Overview of the Year

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 Designer