WOULD ANDY RAYNOR still be in a job if RSM Tenon was privately owned, rather than listed?

I guess you could also ask: if yes, then would he deserve to be?

One of the main issues surrounding the listed accountancy firm model is how to keep both the ‘partners' (technically directors) and shareholders happy.

Tenon's system of salary + bonus for its partners seems to have worked fine, and is an area Raynor has spoken of with pride in the past.

But it's one thing communicating to internal staff and keeping them happy - pushing the big picture out to the investor community is another matter entirely. Tenon doesn't seem a broken business - but it's having a tough time. The board is presiding over an impending loss, an impending restatement of accounts (lined up by relatively new CFO Adrian Gardner) - while sorting out new banking facilities. Investors are spooked.

Bear in mind that this has all come around pretty quickly, with the firm admitting its revenues can't live up to its cost base (its acquisitions of Bentley Jennison and Vantis apparently not stacking up as well or as quickly as hoped). Squeezed margins and lock-up increasing are signs of a tough trading environment - not helped by a fairly hefty insolvency division that hasn't brought in the funds like hoped.

But there are a lot of firms in a similar position or worse. Tenon posted an operating profit of £30m for 2011. I'd bet that within a traditional partnership or LLP Raynor would still be sitting tight.

But Tenon's not, and Raynor isn't. Going to the markets to raise capital ultimately leaves you at the behest of the shareholders. If they're not happy, they let you know with their feet. And now Raynor - and chairman Bob Morton - have followed them.

Oh, and a small word for CFO Gardner. It was good to see him stick his head above the parapet and talk to the press yesterday about some of the issues at the firm. Nice to see that some finance directors can brave journalists.

Read the background on RSM Tenon here.

AND SO it has come to pass. Accountancy Age has managed to put together another Power List - our humble attempt at making sense of who will be the profession's most important people during the year.

We try to include as many entrants from the left-field as possible - those beavering away but perhaps not so well known to the masses - plus those well-known but lined up for particular fame (not necessarily glory) in the upcoming 12 months.

Of course George Osborne, Michel Barnier and Hans Hoogervorst were no-brainers for the top ten really. But, we also have London Olympics' FD Neil Wood, Ed Davey MP overseeing reform to insolvency, plus Gareth Davies running the audit Commission mutual. At nine is the humble but important Howard Gross, who is chairing the ICAEW practice committee.

So the top ten is indicative of what we try to achieve with the full list.

Other notable entrants? The replacement for John Griffith-Jones at KPMG will be fascinating, what with - to the firm's credit - an array of big-hitters at board level.

Fully declaring my love of Arsenal Football Club, Accountancy Age makes no excuse for Spurs boss Harry Redknapp's inclusion at number 31. Will the taxman nail a well-loved and high-profile sporting celeb? Its record isn't one to shout from the rooftops. With Rangers FC currently battling a giant tax case through the tribunal system, it's another huge story.

So were we spot on or disastrously wrong in 2011's list?

We plumped for John Whiting at number one. His report recommending a merger of NI and income tax justified his position. But Barnier's broadside at the audit market was such big news in 2011 that it's certainly debatable that he could have knocked Whiting off his perch.

We placed UK Uncut at number 15 in 2011, and the pressure group certainly didn't let up after its launch in 2010 - interrupting HMRC boss Dave Hartnett during a CIoT event over Vodafone and Goldman Sachs settlements was one of a number of key moments. Alan Johnson MP, at 23 barely got into 2011 as shadow chancellor before stepping down for personal reasons.

At 33 Vince Cable MP, might have argued his push for less reporting for SMEs, saw him overreach his position on the table.

Anyway, it's all subjective and I'm sure there are plenty of nodding heads/vehement disagreement about our choices. Let us know what you think.

SO SMITH & WILLIAMSON has emerged from the fog of idle gossip to purchase Begbies Traynor's tax division.

Just a quick look through the numbers suggests that the top ten firm will have its acquirees working pretty hard.

The purchase figure was £2.9m, with Begbies taking a 50% share of all fees above £5.8m for 2011/2012.

Begbies now former division consists of 12 partners and 55 staff, who brought in £7m of fees for the 30 April 2011 year-end.

S&W's partners averaged out £760k in fees in the previous year, according to the Accountancy Age Top 50 + 50 survey of firms. It also turned a decent profit as well - £23m on £171m of turnover.

Begbies' tax team posted £100,000 in earnings before interest, tax and amortisation.

There is no word yet on redundancies, but whatever the case on jobs it's very clear that S&W will be looking very closely about how it can improve partner income and no doubt the team's cost base.

The numbers don't lie.

FIRMS HAVE GOT a lot to think about. That's my overriding impression having attended the UK200 Group's annual conference.

You could respond quite fairly : 'So when don't they have things on their plate?'

The difference this time is that there appears to be what I can only describe as a 'perfect storm' of circumstances that will turn the profession upside down.

Where do we start?

Let's get the economy out of the way. The banking and sovereign debt crises have left little leeway in terms of access to funding, or in policy-making, to help businesses - your clients - invest and grow.

Then we have European and local pressure to ease accounts filing burdens in tandem with an audit threshold that is only ever going to go way way - up. Because of this, more practices will consider whether holding an audit certificate is worth the bother. They'll also need to seriously rethink how to retain current clients and what hook to use to win new ones.

And without statutory audit, will it be harder to recruit the next generation of accountants in smaller practices? This isn't a new concern - but it's one that's coming to a head at the moment as succession planning proves to be so painful for so many practices.

HM Revenue & Customs is under incredible pressure to keep making cuts while increasing the percentage of successful tax take. Fewer seasoned inspectors at Tax Towers means a lot more work for advisors to prove they've got clients' affairs in the right order. Moving to real time PAYE as part of cleaning up the tax credits system, plus impending new company pension rules, could see another tranche of admin passed onto accountants.

And last but not least, the firms that hedged against the downturn by expanding their insolvency divisions have found life too quiet - with suggestions that a plague of 'zombie' businesses tread the UK 's corporate landscape.

Pretty gloomy stuff, eh?

But as hyperactive business coach, and UK200 Group session speaker, Chris Hughes would no doubt say to me: It's not a bad thing to outline the problems, but what are the solutions?

There are angles of attack on all the issues I've presented. For example, PAYE and pensions changes could provide more lucrative work for you from existing or new clients.

Social media has opened up new channels to market. The conference provided lots of good examples from accountants and even *shudder* solicitors of new technology tips and tools to advance their practice.

Some firms, because of a combination of the issues already described, or other problems, will disappear. Conversely, others are looking to adapt to the new environment and emerge fitter and stronger.

My discussions at the conference with the bosses of Price Bailey and Harwood Hutton, among others, showed that there is an acknowledgement of such hurdles, and a determination to clear them. Some might argue they've already made some successful 'jumps' already.

Is the Okey Cokey the new mantra for practice management? 'Look inwards...look outwards...and shake it all about.' Maybe not, I don't see it catching on with the management consultants somehow.

What can't be argued is that it is a fascinating, exciting, and for some a worrying, time to serve in the profession.

Image credit: Shutterstock

NICE TO SEE that the spirit of enterprise has not yet quite been extinguished.

Blick Rothenberg has given the green light for tax partner Nilesh Shah to set up an office at the hilariously titled Silicon Roundabout - otherwise known to mere mortals as an area encompassing Old Street Roundabout where lots of high-tech companies have gathered.

Shah has set up a satellite office to provide services to the new and exciting businesses that are gravitating to the area, which is of course sensible stuff.

What's more interesting is the speed of the move. Shah had considered the plan for a while, but from bringing it to the attention of fellow partners to moving into the new office? A mere month or so had passed.

As much as we want firms to make well considered business decisions, I found it quite refreshing that Blick was willing to move so swiftly. It could also be argued that the risk to the firm is relatively low cost-wise.

Good stuff. We're always happy to hear of practices doing things a little less mundane. Get in touch if you have other interesting stories to tell.

Email: news@accountancyage.com

IN CASH-STRAPPED TIMES, the pressure on accountants to overstep the mark for the sake of retaining revenue streams is stronger than ever.

Maintaining objectivity and independence is key for auditors. At the highest level, firms are facing the strain of market intervention, despite their protestations that the quality of their work is in no way diluted by offering non-audit services to existing clients.

At the other end of the market Accountancy Age, professional bodies and business lobbyists extol getting as close to clients as is acceptable, providing them, their suppliers and lenders with assurance regarding their finances - and to help steer them through the travails that smaller businesses perennially face.

So I have some sympathy regarding the plight of two accountants, whose firms have been disciplined for finding themselves beyond 'ethical thresholds' of reliance on clients - or in other words, they looked after clients who represented too large a proportion of their firms' respective fee income.

The thresholds are in place to warn firms off from becoming too reliant on any one client, and prevent placing their independence at risk.

The vast majority of firms have enough on their plates holding onto clients, or being paid by those who do stay with them.

So it's a tough situation, and very tempting to hold onto the client and in your own mind believe that independence is not affected - while also trying to win other clients to dilute the existing clients' effect on overall fee income.

But for the profession to maintain its lofty status, even the smallest firms have to be strong, brave and recognise that independence and objectivity is key - the perception of the profession and its vaulted status is at stake.

It will be interesting to see how the world's biggest firms deal with this in their negotiations and lobbying to water down current EU proposals to break them up.

Whatever the outcome, will they end up with their heads held high, or give off the perception that they've merely fought to hold onto all that's dear?

Interesting times indeed.

THE LATEST RANKING of auditors by Hemscott provides a nice marketing opportunity for Crowe Clark Whitehill.

The Top 20 firm has muscled its way into Hemscott's elite ranking of FTSE 350/AIM auditors by number of clients.

Q3 2011 shows CCW have a net gain of eight audit clients, bumping the firm into ninth place, from 13.

It could well be argued that the move of five former Mazars partners to CCW are the key reason for this shift. Mazars, for the record, lost a net five clients during the quarter and moved from ten in the rankings to 11.

But the key will be how CCW moves forward. Are the gains a one-off?

Possibly. But I'm sure that CCW will think otherwise, and will use their new talent pool and expertise to drive more wins.

So how are Mazars? OK, if you look at the numbers. The firm argues that its market cap of clients has held up, and has new clients lined up.

Still, interesting to note that Mazars has hired PR giants Weber Shandwick to help push out some messages.

We've more to hear from both firms, no doubt about that.

YOU'D IMAGINE the end of July in the south-west is all about watching cows stand at a strange angle on the grassy incline of Corfe Castle, or teenagers whacking on a bodysuit to go surfing in Newquay.

However, the region's big local practices have been busy doing business.

This week has seen Francis Clark and Winter Rule merge, while Bishop Fleming has expanded its reach 'up the M5 corridor' with the acquisition of Rabjohns.

Geographic, and service line, expansion lay behind the deals. Of course mass also equates to efficiencies and more 'clout' - a bigger brand footprint.

We've heard for years that consolidation among the 'next tier' of firms, those that don't necessarily pick up all the headlines, is due. Just today we've seen five 'director' firm Greenhalgh get it on with three-partner HSKS.

So we've seen some action, but has anything acted as a catalyst for these deals?

Well it can't just be the weather, and is unlikely to be any one factor. It seems that, after a tough couple of years, many firms see opportunities to expand, beyond the already-mentioned benefits.

Without commenting directly on the three deals themselves, we may have the baby-boomers looking to pass on their businesses; practices prices 'competitively' shall we say.

On the client side it could be argued that there is a growing need for small and growing businesses to have relatively sophisticated requirements, i.e operating abroad. This is amplified with cheap sterling, a point made to me by Francis Clark boss Les Burnett.

So exciting times ahead, and surely not driven purely by the local delights of Plymouth, Truro and Poole.