. Instead of feeling that he was going to someone who would help him sort it out, he felt as though he was walking into a place where he wasn't particularly welcome.

If something was missing, he felt the irritation. If he didn't immediately understand a question, he felt uncomfortable asking for it to be explained again. He felt that his box of receipts and disorganised paperwork were treated as an inconvenience rather than simply the starting point for the work he was paying someone to do.

What bothered him particularly was the feeling that he was wasting his accountant's time.

His impression was that his business simply wasn't important enough to them. He assumed that, compared with their larger clients, the fee they would charge him wasn't worth the time they had to spend sorting through his paperwork, asking questions and preparing his return.

Whether that was actually what the accountant thought or not, that was how the relationship made him feel.

The way he described it has always stayed with me.

He said that when he went into that office, he felt like a little schoolboy who had done something wrong.

Yet he wasn't a schoolboy.

He was a grown man. He worked hard, ran his own business and earned his living through his trade. He was paying a professional to provide a service he genuinely needed, but somehow the relationship left him feeling small — as though his time, his business and even he himself mattered less.

And that made him angry and frustrated.

He knew he had to go because his Self Assessment return needed to be completed. There was a deadline, and eventually he had no choice but to take his paperwork in.

What I remember particularly clearly was the way he compared the experience with the cost.

He considered his accountant's bill expensive. He didn't enjoy paying it. But even paying that large bill annoyed him less than having to walk into the accountant's office and go through that experience again.

That really stayed with me.

Here was a hardworking business owner paying a significant amount of money for professional help, yet he felt almost apologetic for taking up the professional's time.

It made me think very differently about what professional bookkeeping and accounting support should feel like.

Of course, records need to be complete. Questions need to be asked. Missing information has to be obtained and deadlines have to be met. A professional bookkeeper has responsibilities, and so does the client.

But none of that requires making someone feel small.

A client shouldn't need to understand bookkeeping terminology before asking a question. They shouldn't be made to feel foolish because they don't understand something the first time it is explained. And arriving with disorganised records shouldn't change the basic respect with which someone is treated.

You can be professional, maintain high standards and still treat the person sitting opposite you as an equal.

That conversation became one of the reasons I wanted to build IPA Bookkeeping & Accounting Ltd differently.

I wanted to create a bookkeeping practice where clients are treated with respect regardless of whether their records are beautifully organised, several months behind, incomplete or arriving in a box of receipts.

A place where a sole trader or small business is never made to feel that they are too small to matter or that helping them isn't worth someone's time.

And I wanted that to include the smallest businesses too.

For someone who has never dealt with Self Assessment before, even a relatively straightforward tax return can bring questions and uncertainty. They may not know what records they need to keep, which expenses they can claim, what information they need to provide or what happens next.

Those questions deserve proper answers.

I want IPA to be a place where people can ask them without feeling that their business is too small, their question is too basic or that they are taking up someone's valuable time.

A place where questions are welcome.

A place where, if something isn't understood the first time, it can simply be explained differently.

A place where a client and bookkeeper can work together as two adults with different areas of knowledge: you know your business, and I bring my bookkeeping knowledge, systems and professional experience.

Because good bookkeeping should be a partnership.

There will still be questions. Sometimes I will need missing receipts, invoices or explanations. There will still be responsibilities and deadlines on both sides. But those conversations can happen professionally and respectfully.

No business owner should have to feel small in order to ask for professional help — and no business should be considered too small to deserve professional support.

That principle has become an important part of the practice I am building today.