It has been four months since we opened the doors to our new Birmingham office – our first ever presence in the city.
Our move into Birmingham, expanding from our existing bases in Coventry and Leamington, was a major milestone in HB&O’s growth.
Located in the heart of the city at Northspring on Temple Street, we have a fantastic base to build from, and our focus is on being present and participating as much as possible in the Birmingham business community.
From day one, we have done exactly that, from joining the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and attending a range of networking events in the city, to establishing and growing relationships with solicitors, banks and other professionals across the city.
This extends to working with individuals and organisations that are already highly respected in Birmingham. Our partnership with Karl George MBE, which we were privileged to announce last month, was a perfect example of this.
Everyone in the city knows Karl, but beyond that, his expertise in governance will also be crucial as we expand our advisory services to support mid-sized businesses in regulated sectors – such as education – which we see as a high-growth area for our practice in Birmingham.
We are one of the largest independent accountancy practices in the Midlands and we know that there is real scope in the Birmingham market for an established firm with our core set of values to thrive.
Our expertise in areas such as transaction tax, and our audit and advisory services will be vital as we move forward in the city, and we see strong opportunities in these service areas.
After only four months our audit team in Birmingham is already delivering excellent work, particularly through our specialist work with owner-managed clients. Our independence has been a key driver for people choosing us.
Over the last few years, we have seen significant growth in our Virtual Finance Office service, which provides real-time financial insights and decision-making support to SMEs.
The VFO service is growing in Birmingham, just as it is in Coventry and Leamington. For us, it’s all about delivering efficiently and providing excellent work with a personal touch across all of our services.
Our location at Northspring couldn’t work any better for us in Birmingham and the feedback we have received from clients, contacts and other visitors has been so positive.
This will put us in a great position to run events from our offices as we continue to establish the business in the city.
We are developing a quarterly seminar programme, to be delivered from Northspring, and are working with our professional contacts to make these events as impactful as possible.
For us, the focus now is on being part of the Birmingham community. Doing what we do best, doing it well and making the most of the wealth of opportunities the city offers.
