AN accountant has launched her own practice in a bid to change people's perception of the profession and in turn change their relationship with figures.

Stacey McVeighty launched Change Accountants in the Catalyst at York Science Park, and is now vying for the New Business of the Year title.

The mission of Ms McVeighty is that people will have an ongoing, honest and meaningful relationship with their accountant. They will not feel intimidated, bored or nervous of fees but will rely on their accountant as part of their successful team.

Ms McVeighty said: "We started Change with a handful of clients, not even enough to cover the rent and the following goals.

"We wanted to ensure that clients would not notice or suffer from rapid growth, so it was crucial for us to have robust and efficient systems in place prior to starting our marketing campaign.

"We have used technology to give us an advantage, including setting up hosted desktops so the team can work from anywhere.

"We also use Gocardless for collecting direct debits from clients, use electronic signature software so documents can be submitted online, and we promote cloud accounting software to clients.

"Technology can’t cover everything but it gives us a head start and frees up our time, which means that we can spend time with clients and have regular face-to-face meetings."

The firm believes its biggest success has been down to networking, which has generated 50 per cent of its gross recurring fees over the last 12 months. The whole team gets involved with networking, with Ms McVeighty involved in running a couple of local networking events, including the First Thursday group.

Client referrals brought in another 35 per cent of new business, which Ms McVeighty said is "very encouraging, as clients are obviously very pleased with our service and have made an effort to recommend us to others".