Business owners need access to real time, relevant, financial information to allow them to make effective business decisions that result in profitable growth. You may not need a full time accountant, but we are here to help you when you need us; ensuring you can focus on running your business and cost effectively meet your profitability and operations objectives
Put simply: We help with the“number crunching”.
Those numbers are used to make decisions for the growth of the business. If your inputs into the system are rubbish, then the information you receive from the system will be rubbish and the quality of the decisions you make will be rubbish. Using our clever tech and our magic team we can ensure everything is tidy for you.
We don’t just provide you with accurate information, we help you understand the meaning behind the numbers to empower you to make smarter decisions and grow.
Our People
Quite simply we care about our clients and only recruit top performers who care about the clients too. We lead by example and coach them to ensure they are approachable, well rounded business people. We want you to feel at ease and work quickly and efficiently to help you understand your figures – but always with a personal touch. We are not robots.
Our Tech
We identify and use the latest cloud technologies to allow greater efficiencies. We can implement new technologies to allow you to focus on running the business. We work closely with our clients as their outsourced financial controller.
Our Clients
We select who we work with to ensure personalities align, we can deliver real value and support business growth. We collaborate, work together and are always on standby to deliver real value where our clients need it most.
We Are More than Accountants
We aren’t just your average accountants. We offer a unique business advisory service. As you grow, we’ll be with you every step of the way, offering great advice, when you need it, to ensure your business is in the best possible shape.
Clare Galloway
Clare is a qualified project manager with over 20 years experience in Corporate Finance, Compliance and Business Development Manager roles at Deloitte, KPMG, and RSM.
Clare ensures Magic Beans provide innovative solutions to increase client efficiency and productivity. She is responsible for and oversees all business operations, people, on-boarding / relationships and ensuring clients’ objectives are met efficiently.
Sharon Brown
Sharon a Chartered Accountant with over 10 years post qualification experience, was the internal finance manager of RSM for over 6 years.
Having worked as an internal accountant for a firm of traditional accountants, Sharon identified that businesses may not need a full time in-house accountant but needed access to their numbers in real time. From what was “just an idea” Magic Beans grew.
Jenni Smyth
Jenni is a Management Accountant with over 20 years experience in practice and subsequently owner managed hotel and construction industry businesses – assisting with the day to day financial, commercial and technical operations.
Having worked in finance departments for owner managed across various industries, Jenni is well placed to provide all management information required by our clients and to focus on profitable growth targets.
Ashley Boyd
Ashley is a Chartered Accountant with extensive industry related experience.
Having worked as a Financial Controller, Interim Finance Director and Head of Finance during her career, Ashley understands the challenges faced by business owners and their teams. She ensures management information and support is provided to assist our clients with their growth targets.
Chantelle Reynolds
Chantelle is a Management Accountant with over 25 years of commercial finance experience.
Having enjoyed the majority of her career as Group Accounts Manager for a chain of retail stores, Chantelle most recently managed a variety of finance portfolios in the Third Sector, providing access to much needed strategic corporate services.
Chantelle brings her extensive accounting experience to our team, producing accurate management reporting across our client base.
Catherine Morgan
Catherine has a BA Honours in Business and is responsible for a wide portfolio of bookkeeping clients. With over 3 years practical experience in accountancy, she is well placed to assist with keeping financial records accurate and up to date.
Catherine processes and prepares financial information for the purpose of updating and checking payables and receivables account balances. Catherine collects and enters data and assists with the preparation of various detailed management reports in Xero.
Eoin Brown
Eoin has a BSC in Finance and is responsible for preparing and processing all of our clients’ payroll files. He is also responsible for a wide portfolio of bookkeeping clients.
Eoin processes and prepares financial information for the purpose of updating and checking account balances to facilitate purchases and collects and enters data to assist with the preparation of various detailed reports in Xero.
Tracey Scott
Tracey is a qualified payroll administrator with extensive bookkeeping experience and brings a wealth of experience to the Magic Beans team.
Tracey processes and prepares weekly and monthly payroll information for a large portfolio of clients and also assists with processing and entering data to assists with the preparation of various detailed management reports in Xero.
How do I switch accountants and is it an easy process?
Before you decide to switch accountants you need to understand why you have decided to move. Chances are your accountant is doing a good job but the services being provided may not align to your needs. If you understand why and your motivations for switching then investing in Magic Beans will be very worthwhile.
We will also make sure we are a good fit for each other. If not, we will be totally honest and let you know
Magic Beans make the switch as seamless as possible. We can deal with the communications with the previous accountants and system conversions; keeping you in the loop and ensuring you understand the process.
I keep telling accountants I don't want to pay a lot of tax. Is it ok to fall out with you if you say I have to?
Don’t laugh! This happens way more than we would care to talk about. And people fall out with accountants all the time because they don’t understand that if you want to run a profitable business you have to pay tax. Sorry!
If your focus or goal is only on saving tax then we are not the right people for you! We will provide you with the information you need to run your business, help you make informed decisions and profitably grow. That means you have to pay tax too…
Who are Magic Beans?
Magic Beans is a business advisory and accountancy practice co-founded by Sharon Brown and Clare Galloway in Northern Ireland – providing up to date, real time financial information you can understand.
It was founded by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. We have travelled the entrepreneurial journey and understand the ebbs and flows of business. Using our skills and experience, we partner with businesses to help them navigate these complexities!
We are a collaborated force:
Sharon is a Chartered Accountant with over 15 years post qualification experience. She was the internal finance manager at RSM (formerly McClure Watters) for over 6 years. Having worked as an internal accountant for a firm of traditional accountants, Sharon is well placed to clearly identify any financially knowledge gap that may exist in clients’ businesses and provide advice to assist business growth.
Clare is a qualified project manager with over 20 years experience in Corporate Finance, Compliance and Business Development Manager roles at Deloitte, KPMG, and RSM. Clare will ensure Magic Beans provide innovative solutions to increase client efficiency, productivity and provide marketing and business development support to help businesses achieve growth targets.
How quickly can I be up and running?
Straight away! Take a look at our “What to expect from us”. As soon as we have completed the checks and provided us with either your previous accountant’s contact details or your financial files, we’ll be able to set you up with everything you need and discuss next steps with you.
What kind of support will I get on a regular basis?
The short answer is we will assign you a dedicated Accountant who has the required industry-specific skills and experience to manage your account. We are available to answer any queries or concerns
All of our team are available via email; our turnaround time is an absolute maximum of 48 hours (we are usually much faster than that).
The slightly more detailed answer is “how much support would you like”? We offer a range of packages designed for people who require different levels of support. To see all of our packages, please just look at “Our Services” or contact us to discuss your needs.
Why do you only use Xero?
By only using leading software like Xero, we can ensure we are experts and champions. At a fraction of the cost of a full time finance manager we magically integrate your business paperwork to your magic bean counter to allow you to see what is happening now and in the future, no matter where you are. You can see all incomings, outgoings and business activities at a glance.
With Xero technology and add-ons, you have access to information faster. You can create efficiencies for yourself and be in control of your numbers.
Log in online anytime, anywhere, on your Mac, PC, tablet or phone and see up-to-date financials. It’s simple, smart and magical.
What are my responsibilities?
Your responsibilities would vary depending on the package you choose. As soon as you come on board we would make sure you were fully comfortable with the on-going process. We are magical but if you don’t complete the tasks assigned to you or provide us with the information we need efficiently we wont be able to provide you with the information you need on time.
That is why we will always communicate with you frequently to ensure you know what information we need you to provide and processes we need you to follow.
Should you require additional ad-hoc support we would discuss this with you separately.
What happens if we part ways? Will it be awkward?
We work extremely hard to do the very best job we can and take a genuine interest in all our clients’ businesses. It has helped our magical business grow quickly, so that from a company who started with no clients with a laptop and a calculator we now have a team and hundreds of happy customers who are very kind in their praise of us. This tells us we are doing things the right way.
However, some businesses grow with us and need a full time in-house resource, others just want to focus on saving tax or fancy a change. That is ok. We understand that our outsourced service may not be suitable for everyone.
You can be assured your information will always belong to you and no accountant may withhold it, as long as your fees are paid. Using cloud accounting software, the transfer of data back to you is done by the click of a button.
Emailing us abusive messages (thankfully we have only had one or two) or exclaiming how we have made errors in the accounts because we’ve told you you can’t put certain expenses through your business, really isn’t a very nice way for an adult to act and just makes you look silly.
We are real people who spend hours and hours caring about your business. It is not a pleasant experience to read those types of messages.
If this happens, we will genuinely wish you all the best in the future and hope you find your magic elsewhere.
We will always be friendly and kind – and will not be difficult if you decide to move on. Our entire aim with Magic Beans is to spread a little Magic and make your life easier
I have emailed you 17 times and called 4 times in the last hour, why haven't you replied?
Yes, this happens a lot, so don’t laugh!
We are a small owner managed business. Our main focus is prioritising our time to ensure we can provide our clients with the information they need to run their business and make effective and efficient business decisions. This sometimes means not finishing until 10pm because we are working on detailed reports and providing information of the absolute best quality.
Rest assured, if you emailed us or messaged, we will get back to you as quickly as possible. That will usually be within 24 business hours, not 24 minutes. On weekends, it depends if we are busy wrestling our dogs from muddy puddles or taking some time with our families. Sat/Sun does not count in the 24 hour response time.
We understand you are under pressure too but we will always deal with your queries as quickly as possible but in a manner that ensures we can consider our response – so you get the best information.
Add an advisor and see the zeros grow
Every time someone does business with us, something great happens in the world.
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