We caught up with BeaconHouse Events director Sarah Thackray to find out how we’ve supported the team with strategic insights over the years.
Tell us about BeaconHouse Events
We’re an events management agency that formed back in 2014. We mainly deliver B2B events including conferences, awards, and dinners but we also organise some B2C events as well as staff engagement events programmes too.
BeaconHouse Events has been involved with many fantastic projects including an outdoor cycling roadshow for the local councils, the Great North Run VIP hospitality and creating the North East’s first ever TechNext festival, which was a huge hit with the region.
A team who get it
Within our first few years of business, we needed further financial and accounting guidance, and some form of ally who could be a sounding board for us.
At the time our accounting support was pretty old school, spreadsheets and not much more, so we were on the lookout for something better. Ideally, I wanted a team who’d be there for us so we could navigate building a business together.
Aligned values
When you’re a small business, you want to work with others who understand your circumstances and get what it’s like. You need others to be agile and flexible. It’s also important that you work with businesses and people whose values and cultures align with your own.
This is why Blu Sky were such a great fit.
From the start, they got it, were happy to help and really cared about our needs. We have good synergy, and our cultures align, which makes working together nice and easy.
The importance of forecasting
The team have recently supported us with strategic forecasting and splitting our revenues out into the different types of service and events we offer.
They’ve helped us take a step back and properly categorise our services and revenue streams, so we can clearly see which perform best and are most profitable. This also helps us forecast our cash and recharges, so we know exactly what to expect our turnover to be.
The forecasting work we’ve done together made us look at financial gaps.
If you’re trying to grow, it’s really important to spot any gaps, address them and understand where the potential is.
It’s also helped us build more structure into staff pay rises. We now have a system where we can implement increases over time, due to the forecasts we now have in place.
Better budgeting
We do so much budgeting for the events we organise, but we weren’t always taking the time to properly budget for ourselves.
Due to the far more strategic forecasting we completed with Blu Sky, we’re now able to budget better for ourselves. We’ve also been able to look at budgets allocated to our environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy in more depth thanks to Blu Sky’s guidance.
Going above and beyond
Ever since we first started working together, the team have been agile and flexible. They always respond and give insights on what to do.
They go above and beyond, will work around you and if they don’t know the answer, they find out for you or direct you to the right specialist from their expansive network.
When I brought on a new office manager, Blu Sky made time to get to know them, explain accounting processes and how to do things, which was greatly appreciated and meant everything continued to run smoothly.
Having that critical ear
One of the biggest benefits of working with the Blu Sky team has definitely been having that critical ear. If I’m unsure about something or need some advice, I simply speak with the team and they give me guidance, an insider perspective, reassurance when needed and confidence.
I recently had a query about electric vehicles and the tax implications and the Blu Sky team were able to advise me on that too.
It’s always very comforting to know you have reliable, trustworthy accountants who have your back. I never have any qualms about seeking advice or speaking to the team.
Everyone is incredibly easy to work with. They are a critical business friend to us.
Need help with your forecasting?
We can help you implement forecasts which will make growth, planning and budgeting so much easier. Feel free to get in touch!
