Helen Queen

More than accounting – financial management that drives your business forward. Queen Accountancy is your one stop shop for all the financial insight you need to grow your profits and stay in control

Did you know that over half a million small businesses closed in 2022? 

Many failed because of poor financial management which meant they couldn’t withstand the impact of COVID and other factors affecting the economy.

One of the problems is your average accountant is too focused on the past. They delve into what happened in the previous tax year to help you remain compliant with HMRC.

But this backward-looking focus can leave you floundering when it comes to what’s happening right now, what might happen next, and how you can change your decision making to secure your business’ future.

That’s where a part-time finance director comes in. Most SMEs don’t need a full-time FD, nor can they afford one, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get the financial management support you need.

Imagine knowing exactly when you might need to get some additional funding to help you over a blip in your cashflow. Or understanding exactly which of your products or services are driving your profit margins. Or where to look for investment opportunities that have the best chance of success.

It’s all very doable when you work with me.

I’m Helen, the Accountancy Queen, but I don’t call myself an accountant because I’m so much more than that. 

My services, aside from the usual tax compliance, payroll, annual accounts, and bookkeeping, include:

•	Budgeting and forecasting
•	Management reporting/Financial Reporting
•       Financial Analysis
•	Funding/grants submissions
•	Business growth advice
•	Invoice/trade finance options
•	Software training/support (Freeagent, Xero, Sage, Sage 200)

As my ideal client, you’ll:

•	Be a proactive, forward thinking business owner 
•	Willing to listen to advice and act on it
•	Have a workforce of up to 50 staff 
•	Run an importing/exporting operation

By working with me, you’ll get:
✅ Deep insight into what’s working in your business and what’s not
✅ A methodical approach to growing your business
✅ A business partner who is focused on your company’s success

If you know your business needs to take a more proactive, dynamic approach to its finances, give me a call and let’s find out whether we’re a good fit for each other.

DM Me
EMAIL: Helen@Queenaccountancy.com 
PHONE: 015394 82007

Owner

I do accounting

I help Accountancy Business owners grow and get out of the day to day | 15+ years of lessons in my book - Click 'Visit my Website' below to order

Hi 👋 I’m Reza

I own an Accountancy Business I grew from £125k/pa → £1M+ ARR.

Today, I have a team in place so that it takes me LESS than 5 hours a week to run it.

But it wasn't always that way -> I had many challenges to overcome including:

1. Attracting better quality clients who pay higher fees
2. Repricing existing clients who weren’t paying me enough
3. Knowing who to bring on board to let the business grow
4. Moving from pricing by the hour to pricing the value
5. Finding the time in the day to get everything done
6. Putting the systems in place to remove myself from the day-to-day

Solving those problems grew my firm to 7 figures.

And now I’ve helped 350+ other firm owners in my community solve those problems for their own business.

Some of the results people have gotten working with me:

👉 Bev increased her average fees from £269/mo to £1000+/mo
👉 Tej doubled his revenue from £650k to £1.4m in 2 years
👉 Suzanne repriced a client from £5k a month (timesheet) to £15,000 PER MONTH!
👉 Michelle cut her hours down from 60 → 30 hours per week
👉 Frederik got rid of the timesheets, reduced his head count whilst increasing profitability to 40%
👉 Amy started her firm from scratch and won a £38k fee client in her first 4 months.

Just to name a few! (see more in my featured section above)

If you’re an Accountancy Business Owner wanting to attract good quality clients, get higher prices and reduce the hours you're spending in the business on the day-to-day… 

🤙 Get a copy of my book "The Four Pillars" by clicking 'Visit my Website' at the top of my profile 👆

Reza Hooda FCA CTA

I started Capture Accounting from nothing.

No clients. No brand. No track record in that specific niche.

Just a domain name, a one-page website, and a clear decision about who I wanted to serve.

Didn't set up a new company. Didn't open a new bank account. Didn't hire anyone.

Just proved the concept first.

Got the first client. Then the next. Then the next.

And only once it was working did I start building around it.

I spoke to someone this week in almost exactly the same position.

Starting fresh. No clients. A clear market in mind.

And he was worried he wasn't ready yet.

My advice?

You'll never feel ready.

The website doesn't have to be perfect. The LinkedIn doesn't have to be perfect.

You just need to be clear on who you serve and get in front of them.

Sell it first. Build around it after.

That's how you prove the model without burning through time and money getting everything "ready."

I help Accounting Firm owners grow and get out of the day to day | 15 years of learning in my book The Four Pillars - hit 'Visit my Website' below to get a free copy | Practice Owner of 7-figure firm - Capture Accounting

Most accounting firm owners quit LinkedIn too soon.

Here's why that's a mistake.

Imagine you're a fisherman.

You cast your line every day. Most days, nothing bites. Some days you get a nibble but the fish swims away. Occasionally, you land something worth keeping.

Do you stop fishing because most casts don't work?

No. You keep casting. Because that's how fishing works.

LinkedIn posts are casts.

Most won't get engagement. Some will get a like or two. Occasionally one will take off and someone will DM you asking about your services.

But here's what most accountants miss: the posts that don't get engagement aren't failures. They're just casts that didn't get a bite that day.

They're still working.

Someone saw it. It trained the algorithm to show your next post to more people. It built familiarity with a prospect who's been quietly watching you for months.

You can't catch fish without casting.

And you can't get clients without posting.

The accountants who win on LinkedIn aren't the most talented writers. They're the ones who keep casting long after everyone else has gone home.

So keep casting.

That's how fishing works.

♻️ Repost if this landed for you.

Louis Vuitton never has a sale. 

They put prices up every year. 

And people queue for 45 minutes just to get in the door.

What they've mastered is what most accountants get backwards.

When you discount, you don't attract more clients. You attract worse ones. 

Price becomes the only thing they care about, because you've told them it's the only thing that matters.

When you hold your price or raise it, something different happens. 

People assume quality. They compete to work with you. They refer people who are just like them.

The "reassuringly expensive" effect is real. It works in accounting just as well as it works in luxury retail.

Know your worth. Price accordingly. 
The clients worth having will understand.

PS: Pic me sitting in the shop thinking up an angle for a LinkedIn post whilst my wife browsed 😄

I hear this all the time.

Accountants who know they need to be visible.

Know they need to build a presence.

But haven't posted a single thing.

Because what if nobody engages?

What if people judge them?

What if they look like they don't know what they're talking about?

Here's what I told someone this week.

Nobody is watching you as closely as you think they are.

Everyone is too busy scrolling past their own fears to spend much time on 
yours.

At the start, it is purely about reps.

Volume over perfection.

The person who posts consistently for six months, even imperfectly, will be miles ahead of the one who waited until they had something perfect to say.

You've got knowledge. You've got experience.

Your ideal clients are out there right now, scrolling LinkedIn, with problems you can solve.

They just don't know you exist yet.

Start posting. Start today.

Imperfect and visible beats perfect and invisible every time.

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10 things I wish someone had told me before I started my accountancy firm:

1. Your first clients will be wrong for you. Take them anyway and learn fast.

2. Referrals feel free. They're not. Referral clients often expect the same deal the referrer got.

3. Cheap clients cost more than expensive ones. The fees are lower and the drama is higher.

4. You don't need a big team. You need the right two or three people.

5. Your website sells nothing. Your clarity sells everything.

6. Niching feels terrifying and then feels like freedom.

7. The discovery call is where the deal is won or lost. Not the proposal.

8. Pricing is a marketing decision, not an accounting calculation.

9. The clients who push back hardest on price become your best advocates once they're in.

10. The bottleneck is almost never the work. It's almost always the marketing.

Took me 15 years to learn these. You've got them in 30 seconds. 

Save this. Come back to it when one of them becomes relevant.

Took my son to the Qatar Open final on Saturday.

Alcaraz vs his opponent.

Straight sets. 
Total domination. 
A masterclass in precision and power.

My 12-year-old watched in silence.

He takes tennis coaching twice a week. 
Practices his serve religiously. 
Dreams about getting better.

But watching this?

Different level entirely.

After the match, in the car:

"Dad, I'm going to play in that tournament one day."

Not "I hope to." 
Not "Maybe I could."

"I'm going to."

That's what happens when you witness excellence firsthand.

It stops being a fantasy and becomes a target.

Before yesterday, tennis was something he enjoyed.

Now he's seen the destination.

The speed required. 
The precision needed. 
The mindset it takes.

He didn't leave discouraged by the gap.

He left inspired by the possibility.

This is exactly what happens when firm owners finally expose themselves to what's actually possible.

Most accountants stay in their bubble.

They network with other £150k firms. 
They benchmark against local competitors. 
They follow the same Facebook groups complaining about the same problems.

So their ceiling becomes their reality.

They think £600 for accounts is "good money." 
Because they've never met someone charging £6k.

They think 50-hour weeks are unavoidable. 
Because they've never met someone working 15.

They think £200k is "successful." 
Because they've never seen what a £1M firm looks like.

Then they join a mastermind.

Or attend a live event.

Or have a conversation with someone operating three levels above them.

And everything shifts.

Not because they learned new information.

But because they saw it's actually possible.

My son could watch Alcaraz on YouTube all day.

But being there live, feeling the atmosphere, seeing the level up close?

That created belief.

Same with your practice.

You can consume content forever.

But being in the room with firm owners who've already built what you want?

That's when you stop wondering "if" and start planning "how."

The best investment I ever made wasn't in courses or software.

It was in proximity to people already where I wanted to be.

Masterminds. 
Coaching programs. 
Live events.

Not for the content.

For the exposure to what excellence actually looks like.

My son didn't come home with new techniques.

He came home with new standards.

And that's worth infinitely more.

Who are you exposing yourself to, and what level are they playing at?

PS: Booked him an extra coaching session this week. He's already working on the specific shots he saw Alcaraz execute. Sometimes all it takes is seeing greatness to unlock a new level of commitment.

In 2014 I was working 60-hour weeks in my accounting firm. 

In 2024 I was working less than five hours a week. 

Same firm. Very different life. 

Most firm owners think the answer is to hire more people or work smarter. 

But that's not what changed things for me. 

What changed was realising I had built a business that could only run with me in it. 

Every process lived in my head. Clients wanted me personally. Nothing moved without me. 

I wasn't running a business. I was the business. 

Getting out of that trap isn't about working less. It's about building the right foundations so the firm genuinely doesn't need you in the middle of everything. 

I've written an article breaking down exactly how to do it, including the four things that need to change and why most firm owners stall at step three.

View newsletter: Accounting Firm SuccessSecrets

In 2014, I was working over 60 hours a week in my accounting firm. Answering every client email. Taking every phone call. Reviewing every set of accou

Open article: How I run my 7-figure accounting firm on less than 5 hours a week by Reza Hooda FCA CTA • 5 min read

How I run my 7-figure accounting firm on less than 5 hours a week

Most accountants think they need more clients. 

They don't. 

They need better ones. 

And the reason they keep attracting the wrong ones has nothing to do with their pricing, their marketing, or their website. 

It's that they look exactly like every other accountant out there. 

When clients can't tell you apart from the next firm, there's only one thing left to compare you on. 

Price. 

And that's a race you'll never win. 

I proved there was a better way by launching a brand new firm from scratch in 2021. Zero clients. Zero reputation in a new space. A live experiment in front of my whole community. 

We hit £100k in nine months. 

Not because we were smarter or worked harder. 

Because we got our positioning right first. 

I've written an article breaking down exactly how to do this for your firm. The common mistake that keeps most owners stuck, and a simple four-step framework to fix it.

I want to tell you something that nobody told me when I bought my first practice. I took over from my father-in-law in December 2007. Remortgaged my f

Open article: Why Your Accounting Firm Looks Like Everyone Else's (And What to Do About It) by Reza Hooda FCA CTA • 5 min read

Why Your Accounting Firm Looks Like Everyone Else's (And What to Do About It)

Most accountants are invisible online.

Not because they're bad at what they do.

But because they look exactly like everyone else.

Same services. 
Same messaging. 
Same "we work with small businesses" on their website.

So what happens?

They compete on price.

They chase leads.

They work harder for less.

Here's what changes everything:

Pick a lane.

When you specialise, you become the obvious choice for a specific type of client.

You don't have to be better than every other accountant out there.

You just have to be the best for dentists. Or ecom brands. Or agencies.

That shift alone gives you:

Higher perceived authority (clients come to YOU) 
Premium pricing power (no more race to the bottom) 
A referral engine within your niche 
Streamlined systems (you're doing the same work repeatedly) 
Less selling (your reputation does it for you)

Generalists compete on price.

Specialists compete on value.

And value wins. Every. Single. Time.

The question isn't whether niching works.

It works. I've seen it too many times with too many accountants to doubt it.

The real question is: are you building a firm or a commodity?

Because right now, if you're a generalist, you're a commodity.

And no one pays a premium for a commodity.

Are you niching down in your practice? Comment below, I'd love to hear what sector you're in (or thinking about).

I had a major breakthrough in my accounting firm when I realised that trying to appeal to everyone actually meant appealing to no one.

If you want to grow your business and market effectively, you MUST be crystal clear on who you serve. Your role is to resonate with a particular audience with messaging tailored specifically for them.

The strategy I recommend: go narrow and go deep with a specific target market.

This brings countless benefits:

- You're seen as the specialist (think brain surgeon vs. GP - who earns more?)
- Clients seek YOU out rather than competing with every other generalist
- You understand your clients' industry-specific challenges better
- You work more efficiently by creating repeatable systems
- Your practice becomes more profitable and scalable

We initially specialised in property investors. We've since created a separate brand - Capture Accounting - focusing exclusively on content creators and 
social media influencers.

I decided to practice what I preach by creating distinct brands for distinct audiences, allowing us to speak directly to each group's specific needs.

What about you? Are you still trying to be everything to everyone, or have you found your niche?

#AccountingFirm #Niching #AccountingPractice #GrowthStrategy

Most accountants walk into a prospect meeting and wing it.

I used to do the same. Nice chat, answer their questions, give some free advice, say I'd send a proposal. Then wait. And hope.

That approach cost me thousands in lost fees.

Here's the 6-stage framework I now use to convert prospects to clients, in a single meeting:

1. Motivation. Ask what prompted them to get in touch. Let them talk. Don't say a word about yourself yet.

2. Pain. Dig into the real cost of their problem. Time wasted. Stress caused. Money lost. Most prospects haven't done this maths. You're doing it with them live.

3. Desired outcome. Ask: "If we were having this conversation 12 months from now, what has to have happened for you to feel successful?" This question alone sets you apart from every other accountant they've spoken to.

4. Emotional connection. Get them to picture life when the problem is solved. People buy on emotion, then justify with logic.

5. Solution. Only now do you talk about what you do. But frame it around their specific pain, not a generic list of services.

6. Price. Give it live in the meeting. Never say "I'll send a proposal." That's where deals go to die.

Follow this sequence and the prospect does most of the talking. By the time you present the price, they've already sold themselves.

Save this before your next prospect call.

My client won a recurring fee of £300,000 😮

He’s a sole practitioner with less than 20 employees.

It’s proof that you don’t need to be a top 10 firm with a big brand to earn big fees.

You just need to know:

→ How to position your offering
→ How to communicate your value
→ The confidence to charge your worth.

If you’re thinking you can’t charge a higher price because of [xxx limiting belief in your head], let this be the motivation to get you to think again. 💪

And if you want my help to get higher fees, DM me ‘GROWTH’ and let’s see if its a fit.

I increased my average fees to nearly £10,000 and got much better clients 🤷🏻‍♂️

Sounds counter intuitive but it’s true

Your price says something about you - the way you are perceived is different

Cheap = low quality, mass market, commodity
Expensive = premium, exclusive, quality

Whether you are or not is irrelevant

That’s just the way our irrational minds perceive price

So when you’re expensive you actually attract a more discerning client

Because you’re charging more you don’t need as many clients

You can then invest more per client in your team so the experience of working with you is better

You’re not then overwhelmed, overworked and concerned about hiring because of tight margins

Which results in you actually delivering a premium service clients love

But most accountants don’t do this 🤷🏻‍♂️

They compete on price

Which is a never ending race to the bottom

And a recipe for working crazy hours and not making enough money

You can be Primark or Prada and be profitable

But don’t be anything in between because no one makes money in the mushy middle 🤦‍♂️

I lost a good client because I didn't know how to price.

Not because my work was bad. 
Not because he found someone cheaper. 

Because I handed him a bill after the work was done and he'd had no idea it was coming.

That was 2009. It's the last time I ever charged by the hour.

The thing nobody told me when I left PwC to run my own firm is that hourly billing is broken by design. 

It punishes efficiency. It rewards being slow. And it creates an adversarial relationship with the client right at the moment you should be building trust.

Value pricing changed everything. Here's what actually shifted:

Clients stopped hesitating to call me because they weren't scared of the meter running. 

I stopped having uncomfortable bill conversations. I started earning more for the same amount of work, because I was pricing the outcome, not the hours.

If you're still billing by the hour, the problem isn't your rates. It's the model.

What made you switch, or what's stopping you? I'd genuinely like to know.

PS: Big firms still do it because they’re like oil tankers. Change takes time. You’re small, you’re nimble - you can make the decision to change today.

Amazon started with books.

Not electronics. Not fashion. Not cloud computing.

Books.

They nailed one thing, built trust in that space, then expanded.

The most common thing I hear from accountants when I talk about niching is:

"But what if I miss out on clients outside my niche?"

You won't.

Referrals still come. You still take them.

But here's what happens when you niche your marketing and your messaging.

The right people find you more easily.

They feel understood when they land on your profile or website.

They see you as the specialist. Not just another generalist.

And specialists command better fees.

One of my members recently niched into B2B SaaS founders.

His LinkedIn profile now speaks directly to them. Their language. Their problems. Their world.

He's already getting traction from people he'd never have reached as a generalist.

You don't have to stay in the lane forever.

But find your lane first. Nail it. Then go wide.

That's how you build something that scales

If you're an accounting firm owner and wondering whether to put your fees on the website.

Don't.

Here's why.

Your clients are not all the same.

A tradesman turning over £200k has different needs, different complexity, different value to your firm than a property developer turning over £2M.

Putting a fixed price on a website forces you to charge both the same.

And that means you're either overcharging one, undercharging the other, or doing both.

Price on the call.

Understand their situation. Understand their pain. Understand what solving it is worth to them.

Then present a bespoke investment.

That is how you command fees that reflect the real value you deliver.

Fixed website pricing is for volume businesses that want to process clients.

If you want to build a premium firm, price bespoke. Every time.

He quit his job on a Tuesday.

10 years at a top 20 firm.

Clients he'd known for over a decade.

Then private equity walked in.

The culture changed overnight.

The upselling got aggressive.

And one by one, his clients pulled him aside and said the same thing:

"Start your own firm. We'll come with you."

So he did.

Zero fees. Zero clients. Zero safety net.

Just a six-month garden leave and a head full of questions.

How do I win new work?

Where do I even start with marketing?

What's my niche?

How do I stand out from every other accountant doing the same thing?

Sound familiar?

Here's what Alex (name changed) said when we spoke last week:

"There's so much noise about what you should be doing. I just need to simplify it and know the basics."

That's the thing nobody tells you when you go out on your own.

The technical skills that got you here won't get you there.

Winning clients is a completely different game.

And most firm owners are trying to figure it out alone.

You don't have to.

Comment "GROW" below and I'll send you details of how PAC helps firm owners like Alex build a clear system to attract the right clients and grow on their own terms.

The £6,000 mistake most accountants are making with content creator clients

Had a discovery call yesterday with a YouTuber earning £65k.

Smart guy. Runs a theme park review channel. Travels the world creating content.

But here's what caught my attention.

He'd already filed his first year as a sole trader. Did it himself. And he knew something was off.

"I feel like I didn't put as many expenses through as I should have."

Translation: He overpaid tax because he didn't know what he was doing.

Now he's earning more. And he's terrified of his next tax bill.

So he's doing what every sensible business owner does. Looking for an accountant.

Here's where it gets interesting.

This prospect is speaking to multiple firms. Some charging way less than us.

And you know what tilted the conversation in our favour?

Not price. Not fancy software. Not a slick proposal.

Understanding.

When I explained how to handle his family trips to theme parks (where he's filming but the kids are along for the ride), he got it immediately.

When I showed him the £6,000 tax saving just from switching to limited company status, he saw the value.

But the real moment?

"I know the cheaper agencies won't understand what I do. You get it."

That's the game.

You don't need to be the cheapest. You need to understand your client's world better than anyone else.

This creator isn't looking for someone to just file his accounts.

He wants someone who knows what AdSense withholding tax is.

Someone who understands why a trip to Universal Studios Beijing is a legitimate business expense.

Someone who won't question why he's expensing entry tickets to Alton Towers.

Most accountants would look at his expenses and think he's taking the piss.

We look at his expenses and immediately know what's legit and what isn't.

Because we specialise.

Because we understand the business model.

He told us he's got other meetings lined up. Firms charging less.

But I'm not worried.

Because I know what's going to happen in those calls.

They'll talk about their software. Their processes. Their turnaround times.

And he'll sit there thinking: "But do you actually understand what I do?"

The answer will be no.

Specialisation isn't just about marketing. It's about genuinely serving your clients better.

When you niche down, you don't just attract better clients.

You actually become a better accountant for them.

You spot problems before they happen.

You give advice they can actually use.

You save them money they didn't even know they were losing.

That's the difference between being a commodity and being valuable.

Stop trying to serve everyone.

Pick your niche. Learn everything about their world.

And watch what happens to your pricing, your positioning, and your pipeline.

The £6,000 saving I showed this creator? That's just year one.

Imagine what that's worth over five years.

Now imagine being the accountant who made that happen.

That's the power of specialisation.

When you're 85 looking back on your life, you won't remember the timesheets you filled in or the tax returns you filed.

You won't be telling your grandkids about that client you almost won or the pricing conversation you backed away from.

What you will remember are the decisions that changed everything.

That moment when your firm finally broke through the ceiling that held you back for years.

The day you stopped working 60-hour weeks and started following a proven path.

The transformation that happened when you joined other accountants who had solved the exact problems you were facing.

Here's what nobody tells you about growing an accounting firm:

1. The difference between staying stuck and breaking through isn't more effort
2. It's not more hours with clients
3. It's not even more qualifications

It's knowing exactly what to focus on at your stage of growth.

That's exactly what we help firm owners do in the The Profitable Accountants Community (aka the PAC).

It's where we identify the ceiling in your practice and show you the steps to break through... based on what I've done to scale my own firms and what hundreds of other accountants have replicated.

If you're tired of being the bottleneck in your firm and want to build something that gives you more money, time and freedom, click the link to my profile and DM me ‘I’m READY’

This was scary - giving complete FREEDOM to my team 😬

Allowing them to work, when and how they wanted.

Take your mind back to pre-pandemic.

The 9-5 was the norm.

Office based working was the norm.

Timesheets were the norm.

But being the rebel I am (and after reading a compelling book called “Work Sucks - and how to fix it”, I took a risk to do something different 😄.

In late 2018, I announced to the team that we’ll be ditching the timesheets.

And from the start of 2019 we’d become a results based working environment.

Where the only thing that matters is results - not the time you spend.

(because anyone can make up what they put on a timesheet, but they can’t make up results)

The key to making this work was ACCOUNTABILITY.

Accountability to results.

And therefore defining what ‘results’ look like.

There was naturally some fears.

How would we manage the phones and office meetings?

↪️ How do we manage now when someone is on phone?

How would we get hold of you if you can work from anywhere?

↪️ How do we manage when you’re in a client meeting?

What if no-one comes into the office?

↪️ Is the location important or the work?

When the pandemic hit, it was a smooth transition for us.

And many employers realised that work can happen without having to see your employees bums on seats.

The formula for making it work has been:

Autonomy WITH Accountability.

After all, we don’t pay people for a chunk of time - but a chunk of work (extract from Work Sucks).

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Reza Hooda FCA CTA

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