Beginning our biggest ever period of growth

Damon Brain, Director at Duncan & Toplis

As we near the 100th anniversary of Duncan & Toplis, we’re setting our sights on the future, embarking on what will be the biggest period of growth since our group was founded in 1925.

We’re growing so we can do right by our people, our clients and our communities, and we’re doing so in a controlled way because, as accountants, wealth managers and business advisers, we know that the core of our culture, and our financial output, is based on these three pillars.

Accelerating our ambitions

Over almost a century, Duncan & Toplis has been a trusted partner to generations of people, businesses and communities and we’re always working to have a greater positive impact. Our new growth strategy will start the next 100 years of Duncan & Toplis as we mean to go on, accelerating our progress in a controlled manner, protecting everything that’s great about our group and what we do, while maintaining our focus on culture, and growth for the right reasons.

We’re going to increase our revenue, but this isn’t about reaching a turnover target and we’re not setting about to become the biggest. Our growth plan means we can provide a wider range of services, with a deeper skillset to help clients in an increasingly complex financial landscape, while also providing greater opportunities for our team as they continue their careers with us. In essence, it means that we can accomplish our long term goals much sooner, thanks to organic growth as well as the support of private equity investment firm, Blixt Group.

Our people

I’m a firm believer that the more we can motivate and engage talented team members, the more great things they do for our clients and our local communities, and this is why people are at the heart of our strategy.

We are a people-focused organisation, and the skills, motivation, talents and aspirations of our team has a direct impact on the services we provide to clients.

We’ll be investing in our team, building their skills, growing the career opportunities that we offer them while also offering the security, stability and flexibility they need and ensuring they’re fairly rewarded. From school leaver to retiree, we support our people every step of the way, giving them the training, development and coaching they need to reach their potential.

The world of work is becoming more competitive, so we need to stay ahead to attract and retain the best, most talented people.

Our clients

Trust is, and always will be, one of the most important advantages of working with Duncan & Toplis; our clients trust our advice and guidance on a huge range of topics, knowing that we have their best interests at heart. The range of services we provide offer real value to our clients and each of our service lines will be maintained or expanded as we respond to market demand.

There are times when clients ask for our advice on services which are beyond our capabilities in-house: I’ve had clients ask for my advice on which car to buy or even what to name their baby, which goes to show just how much we’re respected as advisers! We’re always happy to signpost and provide recommendations, but we have greater control over quality, culture and delivery when we can provide services in-house, so we’ll be delivering additional services that meet the current and future needs of our clients.

Going forward, we’ll also be continually investing in our use of technology to keep us at the cutting-edge, ensuring we have all of the tools we need to provide outstanding services. However, we’ll always remain a people-based business so although we will be embracing AI and automation, we’ll use this to complement and enable the work of our team, rather than replace it.

Our communities

Supporting our colleagues has a positive impact on the wider community because it gives aspirational and talented people the opportunities to reach their full potential in their local area.

The other result of our growth strategy is its positive impact on local economies. By supporting more businesses and other organisations to achieve their goals and prosper, we’re helping them to create jobs, generate wealth and have a greater contribution to their local communities themselves.

A key element of our growth strategy is our ambition to take this further by bringing Duncan & Toplis services to organisations and individuals across a wider geographical area, with new offices in new locations.

Some of that expansion will be through acquisitions of smaller, like-minded firms that both share our values and that can add value to our team, our clients and to our communities.

Realising our potential

As we move forward with this ambitious growth strategy, it’s important to us that all of our existing clients know that they’ll always receive the same high level of quality we expect of ourselves, dealing with the same people and within the same price structure. As a result, the only changes that our existing clients will experience are improvements in our team’s capabilities and in the range of services we offer and their quality.

For clients that don’t work with us already, we hope that you’ll soon realise the benefits of doing so.

Find out more about Duncan & Toplis at www.duncantoplis.co.uk