A DIRECTOR at a West Midlands accountancy practice is marking a magnificent four decades in the job – a role he feared he would lose in the first year after “spectacularly” failing his accountancy exams.
The year is a double celebration for Jamie Skelding, from Prime Accountants Group, as he marks 40 years in the role in the same year he turns 60.
Jamie puts his success down to being a grafter and always going the extra mile for his clients – but joked that he feared the role might be a short-lived one after he failed an early accountancy exam three times.
Fortunately, the firm then known as Pilley and Florsham saw plenty of promise in the Bablake School alumni and he worked his way through the ranks, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1996, before becoming a partner in 2000 and a director in 2016.
“These days, I’m told people entering the workforce might have six or seven jobs over their career. I left school, joined the firm as a junior and simply grafted,” said Jamie.
“I never wanted to be the top dog – that was never really my personality. I’ve always been half-decent at numbers, but ironically that’s not really what mattered most in the role.”
Jamie said the differences between the role he first took on in 1986 and the job he holds with Prime today are significant.
He said: “Computers were literally just coming in. We had one computer in a room – in fact, it filled the room. You had to book your slot and sit at this huge thing, which you’d leave running for what felt like hours. You’d go away and do something else and come back when it had finished doing what you needed it to do.
“To see that change to everyone having a laptop that fits in your hand, with enormous computing power, email and instant communication – it’s a completely different world.
“In the past, around 80 per cent of the time was spent creating a set of accounts. Now, the bulk of time is spent understanding the data and explaining what it means to the client.”
Jamie, who said one thing he’s credited with was filing the first ever electronic corporation tax return, is now looking to the future with Prime, which has offices in Solihull, Birmingham and Coventry.
Morgan Davies, managing director of Prime Accountants Group, said: “Jamie has built exceptionally strong client relationships over his four decades at Prime and brings and a fantastic work ethic to the job, which is shown by his continued desire to help improve the firm.
“It’s thanks in no small part to his efforts that we’re in such a strong and ambitious place as a business. Many congratulations to Jamie on this milestone.”
