Michael's LinkedIn profile

My dad was an accountant and encouraged me into the profession. I didn’t go to university mainly because I was very focused on my athletics at the expense of my studies. With the A levels I had, I joined a small practice under the Youth Training Scheme (YTS) in place at the time in the UK and started my ACCA exams. 

The practice was taken over and all the YTS employees were made redundant, so I joined another small practice and carried on with my exams. A former manager who went to Touche Ross (now Deloitte) told me about a junior position available there, and I joined in 1996. I stayed for 13 years getting all the professional and ethical experience you could want. I had a portfolio of owner-managed businesses in different sectors, and I learnt a lot through conversations with them about what was happening in their industries. The Big 4 have now moved out of that space but my time there was very enjoyable. 

I later moved to UNW to progress my career before joining Armstrong Watson in 2024, when the opportunity came up to grow their North East practice. I’m now the Lead Newcastle Office Partner and in the past 18 months ago, we’ve more than doubled our team at the office in One Strawberry Lane from 50 colleagues to 110, and we’ve got some great traction. 

Armstrong Watson is a brilliant firm to work for. As the biggest independent practice in the north, we have 800 people and 50 partners of which roughly a quarter are in audit. We fully intend to stay independent and keep growing, with our absolute focus being client service. With the Big 4 and the mid-tier firms increasingly targeting larger clients, a gap has emerged in the market, which we are focusing on. Our mantra is to be the best accounting and financial advisory firm in the UK at delivering client service. That’s what clients want and that’s what they deserve.

The profession is in good shape and graduates are still keen to come into the profession. We had 400 applicants for 40 graduate positions across the firm, so the demand is back, and people recognise that it is a good profession. It’s hard work to qualify but once you do, it’s a great qualification because you’re not just set up in the profession - you can even step into industry as a finance director. Many managing directors and business owners have the accountancy string to their bow because you need to understand the numbers to run a successful business.

We have a strong pipeline of students but recruiting qualified or part-qualified accountants or managers is more challenging – it’s a very competitive market. We have three excellent universities in the North East, and we actively engage with students through open days, talking to them about the profession and what it has to offer. We’ve invested heavily in our learning and development programme and that makes Armstrong Watson attractive as an employer.

It's a small world and I’m keen to forge good relationships with the other firms in the North East and collaborate in specialist areas where they may not offer certain services their clients need, and I think that’s healthy. Work is hard enough so you may as well get on with your peers and your competitors.

Away from work I spend 14-15 hours a week training for triathlons. I find the training a huge release. I like having a target to do well in a competition and striving for improvement, and it’s a bit like that when I’m trying to win a new client – I find that really satisfying. I’ve been a season-ticket holder at Newcastle United since 1992, and I go to matches with my father and my brother. But my favourite way to unwind is travelling with my wife and three daughters and exploring the world together.