When Sian Kelly was made redundant shortly after her second child was born, she knew she didn’t want to go back to long commutes and corporate life. What started as a small consultancy to give her more flexibility has since grown into Inform Accounting – a £1.5 million practice with over 30 staff members and a reputation for client service and digital innovation.
In her growth story, you’ll learn how Sian:
Grew her firm from a solo consultancy to a £1.5m business in under 10 years
Broke through the £500k ceiling by building a leadership team and hiring smart
Used cloud tech to streamline workflows and boost profitability
Balanced growth with flexibility – without compromising on values
Took on four acquisitions while keeping the heart of her business intact
If you’d like to listen to or watch the conversation, click below for the YouTube video of Sian’s chat with Heather.
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About Sian
Sian didn’t set out to build her own accounting firm. After redundancy and with two small kids at home, she knew she needed work that gave her more control over her time. “I wanted flexibility to do the school drop-offs and be present for my children,” she shared, and it was this desire for balance that sparked the initial idea for what Inform Accounting would become.
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Setting up the business
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At first, Sian started a consultancy from her kitchen table, focusing on management accounts. However, very quickly, she realised that clients wanted (and needed) more. They needed bookkeeping, tax, and statutory accounts – the full package, if you will – so she started building something more scalable.
“I didn’t want to create a business that would have no value if I decided to step back,” she says. “I wanted a firm that could operate without me being the key person.”
And it was this thinking that started the transition from being a one-person consultancy to creating a scalable and sustainable business.
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Overcoming early obstacles
At first, Sian wore all the hats. She was a business owner, strategist, client manager, recruiter, and bookkeeper, whatever was needed, and this worked for a while. In fact, growth came mostly through referrals in the first few years, and she hit £500k in turnover fairly early on. With that being said, however, the business soon started to plateau as Sian juggled family commitments and managing a small but growing team.
“Even at half a million, I knew I needed help,” she admits. “I had a small team but needed to step back from the day-to-day doing.” To keep things moving, she hired school leavers and apprentices – people she could train from the ground up, who could take on key roles early on, who understood her vision and were open to new ways of working.
As well as still doing too much herself, another struggle at this time was staying profitable while balancing flexibility. However, Sian’s focus on offering management accountancy services AND advisory services instead of traditional compliance work was key here. “Clients weren’t just paying us to crunch numbers,” Sian says. “They were paying for insight, for help making better business decisions. That’s what made us different.”
That choice helped position Inform Accounting as a forward-thinking firm and gave her clients more value than they might get from a typical compliance-only service.
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Hitting a ceiling and breaking through it
By the time Sian joined the Accountants’ Growth Club, she’d already built a solid business. But she knew something had to change if she wanted to get past the half-a-million mark. “I was always a strategist, not a doer,” she explains. “But stepping back is tough when clients and staff want you involved in everything. The club helped me see that for us to grow, I needed to become the CEO, not the bottleneck.”
With the support of the club, Sian started building a proper management team and letting go of more client work. It wasn’t easy, but it was essential, and the club gave her the tools, structure, and coaching to do just that. She began hiring senior team members – the most notable, her first outsourced marketing director (when the business was still under £500k turnover) – and investing in cloud-based technology such as Xero, Carbon, and Fathom to streamline workflows and automate repetitive tasks.
The result? More time to focus on business development and more capacity to take on acquisitions.
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What Inform Accounting looks like today
Inform Accounting now has over 30 team members, a £1.5m turnover, and several awards under its belt, including recognition for client service and digital innovation.
With a focus on cloud technology and a strong management accounting division, Sian’s firm stands out by offering a forward-thinking, advisory-led approach. “We’re not just about year-end,” she says, “We’re about helping clients run better businesses every day.”
Over the last decade, Sian has led the firm through four successful acquisitions, transitioning several traditional, paper-based practices into her cloud-first model.
Key stats:
- £500K to £1.5M Turnover in 4 years: Through a combination of acquisitions and organic growth.
- 4 successful acquisitions: Each one adds new clients and helps establish new service lines.
- Team growth: From a team of 10 to over 30 staff members, many of whom started as apprentices.
Awards and recognition:
- Finalists for Fast Track Firm of the Year.
- Winners of Client Service Excellence and Digital Innovation awards.
- Sian was named one of the key figures in the Xero community for her commitment to modernising accounting practices.
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What the growth has meant for clients
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As Inform Accounting has grown, so has its impact. Clients who were used to paper-based systems are now using the cloud confidently, with access to better data and faster support.
One client shared: “Sian’s team didn’t just move us to the cloud; they showed us how to use data to make better decisions. It’s transformed how we run our business.”
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Getting through difficult times (and lessons learned)
Sian’s journey hasn’t been without its share of struggles. The two recent acquisitions, for instance, and having to manage them both at once while handling the jump from 10 to 30 staff members was a challenge. “Managing that many people is a real shift,” she says. “It took time to get the team aligned.”
She also learned the hard way that the right hires can make or break your business. For example, Sian faced a series of poor senior hires early on, which slowed down progress and created management gaps. This experience taught her to be more diligent in recruiting and to build a leadership team that truly shared her vision. “I’d definitely invest in leadership earlier if I had my time again,” she reflects.
Like many others, Sian also had to contend with the economic uncertainty brought on by COVID-19. Suddenly, the in-person office environment disappeared, and she had to pivot to managing a remote team while maintaining profitability. “The move to remote work was tough initially, but it forced us to implement timesheets and use Carbon more effectively to track productivity,” she said. It wasn’t easy, but it made the firm more resilient, more focused, and data-driven.
What Sian would have do
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Looking back, Sian says the one thing she would have done differently is to invest in leadership earlier. “I tried to do too much myself in the early days,” she reflects. “I’d tell anyone starting out to put a strong management team in place sooner. It’s hard to let go, but essential for growth.”
What has been the backbone of Inform Accounting?
Sian’s focus on technology has been a major driver of Inform Accounting’s growth. “We’re completely cloud-based, which means we can be agile and responsive,” she explains. Some of the key tools include:
- Xero for cloud accounting.
- Karbon for task management and resource allocation.
- Fathom for forecasting and reporting.
- Dext for automated expense capture.
- BrightPay for payroll management.
Implementing these tools has enabled Sian to maintain high profitability even as the firm scaled. “When you have the right systems in place, you can focus on what really matters: growing the business and serving clients.”
Key takeaways from Sian’s journey
Sian’s commitment to growth has always been underpinned by a clear strategy: build a business that doesn’t rely on her as the central figure. From day one, Sian’s growth has been intentional and steady, built around a few key decisions:
- Investing in the right people early: By hiring apprentices and developing young talent, she built a strong team that understood the firm’s cloud-first culture from the ground up.
- Avoiding becoming the bottleneck: Sian’s refusal to get involved in day-to-day client work freed her up to focus on strategy and growth.
- Focusing on processes and systems: Sian didn’t just adopt cloud technology – she integrated it deeply into every aspect of the business. Tools like Xero, Carbon, and Fathom enabled her to streamline workflows and free up time to focus on strategic growth. However, it is her commitment to continuous process improvement that has kept the business agile and profitable.
- Being selective about acquisitions: Each acquisition was carefully chosen to complement the firm’s existing services. Rather than chasing growth for its own sake, Sian ensured that every acquisition aligned with her long-term goals.
- Be willing to evolve: Whether it’s adjusting her management structure or rethinking her tech stack, Sian embraces change to keep the firm moving forward.
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What’s next for Inform Accounting?
Sian knows that for Inform Accounting to continue growing, she needs to focus on building the right management structure. “Right now, it’s about bedding in our two recent acquisitions and getting the management team fully in place,” she shares. “We’re also working on refining our processes and KPIs to make sure we can scale sustainably.”
With her strategic mindset, she is also exploring new service lines and thinking about expanding into other regions. “The long-term goal is still the same: I want to build a business that operates efficiently without me. The next phase is about making sure we have the right people and systems in place to keep scaling.”
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** Inform Accounting is a growing award-winning practice in the West Midlands. If you’d like to get in touch with Sian to learn more about his journey and/or to pick her brain, you can contact her here.**