Like many teenage boys, the young Chris Money dreamt of a career designing computer games. But a spell of work experience during his third year at high school led the young Glaswegian to a far more fulfilling – and yes, nominative determinist – profession. “With a surname like mine,” jokes Money (above), “I couldn’t have been anything other than an accountant.”

After leaving school at 16 to work for Paisley-based Milne Craig CA, Money grew envious of his friends’ extra-curricular adventures at university and decided to study accounting at Glasgow Caledonian University. That led to a trainee position at McLay McAlister & McGibbon (MMMCA) in central Glasgow in 2013. By 2017, he was a qualified CA, and in 2021 he became the firm’s Business Service Manager.

Joining one of the city’s oldest CA firms was an interesting move for a tech-savvy young accountant, but he’s clear about the appeal. “When I was looking for a graduate position, I’d ruled out ever working for any of the bigger firms because I didn’t want to be pigeonholed,” he says. “My mindset is that I need to be involved in as many things as possible, so the idea of only ever doing, say, audit just didn’t appeal. But with a firm this size, you can be involved in everything, which then gives you a much closer relationship with the client.

“We tend to work with the same clients as far as possible, so you really get to know them. We’re big enough to be well resourced, but small enough to feel like a proper team. There are about 20 people working here so it’s still quite close-knit. You know everyone and that’s a big part of why I’ve been here for more than 10 years.”

“Clients will increasingly expect accountants to provide what they currently get from the likes of Amazon and Uber – they will want convenience and easy-to-use technology and apps”

MMMCA was formed in 1887 with the merger of two firms ­– McLay & McAlister and McGibbon & Bird, with Bird subsequently flying the nest. In recent years it has grown through mergers and acquisitions, including of current partner Paul Martin CA’s former firm, Wallace Martin Partnership, in 2001.

The practice covers a range of industries rather than focusing on specific sectors. “It’s interesting, from a client perspective, how much of a crossover there can be,” says Money.

“And apart from insolvency, we offer all the main services you would expect from a practice, including audit. Indeed that’s an area that has skyrocketed in recent times, with charities in particular. There won’t be many firms smaller than us that can offer audit, but we provide the service in a more cost-effective way than the bigger players.”

Martin, McCaw & Russell

MMMCA currently has three partners – Martin, Andrew McCaw CA and Fiona Russell CA – each of whom has general practice experience as well as their own specialist areas; respectively, internal compliance and money laundering, tax and audit.

Money has ambitions to become a partner one day but currently sees his role as driving the MTD agenda and keeping the firm up to date with new and emerging technology. “I suppose that goes back to my earlier interest in computer games,” he says. “I’m interested in IT and trying out new software. And with many of the younger clients coming on board, I’m seeing much more interest in cloud-based solutions.

“The Digital Practice Conference was really interesting from that perspective,” he continues, referring to an ICAS event in Glasgow last year. “I went expecting to discover that we were way behind because we weren’t quite where I wanted us to be. But talking to other attendees, I realised most of us are in the same boat. There are the runaway trains, way ahead of everyone, but it’s more about them being way ahead than the rest of us being way behind. We’ve just got to keep progressing as best we can.”

MMMCA has been using Sage and Xero for years, and Money believes the firm was relatively quick in bringing VAT returns online. Now the focus is on doing the same with income tax and, while that appeals to many younger clients, the challenge is onboarding more traditional clients who are perhaps more reluctant to embrace change.

There is a degree of suspicion about the role of AI in accounting’s future but, having supported his wife’s business by working with the technology during the pandemic, Money can see its potential value, particularly in terms of generating marketing formats to then refine with a human touch.

Having said that, any help could be handy because, as with many CA firms, Money believes attracting fresh talent is a huge challenge. “We bring on a couple of graduates each year,” he says. “Pre-Covid, we were getting around 150 applications. Last year it was more like 40. We have boosted that number this year by getting in early at recruitment events, but if the trend continues, it’s a problem for the profession.”

During its long history, MMMCA’s success has been built on long-term relationships and steady growth, and Money doesn’t foresee anyone jeopardising that with risky expansion. He’s keen, though, to become a bit more “public-facing” in terms of marketing, and keep up with broader trends in the world. “Going back to the Digital Practice Conference, one of the themes that chimed with me is that clients will increasingly expect accountants to provide what they currently get from the likes of Amazon and Uber. They will want convenience, they will want to do things quickly, and they will expect easy-to-use technology and apps.”

mmmca.co.uk