In business, as in life, unexpected situations can turn your world upside down. A year after joining his father’s accountancy practice, Hockley Wright & Co, Edward Wright woke one morning to find his father had unexpectedly passed away.
Overnight, the newly qualified accountant, then 26, had to take on director-level responsibilities and step into his father’s shoes.
“He passed away in March 2009 at just 67 years old,” he says. “It was a bombshell. As a son, I was devastated, but I also knew the practice had to keep going. I couldn’t grieve for too long.”
Hockley Wright & Co was founded in 1999 and focused on small businesses, audits and personal tax planning. The practice built up a loyal roster of clients in the East Grinstead area. “I knew that they would give me a shot,” Wright says. “But I didn’t have a lot of time to prove myself and I was determined to retain all of them.”
He spent the following year visiting each client personally to reassure them that he was the right man to take on their business. But there was one problem: Wright’s father was an experienced auditor and he was not.
“We had to lose those clients who needed auditing services, representing about one-sixth of the company’s turnover,” he recalls. “We kept all our other clients but couldn’t offer that service, so I had to focus on winning new customers, too.”
Wright had always known he would eventually take over his father’s firm, but had hoped to work side by side with him for several years first. “The plan was to join the firm and blossom as an accountant, learning from my father – but that time was cut short,” he says.
Luckily, there was a succession plan. Many family businesses have no strategy setting out how the firm would cope if someone fell ill, passed away or was unable to fulfil their role.
According to research by PwC, almost half of family firms do not have such a plan and only 15% have one for all senior executives.
Despite the weight of his new responsibilities, Wright found he was good at bringing in business. Over the past seven years, turnover has doubled.
“I am extremely proud the business hasn’t suffered, but has grown and taken on more staff,” he says. “When I joined the firm I was a breath of fresh air – I brought in new software, new ways of doing things. That was probably an asset.”
Hockley Wright & Co has even acquired three other accountancy firms: “It’s become a different beast now.”
Alongside the pressure of keeping the business afloat, Wright had a crash course in people management. “I was barely 26,” he says. “And I was automatically put into a role that you’re not usually exposed to until at least your mid-thirties.
“Overnight, I lost my safety net,” he continues. “You like to think somebody is overseeing what you do and suddenly I was the last line of defence, signing off contracts, looking at training programmes for staff and employing new people.”
A good insurer could have helped to soften the blow, explains Dan Lander from Hiscox. “Personal accident insurance can help cover retraining and recruitment expenses. If something was to happen and the insured person couldn’t fulfil their role any more, we help to cover the training for the new person.”
Wright says: “I wish I’d had some sort of management support to help, but I had to teach myself. But, while I’m not saying I did it all perfectly, I didn’t give up. Each year, it got easier and easier. I became the right person for the role.”
Making a success of the business his father built has meant the world to Wright. “My father used to be treasurer of the local church and one of my earliest memories is of helping him count the collection,” he says. “That’s when I first learnt I had a financial mind and realised I wanted to be an accountant like him.
“He left behind an extremely successful firm of accountants, but I’m so glad I’ve been able to make my mark.”
Content on this page is paid for and provided by Hiscox, sponsor of the Adventures in Business hub on the Guardian Small Business Network.
