The original article was published by Brisbane Business News and written by Jenna Rathbone on 27 November 2014.
ACCOUNTING 101 is enough to drive some business owners mundane mad, but Ben Walker is turning the tables on the traditional model and the result is proving positive with more clients now saying ‘count me in’.
The Inspire CA founder has built an accounting firm that offers business performance coaching with a focus on understanding the numbers and says many of his clients are often in denial when it comes to the financial side of their business.
Now an increasing number of them are gaining an understanding of how the numbers crunch and in doing so, are playing a proactive role in the success of their businesses.
“At the end of the day the performance of a business comes back to numbers and if they are not healthy then the business goes under,” says Walker.
“In this day and age where things like the global financial crisis wipes out a good percentage of small businesses, I think it is so important to understand the numbers and account for things like the unexpected.”
Walker, who was a finalist in the Brisbane Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards, says he aimed to shake up the accounting sector by providing an alternative business environment for clients and has incorporated a thriving café into his accounting firm (Inspire Café).
“I don’t like the old way of doing things and I wanted to create a firm that our clients enjoy coming to,” says Walker.
“We offer a much different environment to your standard boring accountants office so when a client walks in they are like ‘what is this place?’.
Inspire CA was founded in February 2013 with $30,000 in annual equivalent revenue and grew to employee four people in four months and produced ten times in annual equivalent revenue.
The business has also partnered with B1G1: Business for Good and have integrated the ‘habit of giving’ into both the café and accounting firm.
“For each coffee we sell and email we send, one child gets access to clean water in Malawi,” says Walker.
“For each planning session we hold with a client, we provide training for 75 women in India to learn the skills to run micro businesses to provide for their family.
“We have given 82,170 gifts as a result of our clients working with us.”
The Newstead business also offers meeting room and boardroom hire, a gluten free menu and event hire.
