This blog post is part of a series where Manchester Digital interviews its members to shed light on their work within the digital and technology industry in Greater Manchester.
In this edition, we have the pleasure of speaking with Ali Netherwood, App Advisory Lead at Blu Sky Chartered Accountants.
What does your organisation do?
We help ambitious companies across the UK to grow and make visions happen.
We’re dedicated to providing all the flexible, tailored support needed to help business owners successfully scale and reach their goals.
Whether you need day to day accounting support, strategic forecasts, to prepare for funding, general funding guidance or an R&D claim, we’re here to free up your time and solve your problems.
What do you think is currently the biggest issue facing the digital and tech industry?
In the current economic climate, and without the professional support, understanding how to obtain the correct level of funding and tax credits can be a minefield to businesses in the digital and tech industry where research and development is very common.
Knowing how to access and gain the correct funding can enable businesses in the digital and tech industry to really take their ideas, products and services to the next level, whether that’s launching, solving an issue or going global.
What is your organisation’s biggest achievement?
It’s hard to pick just one as we’ve been through the start-up to scale journey ourselves and we’ve really grown over the years, both team and service wise!
Some recent achievements that come to mind are:
- In 2021 we helped our clients raise over £313m in investment
- In 2021 on average we saved our clients over £55k tax each in research and development tax credit claims
- We’re multi award winning. This year alone we’ve won the Accounting Excellence Award for Medium Sized Firm of the Year, North East Accountancy Award’s Firm of the Year (under 50 employees) and Rising Star Tax Adviser of the Year.
- We’ve successfully launched a podcast this year where we chat with inspiring individuals. It’s Two Pints of Lager and a Spreadsheet for anyone who’d like a listen!
What would you consider to be your organisation’s biggest challenge?
Helping business owners fully embrace digital accounting, although our clients are forward thinking and onboard, there are still some business owners who aren’t quite ready to digitise or embrace technology.
We continuously try to educate and support business networks with the importance of digital adoption through workshops, webinars and one-to-one training sessions.
What do you think the future looks like for Manchester’s digital and tech sector?
The future is bright! It’s fantastic that Manchester was recently named the UK’s Top Digital Tech City. There’s an abundance of specialist talent and skilled individuals across the city who will enable the sector to thrive for many years to come. Organisations such as Manchester Digital really help strengthen this position and push growth in the sector to new levels.
Tell us something we might not know about your company?
Our head quarters are in a refurbished former pub in sunny North Shields! However, as we are a 100% digital cloud firm our employees work nationwide, with some staff based in and around Manchester. Given the thriving digital and tech sector that we specialise in, it was a no-brainer for us to become a member of the community.
Thank you Ali!
To find out more about Blu Sky, click here.
