We’re Accountants, seriously
Recently my children gave me a Father’s Day mug featuring a well known cartoon character that said – “My daddy has an extremely serious job…but I don’t think he is very serious at all”.
I love it! Of course because it’s from my children but also because I think/hope it’s so very true, both for myself and all of us here at Raedan.
We’re qualified accounts, we’ve woked very hard to be so and we take what we do very seriously but we make sure the way we work isn’t too serious.
Jonathan BarehamWE’RE HERE
TO HELP YOU
After all, it’s in the name…
rǣdan – Old English verb:
- to advise
- to interpret, explain
- to interpret words and letters; to read
- to prepare
When creating the practice we wanted to avoid the usual choice of using our name(s) but as any business owner knows, picking a name can be the hardest part of starting up! All the fruits were taken!
We did want it to have some relevance to our goals; we are advisors to small business, we have a real desire to change how small business thought about accounting, we wanted to help clients understand the importance of accounting and how it leads better decision making and that it wasn’t just a necessary part of running a business.
We started by looking into what the family name meant, it seems Bareham had Anglo-Saxon origins. Google lead us to an Anglo-Saxon dictionary and we were delighted to find the word rǣdan. It’s meaning described so brilliantly our goals – advise, interpret, explain.
It’s true pronunciation is ree-dan, however, using the ǣ in branding proved confusing so when moving to a more easily recognised ae, it also made sense to change to ray-dan.
CORE VALUES
We believe the way we approach our work is as important as the services we offer and whilst we love technology it should never be at the expense of the human aspect of business, in fact, it should make more time for it.
Efficiency
…through use of leading cloud technology and intelligent systems
Automation
…of repetitive tasks to safe time and improve accuracy
Compassion
…our team care about our clients and the level of work they produce.
Clarity
…through the use of every day language rather than technical jargon, we want to ensure we are understood and that clients understand their position.
Our Team
Jonathan Bareham ACA
Director / Co-Founder
With a degree in Computing as well as Accounting, Jonathan’s goal has always been to maximise the use of technology and modern practices in whatever he does.
He has over 10 years experience working Creative and Entertainment related businesses and now specialises in helping them implement and use cloud software to create efficiency, with a focus on improving business owners financial understanding.
Colin Bareham FCA
Director / Co-Founder
Colin has over 35 years’ experience in general practice. He trained with a large accountancy firm in the City of London before moving to London’s West End to become a partner of a small practice specialising in working with small/medium business and professional clients with a particularly strong client base within the entertainment industry. After some twelve years in partnership, Colin set up as a sole-practitioner in the West End and later moving to Docklands.
Beth Riordan FCCA
Head Accountant
Beth has worked for a number of the UKs top accountancy practices. Through these roles she now holds a wealth of experience working with Creative Agencies and Production Companies.
She now specialises in helping small businesses setup and improve their accounts systems and then helping business owners use those systems to improve growth.
FEES
At Raedan we use fixed fees for nearly all the work we complete. This enables our clients to have piece of mind knowing that the services to be completed have been agreed in advance and that there will be no surprise invoices.
Our fees include all email and telephone support because we want to encourage clients to get in touch as soon as a query arrises. Too often businesses worry about seeking advice due to cost and wait until the year end accounts are completed, unfortunately this is usually some time after the event and that advice is too late to act on.
HOW THEY WORK
We work out with our clients the services they need at present and over the coming twelve months, though in most cases the services can change during that period. We then agree a fee to cover all the work and spread it equally, in monthly payments, over that same twelve months.
Each amount is invoiced on the 1st of the month and is payable inline with our usual terms. We do provide and encourage payment by Direct Debit to ensure no breaks in service due to late payment.
Any additional or one-off pieces of work that arise during that period can be added, with any fee again agreed in advance.
Each year we review the proposal with our clients to ensure they are still receiving the most appropriate services.