The Sedulo coming out of 2022 is very different from the one that went into it. In December 2021, our Christmas party abroad was cancelled due to COVID and new restrictions were rumoured in the press.
Now four cities strong, we headed into the start of the year with the launch of our Wellbeing programme. Former professional boxer and eldest of the famous Liverpool Smith brothers, Paul Smith JR, put the team through their paces in the legendary Rotunda ABC gym. The Wellbeing programme introduced regular training sessions with professional sports clubs, financial advice from our Wealth Management experts, nutrition advice and stress management sessions. Regular sessions sponsored by Absolute Body Solutions and Barry’s Bootcamp offered intense workouts, whilst Yoga and city exploring walks offered a more relaxing experience.
We continued our shirt sponsorship with Bradford Bulls, who finished 9th in the Rugby League Championship; this included their special edition rainbow Pride kit. Sedulo remained Leeds Rhinos’ official Audit Partner who finished 5th in Super League, and we announced a partnership with Cornwall RLFC and player Jack Ray.
Middleweight boxer Brad ‘The Sting’ Rea impressed early on in the year with a first-round knockout in February and extended his unbeaten record further in April. Unfortunately, he just missed out on the English title in a narrow points decision in November.
Also in February, Sedulo became the inaugural sponsor of the British Diversity Awards, celebrating leaders and organisations focusing on diversity and inclusion. On the night, we sponsored the ‘Media Champion in the Public Eye Award’, given to football pundit Jamie Carragher. We also established an internal D&I committee to help educate and celebrate many events during the calendar year. Later in the year, we presented an award to Suranne Jones for Celebrity Ally of the Year at the DIVA awards and Emeli Sandé with LGBTQI Celebrity Champion of the Year at the Rainbow Honours.
March brought the addition of the third-floor space in Manchester. An additional 4,000sq/ft and total occupancy of the building. The new area houses the Marketing function, Corporate Finance division, and Funding and R&D teams. We celebrated the addition with a launch party complete with a live DJ and catering from chicken chain Yard & Coop. The space added a new meeting room named after Emmeline Pankhurst, the iGD Sport showroom and studio space, a basketball hoop machine and putting green (yep!).
Once again, we sponsored and hosted Yorkshire’s Most Exciting Companies in our Leeds office, celebrating some of the most influential businesses in the region. Always a great chance for our team in Leeds to expand our network and bring further opportunities to the office.
War broke out in Europe, and unable to stand by, our team rallied to collect donations for Ukrainian refugees. Food, blankets, toiletries and clothes were given to local rehoming initiatives in our communities from various collection points in each of our city offices.
Managing Director Cathryn Wright started a wine-tasting course across the group. A series of sessions exploring wine production across the globe. We learned about grape variety and how to spot quality wine from the label whilst forming opinions on the wines we like.
April brought back the Sedulo Employee Engagement Survey, highlighting critical areas for the Senior Management Team to focus on. Issues with client and work management, culture and team happiness were brought to the forefront of the business with suitable actions committed. Combined with this, we introduced the Sedulo Happiness Score, a weekly opportunity for the team to tell management how they feel at work. This process highlighted many quick wins for the team and has increasingly opened an honest dialogue within the group. The benefits of this are evident as we exit this year with increased scores in almost all areas and - crucially - in our team’s overall ‘Happiness Score’. We aim to improve this even further in 2023.
Sedulo Hospitality solidified itself as a brand, hiring a talented and driven
team which improved the events offering across the year, as well as the daily hospitality experience. R&D made significant improvements to its offering, hiring an experienced team that delivered consistent success month-on-month and established a presence in each city.
Cohort four began its Sedulo Accelerator Scheme journey, a 2-year programme set to incubate the group’s best talent into high-achieving team members, with Cohort five starting later in September. There was also a self-development opportunity for the Liverpool team as Sedulo ambassador Andy Grant gave a motivational talk to the Liverpool team, much like he did at the 2019 group conference.
Bartfields Forensic Accountants undertook a major rebrand to Sedulo Forensic Accountants, aligning it with the rest of the group. A roadshow of events launching the brand in Liverpool, Manchester and London whilst celebrating the release of David Winch’s book “A Practical Guide to Confiscation & Restraint”.
In May, we brought all four of our offices to Manchester’s UA92 for the TwentyTwentyTwo conference. Here, long-standing members of the Sedulo team shared stories of their careers and how they started with the company. The day focused on Sedulo’s legacy and where it had come from, as well as setting out what plans were for the rest of the year and beyond. The event ended at the Deansgate office for the REWIND festival, with live rooftop music from drummer Steve White, Reggae artist Golty, 5ive and Phats & Small.
A client from the beginning, Stockport County returned to the football league as National League Champions. Sedulo and County have a rich history, which finally led to the deserved return to League 2.
In June, we launched the first Back to School appeal, building on a 2021 initiative started in partnership with the Michael Carrick Foundation. We delivered 1,000 school packs and meal vouchers to children across the country whose families would otherwise struggle to provide them with the necessary school supplies.
Once again, Cathryn Wright was recognised on the Pride Power list at number 29. In less than a year, the Liverpool office was awarded Financial services of the Year in the City of Liverpool Business awards. Sedulo IT went live in September, bringing additional services to the group offering. This brought us the team from Blue Spot Computers, who had been working with Sedulo for years. We kicked off the brand internally with a series of launch events for the team, detailing the new services and introducing the team. This required an extensive branding exercise for the marketing team, bringing a twist on the familiar red Sedulo identity.
Oktoberfest sold out three events bringing together the business communities in Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds. The ever-popular event featured pizza from our friends at Crazy Pedro’s and a live oompah band.
In October, we celebrated the achievements of three influential women in business in our Manchester office at the Empowered Women event whilst raising money for young girls who cannot afford period products; marking our first ever Period Poverty Appeal. We also received confirmation of our #31 rank in the AccountacyAge Mid-Tier Power Index, whilst more recognition followed as we were shortlisted for Hospitality team of the Year at the Manchester Young Talent Awards, amongst teams from Dakota, The Alchemist and Menagerie.
Restructure was big on the agenda, with general meetings in all offices outlining the group’s future. All departments having the same structural presence in all offices means considerable opportunities to those already here, opportunities for us to continue our fast growth and clear pathways for advancement in the coming years–more on this in 2023!
November brought us a controversial Winter World Cup, with each office screening all the action. A unique England v Wales event in Leeds brought Rhinos legend Jamie Jones-Buchanan and Leeds United hero Gordon Strachan OBE in as pundits to give deep insight into the game.
England cruised to a 3-0 win to top the group.
Once again, In December the Sedulo Christmas Toy Appeal took centre stage as we provided underprivileged children with sacks full of presents on Christmas day. The overwhelming support from the team, clients and general public meant we smashed our initial target of 700 children and finished the year by providing 12,000 Christmas presents to 1,200 children across the UK, as well as providing Christmas dinner for 333 familes. The total benefit figure of our 2022 Christmas Toy Appeal is estimated at around £70,000, making it by some distance our largest Christmas Toy Appeal ever. Four grotto events presented a humbling experience for our teams’ children as they gave sacks of presents to Santa to give to children less fortunate than themselves. The success of this year’s appeal provided a robust platform for launching the Sedulo Foundation next year.
After two years out, our much-famed Christmas do abroad went ahead. 121 Sedulo Team members flew over the Benidorm for some December sun. Karaoke, self-pour Cruzcampo, Tapas alley, a dodgy ref and the mop guy in Beachcomber all made a special weekend where friendships and memories were made (or forgotten!).
Be the Standard welcomed esteemed guests to the Regency Club. MyProtein founder Oliver Cookson, Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, Brewdog’s David McDowall, Class of 92’s Gary Neville, legendary boxer Sugar Ray Leonard and Reggae Reggae Sauce’s Levi Roots were just a few. Celebrating 12 months of Be the Standard, we brought it to the public with BTS Live in Leeds’ Everyman theatre. The day delivered expert knowledge and insight from Green & Black’s Jo Fairley, JD Sport’s Peter Cowgill and world champion boxer Josh Warrington to a sellout crowd of 250. The highlight of the year was the Be the Standard Iceland retreat. The 30 who made the trip identified their life’s mission, relaxed in the Blue Lagoon, explored a glacier on a snowmobile and celebrated the year’s success.
Taking Care of Business series 10 and 11 were released with guests such as politician Alastair Campbell, the Montirex founders, sporting coach Tracey Neville and more. These series feature some of the podcast’s most honest and emotional stories yet.
For many of you, this is your first yearbook. Look through this book and reflect on the memories you’ve shared and the things you’ve missed. What does next year’s yearbook look like for you?
Have a deserved safe and happy Christmas!
Neil McAdam Senior Graphic Designer2022 has been a strange year for some, there is no denying that. We finally left COVID behind it seems, but that left us with a different version of Sedulo than the one that went into the pandemic in 2020.
Looking back now, the change of circumstances that COVID created, and with the growth we have enjoyed over the same period, it was inevitable we would inherit some problems in 2022.
More than anything, I think the higher than usual levels of staff turnover, coupled with the growth, meant many operations were at stretching point. Not least because we had to recruit at speed to cope with both scenarios, some recruitment we simply got wrong.
I have talked, for many years, about us being a world-class advisory firm. Where excellence happens on default, where the results occur as a result of consistent, correct behaviours. Where everyone in the team is of equal importance to one another. Where everyone understands the goal of the organisation, and it fits in with their own personal goals, where everything happens with synchronicity.
Early in the year it was apparent to me, that the culture had regressed during COVID, it was important we got it back. We began returning to why this business was setup in the 1st place. To be the very best in advisory and consultancy, having fun and giving back, along the way.
We talked last year in our 2021 conference about our desire to be a Stage 5 organisation – characterised in the Netflix documentary ‘The Last Dance’, a recollection of the famous Michael Jordan lead Chicago Bulls team.
Truth is, there are very few Stage 5 organisations in corporate settings.
“Stage 5: Life is Great – As good as Stage 4 can be, there is room to go higher still. Stage 5 is occupied by a select few organisations that are so innovative that they have created entirely new market opportunities, allowing them to embark on history-making projects. “These are the tribes that end up changing the world. Not surprisingly, only two percent of organisations reach this lofty position.”
I made the point that whilst it isn’t easy to become Stage 5, we were incessant that we are going to get there. And we still are.
What this has required though is a determination to stick to our principles, despite what is going on around us, and a dedication to get back to the culture we want to create.
Mediocracy, doesn’t bode well in a high performing environment, nor do mediocre people accept the environment, we had a choice. Do we lower the bar for the average? Or do we maintain the bar for the excellent? Push on with building a high performing environment that thrives, and provides opportunity for everyone that exists within it?
We decided to do the latter, but this comes with aches and pains of course. Many we have encountered this year.
The great thing is that, through a number of initiatives, through the strength of our vision, through the hard work and dedication of every one of you, we are ending the year much closer to where we want to be as an organisation.
As I write this, staff turnover is very low, the happiness score is up, the staff satisfaction survey results have improved, we have entered the mid-tier index as an advisory firm, and have been included in the TOP 75 UK Accountancy Firms.
I have mentioned this a few times, but sometimes, despite what is going on around us, we must trust the process. We must measure, not where
we are today, but where we once were, and where we are heading, and ask ourselves, is this progress?
We are not only improving our functionality, but we are working across many areas, on what the consultancy/ partnership proposition looks like going forward.
Looking back on 2022, we:
A financially stable business underpins everything else. It is imperative, therefore, that the financial performance of the business remains strong. For our year ended October 2022 we expect revenues to be circa £13m, October 2021, we had revenues of £10.6m, which was up on 2020 revenue of circa £8.5m.
In 2019 we made a 3 year plan to double in size over the 3 years, we were at £6.5m revenues at the time, so it is very much mission accomplished.
We are currently working on a 3 year plan, again to double in size. We expect to do revenues of circa £16m in the next final year and build from there, which should just see us sneak into a top 50 spot in the Accountancy rankings.
We talked during the 2022 conference about the need to start behaving like the size of firm we are, this year our revenue per employee was £81,250, in 2021 it was £65,000 per annum. The industry average is beyond £100,000 which is our next target.
We will do this by continuing to increase our fees to the current client base, move up the food chain with the clients we are bringing in, and adopt a strategic move to grow our offering in London.
Staff salaries are running at £8.1m per year – 62% salaries to revenue [Industry average 35-40%] – our aim is to get closer to 50%
Both the current metrics are lower than the national industry average, which is fine for now because we are seeing improvements year on year. In the end these figures will define who we are as we move up the ladder of consultancy.
One of the things I am most happy with this year is the new recruitment strategy. We have recruited people across the organisation who are just so much more on board than we did during the more rushed recruitment process during COVID. We have also recruited the next generation of leadership, with some national ‘Head of’ people bolstering the management team, with previous experience of National firm management roles.
The recent restructure has been a huge success – so many people have identified themselves, new, or slightly different roles within the organisation that suit them, and suit us better. We will see the benefit of this throughout 2023.
We have bedded in Wilson Henry in Liverpool, and recently taken further space in London. The areas of the business that were thriving, we have made huge investments in to grow, such as the funding team and newly rebuilt R&D team.
We are now concentrating on the core areas of Audit, Accountancy, Tax, Forensics, Payroll and Co Sec – these are the areas that will see the biggest growth in 2023.
Our centralised functions have been one of the greatest successes of 2022, as usual the admin function is solid as a rock and performs at high levels year in year out, but we have grown the People function, restructured the Finance and IT teams, and the Events and Marketing team has been a particular success this year.
Be The Standard, our internal leadership course, has gone from strength to strength and the 1st club is now full. Some of the speakers have been
ridiculously good, there are too many to mention, but it was a particular proud moment of mine to see one of the greatest sportsmen in the world, in the form of Sugar Ray Leonard, having pictures and signing gloves for us all in The Regency Club in Manchester.
Our other investments Perfect Getaways and HMN24 both had record years, and we became the majority shareholder of sportswear brand, IGD SPORT, in the summer.
Our headcount started the year at 160 and ended at 172, which shows that we have made progress on the ‘maturing phase’ of the organisation, in that we haven’t had to bring too many more people in, to achieve the growth. Done instead, by valuing our time, and expecting the client to do the same.
Our back to school campaign was the largest yet. We provided 1,000 children with over £30,000 worth of home-schooling equipment and Nando’s food vouchers for underprivileged children during the summer.
Our Xmas toy appeal was also the biggest yet, we provided for 750 children in 2021, in 2022 we have given out 1,170 Santa sacks – almost 15,000 presents. We have also provided nearly £15,000 of Xmas dinner vouchers for the family to enjoy not just the morning but the afternoon together. I estimate the total of our Xmas campaign this year to be close to £100,000.
We sponsored numerous charities throughout the year including Once Upon A Smile and Football 4 Change. We had numerous requests for donations to help causes and we obliged to dozens, with monetary contribution to their campaigns, next year we will formalise these activities more with the launch of our own Foundation.
It’s been a great team effort, and we have positively impacted our communities massively – well done to everyone who has given during 2022!
Our 2022 Conference finished with a festival with 5ive and Phatts & Small performing some number 1 hits.
Last year we brought Benidorm to Sedulo due to travel restrictions, this year we brought Sedulo to Benidorm. 125 of us made the trip, by far our largest Xmas party. It was a great time and resulted in relationships being formed across services, and territories, and we look forward to 2023’s already. It is a key party of our annual diary.
We hosted numerous sporting events across our sport, and the team organised some great internal events, including Will Stanton’s ‘Oktoberfest’, and some sporting evenings with guests such as, Viv Anderson, Jason Robinson and Gordon Strachan.
2023 is a crucial year for the organisation. When we did our 3 year plan in 2019, we perhaps didn’t understand, that the end of this plan would mean we would have some new foundations that require laying before we moved onto the next. 2022 has laid the foundations for the next 3 years, so I envisage a calmer, more organised 2023.
We will continue to grow, but at a more sustained level. We have fuelled Funding and R&D this year, so will feel the benefit of this next year.
The National reorganisation will be a huge factor as we look to grow core business by increasing fees, growing our presence in the London market and moving further up the food chain to embed ourselves as a national mid-tier proposition. We will launch the consultancy side of the business, with a new corporate brochure, as a point of reference for the business we have created.
I said in last years notes, that we would focus on team happiness, and in May this year we introduced the weekly pulse happiness score. We have seen scores climb as we recruited correctly, and paid attention to the needs of the team, offering quick solutions where we could.
In 2023 we will introduce something similar for our clients to measure their levels of satisfaction with us.
Meanwhile we will formalise all the work we do in our communities, with the launch of The Sedulo Foundation, our registration is already in progress, expect a gala dinner in June 2023.
Finally, we aim to make strides in our own journey to impact the planet positively. We have just started our journey to Carbon neutral and Net Zero, and this will become a priority during the next 12 months.
As I mentioned earlier, we are not only working hard right now on the transactional and functionality aspect of what we do, but progressing on the higher level stuff that will make us a market leader in what we do. Making us an established and respected brand in the markets we operate in.
We planted and watered thousands of seeds this year, and next year we will see them shoot, and grow.
All in all, it’s been yet another year of progression.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your hard work and dedication shown during the year, being world-class isn’t easy. Being on a journey to becoming a special organisation is going have twists and turns, but with the current team we have we will get there. When we do it will benefit everyone, as I have said before.
I would like to wish you and your families all a Happy Xmas and New Year, and hope you all have a healthy and prosperous 2023!
Best Wishes,
Create positive change in the communities we exist in.
BECAUSE BETTER PEOPLE MAKE BETTER LEADER S
Left to right: Paul Cheetham-Karcz, Managing Director of Sedulo. Gary Neville, Manchester United class of 92 & Sky Sports pundit. Jacey Normand, BBC presenter. Kevin Sinfield OBE, Seven-time Super League Champion as Captain of Leeds Rhinos.
Rebecca Adlington, British double Olympic gold medalist in swimming.
Mike Bates, the Atlantic Grappler.
Jo Fairley, Founder, Green & Black’s.
Josh Warrington, Boxing World Champion.
“We will be moving more centrally to 6,500 square feet of office space with a further 3,000 square foot rooftop terrace.
It will be a cutting edge office space with its own bar and coffee area and on the rooftop will be a seated decking area and tiki bar. It’s going to be a great environment for us all to work in”
- Paul, 2015
“Perhaps the biggest project this year has been to develop our next office.
We could have done this with a couple of people in a new office but this is not our style.
Instead we are acquiring a 90 year old practice with around 35 staff and putting them in St Pauls House which is on the park in the centre of Leeds. The building is amazing and has just had a brand new fit out, not to mention that we will be installing a Great Gatsby (the bar area will pay tribute to the 1920’s) long bar along with 4 themed meeting rooms like we have here in Manchester.”
- Paul, 2017
“We expect to move into our Liverpool office at the end of March 2021, complete with an Ivy style rectangular bar, American Diner for the staff, and rooftop Victorian Garden.
There is a strong possibility we will tie this in with the Liverpool acquisition.”
- Paul, 2020
“Our London office grew revenues by 100% YOY and we moved offices space 3 times within the year just to accommodate this growth.”
- Paul, 2020
With a team of three - Paul Cheetham-Karcz, Lee Jones and Elaine Cheetham-Karcz - we opened our first office in Barton Arcade, providing Manchester’s entrepreneurs with industry-type, hands-on financial expertise.
2010
Moving our growing team to Deansgate Locks.
Benn Longshaw joins our team, adding a dedicated Corporate Finance offering to our repertoire.
We install a marketing department into our mix, working on both our brand and that of some of our clients.
Sedulo Wealth Management joins the Sedulo group, giving our client-base access to workable financial plans, advice on pensions and more.
We move our Manchester office to our new home, the Regency Club.
We moved into a new purpose-built Manchester home, The Regency Club, featuring multiple themed meeting spaces, events capacity, a fully operating complimentary bar and reggae rooftop terrace.
The acquisition of the Leeds-based Bartfields also saw the relocation of their team, plus new recruits, to the iconic St. Paul’s House in Leeds city centre. Our Leeds home, the Ambler Club, overlooks the green Park Square area and boasts numerous themed meeting rooms including the chocolatefilled Cadbury’s Suite and Fred Perry Suite complete with table tennis.
Sedulo celebrate 10-year anniversary with star-studded festival across the North.
2019 Sedulo Christmas Toy Appeal provides over 3,000 presents for 254 children.
Whether it’s our client provided beers, fresh Worker Bee coffee or our extensive selection of wines and spirits, guests will now be able to experience the hospitality we pride ourselves on at Sedulo in our new home on Exchange Flags in Liverpool...
Our Liverpool-based home, the Wilson Club, opens.
2021
Christmas Toy Appeal gifts presents to 600+ children across the UK.
