What Alex Norian Wishes He’d Known Before Growing IWN Accountancy

TD;LR: Growing a business isn’t just about winning more customers. Hiring the right people, managing costs, improving processes and maintaining service standards can all become more complicated as a company develops. IWN Accountancy founder Alex Norian reflects on the decisions that shaped his business, including an expensive but worthwhile recruitment decision, the importance of specialising and why increasing turnover doesn’t always mean a business is becoming stronger.

When Alex Norian was made redundant, he had a young family, limited savings and a decision to make. Find another job or take the opportunity to build the accountancy firm he’d always wanted to run.

He chose to start IWN Accountancy.

Alex had studied finance and law at Bournemouth University and qualified as a chartered certified accountant. He’d also grown up around business ownership, with his father running an Italian restaurant in Bournemouth for 30 years.

But there’s a difference between understanding how businesses work and being the person responsible for paying the wages, keeping customers happy and deciding what happens next.

Today, IWN is a team of chartered certified accountants based in Bournemouth, working with business owners, landlords and property investors across Dorset, London and the wider UK.

In a recent interview, Alex discussed what helped IWN grow, the decisions he’d approach differently and what he’s learned about building a business that doesn’t depend entirely on its founder.

His experience offers some useful lessons for anyone dealing with the challenges of growing a small business.

Watch Alex’s full interview below, or read the key lessons and practical advice that follow. You can also meet Alex and the IWN team.

1. Your first hire needs to solve the right problem

When a business starts getting busier, recruiting someone can feel like the obvious next step. But hiring the wrong level of experience can create more work rather than less.

That’s something Alex discovered early on.

His first employee was a trainee. Although bringing someone junior into the business appeared to be a sensible way to grow the team, Alex needed someone who could take responsibility for work straight away.

Instead, he found himself spending time providing the training and supervision the new employee understandably required.

The problem wasn’t necessarily the person he’d hired. It was that the role didn’t match what the business needed at that stage.

In February 2023, Alex took a different approach and hired an experienced accountant. The recruitment fees alone were around £9,000, a significant investment for a growing firm.

Looking back, he considers it one of his best decisions.

The new team member could manage work independently and helped introduce more structure, processes and consistency across the business.

 

What should you consider before hiring?

Before recruiting, it’s worth looking beyond the salary and asking:

• What do I actually need help with? Is the priority extra hands, specialist knowledge or someone who can take ownership of a function?
• How much time can I spend on training? A junior employee may be a good long-term investment, but only if the business has the capacity to support them.
• What will the hire really cost? Recruitment fees, employer National Insurance, pension contributions, equipment and training can all add up.
• Can the business comfortably afford it? Consider the impact on cash flow as well as the potential return.

An experienced employee isn’t always the right answer. The important thing is understanding what the business needs before committing to the cost.

For those in the earlier stages of business ownership, having reliable financial information and a realistic plan can help avoid expensive decisions. IWN provides accounting support for start-up businesses to help owners get their finances organised and prepare for growth.

 

2. More turnover doesn’t necessarily mean more profit

It’s easy to judge business growth by the amount of money coming in.

New customers, increasing revenue and a busier team can all suggest things are going well. But if costs are increasing just as quickly, the business might not be in a much stronger position.

Alex experienced rapid growth during IWN’s early years, followed by a period when that momentum slowed.

Rather than concentrating solely on generating more enquiries, he began looking more closely at the firm’s foundations. Did the team have the right structure? Were the processes working? Could the business handle another period of growth without creating additional pressure?

These are questions many established business owners eventually face.

Consider a company that increases its turnover by 20%, but needs additional staff, software and office space to manage the extra work. Revenue might look healthier, while profit margins and cash flow tell a different story.

 

Look beyond the sales figures

When planning the next stage of growth, pay attention to:

• Profit margins: Is the business keeping enough of the additional revenue it generates?
• Cash flow: Will there be sufficient money available to cover wages, tax and other commitments?
• Overheads: Are running costs increasing faster than expected?
• Forecasts: Can the business afford planned investment without putting unnecessary pressure on its finances?

Regular management accounts can help answer these questions. By reviewing financial performance throughout the year, rather than relying solely on annual accounts, owners can identify problems earlier and make plans based on more current figures.

Accountants who understand business planning can also help assess the financial implications of recruitment, expansion and other significant decisions.

Growth should leave a business better off, not simply busier.

 

3. If everything depends on you, growth becomes harder

In a small business, the owner often becomes the person everyone turns to.

They know the customers, understand the processes and can usually solve problems quickly. Initially, that can be an advantage.

The difficulty comes when the business grows but the way it operates stays the same.

As IWN developed, Alex recognised that too much responsibility still rested with him. Building a larger team wasn’t enough on its own. People needed clear roles, reliable processes and the confidence to make decisions without constantly referring everything back to him.

That meant investing time in the business’s structure, not just its immediate workload.

For other owners, a useful starting point is identifying the tasks that regularly interrupt their day.

Which questions keep coming back to you? What happens when you’re on holiday? Are there decisions that someone else could make with the right information?

Documenting important processes, assigning clear responsibilities and giving employees appropriate authority can help reduce that dependency.

It doesn’t mean removing yourself from the business. It means creating enough capacity to concentrate on the work where your involvement makes the greatest difference.

 

4. Being more efficient shouldn’t mean becoming less personal

As businesses grow, maintaining customer service can become a challenge.

More customers and a larger team often mean more processes, systems and technology. Used well, those changes can improve the experience. Used badly, they can make customers feel like they’re dealing with a process rather than a person.

For IWN, which operates as a largely remote firm, this was particularly relevant.

One of the approaches Alex introduced was using short, personalised videos to accompany proposals, accounts and tax returns.

Instead of sending a lengthy email or a set of figures without much explanation, the person handling the work could walk the client through the important points.

Alex admits that he initially spent too much time trying to get his recordings right, sometimes making several attempts before realising that a more natural explanation was often better.

It’s a simple example of using technology without losing the human element.

The same principle applies to accounting systems.

Modern digital accounting can reduce time spent on administrative tasks and make financial information easier to access. But having the figures available is only useful if someone can explain what they mean and help you act on them.

For business owners, the goal should be to save time without compromising the relationships and service that helped the business grow in the first place.

 

5. Trying to appeal to everyone can make it harder to stand out

When you’re starting a business, turning down potential opportunities can feel counterintuitive.

It’s tempting to offer something for everyone, particularly when you’re trying to build a customer base.

Alex took a different approach.

Before launching IWN, he was already sharing property tax advice on LinkedIn, building relationships with landlords, property investors and other professionals working in the sector.

That specialist knowledge gave people a reason to remember him.

It also helped him develop relationships with mortgage brokers and financial advisers who were working with clients needing specialist property tax and accounting advice.

By becoming known for a particular area of expertise, IWN attracted people who understood the value of that knowledge.

And specialising didn’t mean the firm could only work with landlords.

Many property investors also own trading businesses, which created opportunities to support them with their wider financial and accounting requirements.

IWN continues to support clients looking for accountants for landlords, alongside owners of established businesses across the UK.

For other businesses, it’s worth considering what makes your service particularly valuable and which customers benefit most from it.

You don’t necessarily need to narrow your offering. But you do need to give the right people a clear reason to choose you.

 

6. Good employees need to understand what good work looks like

Hiring capable people and putting better processes in place are important steps. But neither automatically guarantees consistent standards.

As IWN’s team grew, Alex became increasingly conscious of the need to maintain the quality of work and customer service that the business wanted to be known for.

One of IWN’s guiding principles is daily excellence, the expectation that standards shouldn’t slip simply because yesterday’s work went well.

In the interview, Alex also reflects on the importance of addressing situations where expectations and performance aren’t aligned.

It’s an uncomfortable part of running a business, particularly when the owner has invested time in building the team.

But avoiding difficult conversations rarely improves the situation.

IWN’s approach to performance has also developed beyond looking solely at the financial value of work completed, with greater consideration given to internal standards and client feedback.

This matters because a business can be productive on paper while customer satisfaction or quality begins to suffer.

When you’re no longer personally involved in every piece of work, employees need to understand the expectations behind their decisions, not just the tasks they’re responsible for completing.

 

What does this mean for your own business?

Not every business will face the same challenges, and the decisions that helped IWN won’t necessarily be right for everyone.

But Alex’s experience highlights several questions worth considering before taking the next step.

• Are you hiring to solve a specific problem? Understand whether you need additional capacity, experience or specialist expertise before committing to recruitment.
• Do your finances support your plans? Review profitability, cash flow and forecasts rather than assuming increased sales mean you can afford to expand.
• Is too much still dependent on you? Identify where clearer responsibilities or better processes could give you back valuable time.
• What makes customers choose your business? Know where your strengths lie and how to communicate them to the people most likely to value them.
• Will your standards hold up as you grow? Make sure your team understands what customers should expect, even when you’re not personally involved.

The aim isn’t to grow at any cost. It’s to create a business that works well financially, looks after its customers and gives its owner room to think beyond the next urgent task.

 

Business advice from people who understand what it’s like to run one

Alex’s experience of building IWN Accountancy has involved many of the same decisions his clients face: recruitment, investment, managing costs, developing a team and finding enough hours in the day.

That perspective is an important part of how IWN approaches its work.

As chartered certified accountants in Bournemouth, the team provides accountancy services and practical financial advice to businesses across Dorset, London and the wider UK.

Whether you’re preparing to hire, considering an investment or trying to understand why increasing turnover isn’t translating into more profit, IWN can help you get a clearer picture of the numbers behind the decision.

Good accounting should do more than tell you what happened last year. It should help you understand where your business stands today and what you can realistically do next.

Speak to the IWN Accountancy team about your plans for your business.