Accountancy firm co-founder takes sole ownership

One of the co-founders of Vibrant Accountancy has taken on sole ownership of the business.

Bev Wakefield set up the award-winning firm with Ian Ball three years ago.
She is now leading the business after Ian moved to Pride Park-based CoMech Metrology to become its finance director.

Bev said she is excited about the future of Vibrant – with plans to participate in more seminars and re-introduce networking groups at the Lodge Lane-based business.

She said: “It has been an incredible journey since starting Vibrant with Ian and I want to thank him for his support and friendship.

“Together with my brilliant team, I want to continue the legacy and make an impact in an industry that has long been considered stuffy, impenetrable and dominated by well-established, big-name players.

“I want to continue to evolve and disrupt and I’m excited about the future.”

Ian said: “Co-founding Vibrant was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

“I have enjoyed every minute of the journey with Bev, who is now ready to continue to drive the business forward and will ensure that our clients continue to receive the best service possible.

“She is an incredible individual and will continue what we started together with great success.”

One of the recent highlights for Vibrant Accountancy has been winning the New Firm of the Year category at the prestigious Accounting Excellence Awards in November 2021.

It was praised by judges in a strong field for ‘raising the bar’ and Bev wants to build on that success.

She said: “As a forward-thinking company, we know how important artificial intelligence is in our industry.

“We want to make the most of technology that is available to us, as well as continuing to introduce new initiatives such as money-saving app ‘Reducer’ to our clients to help them in their day-to-day running of their companies.

“There will be a huge focus on business coaching – that is an area I’m particularly keen to expand on; I want to work with businesses and individuals that may need a little help with numbers and direction. They must be ambitious and brave, too.”

Bev is also keen to make Vibrant Accountancy an eco-friendlier business.
Later this year, it will be introducing an electric car scheme for employees.
The scheme will enable staff to purchase a fully electric vehicle and pay for it through a salary sacrifice scheme.

There are also plans to offset Vibrant’s carbon emissions by planting trees.
Bev said: “As a mother of two young children, I know how important it is to protect our planet for their future.

“We can all make little changes, and we’re on our journey with embracing this further at Vibrant.”