A benchmark of excellence
Excellence. There's a nebulous term if ever that was one. What is it? How do you measure it? And does it really matter?
Excellence is about going above and beyond in whatever the business you’re in. It’s about innovation, inspiration and, very often, perspiration.
It’s measured in client wins and retentions rather than chargeable hours, and earnings per share over the medium-term rather than a – perhaps – inflated flotation price.
And does excellence matter? Well yes it does. And probably even more so in these troubled economic times than when all is well.
Excellence is what last night’s Accountancy Age Awards sought to celebrate.
It’s a concept that is evident in all the organisations and individuals that picked up awards: from Ernst & Young to Exchequer Software, Levy Gee to Ford Campbell, BBC FD John Smith to Inland Revenue chairman Nick Montagu.
These businesses and businesspeople have set a benchmark by which others will be judged over the next 12 months.
And they shouldn’t rest on their laurels either. They have set a standard by which their future performance will also be measured.