Scaling Your Business

It has been fantastic to work with Ben at Roberts and Cowling over the past six months. He has assisted us in modernising our business to enable our booking and accounting systems to talk to each other, resulting in us having much more up to date information to monitor our business. But more importantly, he has focused us to develop a more holistic business awareness including improving our team culture, our vision and our future plans. He has helped us with the specific processes and the bigger picture! We can already see many positive changes as a result of working with Ben.

I first interacted with Ben when I was in a partnership that was far from optimal. Ben was a sounding board for my exit and how to manage that effectively. Following that exit I went out on my own and now run a national medical distribution business. The support that I received from Roberts & Cowling was fantastic to the point where they are a considerable part to my business. Ben is the CFO and Roberts & Cowling are responsible for all sales, purchases and stock control. This role is vital and without the confidence in them I could not continue to aggressively grow my business.

I was meeting with Ben a few years ago as part of our annual review and asked him what
he thought was holding me back. He drew a structure diagram of different roles in a typical business and it was quickly apparent that the issue was that I was doing too many roles and was involved in far more detail than was required in a lot of areas in my business. It was then that I made Ben and R&C responsible for their roles and I was to have little involvement. As a result of not being involved in so much and the improvements that R&C has assisted me make, my net profit has increased 114%.
Roberts & Cowling is a key partner in my business, but they do far more than just the tax returns and bookkeeping. The business now utilises the following services:
– Monthly board meetings
– Cash flow projections
– Budgets
– Quarterly strategy days
Ben is a key part to my business in that he can help me analyse things to maximise my returns, he is such a valuable resource to my business that any supplier meeting in Australia or overseas he is requested to attend.
As part of my previous business we had the typical accountant that was seen once a year. I remember complaining about the $2,500 annual fee. In the last three years, I have spent in excess of $300,000 with R&C but this would have to be one of the best investments I have made.

This is a letter to outline how beneficial Ben Roberts and team at Roberts and Cowling have been for the growth of my business since we first started working together, back in 2013. I produce and sell fine art for a living, establishing and operating a business in this field was something I would have found very challenging without Ben Roberts on my team.

Coming from the art world I knew very little about how I should structure my business and set it up to run as profitable as it possibly could. Ben and his team knew exactly how I should approach this structure, taking into consideration my big aspiration for future. I was lucky enough to find some success with my artwork series’ and exhibitions through 2014 and 2015. I relied heavily on Ben through this quick rise in activity and believe he helped me make some of my wisest business decisions through this time. I felt I could explain my creative ideas with Ben, and he was capable of helping me understand it from a business and accounting sense.

In early 2015, I planned to move to New York, to seize opportunities in this vibrant city. Ben and his team helped me understand the tax liabilities in both countries and managed to structure the business in such a way we pay the lowest tax possible while I’m working in the United States. At this stage, Ben has become a partner in most decision the business has to make, and very important to how the business operates.

My next venture is to expand my idea of how art is produce and sold, and I have plans to build a business in Hong Kong. We had no hesitation flying Ben over to Hong Kong to meet with accountants, understand what’s required to set up a business and then how it transfers to our idea. Having Ben and the Roberts and Cowling team on board from the start, is a huge contributor to the success of my business. He has become as part of the studio team as anyone else. We’ll be partnering with Ben and his team in our next venture and long into the future.

I have a trusted advisor that genuinely cares about me, my business and someone I can turn to when I need to.

Ben Roberts supports me as a business owner. He pushes me to learn more and to grow the business, but in a way I want it to grow, not just the way it should appear on paper. I trust Ben to provide me with advice and support that helps me make the business what I want it to be, but also pushing me that little but more as he has faith in what I am trying to achieve. I have referred a number of clients to R&C and have no hesitation in doing this again.

Roberts & Cowling is such an integrated part of our business. Ben sits on the board and is the CFO in our company. R & C provides bookkeeping, fortnightly finance meetings, monthly budget and cash flow updates, annual strategic retreat and the annual reports. Ben is constantly used as a sounding board for new ideas and is also commonly a speaker at our quarterly whole of business meeting in which we fly all representatives around the country to our Brisbane office. There have been some up and downs and I am not sure without guidance from Roberts & Cowling that we would have made it through. This year we are now on track for our largest year from a revenue and profit perspective.