Case Study: Branding Company

Specialists accountants for branding companies Goringe Accountants helps Portable Banners & Signage company stay on track with pragmatic business reviews.

Expandasign is a global leader in portable branding solutions with a comprehensive range of event flags, pop-up and folding banners, roll-ups, umbrellas, and gazebos.

Brian Powles and Carl Cox, Directors of the Portable Banners and Signage Company Expandasign UK, have exclusive distribution rights in the UK and Northern Ireland to the innovative technology that makes up these unique indoor/outdoor branding products.

Brian and Carl have a background in design and production; from industrial and product design to shop fitting and event production. Whilst still employed elsewhere, they identified a gap in the market and founded Point of Purchase Developments Ltd. in 2003.

Since the company’s inception, they’ve expanded to a team of 7 with an annual turnover in excess of £1m, working with global corporates, such as Unilever, Coke, Honda and Jaguar Callaway, as well as many charitable organisations. Most major global brands have passed through the Expandasign family firm at some point.

In 2009 the business had grown to a point where the directors wanted to shift things up a gear. They were looking for a pro-active, supportive and approachable accountancy firm that would provide robust, reliable accountancy advice.

Their incumbent accountant provided a detached (and often uncooperative) service, so the directors were keen to make a rapid change. Their bank manager recommended Nicky Larkin of Goringe Accountants and — after they’d grilled her in an initial meeting — a strong relationship soon formed.

Brian comments:

We instantly liked Nicky.

She explains things clearly and she’s incredibly knowledgeable.

We see her not only as a trusted advisor — using her business acumen to be candid about when we should and shouldn’t do something — but also as an extension to our team.

Essentially Nicky allows us get on with running our business, so we can sleep at night knowing we’re not going to get caught out by the tax man.

We see Nicky for quarterly business review meetings. In between times, if we have a tax or accounting issue, we just call her up. We know that she or a member of her team will respond.

Indeed, it’s this responsiveness that’s so attractive to the Expandasign UK team. As they and Goringe Accountants have grown, their teams have grown, too.

Brian continues:

Nicky has indoctrinated her team into the Goringe way of doing things.

Day-to-day queries are handled quickly and efficiently by Elliot and Nicky’s always on hand for business reviews and strategic advice.

Brian concludes:

A really simple example of Nicky’s hands-on approach is when she trained our bookkeeper to use the fixed assets module on Sage. Lots of firms don’t bother to have face-to-face meetings, but with Nicky here so often, she picks up on potential improvements. That small change has saved a couple of man-days per year. It all adds up.

Their plans for the future include maintaining their success, retaining their market share and diversifying into other markets (more of that in a future case study).

Point of Purchase Developments Ltd. (trading as Expandasign)