I recently heard the news that Jonathan Holroyd had died, one of the people I respect most in this profession. I feel privileged to have known him as a friend as well as a colleague and as a key part of AVN.

Jonathan was a practising chartered accountant for many years, first as a sole practitioner and then in a partnership at Hunter Gee Holroyd in York. His experiences in practice were very similar to those of many other accountants and he was excellent at what he did. Also like many other accountants, he felt there was something missing.

What made Jonathan different from those who keep plodding along the same path, fearful of change, was that he did something about it.

A radical step

In the introduction to his 2017 book, Accountancy – It’s Your Business, Jonathan wrote:

‘I learnt late in life that you need to change and stop being just an accountant who acts as a professional accountant, but become an accountant who runs an accountancy business.

When I was in my 50th year, I was so tired of the business I was in that I wanted to get out as soon as I could. I had a mid-life crisis. I remember seeing the practice nurse for my 50-year service check-up, and I am embarrassed to say that I broke down and cried. Thankfully she listened and told me that I needed to change things in my life. I recall walking down the street afterwards and thinking “I can do anything I like. I don’t have to continue doing what I’m currently doing”. I have since told her how much I owe her.

As a result of that Eureka moment, my wife and I bought a newsagents’ business in Easingwold, where we lived. It was the typical run down CTN business, confectionery, tobacco and newspapers shop. I negotiated my retirement over a five-year period and cut back to a four-day week at the office and started working three days a week in the newsagents. Getting up at 5am to go and sort out the papers was infinitely more fun than going to work as an accountant. That shows how sad I had become. We worked very hard at building the business up and we eventually sold it three years later with doubled turnover. I learnt an enormous amount from that little business. It made me realise how some of my clients felt. I knew more of their issues and I felt I could help them. They found it fascinating to know that I had another life outside of accountancy and could talk “their language”. I understood more about “footfall”, “average spends”, “up-sales” and all the other stuff that goes with it.

After I realised I could help my newsagent clients, and I had a few, it dawned on me that my “retailing clients” could benefit from my experiences. One retailing business is much like the next as similar issues apply to them all.  It occurred to me that as many businesses have common issues, I really could help all businesses. This got me really quite excited. I felt reborn. Suddenly the accountancy business seemed more exciting.’

A lesson for all of us

Jonathan’s decision to open a newsagents was pretty radical! But, as he says, it opened his eyes to the issues his business owner clients were dealing with and gave him an understanding of how much more he could do to help them.

He went on to make Hunter Gee Holroyd a dynamic, proactive firm delivering the kind of services that make a real difference to their clients’ businesses and to their lives. And when he retired from practice, he became an adviser, trainer and non-exec for AVN, making a huge contribution to our business.

I want to pass on a message to anyone who feels the same way Jonathan did: stuck, frustrated, but not knowing how to change.

There is a way to make things better. You don’t have to open a newsagent, of course, but there will be something that gives you back the spark and enthusiasm you’re missing. It might renew your enjoyment of accountancy or it might mean you take a completely different direction. Only you know what that something is and only you can make that change.

Above all, my message is: don’t spend your life joylessly doing what you’ve always done, just because you’ve always done it.

If you’d like to have a chat with me to look at your issues as a completely objective outsider, I’d be happy to talk – just connect with me on LinkedIn.

Shane Lukas