AS the new season in the Scottish premiership approaches, Dundonian David Smith does not regard the prospect of regular soccer with quite the usual relish.
A fan of Dundee United, Mr Smith grimaces at the thought that the Tannadice team will be in a lower division than city rivals Dundee after suffering the ignominy of relegation from the top flight last season.
“The last time we were below Dundee was 58/59,” muses Mr Smith, who as managing partner of Henderson Loggie captains an accountancy firm looking to rise up the ranks of the Scottish profession.
For Mr Smith football loyalties run deep. His dad Doug became a legend in the 18 seasons he spent playing for Dundee United, leading the club to its first Scottish Cup final win in 1974.
His uncles played for professional outfits including Rangers and Aberdeen.
The 46-year-old recalls happy times spent growing up in a footballing family.
“As a child I’ve got memories of all those pictures of dad, he was always in the paper, pictures of (soccer star turned TV pundit) Andy Grey leaning across the bar having a pint.”
The bar in question was run by his dad who provided a role model in a perhaps unexpected way.
“I got a good work ethic from my dad. When I was born in 1970 he had started learning the pub trade as footballers did in those days. He played during the day and worked at night and bought his first pub.”
These days football provides a great escape for Mr Smith despite the disappointments of last season.
But after 24 years with Henderson Loggie, the one team man still seems enthused by his day job.
Since the accounting graduate joined what was a small local firm in 1992 the business has changed enormously.
The firm has expanded from its Dundee heartlands after taking advantage of retrenchment by what has become the Big Four elite of international accountants.
In 1995 staff from what is now EY joined Henderson Loggie after the bigger firm closed its Dundee office. KPMG staff in the city followed two years later. Henderson Loggie opened an Edinburgh office in 2002 staffed by SME specialists signed from KPMG.
The firm moved into in Aberdeen in 2005 after taking on public sector work that EY withdrew from.
It merged with Glasgow-based SinclairWood in 2006.
The expansion has been planned with fee income and recruitment objectives in mind.
“My aspiration is if people want to leave Dundee I want them to stay in Henderson Loggie, so I want Edinburgh to be an option, I want Glasgow to be an option and Aberdeen.”
Around four years after taking up his post Mr Smith admits that his time in charge has not been plain sailing.
“What we’ve done in the four years is make sure the right people are on the bus… We’re now seeing a lot of the benefits of the geographic spread but it’s taken a while to really see the benefits coming through.”
Henderson Loggie has pursued growth against a challenging economic backdrop.
Mr Smith says it will take time for the implications of last month's Brexit vote to become clear.
"In the meantime the uncertainty is not good for business with confidence falling and growth forecasts reducing. It is important for businesses to stay close to their customers and suppliers to reassure them that life goes on. Equally, good communication with the workforce is important."
Medium sized firms face intense competition from the Big Four and from what Mr Smith deems UK national practices, such as Grant Thornton.
In 2010 Henderson Loggie lost local authority audit work which had been important. Big Four firm Deloitte decided to re-enter that market in 2011.
“We had a big team, obviously you lose a lot of the team and that’s sad, you’ve got friends over a number of years who leave the business but if you’re doing business where you’re not making money.”
The target for fee income this year is £11.25m with the focus on providing auditing, tax and accounting services. That compares with £11m in 2012.
Mr Smith has concentrated on growing profits rather than revenue. He reckons the firm could increase annual fee income to £15m in three years.
“There is a big place for us in the SME market... At our fee rates the value that we give compared to a Big Four or a national firm, we can give dedicated partner time at a rate that clients can afford that always adds value."
The statistics suggest the firm has been holding its own.
Henderson Loggie has won 22 engagements from Big Four firms in the last five years and 19 from national practices.
It has lost four jobs to the giants and two to national firms, generally when clients have been sold.
Moves to exempt growing numbers of small firms from audits could benefit Henderson Loggie. Mr Smith reckons some smaller accountancy firms who are left with a rump audit book that they may find costly to service will quit the market.
Henderson Loggie has developed internally. For example, it has moved into housing association internal audit work which has brought in valuable fee income.
Mr Smith believes the firm could achieve significant growth in the Central Belt.
But he also highlights the advantages of having a strong presence in Dundee as it basks in the publicity generated by the development of an outpost of the Victoria and Albert museum in the city and the success of industries such as computer games.
The oil and gas industry downturn may create opportunities to win work from bigger firms in Aberdeen.
With plenty to play for north of the border, Henderson Loggie will not be following the path to England trodden by many of Scotland’s footballing greats.
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