Tell us about your formative years

Primary and secondary education was in Leeds before I spent three years at The City University in London graduating with an economics and accountancy degree.

However, three years in London was a fantastic opportunity to see iconic bands of the 80s such as ELO, The Beat and Bad Manners as well as the theatre and sporting events. As Treasurer of my Hall of Residence we had Wham's back-up band playing.

Returning to Leeds in 1983 I joined Bartfields, an independent city centre Chartered Accountants practice and gained first-time passes qualifying in 1986. My ambition from day one at Bartfields was to make partner and this dream became a reality in 1993.

Through my love of football I joined Leeds Junior Chamber of Commerce to play five-a-side but soon became involved in organising the Leeds Lord Mayor's Parade and in 1992 I was Chairman. Along with the Parade was responsibility for organising a Ball and a "Top Models" contest.

It was also through Junior Chamber that I met my wife Susan and we married in 1992. Adam and Rachel are our two children and life is centred around them these days through a love of Leeds United and tennis.

During the last 10 years we recognised that at Bartfields we needed to be more than just a compliance practice and have developed in-house specialisms to add value to our clients by talking to them about their business development. Having attended a number of courses at Durham University Business School to learn the theory behind subjects such as strategic planning and marketing, I quickly realised that as accountants we have a wealth of knowledge and experience to pass on to our clients.

Tell us about Bartfields and how you came to the organisation

Studying in London meant you attended milk-round interviews with the big accountancy practices whose recruitment policy was based on A-level results – the only set of exams I feel I let myself down in.

So, ever resourceful, the phone book listed Leeds Accountancy Practices and having worked through the list with my Dad we missed out Bartfields. By chance my Dad knew a former employee who suggested I give the then senior partner a call. Although they weren't recruiting, I had an interview, got on well with everyone and was offered a job.

Bartfields is a friendly organisation to work for with a reputation for going that extra mile with clients. We have always been open to change and recognised early in the late 1990s that the audit threshold was increasing and we needed to do something more to make ourselves valuable to clients.

We have a range of software tools and resources to help our clients compile a set of goals and action points that help improve their profitability. We have started to link these with a Performance Measurement and Improvement system known as "The Numbers", based on the eight steps the most successful businesses in the UK follow, and are having great results with clients.

Twenty five years later, I am one of the business owners and still enjoy my day-to-day activities. Over the last five years, I have developed a real skill in understanding a client's business, identifying issues and challenges, and putting forward ideas and strategies to help clients grow. It is not about compliance – we have to do that to comply with HMRC and Companies House – but how we can help our clients grow.

We run a monthly Business Builder Forum that enables clients to discuss business issues and challenges on a group basis and have recently launched our own Business Improvement Programme where we are working with a small number of clients on a group basis covering topics ranging from strategic planning and exit to marketing and people.

Explain your business philosophy

Our philosophy has always been to make our owner-managed business clients the most successful, profitable and enjoyable to run in the UK.

We do this by using tools and resources to make a difference to every aspect of their performance.

As we are in the middle of what Warren Buffet has described as "economic Pearl Harbour", I also believe now is the time for accountants to stand up and be counted by proactively helping their clients to beat the recession. Which is why we recently launched a major new "beat the recession" support programme.

Through it, local businesses will receive our thought-provoking book to get them started, followed by a suite of multi-media profit improvement software, a benchmarking review to identify where their strengths and weaknesses lie compared to others in their industry, and a detailed diagnostic review and meeting to turn it all into a practical action pan for strengthening their profits and cashflow in these difficult times.

If you weren't doing the job you are doing now, where might you be – or where might you like to have been?

I would have been involved in finance in some form. Had the Bartfields job not materialised, I was considering industry and had an interview lined up at Rolls Royce in Derby, and was even looking to apply for a cost and management accountant role in Bermuda. But Leeds is hard to beat!

What do you feel are the major issues which affect Leeds and the country in general?

A lot of businesses have been affected by the Bank of England dropping their base rates.

In the hope of stimulating growth, High Street banks have increased their margin over base rate which has resulted in little interest saving and in some cases I have come across a higher cost of borrowing.

Also, the banks seem reluctant to lend to business unless they are fully secured. Whilst the Government have introduced the Small Business Finance Scheme, banks at a local level are still reluctant to lend.

Another issue that people don't see is the knock-on affect of businesses closing down in the area. Whether it be Tetley's or Woolworth's, local businesses are losing customers on a daily basis, so their businesses are suffering and profits reducing. This will further reduce the tax take and is likely to result in further tax increases in order for the Government to cover the cost of its borrowing.

If you had the power to tackle the issues above, how would you go about it?

I think the Government needs to ensure the banks pass on the rate decreases to customers to ease business and personal cash flow, help stimulate growth and encourage spending.

It is particularly disappointing to note on the mortgage front that Northern Rock appears to be the last bank to react to base rate changes, yet are controlled by the Government. Instead of co-ordinating change together, they continue to be a more expensive lender whilst still looking to reduce further their mortgage book.

Looking at the accountancy sector in Leeds, what do you feel are the challenges it faces currently and how will you be addressing them?

With the recession, no business is safe and as clients come under increasing cash flow constraints it is up to us to help them manage their way out of difficulties by preparing cash flow projections and implementing new systems to help them manage their cash flow on a week-by-week and sometimes day-by-day basis.

In addition we need to explore ways in which they can develop their business to generate additional sales and therefore cash and profitability.

Out of adversity comes opportunity and we firmly believe our resources will help our clients thrive and not just survive through the recession.

Who in the world most impresses you a) in business and b) in life generally?

Although it is the easy option to nominate Richard Branson, I am always impressed by how he identifies business opportunities and with the obvious exception of Virgin Cola makes them a success.

Challenging the likes of BA and building an airline that promotes quality and innovation and always looks to improve, to building a rail network and even developing his own space flights with Virgin Galactic is a very impressive CV. Not only that, when he gets involved with Formula 1, it is with Brawn who just happen to be number 1 at the moment.

In life generally I would nominate Nelson Mandela. I recently finished a biography of the man, and to have gone from years of imprisonment on Robben Island to leading a nation is truly inspirational.

Away from the office, where are we most likely to find you?

On the tennis court or improving my skills against the kids on our newly acquired Wii.

You're hosting a dinner party and can invite one extra person from history. Who would you ask, and why?

I would have to say Nelson Mandela, having read the book about him, just to hear about his struggles, how he overcame them and still managed to keep a smile on his face.


MY CV

DAVID MILLER

Born: Leeds.

Live: Alwoodley

Education: Talbot County Primary School, Middlethorne Middle School, Allerton Grange High School and The City University

Career history: Bartfields Chartered Accountants

Marital status: married to Susan; son Adam, 15, and daughter Rachel, 10

Interests: Leeds United and tennis.