It has been two years since Michelle Saunders’ business partner, Frank Cooper, unexpectedly left the start-up tax accounting firm the pair founded to head back to a big-tier practice.
It has been two years since Michelle Saunders’ business partner, Frank Cooper, unexpectedly left the start-up tax accounting firm the pair founded to head back to a big-tier practice.
For Mrs Saunders, the shock departure of her colleague, with whom she had worked for 17 years, just five months after establishing Cooper Partners forced her to consider abandoning the dream and take sanctuary in a big accounting firm.
But Mrs Saunders told WA Business News this week she firmly believed in what the pair had set out to achieve, and decided to continue on.
“We were still in our infancy so it came as quite a shock, but he had an offer from PricewaterhouseCoopers that he could not refuse and it was something he felt he wanted to do,” Mrs Saunders said.
It came as a shock, she said, because the pair had set about building a firm based on what the big firms could not deliver, specifically focusing on providing specialist services to local small business and medium enterprises.
“We had made some observations in the market about what the big firms were not delivering,” Mrs Saunders said.
“He went his way and I learned that business is about developing resilience and having the confidence that you will survive.”
She acknowledges the hard work involved, but said the result had been the development of a business that was attracting quality people and clients.
The firm has grown from seven people to 12, with a further two accountants expected to join Cooper Partners in the coming weeks.
Mrs Saunders said she fostered a culture that let high achievers grow by giving those people “full autonomy and the ability to take risks”, which were elements often lacking in big firms.
Mrs Saunders, who was a 2002 WA Business News 40under40 award winner, said unlike triangle management structures in bigger firms, her business operated with a diamond structure, where there were more people with six to 10 years’ experience and fewer inexperienced staff.
But that did not mean the firm could not remain competitive with pricing its services, she said.
“We find that our experienced staff are not learning on the job, so they are more efficient with their time and get right to the point,” Mrs Saunders told WA Business News.
Part of creating the culture was remaining small, she said.
Mrs Saunders wants to keep growing the business, but only until it has about 20 people on deck.
“We’re making sure we create the right type of work environment and once you have done that you have to maintain it.”
•Nominations for the 2008 WA Business News 40under40 awards are open. Visit www.40under40.com.au to nominate.
