Bob Harper

My first job after leaving School with Maths and Economics "A" levels was with Barclays Trust Company in Oxford.  I wanted to manage investments for clients and was put on the tax desk as part of my training. 

Although I enjoyed having a portfolio of tax clients I became frustrated with the banks grading structure. So, I left when I saw a tax assistant position advertised for more than twice what I was earning at the bank.

My first job in a firm of Chartered Accountants was in a small firm in Victoria, London. After three years I left to join Arthur Young in Reading to start studying for my tax exams. Unfortunately, I had a clash with a couple of particularly arrogant semi-seniors so left after a few weeks.

Hong Kong beckoned because my family had moved there in 1987.  After six months of the Far East I decide to give accountancy in the UK another go.  I joined Price Waterhouse (PW) in Windsor, a great firm with great people.  

I learned a lot at PW, including what most people already knew about me; I am not really employable.  So, I left after qualifying as a tax accountant in 1991 and set-up on my own practice working from home. 

Whilst running my own practice I started to get an understanding for business.  I also realised that it was very difficult to make high profits from small clients.  I figured out that good quality bookkeeping was the key to profitable relationships so as well as buying a block of fees I started to develop a marketing strategy based on giving clients free bookkeeping software.

Eventually, I merged the my practice with Kirkpatrick and Hopes (K&H) in Reading so that I could invest more time on the software.   I became the K&H Marketing Director a year later and helped the firm implement a new strategy around adding value outside of compliance services.  

I left K&H in 2005 to work full time on the software. I used this as an opportunity to live in Germany for two years and returned to the UK in 2007.  Since being involved with the software I have now worked with over 200 firms of accountants (big and small, new and old) and have developed a wide range of sales and marketing capability.

I consider myself a much better marketeer than I was an accountant.  Having said that, compared to some accountants I have met I was not that bad an accountant!  So, if you are looking to work with a down to earth professional who has passion for sales and marketing then I look forward to speaking with you to and exploring the opportunity.